About two weeks back, I got a mail from Munga, the other half, along with Marshie, of Team Leadhead, letting me know he has booked a house on the Gamtoos river for 2 weeks, and was taking his newly redone/remodeled and rebuilty boat, the FishMunga for her first fishing trip, mainly targeting big Kob on the troll, and if I have eny free time, would I like to join up with him, Marshie and a few other guys....
Well it just so happend that I had a week of leave left, and having known Munga and Marshie for a goodly while ( Marshie and I go waaaaay back to 10 years old days... long story ) but had nevr got the chance to actually do any serious fishing together... apart from Munga and myself doing a bit of papgooing last year at Marshie's Bachelors.....
I also follow the reports and advice from these two light tackle afficiandos very very closely, as two finer light tackle fisherman I have yet to meet.
So of course I jumped at the opportunity to go chjase some big Kob, a species which has evaded me in large sizes my whole life.
Gamtoos is known to produce lareg kob on the troll for those willing to put in the hours....
I jumped in the Disco on Monday, after reorganising ALL my light tackle gear which was scattered all over the place due to house moving etc...
By 11:00AM on Monday I was on my way, after tying a few loose ends up at work.
Had an awesome drive up the coast..all the Canola fields are in bloom along the N2, making for some amazing scenery along the way, accompanied by some rocking tunes and a few mood enhancers and I was away....
Unfortuantely, and those living in the area will I'm sure agree with me, the road works through the Knysna area and past mae for some annoying stops and starts, but I was on holiday, going fishing, and suitably mood enhanced so all was good...
After a few hundred calls to Munga for final directions, I finally made my way to the right place, and awesome little log Cabin set up on the Gamtoos... Munga had arrived around lunchtime and being Munga, the whole joint was ready for a serious 2 week fishing mission... His Missus had very dutifully put together an awesome shopping list, so all bases were covered...
I arrived, with what I thought was alot of tackle, till I saw what these okes were bringing ( I'm so glad there are people in the wolrd with worse Tackle Aquisition Syndrome than me!!! ) Anyway, Munga had already put The FishMunga on the water, and as it was just about to get dark, I dumped my gear, grabbed my trolling plugs bag, rigged a rod and we got ourselves down to the river.
First off the FishMunga:
Folks, I've followed the FishMungas progress from when Munga bought her as a piece of Sh*t ugly @ss cabin boat from someone in Dispatch... sorry if the previous owner is a memeber here, but damn..... Anyway, Munga's vision was to turn her into the ultimate light tackle artifical hunting machine, and I can say that he has done an AMAZING job... What a pleasure it was to step onto her decks for the first time and be a part of her very first fishing mission... Congrats boet, she is awesome.... Huge deck space, perfect layout, unbelievably stable, and beautiful clean lines....
Our first evenings troll into teh darkness was a tentative one, with us following the fishfinder and trying to map out the holes and deep channels.
We trolled for about 1.5 hours with nothing to show, so called it quits and headed back to the cabin for a braai of half a cow ( Seriously Munga, where the hell did you get those steaks?!?!? You EP okes dig your vleis hey? )
We prepped tackle, drank a few beers, then called it a night and planned for an early start.
5:00AM saw us up the next day and on the water trolling by 5:45. We were fishing pretty light set ups for the most part, but with two slightly heavier outfits just incase that BIG KOBBIE made a showing....
Our spread consisted of a mixture of Rapala X-Raps, Halcos, Super Shad Raps, Rapala Magnums trolled on 40 to 65lb leaders at averying distances... The deep holes on the Gammies are quite forgiving, so we were tryingt o get lures as close to the bottom as possible.
About 20 minutes into the first troll, that magic sweet music every fisherman loves starts playing.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..... but unfortunately its a little too constant..... slip into neutral...ZZZZZ...Z......Z.............z......z... Hooked upon bottom.... drift back, free the lure and on we go... nothing like a little false alarm to wake a man up....
We had a few more Bottom Strikes over the next 45 minutes or so, with us making perhaps 4 passes over the troll stretch...
I decided that perhaps we needed a slower approach and took over the helm and applied a bump troll approach heading upstream into a just dropping tide... I wanted the lures right on the bottom, with a nice heavy "THUMP THUMP THUMP" to call out to those big mama Kob... 3/4 into our troll upstream Munga's rod, with a deep diving X-Rap, Blue Mackeral Colour, starts singing to us... Slowly at first, then with that oh so distinguishable "ZZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZZZ" that accompanies a Kob head shake and first run.
FISH ON!!!! Stoked! Only an hour into teh first troll, and we are in...
Munga made short work f the Kob, which taped out at 86cm, around 7 to 9 kilos.... By no mean a monster, but the stoke of putting the first fish on board the FishMunga, on her first mornings fishing, and by her owner, was awesome!!!
We got her on board, Munga grabbed his tagging kit, taped her, tagged her and it just so happened to be sunrise, perfect light conditions, and the first fish on the boat, so of course Nepps went BALLISTIC with the camera!!!!
