365 days of fishing

Enough for a serious feast.

12 chokka, bout time really given all the effort. Quota is 20, so 8 more to go.

Finished work a bit early, the wind did not seem too bad, the sky blue, and the year drawing to a close, all allowing Chris, his son Stiaan and myself to head off to simonstown, on kayaks. Launched a Long Beach, just push in the water and climb in, seeriously the easiest launch site i know of. The only down side, is given no wave action and less wind, the sand is mighty fine and can get in everywhere if you are not careful.

Once out in the water the wind doesn’t seem so gentle after all, head for the lee of the bay and the protection of the Yach Basin, but am still getting blown around a bit, with the sharp strong gusts of wind, my anchor was not enough to hold the two kayaks, even though it has chain and the works. Eventually Chriss had to tie up to a a spare yacht buoy. No joy, on either the Maasbanker or the squid jigs.

Moved to deeper water and after only about 10 minutes my rod goes heavy and the action was on for a crazy 20 minutes during which time we Stiaan and me managed 14 chokka between us.  Poor Chris couldn’t get one even though he was only 10 m away. The ten metre rule again.

The squid really took a shine to my silver lead jig, most caught on it and only a few on the green or the pink one. Unfortunately didn’t stay around until sunset as the wind came up a bit and the Grobelaars were woefully unprepared for the temperature on the water.  In shorts and short T’s they froze their butts off. Me i’m snug as a bug in a rug, well almost. Packed it in and zig zagged back to the beach.

Tried Berthas Pier after they left, the evening turned perfect, the wind died and the colors came out to play, got nothing on the pier, maybe a bit early, well at least i can check that venue off from the spots list. I was very tempted to go back into the bay, but lacking help with the kayak, and already feeling the strain from the earlier ride, called it a day. hurried home happy with fish, and promptly fried them in garlic butter, accompanied by green beans, boiled potato with butter, an omlette, and beyerskloof pinotage, mmmmmmmmmm

yummy, you ain’t tasted squid till you’ve had it fresh.

Woke up feeling rotten, the wedding and the few glasses of rather good red wine really wasted me. No chance of all of getting up early, although it did feel rather good to watch Wilma creep off to work whilst i was the one smiling up from the duvet. Makes a change doesn’t it.

Couldn’t sleep much past 9, and remembered from my failed attempt to gather mussels the other day that the tide should be just about right about 10. And it was. About 2 hours ebbing and mussels aplenty. Down to strandfontein, did the wiggle, did the push heel-two hole search found them all, maybe the tide was a little high, but then got my quota in about an hour. Now to catch a Stumpnose?

Well not now but later, now Joshua coming over for some Sunday mayhem with dad. LeeAnn was having a Potjiekos competition at the Simonstown yacht club, good fishing for Joshua, and beer for dad, a hair of the dog desperately needed. Great place for kids and dads then.  Got there set up fishing off the end of the pier, small bites every now and then but nothing that we wanted. Josh cast over this beautiful Catamaran getting the line and the redbait caught on the wires, this caused a bit of a reaction in dad i am afraid, i mean, there is the whole sea and he has to cast over the bloody boat. Live and learn.

After two patience testing episodes, i retired to watch the food,  and drink another beer, hangover clearing now. The food helped as well, delicious flavours from several different pots. Even the winning pot of seagull tasted amazing, despite the appearance which  was dark black due a surfeit of red wine.

As i am sitting there pondering on the meaning of it all, a voice behind me says ” are you that little boys dad?” ,

Now it could be any boy, but i know instinctively that it is mine, rush over to find a small crowd and Josh shouting.  ” i caught a shark, i caught a shark!!!”

Little blighter had, turns out actually he had caught a small rockfish, which he was messing around with in the shallows when this dog shark came and munched the rock fish. Cool Josh’s first live bait experience and proof that those little pests could serve as valuable bait. Got to give it a go next time, maybe they are the secret ingredient in catching Kob.

