Part one. Beyond the breakers.

As decided a few years ago my brother would visit me in Africa for a week each year just to catch up and spend quality time together.
This year, unlike last year, the flight from the UK to Port Elizabeth went without any delays or other unnecessary glitches.
This year we would be trying something new for Huw. A bucket list activity which I am sure is on most people’s list, especially if you are reading this. It was to have a day deep sea fishing off the coast of South Africa.
I had pre-arranged everything with the skipper of the vessel and a date had been agreed. The only thing which would stop us was the weather which I had mentioned to the skipper also.
Four of us would go down to Kenton on Sea and stay for a couple of nights and then we would head back to Graaff Reinet to continue our adventure.
Myself and a friend drove down and picked my brother up at the airport and then headed to Grahamstown (known as something else now but don’t worry about that) to pick up Will who had spent the days prior fly fishing for trout in the Winterberg area.
We then headed to our accommodation in Kenton which a good friend had opened up for us while he is away overseas for a while. Supplies had been bought and brought so we would feast on Karoo lamb and beef sausage cooked over hardwood coals for the first night and hopefully fish the second.
We planned on an early night which never happens so we would be fresh the next day but unfortunately fine wine and cognac ruined that idea.
We woke the following day, all excited but rather weary of what was to come of the day. The weather wasn’t great and from the house we could see that the sea was not as calm as we would have liked. But we had come to fish so we would fish.
We headed down to the beach where our skipper (Shane) and his daughter (Kimberly) were waiting for us with their thirty-foot vessel which would be our chariot for the next few hours.
We all climbed aboard and the boat was pushed into the sea off its trailer. The engines started and Shane told us to hold on as we would have to give it some gas to get out to the fishing area. We stealthily made our way through the reef and were soon seeing on the fish finder that we were in good spots.
The anchor was dropped and our hosts quickly got our rods ready for us. Quick instruction was given and the bait was sent to the depths of sixty meters. Almost as soon as the bait was down the rod tips started to twitch with bites from our prey. The fish started to come up, Miss Lucy’s being our main catch which gave good fights and kept the excitement going on the boat. Then a Red Roman was brought in for diversity which all enjoyed.
When it started to slow we lifted the anchor and headed to the next hot spot. To be fair, Shane knows his stuff. He put us on the money the whole morning. Kimberly, who ran around the boat sorting us out every time we reeled a fish in, was fantastic. I’ll add their contact details at the end if anyone is interested in chartering their ship for their groups.
The next spot became quite interesting as we had a couple of visitors. The first was a seal, not really what we wanted and he knew exactly what we were doing out there in his playground. The first sign he was there was when the rod bent right over and we all thought a great fish was coming in. Quite a disappointment when a brown head pops up with your fish in his mouth. The feelings you have when the group’s tenth fish is taken and played with in front of you can’t be written about. I guess we were in his office though and he was just showing us that he is brighter than we were.
All of a sudden my rod bent over and there was something big at the end of it. The first comment was, you’ve got a really good fish on there. Then the line started going out with that incredible whistle sound.
Kimberly told me to reel in when I leaned forward and let whatever was down there tire itself out. I could feel in my arms that this was something different. It took line when it wanted and didn’t seem to tire very easily. All of a sudden about twenty meters from the boat it breached. Then the excitement started. The fish was quickly identified and it was a MAKO shark. It breached again and everyone moved to the other side of the boat to give space. Plans were being discussed as to how we would get this shark aboard when all of a sudden it was gone. We were fishing with normal lines and no steel trace, his sharp teeth had cut the line. Even though we didn’t get him in it was a great experience. Maybe a bucket list for another year. We estimated it to weigh around two hundred kilograms and was about eight to ten feet long. I am convinced it was bigger as most fishermen do, but am happy with the professional opinion.
We fished for another couple of hours moving from one hot spot to the next with constant action. Final tally was forty-five fish. A great day for a group of non-fishermen.
We headed back in just before the weather turned for the worse.
Shane then told us that the day was not over. We were to go back to his house where some of our fish would be prepared for us and served with fresh salad and home baked bread.
We quickly went and changed and headed to our host’s house. The fish were already being prepared by the time we got there. A feast of our fish was brought out for us and what a treat. The perfect end to a great day and a bucket list experience which we will definitely be doing again.
If anyone is interested in going out with Shane, he’s based in Kenton on Sea and his number is +27 72 318 8134. Send him a WhatsApp as well. You definitely won’t regret it.