As some of you May Or May not Know - Mazeppa has a

[Def-e-nition]

As some of you May Or May not Know - Mazeppa has always been on the cards for Me , for a very Long Time .
As Luck would have it , I have only driven past the entrance several times , cursing under My breath as we Drive by , vowing to someday Make the trip to the holy Grail of rock and surf based angling .

Well .


As Luck would have it , sometimes the best Things that happen , are unexpected , and sure Enough - I get a Pm , requesting me to join some oke named dorsal Fin , for a trip around mid to End NOvember - some sealine Members have been invited -and would I be interested in going .

I'll Let captain Dirk Hertzog Take the lead from here .

Sit back.
Relax .

And enjoy the ride with us.

 

[dorsalfin]

 I know some guys have been anxiously awaiting this report so here goes.

In February this year, I started planning a trip to Mazeppa bay from the 22[suP]nd[/suP] to the 28[suP]th[/suP] of November. So after some planning, organizing and sleepless nights,  13 guys was scraped together and the morning of the 22[suP]nd[/suP] came. We got to Mazeppa bay at about 13h00 only to be met by one hell of a wind so no real fishing was to be had for the first day.

The next day, all 10 of us started fishing the Island on the left hand side as it was all the wind permitted so after 15 minutes, the first hammer was landed, about 19kg`s.



The wind picked up and we moved to Sharkpoint to to take refuge. It was about 30minute and the next rod went flat. After about 15minutes, the fish was on the side so we brought it up the ledge at the front with help from the waves. We started measuring and just wanted to tag when I spotted a huge wave coming, I yelled and most of the guys scattered but the angler was too intrigued by his catch as it was his first shark ever so the water took him and his shark into the gully at the left. We got such a fright that nobody knew what to do. Luckily he is a pro diver so immediately kicked out his rockboots and bucket but also lost his phone and keys in the process. He swam out to sea while we landed the shark again, this time in the gully. The poor guy was so tired when he came out, he didn`t even want to take pictures. Shark was 118kg male bag.





Sunday me and some guys went to the Island at 03h00amthrew some padletails but got nothing. I lost my paddletail and swiched to plug although it was still a bit to dark. On my fifth cast, bump, bump, FAS. I could hardly believe it as it would be my first leerie ever on artlure and a tick in a huge box on my bucket list. So about 15min later, I landed him, absolutely amazing fight and experience on my Aerocast, Laguna and 20lb Suffix.









Rest of the day, nothing happned and the wind started blowing like mad. Def, psy, and robyosh arrived that afternoon so we got ready for the pots the next morning.

So we started early and fished the pot with 13 rods in at some stages of the game. My dad got a pickup and another guy picked up his rod and striked, fish was missed as it was on a circle. My brother got me a live shad and I put it in immediately, landed a 17kg hammer 30minutes later.



So next, it was Stu`s turn and he went vas. The fish began swimming right so we did the whole ``pots to the beach`` walk. Landed his proper hammed on the beach. Nice fight and nice fish.











So a while later, my dads rod went slack, Zola picked it up, tightened up and put the rod back in the stand. So the fish took off and the hook was set and the fight began.



We waited for the fish to turn right and it did so th walk to the beach was made.



One hour in.



One hour thirty minutes in.



Two hours.



So at 3hours I took his tail, being alone, I had to let go as it was to big to control myself. Then the fish took off again, very angry this time.



So at 4 hours and 54 minutes, she was on the beach. Finally. Some other sharks bit her properly. We found a tooth in her one fin. In the process, the tag was also bitten off so we could not gather the info on the previous tag.



Perfect hookup on a 20/0 Eagle claw circle.



214,26kg



My dad and his best friend, what an awesome day and fish.



Proud moment.





They landed a few hammers and a nice bronzie while we were on the beach. Picks and info to follow by Stu.

That afternoon, I went with the rest of the Sealine crew to the pots. Had 4 pickups and had one nice hammer landed by Stu.





Next day was dead as the wind turned again but Zola said the garric will be wild at Shark Point so we went there. I had the first on on the plug and when I blinked, it was just plugs flying through the air. Altogether had 5 on`s and only one garric landed. Was graet as it was this guy`s best fish to date.