Hey my little fisherman/menace

After all these years of Josh waking up before me, and wandering in to say ” Dad, dad, dad, I’m hungry and thirsty”

I finally got my own back, got out of be about 4:45 am and wandered through to say ” Josh, josh, joshua wake up”

He wakes up looks puzzled and says ” I’m hungry. ”

Well i was sorted for that one we had a great Lazy Dads breakfast of custard and malva pudding left over from Wilmas’  birthday. Of which he ate most of the custard, and i finished off the pudding. Packed the car defrosted some sardines and off to St James we went.

where did he go?

Oh there he is!

To find Bobby the fisherman already with his first cast in the water. Man, i may be obsessed about fishing but i am definitely not alone. bobby is a seriously good fisherman with years of saltwater behind him, he operates with a hyper efficiency, not wasting precious time by the water as he says. Whilst his bait is in the water he puts on new bait on to a second trace and when he reels in, cuts the old trace and ties the new one on, less time to tie a knot than to tie on a fresh bait. His baits are small, with two no 1 hooks, the one tied on the tag end of the other. He also doesn’t fish with much flotation, just a small yellow float above the bait.

Well i get everything slowly together, still haven’t managed to tie traces at home, one day, one day. First cast is a big fluffy overwind from hell, that takes me 30 minutes of picking before even Bobby gets frustrated and says to hand the rod over and her proceeds to finish the ubtangle in 5 minutes, well i suppose i loosened it.

He then looks at my bait and decided my hooks are too big so ties on smaller ones and puts on his version of a sardine fillet.  Whilst he is doing that he gets a big pull and casually fights and retrieves a beautiful, about 3 kg kob, with a brilliant pink shining back.

For me i have a few bites but nothing actually takes the bait and pulls down. Josh in the meantime is proving to be equally a menace and a joy. His little rod is set up and cast in but he too gets nothing but small bites. Bobby left about 8, and we hung around until ten with not a single fish to show for our early morning troubles.

The water has gone remarkably clear, with a north wind behind us and a glassy swell breaking in front of us.  Some Elf in the water but small ones stealing the bait and large balls of Mullet swimming past as huge brown shadows with silver edges.

Well that is the fishing for today as i have  a wedding to go tonight, so for the first time in a long time the fish will be safe from me tonight, but then again with my skill they will always be safe from me.

After the exceptional bout of wind, blowing all the lovely warm water and the bait fish into our side of the bay, once again i left with high expectation, waking up good and early, leaving the laptop at home in order to park and fish at St James.

Mark already there, obviously up earlier, water looking perfect, warm with colour and very little swell. Too hasty in wanting to get into the water, and forgot to tie a knot onto the sinker leader. After 15 minutes in the water, nibble, nibble then thump, big thump and my rod is vibrating with something huge on the end. Adrenaline pumping as i reel in and all of a sardine it is not coming closer any more, stuck, …………, swear word, swear word, still feel the pulsing of the giant but it ain’t going anywhere, give slack but it doesn’t help. More swear words. Painful lesson in over-hastyness, eventually straight stick but lose the whole trace. There goes my personal best of something or other.

7 am comes too quickly and i owe, i owe so its off to work I go. Fishless.

Day comes and goes, off to pick up Josh and then it is a quick trip to Neil in Ottery to get some Grapnel sinkers, he sells the torpedoes with the plastic grips that i prefer as they will grip even after you have moved them. He sells them a t R1 an oz so a 6 oz ( 170gm) costs R6 , certainly the cheapest sinkers i have found. Well not as cheap as making them yourself but certainly save time.

!5 sinkers bought off home for a quick nap, and then to Kalk bay for the usual Massbanker hunt. Wind hectic and sea over far wall, so ended up on the green side with quite a few other dude including Yusuf again, having a go for Kob, no luck with Maasbankers but a mammoth shoal of mullet swam into the harbour and managed to foul hook a couple which got turned into bait with unfortunately no success.  Got a bit cold and dark and fishless for Josh who likes more action, can’t say i blame him.

