I could tell you all that we have been so busy fishing, that I have
not had time to update the web site or do a fishing report. Truth of
it is, I have just been a bit "slapgat". (Slack arsed for those of you
who don't understand the mother tongue). I have finally decided that
the physical act of fishing is far, far better than sitting in front
of a computer and writing about it. Which brings me to a point, the
multitude of fishing web sites, blogs(whatever they are, still not
sure how the stuff works) and chat groups. It would seem that the
electronic age has well and truly made itself felt in the fishing
game. Gone are the days of a school of fish arriving at a place (any
place) and being caught there for a week or two by a few fishermen
that were fortunate enough to find them and catch them. Usually whilst
the rest of the fishing community were oblivious to their presence. In
these instances, the bulk of the fishermen out there only found out
about the presence of these fish a few weeks after they had made their
departure. Not so anymore. Now the news of these shoals of fish flies
out over the wired and wireless networks as fast as the electrons can
get to their intended destinations. One galjoen gets caught at Die
Damme and next day fifty thousand anglers know about it. This in
itself is not a problem, but when news of the white steenbras biting
at Melkbos or the belman at Broken Road gets out, the hordes of
anglers that converge on these spots is something to behold. At times
like these I am really glad I'm not a fish. Where am I going with
this? I am not sure really, but one thing is for sure, the less fish
we have in the sea, the more hell-bent we become on catching them, and
the more lethal our methods of doing so become. I appreciate that
anglers all over the world enjoy sharing their stories and
experiences. I am one of them, and though this may seem a case of pot
calling kettle black, (charter and commercial fishing is my business)
I strongly believe that we must be aware of how good we have become at
catching, hopefully not always killing, our finned friends from the
depths. And so I guess, the electronic communication network that has
become so much a part of our day to day lives, is yet another means of
making our fish catching endeavours so much more effective. Now for my
real point..........this is a fishing report, but because I was
"slapgat", it is old news and I suspect not one single fish will get
caught because of it! It is simply a report of some fish that WERE
caught, some nice big ones too.
OFFSHORE
People have been asking me how the tuna season went and my reply has
been "Oh, we have had a good one." Yesterday I still though so. This
morning I looked at my catch statistics and now I'm not so sure. Since
2006, our catches have declined every year. This year was marginally
lower that last year, but I had 20 percent more sea days. Meaning that
our average catch per trip was substantially lower than last year.
This pattern that has developed is a bit worrying, but how much to
worry, I do not know. Notwithstanding these statistics, we still had a
good season. We caught yellowfin and longfin in April, May and even in
mid-June we still had a few fish in 16 degree water. Some classy ones
too. We regularly had fish of 90kg plus and one or two may have
touched 100.
No doubt, the fish of the year, and for Okkie Vermeulen the fish of
his life, was the 135kg southern bluefin (we think) caught during the
Gordons Bay Offshore Classic 2010. The competition was a blowout
again, but for one fishing day. On the one day we did fish, Okkie
landed the biggest tuna caught off our coast for many years. Talk
about catching the right fish at the right time. Well done to him and
the crew of Magoofter. How did we do in the competition? The less said
about that the better. We did win the prize for the biggest longfin of
the tournament, but that's about it.
One thing that really did stand out, was the fair weather we had when
we did get to sea. The sea was either unplayable, or very benign. Few
days were the typical bump and fall around kind of seas we normally
venture out in. Now it is end June and the water is probably under 16
degrees out there and as far as I know, the fish have moved off. I do
not know of anyone who has been out there in the last week or two. It
is time to service and mothball boats and tackle and wait for October.
Wonder what next season holds in store for us?
INSHORE AND FALSE BAY
Cape Point has continued to be busy and in the last couple of weeks
the snoek have been plentiful. The crocodiles have been around
Southwest reefs, Bellows and Rocky Bank. Yellowtail have been active
and some good catches made, but it has been sporadic. In typical
yellowtail fashion, one day the anglers get them on an array of
methods and tackle, next day they are nowhere to be seen. Somehow I
have chosen the days when they are nowhere to be seen.
GABON
As many of you know, I will be on my way to Gabon next week (30
June). I will be working with the Gabon National Parks to combat
illegal fishing in their marine reserves. Hopefully I will have time
to sample some of the legendary fishing that is to be had in the
estuaries and the sea. Kingfish, tarpon, cubera snapper, threadfin and
whatever else hangs around there will be on my list of must haves.
Things are apparently quite primitive in the jungle, but we will have
satellite comms and internet. To this end, I have created an extra web
page on my site. You can get there by going to this url:
www.southseasafaris.co.za/Gabon.html
Currently I have only put up the web address of the reserves I will be working at and I
really do not know much about the whole setup, but it looks awesome! I
will try to put up pictures and stories as they occur.
That is about all we've got this time around. I will be escaping for
a few months and will see you all on the other side of the miserable
Cape winter.
Till next time, tight lines and good fishing.
Regards - The SSS team.
