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This past week was a week of mixed fortunes for many anglers who know that a strong south easter brings a good colour to the sea along our coastline. The wind really woke up many anglers who brought their rods and tackle down to the beach to try and catch a Kob, Geelbek and Steenbras, which were all in Melk Bay.

Blake's Beach, Harmony Park and Betty's Bay were all good venues during the weekend and on Friday night many locals and visitors who turned up at these spots and were fishing in the wind with good baits, caught the odd Geelbek or Kob.

On Saturday morning at Melk Bay the "mini-run" continued

(and only slacked off on Saturday night) with a number of anglers reporting some good catches.

By Sunday the news had spread and many anglers who heard about the fish turned up on the Strand beaches looking for fish.

The water was slightly cooler on Sunday and a few Kob, the odd Elf and many just size White Stump-nose had moved into the bay, keeping most of the anglers active.

Then, as usual, as the south easter dropped on Sunday night the water became clear and the fishing died down in our area. Sometimes during this time of year during the Easter period the Gordon's Bay mountainside area at Plat-bankies, Vogelsteen and around Five Houses and higher up along the coast at Die Koei en Kalf comes alive with Geelbek, Yellowtail and a few Elf stragglers that are left behind. During this time of the year, Betty's Bay and Hangklip areas and all along the mountainside, Galjoen can be targeted for the season is now open.

There have been a number of reports of big White Steenbras caught from the Swartklip and Macassar areas by anglers using bloodworm and prawn baits.

The best venues for these fish in the Strand and Gordon's Bay are alongside the Gant's broken pipe at the mouth of the Lourens River - this area is saturated with prawn and bloodworm and should produce a few fish.

The jetty area and all along Blake?s Beach has also delivered the occasional large White Steenbras.

At this time of the year Harmony area at Mosselbank and Steen-brasgat are also good areas and the odd Kob and Geelbek may also be caught here, although the resort becomes very crowded with visitors and anglers.

With the present northerly wind, which started blowing on Monday, many schools of Yellowtail pass in and out of the Rooi Els side of the bay and during the morning spinning for Yellowtail is possible off Blousteen, Buoy 15,

The Slope, Whale Rock and the Ledges vicinity.

A word of caution when fishing here is that cars are often broken into and even stolen along this stretch of coastline and it is better to be dropped off here and collected later on.

These spots are well known for Geelbek in the early mornings, before Yellowtail can be sighted, and in the evenings.

This type of fishing is definitely not for the uninitiated and the party should always be accompanied by an experienced angler.

Elf spinnermen were also active during the weekend and one of the successful stalwarts was Kevin Ogle, who caught three large Elf - one of which was over 1,5 kg (a "Meneer").

Anglers fishing from small boats in our area especially in the Poort, die Gaatjie and Melk Bay had mixed results with medium sized Geelbek, Kob and Elf while the south easter was pumping strongly and the good colour water was evident in these areas.

WP Shore Angling
The Western Province Shore Angling Association held a competition on Saturday and most opted to fish in the Strandfontein area.

The competition was not very fruitful for most clubs with the exception of a few Bronze Whalers, rays and other shark which were landed.

There were a number of sad tales among the anglers at the weigh-in about large Bronze Whalers being fought for long periods (one to three hours) only to see the shark peel all the line off the reel and lines break.

One of the saddest events on Saturday was the death of well-known angler Mike Pieters (44), who died while fishing in the competition.

Mike was fighting a very large Bronze Whaler when he had a heart attack while playing the fish at Beespens.

Mike was a real gentleman and a well loved angler who will be missed by all anglers who know him.

Two of the successful Gordon's Bay Boat Angling Club's boats who went out in search of Tunny during the weekend were Allan du Plessis on Lynx and Tailwalker.

Lyx had two Longfin and two Skipjack while Tailwalker boated one Yellowfin.

Patrick Christodoulou of the Gordon's Bay Boat Angling Club won a number of trophies at the Western Province Deep Sea Angling Association's prize giving held at the Atlantic Boat Club last Friday.

Patrick won most of the Inshore prizes and many Offshore trophies as well and he was also presented with his South African record certificate for a Kob of over 17 kg's caught on 3 kg line.

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