Score for the day 2 harders 15 cm.  Time = 4 hours.

Thanks for allowing me the space and the time to fish as much as I do, thanks for helping me out in all those ways that make me able to live my dream. Love you darling.

Right now back to the fish. With all the beautiful wind we have been having recently there must be tons of warm waater pushed up against my side of false bay, conditions looked perfect for this morning, wind had dropped enough to make fishing an actual possibility without behaving like a kite. As Wilmas birthday in the evening had to wake up early thismorning and actually was out of bed before 5 and at the harbour wall by 5:10.

Was really excited about the morning mission, conditions were just screaming fish, so excited that actually i had great difficulty sleeping, going over in my mind all the exciting fishy battles i would be having this morning. Sure i got a couple of zzz’s, but still felt completely bombed the rest of the day.

Hit the wall just as the sun was peeping over, sat and watched for a while to check the water, to make sure it was safe, couple of guys already out on the end, dressed in jeans the one, so assumed that it would not be too hectic on the red side. Indeed the water was also just peeping over, although every now and then a good wave would wash the harbour wall  clean, just make sure your bait box and everything is on the little ledge around the lighthouse otherwise it is going down.

Yusuf and another regular were two of the fellows on the end. I met Yusuf fishing on the pier last year, real genuine guy and always ready to help me out with some tips on bait to casting to where good spots are. They hadn’t landed anything but a small barbel, so rigged up and cast out with high expectations, i think we all had high hopes, but unfortunately they remained just that, hopes. Loads of strepies in the water that are absolutely brilliant at completely cleaning the hook of anything, leaving you with  shining  silver and the fresh white of the foam float.

Still the logic goes that if there are bait fish in the water then there surely must be bigger fish after them. That logic didn’t hold out today however. One of the guys tried one of the strepies as live bait with no success. I keep wondering if just maybe the fish are not on the bottom where our bait is but higher up in the water column. Took my spinning rod to give that a try, but conditions just too hectic for me to fish with two rods on the pier.

AND THEN, you are not going to believe this but at least there are witnesses, I hooked a whale. Yip a mother of a moving bus that just slowly pulled my line and my rod down to the horizon  leaving me frantically wondering just what on earth i should do, luckily my sleepy brain worked well and i just wrapped the line around the base of the rod and straight sticked it, the line just parted as if was cotton, most unique experience i have ever had.

There were a pod of three whales just out beyond the wall, didn’t think much of them just appreciated them, but then the younger one decided to swim closer to the wall tangling two of our lines, the other guy got his back after a brief pull, but mine just went heading to the deep ocean.

Note for all you bunny huggers, in no way, shape or form did I try to actually target or cast near the whale, they have never come that close before or tangled in my line before. It  was just one of those freak ocean meetings. But hell as a fisherman i can really appreciate the feeling of such an enormous fish, and allow myself the pleasure of dreaming for a few seconds that the fight is anything but one sided.

7 o-clock came and i went.

Not one of those good days, not one of those bad days one of those frustrating yet interesting learning days, no fish of the right kind,sort of days. A one barbel day.

Wind still howling, but headed off to St James to take advantage of the contour effect, waves were large and pounding, hard to imagine Kob lazily swimming around in the maelstrom of wind urged foamies.

Mark was at the spot, as well as his buddy Steve, didn’t recognise him at first as he was wearing a blue jacket, he has more than one fishing jacket so confusing. He had a couple of fish already, and Steve had lost a big one and was understandably bitter about it, it is an exacting place to bring the fish in, reef and rocks and kelp abound.

Baited up and both of the guys looked at my bait in amazement, one huge almost whole sardine of a distinct blobbyness. This had the effect of getting them to put the bait on for me in the hope that i will finally put a bait on that looks decent.

Mark also was casting for me, huge distances that beggar belief, one day, one day, i too will get that distance. The thing is that they make it look so effortless, just a side swipe and the bait is off to the horizon. So i had my bait added on and then cast for me, all i had to do was stand there and reel in the huge kob, which unfortunately did not happen. Mark caught another one, and a large Barbel, whilst a few bites were all i have to report. After the guys left just after sunset, I managed a small barbel, yay.

