Thank you to Wayne Cooke of John Graeme for his story of how he bagged his first marlin and the first one of TOMT 2023

It is Day One and we are lines in for my 5^th Two Oceans Marlin Tournament  Struisbaai. I must admit I do not have high expectations as I have yet to catch a Marlin or even be part of our team catching one.  As normal the Bonnies are set and ready for action. As has happened over the years the boat gets quiet as the day starts to drift on.

After a while, I’m told that it’s my turn for the next hour to watch the rods. Around mid-day, one reel starts to slowly give line and there is something eating my Bonnie. The next minute our other rod also goes stiff and starts giving line.

“SHARK,” one of the crew calls as surely it’s not possible to hook two Marlins especially as I have never even seen one live.

Hylton Goatley takes charge of one rod and I take the other. I promise myself that I am going to give whatever is on the other end time to swallow the bait, and I give free line for about 2 minutes.  

At the same time, Hylton goes tight on the drag and a big black marlin jumps clean out of the water. There is now total chaos on the John Graeme.   Some run for the black magic and others just run from sheer excitement.

 I then decide to tighten up the drag on my reel, still not believing what is happening. I am happily looking out the back of John Graeme expecting whatever was on my line to show itself as not too much line is being taken. Well, if I bother to look ninety degrees to my left, I will see a massive Marlin jumping and going crazy.

All attention is now on me as I hear skipper, Chris Goatley, radioing that we have not hooked the first Marlin but are still hooked up on the second. I have never had so much attention from the crew before.   I am offered water and asked if I am feeling okay. The doctor on board is even happy to inject me if I require a boost at any stage. 

I am pumped with excitement as I realise that it is up to me to catch this one for the team. This fact is mentioned to me more than once by my team mates!

“Don’t F **k it up, Cookie,” I hear one of them warn.

Well, with great skill from our skipper Chris Goatley and 55 minutes of hard fighting, my first Marlin shows itself next to the John Graeme and with all the skill of the crew and lots of shouting the fish is measured and released to fight another day.

It is a day I will always remember but most importantly the pleasure it gives us all to see it swim away is just magical.

The John Graeme is on the scoreboard, but little do we know there is much more to come……..

Watch this space!

Apologies for not posting yesterday. It was a very busy day and some of the material I needed was not available in time.

Today the boats did not go out to sea due to inclement weather.

Tuesday 15 February 2023

Thanks once again to Koos for sending me some really amazing photographs. Some show exactly why he and his crew stay out at sea as late as possible. Is there any better place to be than out in the wide ocean with a rod in your hand? Well, these anglers certainly think so.

Today the weather continued to play along although the wind is picking up and it was slightly cooler and overcast.

As those of you who have been following these reports know, John Graeme caught the first marlin of this tournament on Sunday. Well today we were surprised to hear that the first call of a hook-up came in at 08:20 was again from John Graeme and Chris Hepburn Brown was the one in the chair. And he fought it for almost an hour before releasing a back marlin.

But that was not enough for this intrepid team. At 10:06 another hook-up on John Graeme was called in. This time John Leppan was in the chair until he released a blackie at 10:38.

Surely the sea gods have their favourites for at 12:17 Indigo who landed a stripey yesterday called in their second hook-up of the tournament. At 13:00 Werner Kotze released a blackie.

Throughout the day other boats called in hook-ups but it was a while before the next successful one was reported – and would you believe it – John Graeme again with Willem Skein landing a blackie!

Indigo almost got another but lost the battle and just when we thought the day was over Bayswater called in and after a short battle brought in a blackie. I was unable to get a good fish clip from their video so will just show you the angler.

The weather started to turn this afternoon. The wind turned to the northwest, clouds gathered and we had a shower or two of rain.

This evening we were treated to another delicious meal of burgers, ribs and chips (French Fries).

For the past three years, special awards have been made to exceptional anglers who have contributed to the tournament and to the sport. This year Gawie Bruwer presented the award to Ted Horn who is now 83 years old and still participating in competition angling. Ted is also well-known for his amazing singing voice and sang Danny Boy with as much gusto as any man half his age!

Then Andrew (Marlin Control) changed hats and became an auctioneer, calling for bids on some excellent wines and other items to raise funds for the Suidpunt Deep Sea Angling Club.

I also managed to get a few team photos. More to follow on prize giving night.

Once again, apologies for the late posting. I received the last video just a little while ago. I am still waiting for the anglers to send in their stories which I will post as they come in.

I am not sure whether tomorrow will be a fishing day. If it is it will be the last day of the competition and Prize Giving takes place tomorrow night. Watch this space for all the results.

