Fishing for Whale in HERMANUS

For those who don’t known where is HERMANUS, it is in South Africa on the Atlantic Ocean, and it is famous today for the Southern Whale migration bringing hundred of them to give birth in those warmer water. Because of a very unusual topography, watching the whale from the cliff surrounding the town it’s unique and unforgettable. Besides, at the foot of the cliff, the sea is deep and the whales can swim very very close, bringing tourists from all over to enjoy this unique spectacle. For the sea and history lovers, HERMANUS is also famous for the tragedy of the Birkenhead “ Women and Children First “ and the chivalry of the British soldiers who drowned rather than disobey.
That particular day - sometimes in 1982 – My friend and I we were fishing from the cliff and eventually I fall asleep to be awaken by my friend asking me If I was using a big hook We were normally using big hooks and strong line - just in case - so as I reply Yes, He insist How BIG ? I then realise maybe some sharks were around or a dolphin perhaps. As I look down, I saw this big Whale swimming peacefully where my line was…..

A couple of big Kabeljous

As we were sipping our first coffee in the early morning, one of my friend rod went down in one extremely strong pull, sure sign of a fat Kabeljou living at the bottom of the river. I knew the procedure quite well : lift and pack my own rods, pull the anchor to let the fish do his own things freely, including pulling the boat if he wish, prepare the hook and the net and while I was busy, my friend second rod went down same way, same pull… an incredible feeling. All of a sudden he was fighting with two fishs, one on each hand, making sure that the lines won’t get caught together. I am sure the fight last over half a hour, and suddenly the first one gave up and come gently to the side of the boat to get hand-hooked by me, lifted and promptly slide in the floating net…. what a fish !! wider than my thigh, longer than my whole leg, a 34 kg specimen. The second one was less of fighter and as we could see, not so big (30), so fifteen minutes later he was also in the floating net. We use to have this type of big kabeljou before and my friend particularly knew well how to handle the situation, but two big boys in a row never happened before to us and as far as we knew to anybody else. To keep the fish fresh, and in saleable condition we then pack everything and went back home in Cape Town, ending this short fishing week.

Fishing (Big) from the Breede river

In my previous post : Fishing from the Bredee River I describe the apparel we normally use on this rather muddy but deep channels and with a very strong current either down/upstream. I used to fish with one my friends by day only, but we decide once that it was time to try a fishing campaign of few days and nights sleeping in the boat on the river.
The boat was a small cabin cruiser with two bunks on each side and in the front between, a simple covered anchor and chain trunk. My first job was to design and build a simple mini-kitchen (sink and stove) made of plywood and resting permanently above the anchor trunk. We knew the river quite well, so for the daily hygiene, we found a nice piece of land to set a small tent to be used as a base camp. The weather was originally fine and we enjoy the very first days and even the first uncomfortable nights spent mainly outside fishing with live baits (mullet) caught with a hand throwing net, just hoping to bring some night feeder fish such as elf (actually we did). Very funny memories: me, the fry pan in hand waiting for my buddy to catch some elf, immediately filleted, fried and eaten. Or by day wrapped in aluminium foil and grilled on the coal with few sweet potatoes. I could not remember all the fish we bring in , because there is plenty fish in the river and during the week out of season, very few fisherman, so we did well until the rain come. We then decide to pause, but very early this particular morning we did enjoy a fabulous catch         (To be continued ….. )