After the strange snapping of the steel yesterday, i was keen to revisit the scene to see what exactly is swimming along the beach. I got all motivated and tied on a shock leader of 27 kg maxima ultragreen using and Albright knot. Set up the spoon again and set off to try again.

The long casts of yesterday remained just that, casts of yesterdaqy. I was trying to cast into a force 10 gale, the spoon was almost behaving like a kite and on occasion i almost thought it would land up behind me. Kept on getting overuns, i think the knot of the leader was slowing down the line just as it ran through the eyes, even though the eyes are the newly installed 6mm ones.

No luck on the fish side either, don’t think i was getting enough distance. Didn’t have enough time to try either as after one particular heavy cast, the spoon went flying out into the distance, and i thought at last, but then realised that the spoon was not attached to the line any more. On closer inspection just the turns of the Albright were visible. seems like i need more practice with knot tying as well as casting. On the reel as well was an overwind of fluffy hell, a snip and snip birds nest.

Ohhhh Noooooooo

Walked back to the car after scarcely half an hour, i always seem to forget exactly where i park it and end up exiting the beach either ahead or behind it. As i was walking along Baden Powell  towards my car,I notice this glass truck dumping broken glass on the side of the road. Obviously the wind had resulted in a few panes being broken and they though they would offload it before the boss could find out.

As i walk past I take out the Camera and snap a few picks of the glass and the truck and the dumpers, this immediately gets them into a hectic state of agitation and incredibly angry. The one short bald guy with a especially bad attitude says to me that there are three of them and one of me, also that he is some member of a gang and they are going to get me. All the while talking Afrikaans, as if i would not understand.

No this is not a rubbish bin!

Thanks for picking it up

Anyway after the back and forth that is common to all conflict between men in all bars all over the world, they pick up the glass and drive away giving me the middle finger.

Despite the seriousness of the situation i felt remarkably relaxed as it was ruch hour and there was an endless stream of cars passing by. The short baldy also asekd me

“Wot is your problem”

I told him that i did not appreciate people dumping stuff, especially as i walk my dogs there.  He then went on to deny that they had actually dumped the stuff in the first place, this made me laugh, as not only had i see them do it, and i had photos to prove it, but he sounded just like some of the children i used to teach when faced with a transgression their immediate response was to deny everything as if they did that for long enough it would be true.

I did phone the company on my return home to tell him in a very reasonable way that i did not appreciate being threatened. He was also fair and said that he would call the offender in and give him a written warning the next day.

That was not the end of my fishing for the day, no siree, feeling very organised, got supper out for Wilma, as finally she is working, and working hard at that, fed the dogs, tied a new trace, opened a bottle of red wine, had a glass of red wine with Darling when she came home and  tidied up my fishing box a little.

Left just before 7 to fish St James for an hour, waves quite large, water quite warm and tide quite high and going out. So everything looked good, but by sunset, and dark fall, nuffing. Pack up and head off to Kalk bay to catch some fresh Maasbanker, wind pumping with a vicious fury, almost blowing me off the wall with angry gusts. One fish to call bait, which surprisingly survived the journey home and is now in the tank swimming unhappily around. Unhappily as due to careless handling and flapping around in the bait box he went and lost some mucous, no mucous = mold on the skin. A good reminder for people who are going to release their fish, handle as little as possible and make sure your hands are wet.

His fate is bait.

Have been meaning to get some good casting practice, found myself a good 6 oz spoon, tied it on my assassin,  packed the dogs into the car and headed off to the Strandfontein to multitask. South wind had just started rolling in and the sea was looking really good.

Good looking water!

Not really expecting to catch but get some serious pendulum swinging.

