My PB Bronzie...

ants

Sealiner
:fswim

Who ever thought that I’d one day be able to claim to have landed a Bronze Whaler or “Bronzie” of more than 150 kg...You must understand...I’m just a Vaalie with a rod and a reel wanting a bit of  action...The problem...I don’t get to the water often enough...

I remember my first Bronzie with old “Klipvis” at Macassar a number of years back...I still wore an ESA shirt on the photo...and this baby must have been about 8 kg’s... I remember being taught how to wade the channels to get sort of close to the back line on these shallow beaches. I remember how clean my sinuses were after such a day session with all the swimming in this “saline solution” and how many caps and sunglasses I’ve sponsored to the ocean here.  I remember losing my first real big shark on a circle hook after I uttered the following words: “The only thing that could go wrong now is the hook could pull...” and it did! This was the beach where I learnt so much about fishing for sharks and the bug really bit me for the first time...

:fst:
 

ants

Sealiner
So, things happened to work out that I had to work with a colleague for two days at the end of November, then attend an exhibition in Ceres on the Thursday and hopefully squeeze in a bit of angling time in-between. I planned a day’s leave for the Friday (30 November 2012) and would also stay on for the Saturday to fly back on the Sunday.

 Up to now in my angling career I’ve been blessed to have landed a few quality fish which included a 115kg Giant Sandy, 207kg Raggie, 63kg Diamond Ray, 135kg Bronzie off St Francis Point , 75kg Black Pylie and a 30kg Spottie to mention a few. It’s important to mention at this stage that it’s not about the size of these sharks even though some anglers would love to land some of this size  one day. It’s about the memories associated with each and every one of these catches, the friendships that were formed, the fight these “trophies” put up, the agony and broken lines and hearts from “the ones that got away” and the feeling in my blood – when it’s released back and swims away strongly!!! Needless to say I joined ORI’s tagging program to contribute my bit towards research on these most amazing animals of the deep blue.
 

ants

Sealiner
Some of my favorite catches to date...

1. Sandy
 

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ants

Sealiner
So I stayed in contact with a lot of my angling friends, got some advice for the trip and all indications were that the conditions would end up being perfect. My company booked me on a BA flight which posed the first challenge – no baggage allowance for fishing tackle. Minor issue though and I overcome that one easily. The bigger challenge was the following: I forgot to take the “Kaapse Dokter” into consideration and I was met by a gale force South Easter upon arrival at CT Airport that threatened to put a stop to my dream of even coming close to my St Francis PB Bronzie of 135kg. I am by no means a fair weather fisherman and have landed my best catches in the worst possible weather and therefore did not worry at that stage...

I only planned to fish the Friday and Saturday but went for a cast for an hour or so the Tuesday night already, after a SEALINE member landed a monster earlier that day. The South East gained momentum however but I persisted – just to feel the “sand in my hair” again...The casting was difficult and I was sandblasted on my legs and I ended up leaving after first round of lines in...To top this the tip guide on my one Blade turned loose and I had to get some advise as to how best to fix this. Enigma on speed dial and with Pratley two part epoxy this minor issue was sorted perfectly at a later stage.
 

ants

Sealiner
Everybody reckoned I should rather wait for Friday as the weather would turn for the better...So Wednesday, Thursday and then Friday arrive and I couldn’t contain my excitement. As I walked outside at 06:00 am the Friday I get plucked around by the wind but nothing would stop me from getting a bait out on the slide on this day...or so I thought. . I got some lovely Yellow Tail, Mackies, Bonnies and Frigates from my old friend Gunther aka “Klipvis” and I was optimistic as ever.  I then headed  out to the decided spot a beautiful stretch of beach sheltered from most of the wind one could expect. As I flew there I wasn’t geared for the walk and realised immediately that this wind is going to challenge me today...The persistent “shark whisperer” proceeded however and soon realised that on this day – this spot would not provide the shelter I needed from the gale force South East onslaught. I continue to prepare everything meticulously though. I always  preach to my son...”Jy kan enigiets wat jou hartjie wil” and my “Hartjie wou n Bronzie vang” even if it had to be in this weather.
 

ants

Sealiner
When I finally walked down to the edge of the water, the sand pummelled me with intent and packed onto the sunscreen layer on my face immediately. I persevered however and tried to cast. The blade felt a ton and I must have made a 50m cast only. Reeled in tried again and soon realised...no fishing today...Devastated I packed up and made my way back to the car...What a waste of a day’s leave. I drove to the Strand and marked some spots on my Garmin. There was sand everywhere and I remember hearing the sand on the body of the rental car and feeling sorry for the owners of vehicles all over Cape Town...I stopped for a “Sandy Rum and Raisin” ice-cream at an Ice Cream parlour on the beach front...and that was my only treat for the day.