The last morning the rain was pouring and only one last garric was landed.

It truly was one awesome trip although the fish was a bit scarce.



Over to you Stu.

 

[Def-e-nition]

:op::op:

I'má Slide this boertjie if he takes Any Longer trying to figure out photo bucket Lololol !!

 

[Def-e-nition]

Wait . That Was too quick . jinnetog .

 

[Def-e-nition]

Let Me just put On some Justin bieber first- Dirk's 18 . and then I'll start .


right .
so Psy , Myself and robyosh a.k.a DJ sleeptight , left for Mazeppa Early sondag . Vroeg .

We were 2 days late , and had originally Planned not to take a Trailer with , but upon seeing the amount of tackle we'd been told would be Required to fish there - umm- we dragged a venter off and packed it to the hilt .


I had fished a comp on the Saturday ( bloody waste Of time ) and it Wasn't Long before I could that annoying giggle that rob emits when he's taking the piss out of someone -in this case me - for catching flies vroeg vroeg .
I Was beat .

we Arrived at storms river at dawn , when some dark ou rocked up there , just The 2 Of us , but with his soundsystem trying to break off The bootlid .

DOEF DOEF DOEFF DOEF GOOM GOOM DOEFF DOEFF .

Masetjopps .

it was kekfunny .
With brett From the DEn expecting our arrival , we headed to Pe for some Last Minute Impulse " what-the-hell-did-you-buy-now " Purchases - you Know Those Purchases Man - Those OnesWhere you Look at the shiny Lure and you realize halfway thgrough the trip that Thing aint never gonna See the Water boettie .. Ne ?


Clone Lures for cob , Braid for a Kite that Never sniffed wind - Plus I ended up vandalising Brett's Cashflow and ZOi'd a Daiwa Cap from his shop as Well .

Intersting sunday Morning .

We Pressed On .

At Port Alfred I contemplated waking up Mouldie , but luckily I didn't have his number .
Drat .


We got to east London , and Psy was like an yster , driving like he owned the road and knew the Way . Sorted .

I haven't been on a trip with my Lahney in ages - What better way to open up an old scoreboard then by heading together to Mazeppa , ?

too nice .


dj sleeptight hits the deck , but at Least he does a better job of it Than Me , and manages to catch up on a LOT of beauty sleep

 

[Def-e-nition]

Dirk , The Main ou Who'd Planned the trip , Was having a bit of trouble Locating Bait .
I'm Usually Pretty Lazy trying to find bait , but it was for Mazeppa - one has to pull out all the stops - And i'm not sorry I did .

you just can't go without Bonnies , man . Bonnies an booze .

so I Managed to find 15 of the smallest bonnie's that ever walked into a shop and died . I felt embarrassed , and Smuggled them out of the shop under My Mom's skirt . sies .

The one's we're used to buying are bigger than these- pity I never asked them if they had any big Ones , as apparently they did . My bad.

did Dirk Mention to you that he put in a Lot of effort into this trip , a helluva Lot of planning , And That he only charged R2200 Per Person , for the trip , including breakfast , supper , accomms ,a Flippin Lekka Trail Tech Shirt (!)

and Bait. No ?
Well , now you Know . The Laaitie nailed it . Dirk - with that Much effort I am humbly impressed , and I am not sorry I took time off work to join you guys .

It was well Executed .


I Need to fill My Glass . wag net gou .

 

[Koper]

Typical 2 day Stued report...

Gaan dit lank vat om daai glas vol te maak???

Dirk, lekka report so far and some great catches, congrats to your dad!

 

[Def-e-nition]

Koper wrote:

Typical 2 day Stued report...

Gaan dit lank vat om daai glas vol te maak???

Dirk, lekka report so far and some great catches, congrats to your dad!

Don't Make Me call admin and poof you .

heheheh.


Tsekkk..



We head twice Passed the turnoff while dirk keeps sending me Pics of what they're up to . not cool .

Finally , with No Mazeppa board to My Knowledge in sight , we head the van down the usual and Expected , Bumpy , winding , rough ,pot-hole filled ,47 km Long stretch Gravel road to heaven .

you gotta believe me when I Tell you That fillings in your teeth come out on that road , and you can comfortably Look at a 2 hour voyage on this Section alone . Masekind .