Gave it good stick and was getting some excellent distance, catching the occasional piece of seaweed and the odd bag.  Occasionally the spoon would stick in something solid, release and go vas. Whilst stuck there was some movement on the end but wasn’t sure that it was life or what.  Carried on with the same strange thing happening again and again, when after a final good stuckedness, reeled in to find that the wire leader i used to attach the hook was sliced neatly in two.

This brings me to the weird conclusion that there was actually a ray or sand shark out there that was grabbing my spoon with enough power in a crunching jaw to break through the metal trace. Unfortunately i only had the one hook, so home was the option and the strange creatures of Strandfontein beach remain for another day.

Score card: one swimming crab, 3 elf, two strepies, two maasbanker, one shark and one kob.

Wow a nine fish day. Only one for the stomach, the strepies and maasbanker as bait, the elf, the crab and the shark swimming again.

Started the day a trifle late, only leaving Lakeside at 6 am on route to the Strand to visit my aging mum, driving past all the spots was sorely tempted to stop and have a few throws into the pond like water of the bay. If i had worm or prawns for bait then surely would of stopped at Mowabisi for a try for Belman. However with a great effort managed to keep to the plan and landed up at the fence at Strand about 7.

Starting at the fence.

Tide was very low, calling for a big wade, baited up with freshly defrosted sardine on both rods and cast into quite shallow water. Waited and waited some more, watched the numerous walkers , joggers and surfers, mused about how safe things were when i walked 500 m into the sea, tiring that. Met a guy who was intent on getting the fence torn down to allow access to 7 km of beach all the way up to the Denel fence, who knows what good fishing spots that will open up, untouched since the AECI dynamite factory went bust.

Denel of course don’t want the fence taken down as it does restrict access to their own munitions plant. Go here and sign the petition please. http://www.removethefence.com/about-us.php it is good to support positive civil action. Of course we will have to call the spot something else, the old fence, or maybe the exfence.

Reminds me about the fishermen i met yesterday who were bemoaning the closing down of Broken road, because apparently a car went into a hole. The council say they are going to fix it up, which means at the moment broken road is broken but will soon have to be called fixed road. Maybe not so soon given the general speed at which roads are repaired. Kalk bay main road going on for 2 years now and maybe 50 % complete.

Mentioned to the petition dude, who was very proud of his younger wife’s running abilities, that maybe i was in the wrong spot but he said that as the tide was turning things should improve.  Didn’t want to wait and moved off to where i thought Blakes was, bit of a fail as i ended up at Harmony park, just past Greenways, I had fished there once before with no sucess but thought i would give it a try, couple of fishermen all on the far reefs but i joined a helpful chap complete with balaclava behind the pool. As i got there he showed me a trace without a hook, it had just been bitten off by elf. Still out of season, but i thought maybe ther was a kob or two behind them.

I had left the big stick in the car and was fishing with the kingfisher and the Fin-Nor, hard going casting into the  south wind, but plenty of bites all over the place. The quick hard bites that signal elf, soon had one on, little thing that dropped off when i landed it.

Man i love catching those fish, they don’t mess around, as soon as your bait hits the water they are pecking at it with vigor. Landed three small one biggest 20 cm, all returned to grow bigger for next time. The rocks were treacherous behind the pool and with the tide coming in and me being late for my visit with mother, packed it in and trundled along for some welcome coffee.

Took my mum for some snoek and chips from Ooskus, not as good as Kalkies but still tasty. Sat on Clarens drive overlooking the bay and munched and chatted. Amazing place we live in. View for ever, lavender mountains and caramel blue seas.

After lunch stopped at Gordons bay harbour and went for an obligatory walk along the pier to talk to some fishermen, who smilingly said that the only fish they had was the pilchard bait. However later in the evening whilst reading Sealine read of a guy who using a spoon had landed and released 48 small elf, whilst the bait fishermen had only managed ten. Goes to show.

After Gordons bay bought the paper for mum and stopped at Harbour Island to have a go at catching whatever. Chateed to one guy there who amazingly had landed a 2 kg black tail, that is just gigantic. With a spot on its tail as big as a saucer. Great place to fish, must take Josh there as it is an ideal place to take children.

