NAMIBIA IS BACK WITH A BANG !

[dale]

don't know how you put a weight on that.

 

i know terrance and if he says 200+ kg then i have no reason to doubt him as he is a straight as the day is long.

+

its at least double the size of my approx 200lb fish.

 

just wish i had caught it

[happypiker]

I have fished twice with Seaace, first time with Rudi and caught numerous bronzies and on occasion had another tour company fishing alongside us and at the time time Rudi used to weigh them on a sling and winch set up, spot on accuracy. he also took size into account to test the theory of measurement as well as weighing. The guests of the other tour company quite often came over for a chat and through these chats they commented/guessed on the size of the fish we were catching and were often way out, stating that they were of comparable size to the dimensions of fish they had caught. When they actually saw the fish weighed they were confused as to the reasons why their fish was estimated as being heavier yet seemed to be comparable to ours?

This happened on several occasions, and the other fishermen came over more and more often just to get a feel of how the measured fish balanced off against the weighed fish and quite often felt agrieved that they were not being told the truth, more like they were being fed false info to make them think they were catching better fish than they actually were.

The second time i fished with seaace was this year and although we never met any other tour companies the word on the beach was that they were still over estimating fish sizes to make their customers think they were catching bigger fish than they actually were, not fair on the customers who think they are catching fish of a lifetime when in fact they were catching good but over estimated fish.

I shall be returning to fish in Namibia in 2 years time with the same tour company that i have been with previously and feel that they are completely honest in their appraisal of fish sizes/estimates.

They are always courteous, helpful and above all, they will fish all day long, dawn till dusk which is exactly how i like it, hardcore sharking at its best, unlike their competitors who do the 9 till 5 routine, happypiker.

[dale]

i don't disagree with your assumption some tour operators over estimate as do a lot of charter skippers over the world. its an entirely acceptable behaviour as far as i'm concerned as long as the fish goes back alive, in the end who really cares.

 

as for terence when i have been across the hours are down to the clients. most people are on holiday and 9-5 suits them as they can still enjoy the nightlife and don't have an early rise the next day. horses for courses.

we did fish long days last time over some 15-16 hrs long but that is for the pure nutters amongst us, that added to 100's of miles to get to a spot.

 

as for fish weight Terence knew i wanted a fish over 200lbs to beat my best in the UK and despite catching a reasonable shark he didn't succumb and it fell short of the double ton.

 

we can only put down our own experiences and i believe there are a number of anglers on here who have used Terence and most wouldn't question his honesty in weights, neither would most of his countrymen who have the utmost respect for the guy.

[raptor1]

Well Gentlemen as the original author of the story am amazed that this has come back in the spotlight again.Mainly thanks to our new Namibian friends comments,so I will try to set the record straight as I have done on another popular forum our friend also contributed the same comments too.

 

I am not a professional writer/agent for anyone, and told the story for the benefit of all as I saw it,as I was there to witness the fish.As I said I actually hooked the Big Bronzie and gave it to the two ladies to fight,which in all honesty will never get over,not knowing it would turn out such a fabulous specimen of a lifetime.

 

I never checked or editted my story at the time and wrote the incorrect size,so will now set the record straight.The fish was measured accurately,nose to base of at 2.42m,and had a tailfin about another metre long on top of that.I have spent 70 days fishing on the Namibian coastline in three years(700 hours approx) and caught and lost a whole load of Bronzies.I have seen caught inwith my parties fish of 140kg and 150kg,have a personal best accurately weighed fish by Rudi Whitulski of Sea Ace, at 119kg that took me three and half hours to beat. I fish and cast with my own tackle and traces for Bronzies and like to think I know what Im about.Terence Clark is as honest as they come when he estimates a Bronzies size,I must have witnessed around 500 Bronzies landed inwith my time there.That fish the pictures dont do it justice,its girth was immence,it was thick and big all over,took five big men to just about pull back into the water,you could not lift it.The fish was Big,VERY BIG, and it was 200kgs in my humble opinion,it was twice as big as my PB 119kg,I ve seen a lot of very big fish out there in my time,and it was way bigger than even the 150kg my mate had two years ago.Terence Clark has seen it all before,1000's of Bronzies,and the man was excited to say the least,he was dragging me down the beach to have a look.You ll never see a fish like it again were his words.He had never seen a fish like it he said and he has a accurately weighed PB Bronzie of 170kg.

 

Ninety minutes to beach,who knows it was a heavy pregnant female,all women sprint around at nine months dont they not.It just fought sluggish one long run and then wallowed at 500 plus metres out.Then came in relatively easy compared to some.Longstrand the fishing mark,has no big surf and no strong currents to compete against

 

So the record is set straight, some people will always beg to differ on size, I was there and believe that the estimated size to be good, honest and its was I believe a 200kg Bronze Whaler.

 

regards Davey. Raptor 1

[Terence Clark]

ORI_Forum.doc

[Norm B]

ORI_Forum.doc

Thanks for that, very interesting, I assume it will work on tope too.

[Fin-S]

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QUOTE(Norm B @ Aug 6 2007, 10:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that, very interesting, I assume it will work on tope too.

Yes Norm it does. Log on to the site, select fish weights and then select soupfin shark / vaalhaai (local name for tope).

It would be interesting to check the stats compared to some of Ian Burrett's fish, length for length to see the variations northern vs southern.

[Terence Clark]

ORI_Forum.doc

Hope can provide some clarity on estimated weights as mentioned on some of the threads.

The reason estimate weights is that according to Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI) in Durban,RSA it damages a sharks internal organs when it is lifted up and weighed.

When say estimate it is not a thumb suck figure but based on the length of a shark from tip of nose to pre-cordial tail notch(excludes tail) and a conversion scale supplied by ORI.

This scale is available on their website www.ORI.ORG.ZA

This conversion scale is accurate enough to be used during all shore angling tournaments,local and international instead of weighing fish in order to reduce stress and injuries to fish.

Personally have tested the conversion scale and actual weighing of fish over many years and found it to be pretty accurate with only a disparity of about 5% with big pregnant female sharks.

 

So if you doubt your guides estimates get the tag length info and got to ORI website and select “fish weight caculater” select species,sex and enter tag length(mm).Will provide you with accurate weight.

 

As for the records the old RSA record of 192kg which was caught in Namibia, has become absolute due to change in competition rules regarding line diameter in 1994.

Under new system are restricted to max. .60mm diameter mono and 9 metre length of leader,for competition and record purposes.

Thus the current Namibian record is 176kg is held by a 15 year old junior angler.

 

Most guides also use heavier tackle,larger reels enabling clients to land bigger fish and shortening the fight duration to ensure a successful tag and release.

 

Happy to answer any requests via e-mail as unfortunately can not check all the forums regulary as out fishing/guiding from dawn to dusk.

Cheers

Terence