The Drive is bumpy , and We start checking the Gps . 19 km . Murder I tell you .

 

[Def-e-nition]

The road seems to never End .
We arrive on a clearing , and the view opens up to the Sea. I have Only read and seen this place on tv and Sealine , the Excitement was electric .

The weather though , Was Definitely Not .
Miserable and Windy - as I have grown to expect Transkei by now anyway .

Dirk and co meanwhile , have decided to head off to the boiling pot for some heavy tackle Action .


I find The house , can't remember If it's the right one or not , walk in to find some okes who Look as if they got dondered by mother Nature.
yip - right spot !! lol .
can mos See when someone has been fishing since early Morning !








The view from the house is everything anyone could wish for : a direct smack bang view of The island . how could that ever be topped . Not easily ...








I Casually head back to the Trailer Expecting the worst ,but everything's still in One Piece , and rob and simon have already started bailing the tackle .

We Pack and join Dirk , introductions out of the Way , I am Shaking as I get My first sinker out off The pot .

we've arrived . some good quality time with friends .

The Pot , From above , Looks simply amazing , and easily tops just about every single rocky point I have had the blessed privilege Of fishing , barr none .

 

[Def-e-nition]

The beach Of dreams .

Time runs Out and not much except shad and Small cob are biting , and plans are made to get ZXola at pot The following Morning .

I warned dirk Earlier That evening - I wanted a fish really badly in Transkei , and would be unleashing hell on earth and slide 3 rods simultaneously .

This is my 4th trip to Transkei and I was not going home empty handed .

Supper and the braai that evening , Was simply superb.
a T-bone steak , partnered with slap chips And more sauce than a Miley Cyrus video . Siessssa . Ons het omtrent Lekker geeet!!!

The following Moring I got to meet Mr Zola . Cfraig had Mentioned that when going to Mazeppa , there Rerally was only One guide to use - he was not to disappoint .
these guys work very hard sometimes to put The White bretheren Onto a fish , and Zola is no exception . This guy knows this part of the coastline like it is the back of his hand .

Everyone Trying to Beat the Next one to the spot .



I was supposed to have slid a cholkla , but I wanted something else , so I slid half an old bonnie I had lying in my chiller .



There mnust've been 8 rods Easily in the Water , and the swells were not exactly chicken Feed .

Dirk's rod went off first , and he Landed his hammer in around 15 -20 Minutes . Zola was skipping around on the bricks like a dassie .

Next , My rod went off ,and I was into something that took a bit Of line . At bloody Last .

Perhaps it Was the lack of knowing the spot , what bit there, Etc , but I should've been harder On the fish in my opinion .
Nevertheless , I was not about to Lose it due to The usual occurrence of fish coming in too soon , so I Let it run , and with zola giving me the watchfull eye , I was given the order to head for the top and turn right .

when we got to the sanded beach area I Made a dash for the open stretch of beach as if My life depended on it . Spectacular ignorance at It's best . Ah well - I still had a blast .!!

The fish felt like 100kg , but , Not having Fought one before , I Couldn't guess what it was.

Zola and the entire Mazeppa entourage were there - but My tagging kit and tape Measure Were Not . I really felt bad asking one of them to run back to go and Fetch it . Very disorganized .
the elation of landing That fish was second to none. 3 years of waiting to do it was enough reward .

It wasn't a bus , but I can Testify to the rumours of these things fighting like Olympic champs , and only serves to humilify what Craig's Bronze hammer Must've Felt like . Goeie Genaaade . Mine was nothing More than a swimBait compared to Enigma's beast .

 

[Def-e-nition]

Pierre's fish actually caught Me and most Probably the rest of us by surprise .

a slight tug and not much of a run , it Looked More like a cracker that hadn't gone Off properly . he gave the rod a slight yank - and it yanked Back .


absolute dead weight. oops .