I took a bunch more... But here is the tag going in.
and the release:
STOKED.... first fish on board!!! Well we went straight back on the troll with super high spirits......
But I hate to say it, that was the last fish for us for the week.... we fished HARD.... on the troll, on lead heads, plastics, spoons etc, and even resorted to a little baiting on thelast day, but nothing other than the odd small stumpie and mini Spottie came over the gunnels...
We had a couple boys come down and join us over the days.... Craig "Holnaai for Free" Leerie Le Roux joined us the first afternoon and soon had both of us laughing non stop.... Holnaai, you my bru, are a funny Monkey!!!
Thursday morning saw Marshie, the other half of Team Leadhead arrive at 6:50 AM to join us... was awesome to finally fish with the 3 of us, something we have been trying to do for ages... pity the fish didn't cooperate... We fished hard guys... long hours, every possible option, but it just wasn't meant to be... Granted we could have targeted the smaller fish and probably done ok, but we were there for the big fish....
Then Spoon and Holnaai joined us for a debaucherous friday evening.... many beers, much bullsh*t, tackle testing, plenty of " Holnaai, and I'll tell you that for free!", eating of live mudprawns by none other than, yup, you guessed it, Holnaai Le Roux.... More beers, whiskey, more tackle testing, lots and lots of braaied meat (Chops are vegetables right? ) and my new found addiction, skulpaaitjies!!!!
So lekker to hang with you boys and have such a great time, in such a beautiful spot... I must say you guys are seriously blessed with an abundance of fishing water and species to chase.... I'm coming back in Summer, and in the words of Team Leadhead, "We are gonna CANE the fish"
Munga a huge thanks for the invite, and for the awesome meals, good times, and once again congrats on your fine boat... she is a beauty, an Im vey stoked to have been there for the christening of her decks with some fish slime!! I wish you many more!
Marshie, my bru, its been what, 18 years nearly, and finally , after all this , we get to fish together... what a pleasure man... but lets make sure its not another 18 years before w do it again!!!!
Spoon and Holnaai - you okes are legends, great to meet and finally spend some moretime with you guys... Hopefully we'll do it again soon... Holnaai you still owe me a Leerie or 5 boet!!
An awesome week.. unfortunately not a hell of a lot to show fishing wise for it, but what a jol anyway.... next time we'll cane the fish...
Here are a few last pics....
Sunrise..... hell in Africa isn't it?
The FishMunga
My beloved Calcutta awaiting action...
Sunset... yip, still Hell in Africa.
Team Leadhead:
Marshie:
Munga:
Thanks guys...
Well it just so happend that I had a week of leave left, and having known Munga and Marshie for a goodly while ( Marshie and I go waaaaay back to 10 years old days... long story ) but had nevr got the chance to actually do any serious fishing together... apart from Munga and myself doing a bit of papgooing last year at Marshie's Bachelors.....
I also follow the reports and advice from these two light tackle afficiandos very very closely, as two finer light tackle fisherman I have yet to meet.
So of course I jumped at the opportunity to go chjase some big Kob, a species which has evaded me in large sizes my whole life.
Gamtoos is known to produce lareg kob on the troll for those willing to put in the hours....
I jumped in the Disco on Monday, after reorganising ALL my light tackle gear which was scattered all over the place due to house moving etc...
By 11:00AM on Monday I was on my way, after tying a few loose ends up at work.
Had an awesome drive up the coast..all the Canola fields are in bloom along the N2, making for some amazing scenery along the way, accompanied by some rocking tunes and a few mood enhancers and I was away....
Unfortuantely, and those living in the area will I'm sure agree with me, the road works through the Knysna area and past mae for some annoying stops and starts, but I was on holiday, going fishing, and suitably mood enhanced so all was good...
After a few hundred calls to Munga for final directions, I finally made my way to the right place, and awesome little log Cabin set up on the Gamtoos... Munga had arrived around lunchtime and being Munga, the whole joint was ready for a serious 2 week fishing mission... His Missus had very dutifully put together an awesome shopping list, so all bases were covered...
I arrived, with what I thought was alot of tackle, till I saw what these okes were bringing ( I'm so glad there are people in the wolrd with worse Tackle Aquisition Syndrome than me!!! ) Anyway, Munga had already put The FishMunga on the water, and as it was just about to get dark, I dumped my gear, grabbed my trolling plugs bag, rigged a rod and we got ourselves down to the river.
First off the FishMunga:
Folks, I've followed the FishMungas progress from when Munga bought her as a piece of Sh*t ugly @ss cabin boat from someone in Dispatch... sorry if the previous owner is a memeber here, but damn..... Anyway, Munga's vision was to turn her into the ultimate light tackle artifical hunting machine, and I can say that he has done an AMAZING job... What a pleasure it was to step onto her decks for the first time and be a part of her very first fishing mission... Congrats boet, she is awesome.... Huge deck space, perfect layout, unbelievably stable, and beautiful clean lines....
