Cape Point and Cape Agulhas Fishing Report

Hey Everybody


In my last report of 14 January I mentioned that we would be heading down to Struisbaai for Feb and maybe March. Well, we are at the southernmost tip and things are looking a damn side better than they were in the Cape Point area. News from Cape Point is that the snoek are still eating their way through everything and things are very quiet in the tuna areas. Apparently even the commercial tuna boats are lying in their respective ports. I have been here for a week and even though the persistent SE winds are still pushing through, and the rest of the country is washing away, we have managed to get a couple of sea days.


Shore Angling

The biggest news I have is that of a 38kg Kob caught by our good friend and sometimes client, Brian McFarlane. He was fishing in a Boland shore angling league tournament on Saturday and decided, as did many other anglers, that Die Mond was the place to go. During the course of the afternoon, his fresh maasbanker (horse mackerel) got picked up by a really good fish that turned out to be a monster kob. The fish measured 1.68 meters long, and although they tried for over an hour to resuscitate it, the fish died and was kept. Before you all cry foul, I understand the sensitivities of keeping/killing big fish, but I know Brian and can guarantee that if he says they tried to revive it, then they really did try. I addition to this, I saw the fish later and it was really wasted away. It was extremely thin and covered with old "battle" scars. I have no doubt the fish was very old and certainly past it's prime. I mentioned to Brian that trying to revive a fish that old would have been akin to reviving an eighty year old man (sorry to all the old boys that read this) after running a marathon. It is still sad that it died, but it is better to kill a fish that can probably no longer breed than to kill some young 30kg fish that is still in its prime. No doubt about it, it is a fish of a lifetime and very few anglers have ever had the honour of catching such a specimen. To those of you who don't know, Brian is also a grand veteran! Well done old man!!


Those who head out after the galjoen, get your gear sorted, it is only another month before the season opens. There are some fish about and I tagged three on a short outing the other day. The fish were very poor condition, but that is normal for this time of the year.



Offshore
Last Wednesday was my first sea day and I was on the water at first light. After catching my quota of squid I headed off to the engine block of the Oriental Pioneer. This spot sometimes holds some really big yellowtail and some of you will remember that two years ago, Ion Williams, one of our regular charter clients, caught a yellowtail of 23kg at this spot. I had no sooner arrived than I noticed a school of yellowtail on the surface, swimming directly at me. It was a bit overcast and even with polarized lenses it was difficult to see them clearly. I sent a spinner over them and had hardly started winding when I was "vas" into a good sized 'tail. A few minutes later, the yellowtail was alongside the boat. I already had the gaff in my hand when the "yellowtail' turned out to be a leervis (garrick) of about 10kg. A quick jiggle of the spoon and the leerie was free to swim and fight another day. I looked up, and the fish were still around so I threw the spoon again and caught another one. This time it was an even better size fish of about 12kg. I released this one as well and looked around for some yellowtail but without success. By 10am I was well happy at home.

Sunday was another sea day. Off we went to the 45's on "Tyler" and to the Alphard Banks on "Met Eish". The Alphards trip was spearing trip and we bagged some really classy yellowtail up to 14kg. The water was warm but very green and unless we get some westerly winds in the next few days, I am not very hopeful for the marlin competition that starts next week.

Tyler went for red steenbras and they managed to get five reasonable fish (8 to 13kg).They also lost a really big one (usual story) but could not tell how big as they never saw the fish. They also got a few yellowtail, but none as large as the ones from the Alphards.

Next week is the much publicised Two Oceans Marlin Tournament and hopefully mr Needlenose will put in an appearance. As mentioned in the section above, we hope the blue water is not far off. The satelite pictures show good water lying down towards the 45's. All we need now is a gentle SW wind for a couple of days and I have no doubt the water will move in closer. My next update will have all the answers. For now, we hold thumbs that the weather gods are kind to us. Till next time, tight lines, fair winds and keep safe.

Cheers

Alan

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Cape Tuna Update - 21 October 2010

Hi All

As promised, here is an update on what happened in the tuna grounds this week and last. As mentioned in my last e-mail, a few fish were found in the canyon area last Thursday.

Against the weather odds, (the forecast for the whole week was lousy) the competition that was hosted by Cape Boat and Ski-boat Club actually went off quite successfully. The initial weather reports showed that it was unlikely the anglers would get to sea at all. In addition to this, there had been no fish for some time. Nonetheless, Thursday came along and the boats put to sea in rather bumpy conditions. Upon reaching the tuna grounds, near the canyon, one or two boats began hooking yellowfin behind the trawlers and it was not long before most of the guys were fighting big yellowfin. 10Kg Tackle is however a bit on the light side for yellowfin tuna and most of the fish were lost after fights lasting up to four hours. One or two were landed, but the majority left the frustrated anglers with nothing more to show for their efforts than broken tackle.

Friday was very windy, but by then a few commercial boats were out there and one or two did quite well. (One boat had twelve yellowfin by 9am.) Then suddenly all went quiet and the rest of the day was not good at all. Saturday saw a number of boats in the deep, and again, not much to show. A few yellowfin were caught, but nothing to get excited about. The fish that were caught were big. 60kg plus. On Sunday it seemed the entire fleet was out there (including our boat "Tyler"). In the evening they returned with their tail tucked firmly between their legs. Most had "mombaks" (no fish, for the benefit of our overseas readers). Again, one or two really nice fish were landed, but they were few and far between. Our own boat, Tyler, also had nothing but frustration to show for the day. In hindsight, I am not surprised. The easterly wind was still puffing a bit in the deep and at this time of the year, too much easterly is not a good thing. It tends to make the water green and cools it down as well. Ideally one wants a few days of easterly, followed by a light westerly and a dropping barometer. Then the tuna go wild. Or so the books says. Sometimes the fish do not read the books, but this is my theory and I am sticking to it.

By now I had been sitting ashore for three fishable days and the frustration of not being on the water was driving me to despair. It was a bit of a catch twenty two. Stay at home and get frustrated by not being on the water, or go to sea and get frustrated by not catching any fish. What to do?The weather forecast for Monday showed light westerly (just what we wanted to warm up the water and get it blue). I decided to bite the bullet, load up the crew and go for a look. The trip out was pleasant, and the forecast was almost spot on. The 10knots westerly wind that was forecast was about 15knots, but it was still pleasantly fishable. The water had definitely gone blue overnight and warmed a bit. I went in behind the first trawler we saw and to say I started of with a bang would be the understatement of the year. We dropped three bait lines in the trawler's wake and bang, bang, bang.........we had three fish on. We landed all three, one longfin of about 20kg and two yellowfin. One of 45kg and another of 82kg. I thought we had hit the jackpot, but my excitement was short lived. For the next five hours we never saw a fish. Nonetheless, we had three fish IDB and the pressure was off. At 2pm we hooked another yellowfin, out of the blue, so to speak. We boated him also and he pulled the scale to 75kg. That was it for the day. As I said to a few guys on our return, four fish is a bit like kissing your sister. It's better than nothing, but not worth getting axcited about.

We did better than most of the boats on the day and got a couple of classy fish, but it was a bit of a struggle and there was a solid dollop of luck thrown in. Tuesday saw a few boats out there in really poor weather, The fishing was also poor, and once again, most got nothing. I did get reports from the longliners operating 130miles SW of Cape Point that the yellowfin are plentiful down there. Hopefully the weather this week will bring them closer. For now, we are looking at terrible weather for the next five days. Next week we will have a look again. We'll be out there and who knows, maybe the "dik" will arrive. Till then, clean you reels, polish your rods and watch this space. RegardsThe SSS team