I contacted all my local fishing buddies who had the luxury of waiting for the weather to improve...something us Vaalies don’t have. One of my friends reckoned that I should persist in that weather...I just could not get my line in during the morning and the wind gained strength. There were reports on the radio warning people of uprooted trees etc...not ideal... One thing about Cape Town anglers however are that they follow the weather predictions on all websites etc religiously. They all reckoned Saturday would be the day...
 

ants

Sealiner
Saturday morning I shoot out of my bed and was met by awesome weather outside. I followed the same routine as the day before but when I got out of my car at my spot...the wind was still fairly strong but fishable though. I basically ran to the spot and started my preparations once again. The tide was high but the sea was still a mess with very little attractive structure to put some baits out. I proceeded though and realised that the wind started dying down. At 09:00 I re-baited my one rod, only to find that the 210lbs bleeding wire was cut (bitten) off behind both J hooks, without me even noticing anything on the rod...No guesses needed as to what that must have been...I then  loaded a decent yellow tail head on a 18/0 circle hook, waded in a bit as the tide was pulling back and got in a decent cast. I then slid down the head which went down smoothly. I shook it for 5 minutes to make sure it went down to the stopper ring and put it back in the rod holder. I was alone on this entire stretch of beach...and then at 10:30 it happened. My blade with the TN30 started screaming like never before. I picked up the rod and had flashback of my previous experiences with circle hooks...I waited for the fish to pull me down, tightened the drag and leaned back into the rod – The fight was on...I immediately regretted that it did not rather take the rod equipped with the TN40 with my 0.60 Iso Big Game mono for obvious reasons. The fish took about 100 metres of line and then came in very easily. I battled to keep tension on the fish as it swam towards me. It came right to the front of the lip (sand bank) gave me a quick wave of  its tail fin and this is where the fight really started. I could feel that it was a very heavy fish and had to work for every meter of line I wanted. During this time I quickly phone Gunther to let him know that I was “On”. He would joined me later and I hoped that it would be sooner as I needed some help with landing whatever was on the front here.

^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..^^..
 

ants

Sealiner
After an hour of pulling really hard, I had the fish in the gutter in front of me.  I felt in control, but knew from experience that a lapse of concentration would mean fish gone...I was just more than a rod’s length away from my leader knot and figured in my mind how I was going to land this shark on my own. I don’t own a gaff and like to leader my fish to safety but I was on my own in a spot of bother. At one stage I was so close but could not risk trying to grab the leader with one hand with the rod in the other. This cat and mouse game went on for about half an hour when miraculously a father and his son came down the dune in the back and straight towards me to assist...
 

ants

Sealiner
I passed the rod to the son at the right moment and ran to leader the fish. Only when the water pulled back did I grab the tail and realised that this could be a new PB, in fact smash my current PB by far. There on the sand lay the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. The sun was high (12:00) and the Bronzie glistened in the direct sunlight. I  knelt down beside her in awe. I saw many fresh bite marks from the mating season and she was also heavily pregnant. Tough to be a lady shark in the Big ol Ocean...I tagged her and proceeded to take the measurement. To prevent any uncertainty wrt measurement, I prefer staking a dell stick at the nose and precaudal notch – my helper my witness – the Precaudal length measured 227cm. This was by far the largest bronzie I’ve ever seen and she was MINE!!!  I then proceeded to the best part...The release...the water washed over us as the tide was pushing and I must say, with lots of effort I managed to turn her around and took pride in her swimming away strongly with a strong thrashing of the tail. To this day I get emotional when I release a shark...they are so magnificent and this one was no different.

By now more anglers have started to gather for the afternoon session and the prime time- high tide session. The water settled beautifully  but was still a bit clean. I knew my fish was an amazing catch in my book and when Gunther confirmed the weight for me I was absolutely amazed – 167.8kg
 

ants

Sealiner
I took a long time to re-bait again – taking in the “experience” of what just happened. Gunther, “oom Hannes” , Mic and a couple of other guys made their way there as well. The Bronzies were wild as can be seen from other members’ posts and at one stage both my rods had a bronzie on. I gave the one to Mic to land but mine unfortunately  bit me off on the leader at some stage. The one on my other rod- just over 100 kg (194cm) was  landed by Mic – with a smile I must say...

Hereafter I had another bronzie  on and I kid you not...I also managed to switch over the latch during the fight and a Kraaines of note was the end result. If you’ve however seen some crafty handwork you should have seen me and Mic with our fingers in there and within seconds we managed to save the situation. Unfortunately another angler got towed over all our lines by his bronzie and I got cut off in the mad criss cross...

I called it a day and went for a braai at Old Klipvis afterwards – to celebrate this fantastic day.

You guys that stay at the ocean...you must thank GOD every day for the privilege and look after the fish for our Vaalies – that way we can all share in this lovely sport of ours!!!

 

This trip just proved once again that with a bait in the water...anything can happen and that if you believe that the bite will come...

TRUST ME IT WILL!!!

Ants

 
 
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