Thank you to Koos Pretorius on Gee Spot I have some lovely photos of the morning’s early launch to share.

Today turned out to be very exciting. At 09:45 Indigo called in a hook-up halfway between the Alphards and 45s. They fought until 10:10 when a stripey was measured and released.

At 11:17 Hannes Schreuder on Mojo, closer towards The Alphards, hooked a stripey and released it at 11:57

While I was waiting for the last boats to return to shore I received a call to please go to the end of the harbour wall to capture a very special photograph. Gareth Beaumont had promised to allow himself to be towed back to the harbour on a surfboard if their boat caught a marlin. And of course, they did.

Today is Valentine’s Day and although most of the anglers are without their wives and girlfriends we all celebrated the day. The bar ladies made a special effort.

Dinner tonight was a delicious mussel soup followed by battered swordfish and salmon fishcakes and for dessert, we were treated to decadent chocolate eclairs.

I am trying to get as many group photos as possible and will post these in a future post. I am also collecting the anglers’ stories so watch this space to read about their exciting experiences catching and releasing the hard-to-catch marlin!

I cannot resist posting a few photos not quite related to the fishing. Struisbaai harbour is famous for some very special residents, namely the Short-tailed Stingrays and the Cape Clawless Otters. You can read about Parrie, our most famous stingray here

I have lived in Struisbaai for almost eight years and have never seen the otters but today although it was quite busy at the harbour one of them was there swimming with the stingrays.

The fleet set off in beautiful weather once again and the anglers had calm seas and warm sunshine with just a hint of a breeze.

I did not manage to get a photograph of Gee Spot yesterday so Koos kindly sent me one of his much-loved vessel.

Thanks to Koos, too, for sending this photo of the live bait used to catch a marlin.

Marlin Control is operated from my house so when the calls of hook-ups come through on the radio we all get quite excited and then a little disappointed when the marlin turns out to be a shark. We had quite a few bronze and mako marlins today!

Keeping tabs on where the boats were and when they hooked up on anything was Marlin Control (Andrew Perrins). Rue, his constant companion and competition mascot helped keep an eye and ear on things too.

Toward the end of the day Bad Company had a hookup and fought for over an hour but the marlin won and swam away free. So there were no marlins caught, measured and released today.

“How was your day?” I asked the anglers as they returned to the harbour. “Always good,” most of them replied because a day at sea whether you catch a fish or not is always better than a day at work.

Once again the fleet was well-fed by Marinda and her team. The steak kebabs and roast veggies were delicious.

The weather today started off cool, overcast with a light south-westerly wind. Lines in was six o’clock and the boats began launching at quarter to five.

The overcast conditions did not last and we had a beautiful, sunny day and the fishing was good.

The first call came into Marlin Control at 09:07 when Simon Lowe on My Way reported an on/off. The next was from Gwaza at 11:25 also with an on/off.

Great excitement when John Graeme called in a double strike at 11:50. Wayne Cooke managed to hook and fight it for almost an hour, before measuring and safely releasing it at 12:36. It was a black marlin of 317 Kilos.

Shortly afterward Dory had a black marlin of about 200 kilos play with their baits, give a lit-up performance, and take the live skipjack bait but capture it they did not!

It is not easy to land a marlin. If they’re hooked they will give a good fight and it takes an excellent fisherman to actually win the battle and bring them on alongside to measure and release. Wayne’s story will appear in a future blog.

At four o’clock Lines-up was called and the boats started making their way back to the Struisbaai harbour. I was there to take photographs of their vessels and they all reported having had a great day at sea.

The evening meal was once again totally amazing and the anglers, exhausted by their day at sea headed home for a good night’s rest in preparation for another gruelling day tomorrow.

Saturday 11 February 2023

Today marked the start of the Seventeenth Two Oceans Marlin Tournament, a popular annual event that is held at Suidpunt Diepsee Hengelklub in Struisbaai, Western Cape.

You can click on this link to read about the history of TOMT.

Most of the boats registered at the opening function this evening. There was an introductory meeting to welcome everybody and to go over the procedures that will be followed during the next week. This is a fun catch, measure and release competition and the emphasis is on the conservation of these magnificent fish. All the prizes are donated by our generous sponsors.

The competition will run until Friday next week and the weather looks promising.

This year there are 16 Teams participating in the tournament.

Marinda and her team as usual provided an excellent welcoming spit-braai. Below are just a few of the teams enjoying the evening. Watch this space for daily reports of the competition.