We catch them up to 100lbs with with 12,5 kg monofilament line spooled onto Shimano 20/40's or Daiwa Saltists. Usually an 8' rod rated 12-15kg.

Come visit us sometime and let the South Africans show you how its done.......

We don't agressively target Yellowfin Tuna but if we pick them up then well and good. The usual size is around the 45lb mark. We could target the bigger ones off Cape Town which grow to 200lbs but then we would need to adopt the "mothership" approach you guys use. The target area is 45 miles out of Hout Bay. I do not know if this has been in done in SA yet, but I have arranged a boat to take 2 of us out soon. I will keep you posted on how it works out. We would need to target at 130lb max I guess, but this is all new so who knows. I am attempting to line up a film crew as well but we need to "sell" the footage ahead to the TV people to cover costs.  We generally target what you in the USA call Kings. We call them Couta (King Mackerel) which get up to 90 lbs in our waters. This is normally from December to about August. Dorado (Dolphin), Mackerel Tuna, Sailfish, the odd Marlin, Cobia and Giant Trevally are also caught during this season. Many different Trevally species are also taken and usually released. From September to November we go for Daga, Yellow Fin Tuna, Queen Mackerel and Garrick All our launches are from beach land through surf which can be daunting at times. I haven't heard of any kayak fisherman using the mothership approach. Yet. We have very few "plastic" kayaks in Durban, South Africa. Most of the kayaks are glass fibre or carbon kevlar. There are a few manufacturer's but the market leaders by a long way are Stealth. See link www.stealthpp.co.za

During May a competition is held in our neighbouring country, Mozambique. This is usually an exceptionally productive fishery with quality catches being made very close to shore. Obviously (and as a fisherman you will understand) everything is weather limited, but May really is the perfect month.

See www.paindane.com  For you this is about $400 for a week! The story on the fish in the picture is: We beach launched through a light 4 foot surf at 04h10 in the morning just as it was starting to get light and paddled out to a wreck sunk about a mile or so offshore. We usually target Kabeljou, known as Kob or Daga which is a bottom feeder, at this time of year. However a "trap stick" is usually left in the rod holder with a live mackerel or similar about 40 feet out in the hope of picking up a Tuna. I had just tossed the bait out and was picked up immedietly it landed. The Tuna peeled off about 600 feet of line before the kayak started being towed in the direction of the fish. From the continual nodding I knew it was a Tuna and not a shark, which are around at times. This made me fight the fish a bit carefully as we use 27-30lb monofilament. The Tuna pulled the kayak out to sea for about another half mile and then sounded. By applying continual pressure the fishes head remain turned (although the fish did beat me up a few times). Eventually after about 45 minutes I saw the shine and gradually brought the fish to the gaff. I spent a few seconds wondering if it would fit into the hatch but a bit of pushing and shoving helped. The fish measured 1200mm so I guess about 65lbs or so. As I didn't weigh it, I claimed 60lbs.