Caught two strepies there and a shark of a type that i have not seen before. Of the dog shark family, but decidedly browner. gave me a reasonable fight, and the bite was good and solid. Always exciting when your rod just bend towards the sea with the shudder of a fish.

Dropped mum off after about an hour fishing and drove back to Cape town tired but happy, decided against stopping at strandfontein as was pretty bushed having been on the go since 6.

As i was driving past Cemetery, saw a crowd of people and a fisherman with a wonderful bend in his rod. Quick turn around as i wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Something big on the end of that.

Taking a human for a walk.

The smile of a bronzy.

Roughly 170 kg of bronzy that took an hour and a half to get in. Heard an interesting story later that evening about the battle, turns out that as the struggle was progressing along the beach, most of the fisherman on the beach were decent enough to bring their lines in to allow the angler and the fish to run down the beach. One particularly obstreperous guy, who i will call the idiot,  refused to bring his line in, which one of the Shark guys then bit off, this of course made the  idiot even more stubborn and angry, and he ran to his car brought back a knife and waved it around threatening to cut the line. He eventually wanted a bribe of 200 bucks for letting the line go. Silly fool, really if another angler has a fish of a lifetime on, then surely it is more than etiquette to reel in your own line in order to give him a chance to land the fish.

Hence i say that 90 % of fishermen are the decent friendly sort, the other 10 are better off staying at home.

After watching the titanic struggle that ended well for both the fish and the fisherman. The bronzy had been previously tagged, i wendled my home tired and happy after a good day, had a cup of coffee with Wilma, and suddenly thought, hang on a moment, it is just gone sunset, and i am not on the beach. A strange vacuum of a feeling, didn’t know quite what else to do with myself. So i went fishing again, off to the pool where Mark had already caught two good Kob. Just before i had my last cast, the rod went bump and i was on, brief tussle and a brilliant 51 cm Kob was in the sack heading for the pan. Good thing i made the final effort.

As i left the mooooon just came over the clouds towards the mountains, as if in glorious benediction of my effort. 12 hours of fishing in one day.

The end of the day.

Been meaning to do this particular mission for a while. Charlotte lives in the lakes and has mentioned before that there is a problem with too many Carp, damn right, there is always a problem with the Carp, sorry Carp Lovers.

The opportunity arose on Saturday to head down to Noordhoek do some extra math teaching, and fish at the same time. Of course Josh was in on the whole deal and quite excited about the adventure. Charlotte lives right on the lakes which makes the fishing very rustig and pleasant, I mean you can sit on the verandah and hold your rod in one hand and a gin and tonic in the other. I was teaching math so no gin and tonic, but you get the picture.

The only thing wrong with the picture on Saturday was the bleeding weather, huge cold front had moved in and it kept on raining on our heads. What with Josh with a bit of a cough and the necessity of running in and out of the house, in and out of the rain, the fishing was not as focused as we would of liked. Still with absolutely no mission we caught three on mielies, lost two right at the bank and then Josh managed to land one all by himself, smart dude.

Ahh the lakes !

Hey look a carp.

Proud fisherdude

What on earth is this?

And what is that ?

Just around the other side the Carp were in a breeding frenzy, with the water constantly swirled in giant vortices by the lust crazed fish. Hooked one giant that sped away so fast that the hook popped right off the line. Bad knot.

Put one adventure on the list for a definite repeat. Came home about 3 and chilled for a bit, no really we chilled, as summer still is missing.  Took a drive along the coast in the afternoon to some of the spots stopping and talking to Fishermen. I have said this before but it bears repeating, 90 % of the guys i meet are not only friendly but more than willing to share tips and hints, suggestions of spots, bait ideas and what have you, special people these sea lovers. No one had caught much from Strandfontein to Mnandi, the water was dead flat, ideal Belman territory or maybe a Steenbras or two.

Back home and early to bed as I am planning on fishing Strand seriously for the first time tomorrow, going to visit my mum and hopefully visit a fish or two or three or four…….