As Can be found in Dirks Section -0 it turned out to be the Fish of the trip - and absolute Frikkin Goen of a fish , and My only hope is that his old man Learnt something from the fight , which took a Mind-blowing 4 hours + , to pull off . good Lord .

in the Meantime , back at The brick fort , I was Sticking to My solem promise , and Managed 2 slides out , under extreme conditions .

rob and psy were more committed in trying to help Dirk dispose of the more than 70 Kg of Pilchard that he'd brought along for the trip , and Were fishing Eds with everything from Prawn to Redbait , chokka , And whatever else they'd brought along .

everyone had a slide Out .SImon's rod was out Next to My second rod , off the front of the Point , and he got a run , hooked into the fish , only to have things go pear shaped and upon pulling out , discover that The Frikkin bloody Wind-on had pulled itself out . jinne That's enough to make me swear in front of strangers.
Suddenly My line went slack , and I'd been bitten off . Yoh . The trains were here , we just needed to hook them .



I was Off to put out the third rod , when the rod behind Me , high up on the grass , went off .

it was On the new whip , and I ran to Pick it up ( all 576 Grams of it - thank you blue Marlin ) and gave the line a Massive tug as I set the hook . the shark breached slightly , and headed towards Cable rock .I gave it slack , let it run for 5 Metres - and locked down the drag . it immediately splashed about on the surface and turned right .
Thank you .

With my trophy fish in the bag , and being very impressed with the New Whip , I decided it was simons turn to wrestle something for a change , and unselfishly handed him My rod and said "there - go get it ".

simon , Getting it .



the New gun is an absolute beast of a rod - I went bonkers Over it and only wished that I would've been able to hook into a Real beast - an absolute bus . Next time .



the little foosh I'd decidfed to donate to my friend , turned out to be a little bigger than i'd anticipated , from the Tug I gave it the fish looked No More than 25 -30 kg .

I was about 25 kg out ... $##t !!!


Note the hook . a Mustad z Steel .
no - it didn't open by itself .
the "new "gillie decided that it was theoretically possible to haul a close On 60 Kg bronzie , up onto the bricks simply by pulling it by the slide trace . we would Later On experience what inexperience can cost you , I'm just relieved that after such a long struggle we were finally able to land the fish . I would've been bleak if we hadn't .Simon , sizing up his catch .

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90231510@N04/11130210255" title="IMGP1453 by Def-e-nition, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3832/11130210255_7ca9338cdc_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="IMGP1453"></a>

The Old Man got a bit of a workout with this one Lolol .

 

[Def-e-nition]

Monday being as good as it was , we headed off home with some sore Muscles and bigger smiles .

Pierre , dirks' Old Man ,had been given the Mother of all workout hidings , ad I reckon he was Only too happy to see his snoopy duvet back at the Base .
I say snoopy , because I had the amazing spiderman duvet set On My bed - I mean- hello .......???
Weird.
everyone Know's I smaak Batman .
if I could deliver one serious critiscm to that spot , it would have to be the tokolosh beds that come standard issue with the place . Liewwe ouers , dunno whon they reckon will be able to get a good night's rest on those .




at 5 Pm I told dirk I Am Keen for another Throw , and with some bad weather looing , we nevderthess went down .

it was probably ten Minutes when Rob got bitten off , and I Thought " somethings coming to Play ".

The rod Went off in my absence , and I waited for it to tae some string before I Lashed back .
I was planning to bully this little fish - let Me tell you - after 5 Turns around the Front Ledge I felt like a royal twat !! Back and forth it took me , displaying little regard for the fact that it was hooked .






Cheeky lil buggers these .!!



we landed it - thanks to dirk - No gaff , but in some hectic back and side Wash . I was really not optimistic about landing it at all . the weather turned bad again , and that meant the Bar Was officially Open .


Nog N enetjie ...




The Following day , the eds gang stole zola , and not wanting to be selfish ( but very angry under my breath ) the Decision was Made to head to the Gungu channel .

Of Course all the eds guys tails and tongues were Wagging like Scottish terriers , and in all fairness , I Later found out that people head down here Over Christmas time , to Camp .


the road there was Long and bumpy . nothing in the Transkei is ever "Quick".


Wow .
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90231510@N04/11130630105" title="20131126_071148 by Def-e-nition, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5515/11130630105_cf6d372c90_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="20131126_071148"></a>

it is more than rumoured to be one heck of an eds spot - but - as usual - not when I ever put a line in the water with bait for Eds , on .............. Lol!!
Bloody place only gave me some nice Pics and More gps co-ords to brag with . but , not hard to See why it can work , and actually fire , as an Eds spot . fishing from the bakkie . Bonus .