Fishing in South Africa

Between Swellendam (The Garden route in South Africa) and the mouth in Witsand, the Breede River is wide and in some place very wide. There is no bridge after Swellendam, and the only way to cross over is the “pont” in Malgas. This pontoon is a simple barge manned by few blacks attendants pulling from a steel cable crossing the river at the most narrow place. Just before the mouth, the river is over four hundred meter wide, almost a thousand meter at high tide and probably over twenty meter deep in the main channel.
Because of the perpetual current, the fishing can only take place from boat, rarely trawling and mainly from the rear platform with the boat anchored facing the current. Normally two fishing rods are cast from both side of the boat. The assembly is quite peculiar to this river: a solid curved hook, a steel tress, the line and from the tress, sliding along the line, a round or oval shaped heavy sinker. There is many reasons for this assembly : The current will drag the line to the muddy bottom, the sinker will hold but the line can slide easily preventing the fish to feel any resistance. Some fish have strong sharp teeth capable of cutting the line in no time, and there is monster fish over one hundred pounds caught on the regular basis. A favourite bait is a strip of frozen sardine sliced lengthy and attached to the hook using a length of rubberised string to avoid small fishes shredding the bait. Alternatively you could use a fresh live prawn which are sucked out from the mud at low tide, but the fishing trip is now an expedition as you must time the tide, the wind, the current, the location. The reward is a more pleasant fishing experience as the fish are different, not so massive but fighting one.
More about fishing stories soon….

The Whale of St Sebastian Bay

The mouth of The Breedie River is located in South Africa, 40 km from the national Road 2 (The Garden Route). One village on the hill is Witsand (White sand in Afrikaans) and the sea view from the village is superb as well as the view on the river.At low tide, one can see from the hill, the numerous sand banks that make the mouth a bit treacherous, not really dangerous as there is no rocks on the way to the river, but very shallow in place. One day, this is where a whale was stranded accidentally andincapable of swimming back to the sea. This man from Witsand – or should I say this character - was fishing from his boat and having realised the situation, manage to push pull the whale to the main stream and soon to freedom. The story only start now because each time our fisherman was at sea on the same boat, the whale will suddenly appear from no where and gently welcome him. He then grab this unique opportunity, to take tourists for a whale tour (prohibited without permit), so despite the detractors and the law enforcement officers, everything went fine until this fateful day when the strong normal current and the rather unusual strong wind were facing each other making the water extremely choppy and dangerous. In trying to help some foolish fishing boat to reach shore (and succeeding) , our fisherman boat capsized, and believe or not our man drown.
Incredibly our hero could not swim. On his request, his body was cremated and the urn given to his son with a mission to disperse the ashes at sea in the bay. The whole ceremony was videotaped from the boat and completely out of season, our whale appear all of a sudden and when the weeping boy release the ash, the photograph could capture one tear rolling down from the whale eye, and she was never be seen again. (true story)

The Cape of Good Hope baboons

The scenic road from Cape Town to the famous Cape of Good Hope is mainly use by local or international tourists visiting ‘The end of the world”. The spectacle is really worst it. On top a hill there is a parking lot famous for the visitors “ the baboons”.Despite numerous signs prohibiting baboons feeding, everybody do it anyway.
Just in case, you want to respect the rules, they help themselves in such way that many incidents rather funny have been recorded. Personally I remember once, a baboon jumping on the bonnet of the rented car, and refusing categorically to live.I decide then to take him for a ride in the downhill and curvy road, making sure to negotiate every curve sharply. In despair the monkey grip the radio antenna and suddenly we notice a change in colour: the baboon became grey in terror. Immediately, I stop the car and the monkey jump out, leaving on the bonnet a small mountain of stinky poo. Another time, coming back from Kimberley (see my previous posts), we were seating in the car all windows locked up (I knew!) to watch baboons surrounding a car, then enter by a open window and laugh at the occupants screaming and abandoning the car in terror because those baboons are aggressive and quite dangerous as their bite could be infectious

From Kapama to Kimberley

There are a few hundred of kilometres between the towns and the landscape is changing drastically from luxurious green pastures and field of bananas and mangoes trees, to the dry and rocky setup that one can expect from a mining terrain.
The amazing story of the “Big Hole” start in Kimberley in 1865 with the discovery in a field nearby, of the first South African diamond the “Eureka”. Later more and more were discovered on the top of a hill not far, then the diamond rush start and the hill was so deeply mined, that he becomes the Big Hole. One should really browse the Internet to check the story and the photos of this time to have an idea of the work involve by thousand of very small concessions (36 square feet roughly), each of them equipped with a winch driving a small wagon. This “jungle” of steel cables was an amazing sight. The miner village has been re-build and the whole visit is fascinating. Besides the fortunes of few – De Beers, C.Rhodes, B.Barnato, the future of the country also start here.