Our first evenings troll into teh darkness was a tentative one, with us following the fishfinder and trying to map out the holes and deep channels.
We trolled for about 1.5 hours with nothing to show, so called it quits and headed back to the cabin for a braai of half a cow ( Seriously Munga, where the hell did you get those steaks?!?!? You EP okes dig your vleis hey? )
We prepped tackle, drank a few beers, then called it a night and planned for an early start.
5:00AM saw us up the next day and on the water trolling by 5:45. We were fishing pretty light set ups for the most part, but with two slightly heavier outfits just incase that BIG KOBBIE made a showing....
Our spread consisted of a mixture of Rapala X-Raps, Halcos, Super Shad Raps, Rapala Magnums trolled on 40 to 65lb leaders at averying distances... The deep holes on the Gammies are quite forgiving, so we were tryingt o get lures as close to the bottom as possible.
About 20 minutes into the first troll, that magic sweet music every fisherman loves starts playing.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..... but unfortunately its a little too constant..... slip into neutral...ZZZZZ...Z......Z.............z......z... Hooked upon bottom.... drift back, free the lure and on we go... nothing like a little false alarm to wake a man up....
We had a few more Bottom Strikes over the next 45 minutes or so, with us making perhaps 4 passes over the troll stretch...
I decided that perhaps we needed a slower approach and took over the helm and applied a bump troll approach heading upstream into a just dropping tide... I wanted the lures right on the bottom, with a nice heavy "THUMP THUMP THUMP" to call out to those big mama Kob... 3/4 into our troll upstream Munga's rod, with a deep diving X-Rap, Blue Mackeral Colour, starts singing to us... Slowly at first, then with that oh so distinguishable "ZZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZZZ" that accompanies a Kob head shake and first run.
FISH ON!!!! Stoked! Only an hour into teh first troll, and we are in...
Munga made short work f the Kob, which taped out at 86cm, around 7 to 9 kilos.... By no mean a monster, but the stoke of putting the first fish on board the FishMunga, on her first mornings fishing, and by her owner, was awesome!!!
We got her on board, Munga grabbed his tagging kit, taped her, tagged her and it just so happened to be sunrise, perfect light conditions, and the first fish on the boat, so of course Nepps went BALLISTIC with the camera!!!!
I took a bunch more... But here is the tag going in.
and the release:
STOKED.... first fish on board!!! Well we went straight back on the troll with super high spirits......
But I hate to say it, that was the last fish for us for the week.... we fished HARD.... on the troll, on lead heads, plastics, spoons etc, and even resorted to a little baiting on thelast day, but nothing other than the odd small stumpie and mini Spottie came over the gunnels...
We had a couple boys come down and join us over the days.... Craig "Holnaai for Free" Leerie Le Roux joined us the first afternoon and soon had both of us laughing non stop.... Holnaai, you my bru, are a funny Monkey!!!
Thursday morning saw Marshie, the other half of Team Leadhead arrive at 6:50 AM to join us... was awesome to finally fish with the 3 of us, something we have been trying to do for ages... pity the fish didn't cooperate... We fished hard guys... long hours, every possible option, but it just wasn't meant to be... Granted we could have targeted the smaller fish and probably done ok, but we were there for the big fish....
Then Spoon and Holnaai joined us for a debaucherous friday evening.... many beers, much bullsh*t, tackle testing, plenty of " Holnaai, and I'll tell you that for free!", eating of live mudprawns by none other than, yup, you guessed it, Holnaai Le Roux.... More beers, whiskey, more tackle testing, lots and lots of braaied meat (Chops are vegetables right? ) and my new found addiction, skulpaaitjies!!!!
So lekker to hang with you boys and have such a great time, in such a beautiful spot... I must say you guys are seriously blessed with an abundance of fishing water and species to chase.... I'm coming back in Summer, and in the words of Team Leadhead, "We are gonna CANE the fish"
Munga a huge thanks for the invite, and for the awesome meals, good times, and once again congrats on your fine boat... she is a beauty, an Im vey stoked to have been there for the christening of her decks with some fish slime!! I wish you many more!
Marshie, my bru, its been what, 18 years nearly, and finally , after all this , we get to fish together... what a pleasure man... but lets make sure its not another 18 years before w do it again!!!!
Spoon and Holnaai - you okes are legends, great to meet and finally spend some moretime with you guys... Hopefully we'll do it again soon... Holnaai you still owe me a Leerie or 5 boet!!
An awesome week.. unfortunately not a hell of a lot to show fishing wise for it, but what a jol anyway.... next time we'll cane the fish...
Here are a few last pics....
Sunrise..... hell in Africa isn't it?
The FishMunga
My beloved Calcutta awaiting action...
Sunset... yip, still Hell in Africa.
Team Leadhead:
Marshie:
Munga:
Thanks guys...