Garrick at Happy Wanderers

OFC

Sealiner
we decided to have a fish on the spur of the moment at about 9am! we stoped at all the spots between Toti and Scotties looking for where live bait could be caught! but there was no action at any of our regular spots! so at about 12:00 we still weren't fishing and we had no idea where we wanted to go! and just before we gave up and go to our watering hole for moral support, Ian said we should check if you could fish at Happy wanderers without staying in the camp! we got there and we were told that we had to pay R30 as a dayvisitor to fish on the beach! ( well worth it as the crowds are smaler and cars are safe!)

we went down to the beach to suss it out, and the water looked brilliant, crystal clear no current and no wind, with a nice deep inshore channel and small sandbank! wile deciding on fishing or not, a reel started screaming to the right of us! the angler who's name we found out later to be Justin(non active sealine member) grabed the rod and set the hook! he fought the fish for about 10min, landing a garrick of 6.8kg!

we rushed to the bakkie, got our tackle, paid our R30's and our sinkers were in the water in record time! we had no problem getting live bait, we could actually be selective with the fishies! i slid out first, with a nice small stumpie dangling from my trace, then Ian sent a healthy karenteen to meet it's maker! both of us had the feeling that today is the day that we get a decent size fish! after about an hour nothing was interested in our menu, and we started getting deperesed(and thirsty), when we again heard Justin's SL30 go off again! this time i helped him land the garrick and it weighed in at 7.9kg's on the scale!

so our hope's were souring again, and we got the energy to get fresh live bait, this time two bigger Karo's were sent into the crystal clear abyss of death!! Justin had meenwhile decided to pack up, and his spot was quickly taken up by other anglers! their livies was not in the water for more than 10min and they got their first pull, again i helped getting the fish past the shorebreak, but as it hit sand the hook slipped, and i saw this beautifull fish( that is not mine) returning to the waves very quickly, so i did the Steve Irwin croc tackle and jumped on the garrick just as he started swimming freely! poor garrick, had a hand around it's tail and a 126kg dutchman on it's face! with one last attempt at freedom it got it spikes in front of it's dorsel fin embedded in my calf! but all was good, the angler was happy, Ian was envious and i was bleeding!

not a half hour later the same angler hooked another garrick of about 6kg's and landed it with the help of one of his own mates!

so by 17:00 i looked at Ian, and he looked at me, and we packed our tackle away, walked off the beach and into the Wrecked Heron for some cold one's! it was a very lekker day, with good weather and at least we SAW some fish landed !!!! so we know they are there, we will just have to try again, and again,and again !!!!!!

Justin's 7.9kg garrick!
 

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Clint-0

New member
wow nice fish, dont worry guys i know wat it feels like seeing everyone but ur self getting stuck into fish, but like u said put another bait and try again.
 

porkhead

Sealiner
Thats for sure. I would gladly pay to keep my car safe and fish a private beach. I was just wondering how they charge people for using the beach.

Can you walk along the beach and fish there ?
 

AnglerX

Senior Member
How am I sitting here in Pretoria green with envy now!!! As you can see from my profile, happy Wanderers, is one of my favourite spots to fish!! I go there every year in December for 18 days. I have caught some nice fish there, including the 52kg Spotted eagle Ray I won the dec/jan photo comp with!! Last year we arrived on the afternoon of 4 Dec and a guy caught a 12 kg Garrick that morning, whisc he kept and showed it to me. Those bays between pinkie rock and submarine are know for good garrick. There is normally good shad around and the garrick chase them into the bay to bunch them up. That is the perfect place to fish, no shark nets, a deep gully 5m from the shore break about 20m wide, a big long sandbank running parralell with the beach and behind that deep blue ocean, I have hooked some serious monsters there on slide at night. Last year the shad where on the feed and feeding about 1o meters from the beach in that gully, the guys where throwing spoons and one guy hooked into a nice shad but got tangled with another line, they spend about 5 minutes to untangle and he was eager to see if his fish is still one so he reeled his line in quite quick to get rid of the slack, he pulled the shad to the surface the garrick came up with it, he actually pulled the shad out of the garricks mouth he was already descaling it!! I love that place can not wait for Dec, you can actually fish 24 hours a day and still spend time with the family because it is all on the beach and at night I spike the rod on the grass in front of my unit!

The R30 is to access the resort, ie. swimming pools, restaurant, it is a day fee for visitors. You can enter higher up south and walk back along the beach. The locals start at the train station at Kelso and walk to Happy Wanders and back looking and spooning for shad.

Enjoy, you will get the garrick there just wait!! 
 

strandloper

Senior Member
Hi Guys,

I have just been down on the south coast for three weeks (05/06/09 - 25/06/09) and in general fishing has been horrible. No shad, very little sharks (scotties) and a couple of small stumpies.

However, on Saturday that Garrick made an appearance in Kelso and there were a lot (30+) fish caught. On Monday the guys started getting them just about two km's south of Rocky Bay (boulder bay - southwards)

I was there on Tues and Wed and saw about 9-10 landed. Unfortunately they did not want to take my live bait. All of them were caught on live bait (karanteen, blacktail and small silver bream) using regular non-return slide.

That stretch of beach from boulder bay to kelso have been very productive and providing the south westerly have not sanded it up it might be worth a shot this weekend.

Remember to get live bait in rock bay as it is a struggle to get live bait at high tide on the beach or rocks there.
I will be back there next weekend and hopefully the sards come past. Then that beack will light up!!

It is also not such a long walk anymore as the road has been graded past the back of the rocky bay caravan park (next to railroad) and it cuts about 1 1/2 kms of the walk.
 

Juzdog

New member
Greeting gents!!!

 

Well im finally  a member. Awesome story there about fishing at Happies.

 

I actually went down yesterday again, got a couple of Shad, they were pretty thick.

Just between the rocks in the bay. Guys were trying for GARRICK but no luck hey.

Also a few big mullet were also caught. I love this place more than anything. ive been going to Happies now for about 20 years, boy o boy, ive got plenty good tale sto tell you guys!!!

 

Until next time.

TIGHT LINES!!!

 
 

Juzdog

New member
Hey thanks a mill!!!

Looking forward to new things. Hope this wind eases up by the weekend, will be trying out Winkelspruit on Sunday.

 

Juzdog...

 
 

OFC

Sealiner
good luck! we will be going to Happies again if we don't go offshore fishing! ( my mommie gave me a fishing trip for my B-day!::S)
 

OFishal

New member
That was not only a highly entertaining fishing story but very inspiring!
Nice fish.....Is it true that you should count too 21 before setting the hooks when catching Garrick?
 
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