 

[Shinga]

Good post. However just a little dampener - one of those hammers I think you tagged washed up dead on the beach. Sent tag to ORI but they say haven't got the info yet but it looked the size of the fish in the photo with the tag in it.

 

[Def-e-nition]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90231510@N04/11130234914" title="IMGP1472 by Def-e-nition, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/11130234914_abab6f366e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMGP1472"></a>
I arrived late at The spot , with dirk Mentioning nothing had come Out .myself and simon had tried earlier in the Day , after Gungu , on the island ', with No success . I slid Out a bait , but someone Made a comment by saying the island , off to the right , Was not really deep enough for a slide . ok .

- Thisll be my next Mission , to actually fish the island on a good weather day .

That evening was spent trying to get re Hooked , and target some Garrick . I plugged Like I knew what I Was doing and dirk had the rest of the binnelanders plugging around his Plug , after the Nice first chase . I didn't think to actually change Lures and try the see--through Lure I had Paxcked in .
One inevitably always Packs in too Much Tackle , believe Me . and if the weather turns foul- expect to go home with a Lot more than just the pictures you Took ...

A Garrick was Landed after some Feverish celebrations , and "jaloersbokkie" was sung repetitively That evening while Any word was menitioned of The Garrick .
zola was a little quick on the catch n release Part, and released The Fish before it could be Measured , but I could tell from Dirks face that his Garrick Was still in the Lead .

Please , Someone Remind Me to Never ever Attempt a report again , using flickr , for it Might cause to lose My temper and slam the Screen broken .......... Grumble ...



The Following day the Weather pulled us a Mean one , and I Sat at Shark point in what can only be described as a torrential downpour .
I really fished hard , and that same Day started googling for dry Macs Or literal Waterproof , clothing . The flashy shiney goodies I Had brought were Nothing More than wind breaker jobs , and certainly did not Serve any purpose on the Morning of the showers .

I froze My goons off .

I treid for a further hour On my own , while simon decided to give it a miss , and lured Me away from the water .
I wanted to fish realty bad. Admittedly , the Long hours Were getting to NMe , and I was c,ose to dossing on the bricks , close to the rod , it Was just extremely wet , ad I had no cover whatsoever From the wind and rain .

We Later went down to Boiling , in the face of an Eminent storm - let Me tell you , for a bunch of hardened Farmers , these okes sure don't like getting rained wet on holiday , and with the slightest of rain , were off to the house !

The Weather really didn't play along with us . zola was there every single day , all cudo's to him, really .

I slid a Hound shark head , flapped with bonnie cutlets , through what can only be described as some of The biggest , Meanest , Swells I have yet done any decent Fishing in , and I didn't think the bait would make it through

]
Kite.............. Next time I won't go unless I have a kite .................................................







Everything was Wet , and The bakkies slipped and slid their way up back home .

Nat my bru , als was nat ......

 

[Def-e-nition]

Shinga wrote:

Good post. However just a little dampener - one of those hammers I think you tagged washed up dead on the beach. Sent tag to ORI but they say haven't got the info yet but it looked the size of the fish in the photo with the tag in it.

Tag No 148 746 and tag no 149069 - shinga please keep me informed .

Those are my two tag numbers .

Many Thanks .

My concern Would be for the second one , as the backwash on the pot's gully is insane . dirk will vouch that I stood by and watched for ten minutes after release , trying to figure out where it had gone .
if it is My fish , I'm going to be Pretty bleak .

 

[Vades]

Great report and pics Def-e-nition and dorsalfin!

What camera were you using? Pic quality is excellent.

Def-e-nition, I need to ask as it is something that has intrigued me for a while, on what basis do you use capital letters in your posts?

 

[Def-e-nition]

Vades wrote:

Great report and pics Def-e-nition and dorsalfin!

What camera were you using? Pic quality is excellent.

Def-e-nition, I need to ask as it is something that has intrigued me for a while, on what basis do you use capital letters in your posts?

Vades , I would have to say it is a Direct Result of it being from Me typing with my middle finger On the Left hand , and4 fingers on the right hand ,To do pretty Much everything from space bar , and everything else, as I never did much Typing at school , or On any keyboard for that matter . It was Only as recent as 2002 that I began to really open up to computers , and the internet in General . I Was On the internet for a brief year in 1998 , where I found the etiquette of not using full capitals in a convo as it was considered shouting , etc , and I must be honest it is probably one of The Only things that still Grabs My attention when someone Posts .Old habits die hard I guess !

When I go for it and start writing , it takes me so long to do the content and then still add Pics that sometimes I fall asleep doing it : to then still throw in a spellcheck will see me slow myself down to Ground zero speed !

Please do share your observations Vades , as I type sub-consciously and would have to focus on every single word I type to prevent it from happening , and the Only times I type in CAPITALS , for example , is to emphasise Mr beat box's Afrrival at Storms river , Lol !

I have never ever Made this Observations , until you Mentioning it , so I would be curious to hear of yor feedback .
The cameras used , were a NIkon Digital Slr , my Samsung S4 , and a Pentax Optio WG 1 , but I'm assuming you're Making refernecd to Dirk's Pics , which Were Simply amazing yes .

 

[Vades]

Thanks for the feedback, makes sense.

I've just always wondered why certain words mid-sentence were capitalised - I couldn't figure out a pattern to it so that's why I asked.

 

[Def-e-nition]

As nevillle is about to do , one would really need to spend a decent amount of time here , at This Magnificent , Esa glorified holy grail of Fishing , and having done so I have no doubt in My mind , that 8 days into your journey , you will have been able to write back about being flattened by a train : I have No doubt whatsoever .

In the brief period of time that we were there , some good and obvious spots , stood out in my mind .

Shark Point . This can only be described as a sheltered sort of bay area , with Deep water out front , and a spectacular view Of both Ledges , Salt rock , and theby-now familiar sand dune next to a treacle river .rod holders are Provided There , and have probably Seen Many rods flying in and out of them .

 

[Def-e-nition]

the Next spot down would undoubtedly have to be the island .
This is one of those spots that , provided The winde allows it , you can fish solid for eds and ineds back to back .
Off the front of the island , I would not have any idea how deep it is , but This was my Main aim when coming to Mazeppa : to fish off thismagical piece of Land , with it's rickety bridge and vastly exploited by tv , goen fish .

The rocks are supppppper slippery , and while plugging there , I got fouled Onto some rocks off the left Ledge . This Was followed by some supremely stupid antics to free my plug from the bricks , and plenty of water . the slightest of stiff swells and you'll be off your feet , so one would need to be verrry Mindful of where you stand on the black stuff . Snmooth rocks covered in slimey stuff , can only spell absolute and Eminent disaster !

My My , I do believe that is a nice Pic of the island .



<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90231510@N04/11143554323" title="IMGP1469 by Def-e-nition, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7397/11143554323_ce6e9b21b6_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="IMGP1469"></a>


Last pic is of the beach to the right of a spot called cable Rock . I did Mention to simon that because of it being so Shallow , would be a gresat haven for fish : I wasn't wrong either . yesterday got a call from a Potential client , who , upon hearing that I'd gone to Mazeppa , proceeded to tell me of an 11 Kg steenbras that was caught and Released , on the Last cast Of the Day on the Last day of their fishing trip !!!!

Who says Mazeppa is only catering for sharks .
complete Rubbish .










We Braaied Like Pro's , Again , in the pouring rain: no two nights food were ever The same , and was always enough for all of us . now that's decent planning .
If I may humour you with how we braaied in the rain , observe the new roof formed over the braai area .....



Calls to civilization were Far and Few , as signal is scattered , at best, with only mainly the Major Networks really having coverage . Not a bad thing , really , heh ?

we planned that evening our strategy to pack the Trailer , as everyone planned to Leave the Following Morning , before dawn . I Was beginning to Fee l like a frikkin Zombie after the hard hours of running around trying to Get a bite , so 5 am seemed like a long and Far off distant memory ..

MY View of the island , straight from the room .
I tell you , if The wind was a bit Less : it didn't get any better , than This .....