Shelly Beach lies about 150km’s south of Durban. We’d flown via Amsterdam to Johannesburg before a connecting flight to Durban after visiting my cousin and her family up north. As we flew in to Durban I took note of the white water at the coastline, the surf was up and was predicted to remain like that for a few days. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Still, we were here now! Both boats were chartered for the next two days so we couldn’t get on but we still made early starts to watch the launching. The view from my Aunt’s flat allowing us to check conditions before getting dressed:
The two charter boats are Sensational 2 and Big Blue. Both are catamarans, the former with twin 115hp outboards and the latter with twin 200 V6’s. The power is required for the type of launches they do here.
Big Blue:
Launching:
Heading out:
Not really for the faint hearted! Coming home involves a run up the beach:
A few fish had been caught and I took the opportunity to have a look at what they’d been feasting on. The first had a Triggerfish:
The second had a collection of triggers, puffers and unicorn fish:
We had fresh, home made sushi / sashimi that night with some of the tuna that had come in ;D
A couple of days later though it was our turn to go out and we awoke (at 4:30am) to a beautiful sunrise.
We launched and headed out the 7kms to Protea Reef. Trolling 4 rods from the back and two outriggers hopes were up for a possible marlin as one had been hooked a few days prior but we weren’t to see them this time. Instead the reels screamed out with something else. James went first:
Lift and wind…you can’t mess about as the sharks will take the fish if you do. The result? The first Yellowfin Tuna of the day.
The next time it was my turn:
I followed this with a Kawa Kawa
After a while we started bottom fishing and John, a Zulu, was first in with a beautiful Englishman – so called because they are red and stripy, like a sunburnt Englishman!
I like meeting my compatriots of course so swiftly followed suit:
Still, with the chance of Marlin about we rigged a Kawa Kawa with a bridle and sent it over the side.
It took only a few minutes when we had a fish on…James took the rod:
Off it went, stripping line and then it went slack. James wound in and if you look in his hand you’ll see the remaining half of the hook…I think he was pleased as the first few minutes of a big shark is more than enough for many!
Back out the next day we hoped for some more of the same.
Heading out to the reef before trolling:
The fish were on in minutes:
Skipjack Tuna:
Yellowfin Tuna:
Frigate Tuna:
A nice hectic day:
With plenty of rod-bending action:
The one day we had bad luck on the bottom fishing front. We tried four or five spots but every time things went wrong. The first one or two fish were brought up but then it was a case of get the bite, wind the fish on then wind like mad for the surface…things seem to be going well and then bang! The handle stops solid and you hang on, a couple of thumps are felt maybe and then the rod arches over, pulling your arms with great force…the Scarborough gets put under the kind of pressure that if you release the handle and you hit anything it hurts – I had a bruised hand for 4 days the only time I let it slip – then the line goes slack and a new trace has to go on. They call sharks the Taxman. I did get one on for a few minutes that pulled, shook, moved around and had me holding on and unable to do anything else for a few minutes…then, as I started to gain the upper hand (presumably temporarily) it pulled again and things went slack…the line was clear of the teeth, the hook was in but then it just bent out of shape and it was off…3/0’s are not designed for big sharks! Minutes later a fish was nipped off another angler’s rod and he wound the remaining one up at full speed – two Zambezi sharks passed under the back of the boat, missing the fish, in full view. Estimated to be around 300kgs each and the size of a car! But they were too clever to take a bait on the heavy gear.
In total we went out five times and the fishing was pretty much the same -trolling for game fish or bottom fishing with Scarborough centrepins. Sometimes with charters and sometimes not, fishing on both boats. I can’t separate the various days now so here it gets general with a mix of photographs from the boat:
Another Yellowfin:
Our best ones, both around 14kgs:
What happens when you reel in too slowly:
Winding up some fish:
Another Englishman:
A double shot of 2kg Slinger
A lovely pair (Englishmen):
Another nice pair (Slinger)
And a Kawa Kawa destined for a livebait:
And now a round up of species caught bottom fishing ob various days:
Scavenger
Sand Soldier
Saddleback Hogfish
Englishman
Slinger
Stanley
Dane
Halfmoon Rockcod
German (presumably good in a tank ;D )
Soldier
Comber
And then, as is my way, I had to go after the tiddlers. The rock pools at low tide provided some fun when it was too rough/windy to launch:
I couldn’t tempt any lionfish even though I could see them but I did manage:
Blacktail
Natal Stumpnose
Sergeant Major
My old mate the humble Goby
Spot Damsel
Rockskipper
(Abudefduf Lacrymatus?)
It’s a pity I didn’t have a wire trace and larger hook though as I could have hoiked out a Moray Eel or two as well:
But fishing wasn’t the only thing I got up to. A quick look in a freezer at the Margate office of the Natal Sharks Board revealed, amongst other species, a 3-4 metre Great White:
While a common garden weed attracted our attention:
Lovely leaves these, but people do seem to cut them down quickly for some reason.
The wildlife was interesting too. Spotted Raggedtooth (from an aquarium visit)
Green Mamba (from the side of the road)
Effing Great Spider (from the restaurant)
Kingfisher (from the side of a bridge…compact camera through binoculars)
Warthogs (sleeping in a cubicle in the gents)
Nah, seriously Kwazulu Natal is a great place to hang out
With friendly locals
And you can’t beat the homemade, very fresh Sushi…
So that’s about it. No great detail because it was fishing overload and I’m still tired but a general round up of an excellent holiday…21 species from grammes to double figures in kilograms…but the best way to get an idea of the fishing in this instance is not through a write-up but through the following composite video, brought to you courtesy of my trusty compact:
