Vagabonds on the Skeleton Coast

[Vagabond]

Vagabonds on the Skeleton Coast

 

Two days fishing booked – the first was with Terence of "Mola mola" tours (that's the scientific name of the Ocean Sunfish)

 

It started with a 20-mile drive southward from Walvis Bay - down the beach, then into the sand dunes. "We are looking for a lagoon where the baitfish are driven in and trapped by the predators" said Terence. Sounded a good place! However, several kilometres short of our target we found the track eroded away by the last spring tide. An attempt to drive inland and around it was baulked by some large and very steep-faced dunes – in the hollows between these giant dunes were the remains of vehicles that had tried and failed to get through! It looked like the sandpit that Jabba the Hutt used to lower his prisoners into in one of the "Star Wars" series.

 

We eventually decided to try our luck just short of the erosion, where there was a gulley that Terence thought would hold a few bream. He was right – we got about a dozen fish. Two species - Westcoast Steenbras,

 

 

and "Blacktail" (White Bream).

 

 

Now there was a mad sprint to return the 20 miles across the sand to Walvis Bay, drive another 20 miles north to Swakopmund, then another ten miles north along the beach. We were told to eat our lunch as Terence drove! Lots of driving so far, not a lot of fishing, but we had faith in Terence, who was obviously looking for the signs that 18 years as a guide had taught him to look for.

 

We eventually stopped at one gulley that looked the same as any one of a score of other gulleys, but Terence meant business here, and started chopping steenbras into the surf. He also pegged a large net bag in the surf, containg something extremely whiffy he produced from a coolbox.

 

Out went half a steenbras on a large hook and wire trace.

 

We waited.

 

…and waited.

 

…and in just half an hour the line started to pull seaward.

 

"Lean into him" said Terence.

 

I did.

 

Something out there was moving steadily but inexorably towards Brazil.

 

"Let him run" said Terence.

 

I did. (No choice really, this fish was gonna run, whatever)

 

After a while the run stopped, with about three-hundred yards gone.

 

 

"Pump, then wind, then pump and wind again" said Terence.

 

I did, and got about a hundred yards back.

 

The fish didn't like it.

 

"Let him run" said Terence.

 

I did (Hobsons choice again)

 

After another three-hundred yard run, the fish stopped.

 

"Pump and wind – let him run – pump and wind – let him run."

 

This pattern was repeated, time and again over the next half-hour, then I seemed to be winning.

 

" I can see him – fifth breaker out" said Terence.

 

Fifth breaker out? That's bloody miles !

 

By now the strain was telling. Anyone (like Chappers and Chevin) who has played a big fish from a boat with a stand-up stick of about seven feet will know what that feels like. I was using a 14 ft beach caster, standing in soft sand, and with the reel in the unfamiliar (to me) South African position near the butt.

 

The leverage of 14 ft the fish could exert on the angler was frightful, I started doing physics equations re the Law of Moments in my head. Discouraging answers!

 

"Pump and wind" said Terence.

 

My arms ached, my legs ached, my back screamed for mercy. The sun seared from above, and the reflection off the white sand seared from below.

 

"Dunno how much more of this I can take" I muttered.

 

"Rubbish, you're doing fine" said Norma.

 

My left hand cramped – like that of Santiago el Campione in "The Old Man and the Sea"

 

Unlike Santiago I had no raw bonito "to chew and thus nourish the hand" but Norma had the water canteen, and fed me a few sips of water.

 

My hand eventually uncramped.

 

"Three breakers out" said Terence "Tighten the drag a bit"

 

I'm winning!

 

No I'm not, against the tightened drag the fish made its longest run yet - all of five-hundred yards.

 

I could see the backing.

 

"Do people often get cleaned up?" (ie run out of line) I asked

 

"Oh yes" said Terence.

 

"That's gonna be me" I thought.

 

The fish stopped.

 

"Back up" suggested Terence.

 

More water, and a puff of nitroglycerine from my emergency inhaler.

 

I backed up (Chevin will remember this technique for keeping a fish head-to-beach from our cod-fishing days in the 1960s)

 

 

I kept backing up, as any attempt to wind just had the fish getting its head back out to sea. I must have backed up nigh on four hundred yards. Terence would not have approved, but I had a thumb on the spool to increase the drag and keep the fish coming (dangerous, but after 67 years fishing I do have an educated thumb)

 

Norma came back with me, offering encouragment and taking pictures – you can see my "backing up" tracks in the sand, and also see, about a quarter mile away, Terence going into the surf.

