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Just as one feels the regular summer fishing season is starting to take shape and one is able to read the signs, nature intervenes causing major changes and upsets such as the big Snoek run last Friday. During this Snoek run professional and ski-boat fishermen had between 89 to 1 000 fish per boat from Hout Bay on the peninsula.

On Saturday the fish had slacked off considerably and by Sunday the Snoek had disappeared.

It appears that the Tunny followed the same pattern. According to top deep sea boat angler, Earl Fenwick, fishing from his boat Whale Rider the tunny were biting well and were present 18 miles off Cape Point and him and his crew had a total of 89 Longfin and Yellowfin on Saturday.

He said they went out to the same area and deeper on Sunday, but did not catch a single fish.

The wind, which had changed to north on Monday and was very strong outside the point, prevented local boatmen from going to sea but it should bring the Snoek shoals back to Table Bay and Hout Bay and surrounding areas and boats should again have good catches once the wind subsides.

The Yellowtail schools around Cape Point during the weekend were also dispersed and on Saturday a few boats had Yellowtail of up to 5 kg - the best fish being a beauty of 11 kg.

The Yellowtail spinnermen fishing from Rooikrans on Saturday managed to catch eight in the 5 to 8 kg class from this venue.

It is amazing how fanatical spinnermen fishing at Rooikrans can become.

One such spinnerman is Len Huishamen, who although over 75 years of age, still climbs up and down this steep mountainside once or twice a week when he feels that the conditions are correct and still manages to catch a few fish.

No easy task
Climbing up and down this cliff is no walk in the park and takes an angler, fully laden with rod and gear, nearly three-and-a-half hours.

This same feat was also undertaken by legendary fisherman, the late Mike Stott, who at the age of 80 would also climb up and down the mountainside to spin for Yellowtail.

Besides fishing for Snoek during the early weekend, small boat anglers kept the pot boiling by still catching Kob, Maasbanker and Morocco Geelbek from the Poort area in the Strand.

The large fishing vessels from Kalk Bay are now also targeting the Kob at Wolfgat and Strandfontein where fish up to 16 kg have been recorded.

The local shore fishing spinning fraternity have experienced an ebb as far as Elf and Leerfish are concerned.

The small Elf and Leerfish are however being caught by fly-fishermen fishing from the Poort rock, Blake's Beach and the Island surrounds.

As far as normal rock and surf bait fishing is concerned, the occasional small Kob and Belman have been caught off Blake's Beach.

A few top class shore anglers wading out onto the reefs have also had limited catches of Kob - the best being up to 4,5 kg which was taken on Sunday.

These top anglers wade in deep and had to work very hard for their fish although the water temperature was up to 22 degrees in Melk Bay before the North West picked up on Monday.

Generally local and visiting anglers should bear in mind that the north and north west conditions are not usually conducive to Kob and Elf fishing from the Strand Beach and these schools seem to congregate on the Gordon's Bay and adjoining mountainside.

Northerly winds
These northerly winds seem to clear the water of colour, but not all is lost as this is often a good time to fish with worm and prawn along the Jetty and from Blake's Beach for Belman.

Strand angler, Nico de Jongh, has had a fair amount of success on the left side of Blake's Beach using wonderworm and light tackle.

This past weekend's ESA Competition held at Macassar was a great success and with 48 entries, the competition was on from the word go.

The fishing area was from "The Cones" to "The Yellow Box" on Macassar Beach.

The competition started at high tide with nice deep gullies against the side, the first Kob was landed at the Yellow Box within the first five minutes of the competition and the Elf were cleaning hooks at a rapid rate at the Cones.

In no time competitors were wading out to the banks, sliding baits, hoping for big Bronze Whalers, but most anglers stuck to the "catch what's biting" rule and kept the scoreboard ticking with fish like Elf, big Striped Mullet and Kob up to 6 kg.

A few good size Eagle Rays were also landed, but at the end of the competition it was Andries Fuls who walked away with the prize money.

There were reports of a 98 kg Marlin caught from a ski-boat in the Struisbaai area on Saturday, once again proving that these fish are around this area during this time of the year.

Anglers are reminded that the first ESA magazine for January is on the shelf and as always packed with great articles.

This month's issue has articles on Plug fishing from boats, Baits - Sea Lice, Spotted Grunter and Dropshot fishing.

Most boatmen have continuous problems with B trailer bearings needing regular maintenance.

There are however now new special non granulating greases and lubricants that need far less maintenance and care now on the market.

These greasing systems plus all wheel bearings and seals as well as reel bearings for most fishing reels can be obtained from Bearing Man in the Strand.

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