FEATURES
Features
Big Game with Hebe Fishermen
Words Mike Sharp
I have always wondered what it was like heading south of Hong
Kong and going past the Lema Islands. I had previously seen the
photographs pinned on the board at the wetsuit shop at Pak Sha
Wan pier and marvelled at the size of the fish brought in by spear
fishermen. I asked where they found such large fish and was told
that it was along the drop off south of the Lemas, the large fish
like to patrol along the wall as it plunges down into the depths.
In my angling career, I had previously never had the chance to
fish for large game fish let alone catch them by pulling a lure from
behind a large boat; something I believed would only occur off
the wealthy resorts of the Caribbean or eastern Australia. This
is a lot different from catching carp from brown water ponds
around the New Territories. So I was delighted to be invited on
Andy Badenhorst’s boat Sea Vixen last month along with the
airport crew of Paul Longhurst, Pete Booth, John Karris and
Colin Waterfield.
We embarked at 9.00pm from Hebe Haven on Friday 16 May
2014 and headed out in the dark past Shelter Island. Once
past Clearwater Bay and through a couple of showers, the
24 Hebe jebes • NOV/DEC 2014
clouds cleared away and we had great visibility. Coming out of
the harbour at this time were the various casino ships lit up like
Christmas trees heading out to mainland waters and away from
Hong Kong jurisdiction. We cruised at about 11 knots and arrived
at the Limas by 1:00am. There we had a short stop and then
about 3:00am we cruised through the channel by Erzhou Island,
Lemas and took a south-easterly course for the blue water. At
6.00am, Andy prepared the rods and placed out six lines towing
rubber lures known in the angling business as ‘jellies’.
For those concerned about the technical details, each rod
was 6ft long with a large multiplier fishing reel attached. The
line was monofilament with a breaking strain of 40–50 pounds
and attached to the line was a 20ft leader or trace made of
100-pound line, which finished at the lure. Each reel carried
500–600 metres of line so that, in the case of a large aggressive
fish such as a Wahoo or Marlin, a large amount of line can be
pulled off the reel by the fish when it is hooked. Andy placed two
lines so that they towed at 100 metres, two at 50 metres and two
at 25 metres so as to optimise our coverage and we cruised at
about 8 knots with the lures about 2ft below the surface.
Due to the fact that I am an angling fanatic, I stayed down by the
rods once the lines were out, as I didn’t want to miss a take. This
is difficult when you have been up all night and I drifted in and
out of consciousness as I sat at the back of the boat. The others
stayed at the top deck and took things easy on the nice seats
watching the longest lines for any sign. The water stayed brown
and then green and it was not until we were about 35 miles out
that it changed to clear blue with greater visibility.
Predatory fish such as dorado, wahoo and tuna like to patrol
around features such as weed or flotsam and at around 8.30am,
once we had found blue water, I saw a spurt of white foam erupt
from the area of the mid-range lures when a fish shot across our
wake. I shouted to alert Andy who was stood next to me and we
started to watch the water behind us. I saw a weed patch pass
us and then, as if a switch had been pressed, four reels started
to scream as line was pulled off the