 

Terence in the surf? Blimey, he must think he can reach the fish with the gaff!

 

"Get down there and take pictures" I gasped.

 

Down the beach went Norma.

 

Yes, Terence had it on the gaff.

 

 

I staggered down the beach, reeling in as I went.

 

"Help me pull it ashore" said Terence

 

I tried.

 

"Are you pulling?" asked Terence.

 

"Er yes," I said

 

"No I'm not really" I thought " I'm just about knackered"

 

But we got it ashore.

 

 

 

Just over nine feet long, Bronze Whaler Shark, Terence's estimate – between 280 and 300 pounds. Tagged and released.

 

Not too bad for an old boy of 74.

 

My arms, legs and back ached for two days……

 

Terence, you're a bloody genius!

 

 

 

Just as well our boat trip two days later produced nothing bigger than White Seacatfish of about a pound apiece – I couldn't have lifted anything heavier!

 

From "Seafishes of South Africa"

 

"White seacatfishes sometimes congregate in shoals and at these times it can be the curse of both shore and boat anglers as little else can be caught "

 

and so it proved, a bit of an anticlimax, but you can't win 'em all.

 

There's also a bit on tigerfishing on the Freshwater Forum for those interested.

 

Edited November 13, 2008 by Vagabond

[Deepseacodmaster]

Vagabonds on the Skeleton Coast

 

Hi Vagabond,

 

An excellent report.

Nice exciting fishing too.

Word of warning to any other readers heading out there, always do what Vagabond did.

"Hire a Guide"

 

Last time I fished there, I hired a motorbike in Walvis Bay and set up off the dunes to fish off the beach.

Somehow I entered a restricted area, was arrested on suspicion of looking for diamonds and spent three days in the local jail taking laxatives in case I had hidden any by swallowing them.

Not pleasant but another of life's experiences.

 

Keep enjoying your fishing and please keep posting your experiences.

[Leon Roskilly]

I enjoyed that Vagabond

[Norm B]

I enjoyed that Vagabond

Went with Sea Ace earlier this year, great time, looking to go with a small group, March/April to get a deal and cheaper flights, interested Leon?

[lutra]

Nice to see you used your 67 years of fishing experience well, up the beach, out of the way and let someone else jump in the sea and wrestle the shark.

 

Top stuff Dave and sounds like you had a great time.

[Leon Roskilly]

Went with Sea Ace earlier this year, great time, looking to go with a small group, March/April to get a deal and cheaper flights, interested Leon?

 

 

I don't think my pension will stretch that far Norm

[Guest tigger]

Another great thread, and what a trip !!

[mr motorola]

Absolutely brilliant report Vagabond , it had me hooked from start to finish. The aching limbs and back were more than worth it. Well done. :thumbs:

[chevin]

I have never used a rod as short as 7' for my big fish, but neither have I used a 14 footer. I can't imagine what that must be like for any length of time, I know how Waggers felt though, I was ill for three days after an epic battle and I was using an old Hardy's Side Winder No 3 on that occasion. I have caught a few bronze whalers and I have hooked them around the same size as the one pictured and I can relate to the speed and length of runs. I well remember one that I hooked in shallow water which took off at such speed there was a plume of spray coming from where the line entered the water. However, when I was fishing for those sharks my pal and I were in a 12' dingy and we never had any intention of trying to boat or beach them. I would love to have a go for them where Waggers was fishing for them, but I think that I would prefer to use one of my own rods on which the reel is seated about 30" up from the butt. As far as I am concerned it makes both fighting fish and casting much easier, though you have to be very careful where the butt goes if the fish makes a sudden hard run.

 

Ah, yes, I remember the "Backing up" process from the Dungy days and I remember the instant expert we saw after Waggers had explained the process to him. However, that is Wagger's story, I will leave it to him to relate.

 

Hmmm, since I wrote this I have measured up my Sidewinder rod, and it is indeed 7' long. I guess that I was confusing myself thinking of the rods I use when fishing from boats with outboards. I use nine footers so it is a bit easier to push the fish away from the motor/s should they go round the boat.

Edited November 15, 2008 by chevin

[Norm B]

I don't think my pension will stretch that far Norm

What, you mean you don't have a stash under the mattress!