Sharks going wild again

This afternoon I decided to try for a shark at Mosselbay again. Arriving there I found that one of the guys already landed a baby monster of 2.46m(234kg/515 pound) All of a sudden I started getting fish fever. I baited up and started sliding my bait out into the deep blue unknown.

It was a nice and sunny day and the ocean was nice and flat with the water having just the right color for fishing. I nearly had a heart attack from a seal lying on the rocks. I did not see it and when I went to the waters edge to catch some bait fish the seal "barked" at me. Throughout the day a few guys were caught like that making for some nice laughs all around.

After about half a hour or so we saw a big shark circling on the surface and picking up one of the guys bait. But that did not last long as that shark was more or less unstopable.

Riaan(who caught the first one earlier) got hooked into a nice shark again. After about a hour and a half he landed this beauty of a Great white shark(2meters 127kg/279pound)

After a quick photo or two the majestic beast was given back it's freedom. What a nice sight to see the king of the oceans swim away into the deep slowly.

I think that is why the seal stayed on the rocks. Too much sharks around. And the scary part is that we had all our pick ups 30 to 40 meters from the rocks...Not real deep

We all had some pick ups during the day but none landed. Mine took my bait while it was still sliding down and bit of my main line again. Will I ever WIN????

There was a lot of trace and fishing tackle failures all round which made for some very colorful language. Big guys wanting to cry, Giving up hope. But fishing again tomorrow. Fishing is like a drug, you cannot give it up. Sitting in the sun next the sea, breathing fresh air and seeing beautiful animals a drug?

Then I'm a real junkie!!!

Anyway time for me to get some rest. A long hard fishing day ahead for tomorrow.

Really bad weather again

The past weekend we got hit by a BAD cold front. Icy wind, snow capped mountains and stormy rain kept me off the beach. At least I played some fishing games on my playstation. And I took the time to see if my 4 month old boy might be ready to catch his first big one.

I reckon it will still be a while before I can post his first catch on here.

I went down to Little Brak river for a short while on Saturday evening to try my luck but only the seagulls got lucky by stealing my bait. Two holidaymakers there managed to catch some shad/bluefish before the next bit of rain and strong winds arrived.

Tuesday the weather started clearing and what a beautiful sight.

Everything seems so clean and fresh after a storm. I decided to take a chance in Mosselbay but arriving there the ocean were very rough with 5meter+ swells. After about a hour I did get hooked into a huge stingray but lost it after it nearly ran all my line off my reel.

Now all I can do is get my fishing tackle sorted out and wait for the weekend. And dream of the big one that hopefully won't get away.

No luck......YET

During last week I went fishing at Little Brak river off the beach next to some rocks. The sea was very calm with some heavy weather forecasted for the next day. Just after sunset there was a rush of young shad but died down quickly. About a hour later when the moon came out the shad started biting slowly, but bigger sizes. I caught my four to use as shark bait and headed home.



Saturday at Mosselbay the fishing was slow. Not much pick ups and just a few hound sharks and a diamond stingray got landed.



Sunday was a bit better but it was all adult great whites on the bite. Too big to land. Again we had line and trace failures like mad.



This coming weekend I'll go try at Robbeberg point at PlettenbergBay. It's famous for big sharks and garricks so maybe my luck will turn. It.s just a hell of a walk to get there so I'll have to pack as light as possible. Here you can see what I mean.

Sunday. Time for a second beating

Sunday morning I decided to have a second go at the big sharks.
But like with fishing no day is the same. We had perfect weather but the pick up's were slow.
I had a good pick up later in the afternoon but it was to big to stop and it took all the line off my reel. I'm not even sure that shark knew he was hooked.

I'm planning a trip there on Wednesday again (with stronger and longer line) and are hoping that I will be able to get a big ragged tooth shark out for a nice photo.

All Sharks we catch are released and handle with as much care as possible

And all guys going for big fish, Please don't use stainless steel hooks!!! Rather use something that will rust away fast.

Getting beaten up by Great White sharks

The weekend before last was not good for fishing at all.
We had gale force winds and rain for the whole weekend.
We were brave enough on Saturday morning to brave the elements but just waisted our time. The wind nearly blew us off the rocks at Glentana and we were not even able to catch a live bait to slide.
The rest of the week we spend planning and dreaming

During last week I heard the guys are hooking into nice sharks and stingray's at Mosselbay. I decided to try my luck there this past weekend.

I arrived there on a very misty Saturday morning and heard that Freddie hooked and landed a 121kg 197cm great white shark already(new southern cape record)While I greeted the guys two off them got picked up by great whites.

Now in a hurry to get ready I quickly caught some Strepies to slide in for the sharks.
Not too long after I saw movement at my rod tip and suddenly the fight started. I was into a young great white but it bit of my leader line on the edge just before we could land it.

New bait in and about a hour later my reel started making that very familiar smile on your face noise. Shark on again. This time it was a much bigger shark and a few times it had us holding our breath as it nearly ran all the line off my reel. It took me running and falling all over the rocks trying to keep up to it and winning back some line. After a 3 hour fight it did not seem to tire at all. I wish I could say the same for me.

And then the worst happened. It pulled my line over a rock full off black mussels and it got cut off. What a disappointment.

In the time I had that one on Riaan landed another one of 196cm. And a few guys got picked up but got either broken lines, trace failures or bitten off. The bigger sharks seem to like biting through the 440lb carbon coated stainless steel wire. Maybe that is a good thing cause I reckon there is no way in hell to stop that train when it realized its hooked.

During Saturday we counted 23 hook ups of which only 2 got landed. We all headed home with broken tackle, stiff bodies and very broken ego's.