On the way back from the tkei(Mnyameni) an awsome trip to say the least(10th-14 July), a friend calls me saying that he wants to go down on Fri the 17th and he has place for 1...I was not going to turn him down, so back home on Tues the 14th, and back to the tkei on Fri the 17th...the plan was to merely jump in with them but as it turned out, their crew crumbled at the last instance and i found myself,as so often happens, practically organizing the entire trip..so it was 4 of us, incl my brother and a certain Danny K, who has been fishing the area since the 70's..so off we went on Frid the 17th in the hope of catching that big one...Below is a clinic that the government has established for the local people...
Mnyameni 17-19July(Report)
- Thread starter Maestro
- Start date
Although we have been fishing the area for many years now, it is always a pleasure to travel with someone having vast experience of the area as well as the people, we were afforded this opportunity in the form of Danny K...he explained to us that the caves we see below were actually used by the locals to hide out in during the former Pondoland uprising...
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Our local guard was astonished to see me again as I had just been there 2 days ago..after unpacking and setting up our gear, we wasted no time in going down just below the cottage for a few throws, the tide was low but soon began to push in...the first fish was caught by my brother, and guess what it was, an elf/shad, they were on the bite again...
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Danny K is known for a trace which he calls a 'one up one down' trace, which comprises of 2 hooks, the top being a smaller one intented for smaller fish such as brim and blacktail with the bottom one targetting larger fish..this proved fruitful as he caught a blacktail soon after...
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The Shad had gone off the bite...Danny K's son hooked onto what seemed like a nice size kob but turned out to be a famous lesser sand shark which gave him a run for his money....by now the tide had fully pushed in but since we wanted to get an early start the next morning, we called it a night...
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we were up at about 5:00 the next morn(Sat)
all pumped up...after a cup of coffee each, we headed to the ledges (the tide was low) hoping to target bronze brim and rocod..we got onto the center ledge and the shad were on the run again, taking on prawn, sardine, as well as chokka....i dont think that i'v experienced a more exciting run as they were really putting up a good fight and the sizes were quite large..our local 'madala' did manage to hook this Yellow belly rocod in between the shad frenzy..it really stretched him, he couldnt lift it onto the ledge so i bravely stepped into the water to land it...
all pumped up...after a cup of coffee each, we headed to the ledges (the tide was low) hoping to target bronze brim and rocod..we got onto the center ledge and the shad were on the run again, taking on prawn, sardine, as well as chokka....i dont think that i'v experienced a more exciting run as they were really putting up a good fight and the sizes were quite large..our local 'madala' did manage to hook this Yellow belly rocod in between the shad frenzy..it really stretched him, he couldnt lift it onto the ledge so i bravely stepped into the water to land it...Attachments
I baited up with a shad fillet using a double steel trace, i soon had a ferocious pull only to be bitten off on both the steel(nylon coated as well) wires! I was not going to let this one off the hook, so i put on a thicker steel and baited up with a shad fillet again....in the meantime, Danny K slid out a carenteen hoping for anything big...Â
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I was using my regular setup, Saltist30 with a poseidn hmg lite...After a press down, i hit and On! it felt big, and i had to gently nurse it, i was gaining line, but very slowly, at one stage my sinker had gotten stuck and too much pressure would risk loosing the fish, i had to take the chance so i pulled hard and fortunately only the sinker line snapped..this catface rocod was estimated at about 3/3.5 kl...
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The shad fillet had done the trick! so i baited up again but this time i added a strip of chokka to the shad fillet, I threw in and waited...about 10min later, press down and on! this one felt bigger than the last one and the fight was on! it took forever to move the first few inches but it gradually came out of its hole... my arms were now burning and i had to hold the rod with my forearms as this bugger was really giving it all that he had..the gilly came over and grabbed it out of the water, a beautiful Yellow belly rocod, estimated about 4 kl or more...now that was a fight!
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Any one that has hooked a decent rocod will tell you that they are perhaps one of  the strongest of fighters from amongst the shore fish, after 2 in a row, i was tired and took a bit of a break..the guys decided to pack it up at about 12am and resume later that evening, so we headed back...They went down at about 4pm, back to the ledges. I however, did not join them as i had a project to work on which was due urgently, so I stayed behind..They picked up quiet a few gully sharks in the evening,blacktail, a few shad and a decent kob was dropped off the rocks...Danny K managed to get this monster shad, estimated about 4/5 kl...here we see that it's almost the size of the gilly who is holding it up! lol..
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Sunday morning and I hadnt completed my project, so no fishing for me..the guys fished off the ledges until about 11:30am, they mainly caught a few shad, and one kob, nothing really of note..we packed up and left around 1:30pm...Personally, i didnt fish that much but some nice fish were caught..I learnt a lot from the experience of Danny K and maybe he learnt a few things from me
It was a great trip to say the least....On the way back, i received a call from another friend saying that he wants to go down today(Mon 20th)and that I should join them...lol...mmm...not this time, i have been fishing from Fri 10th, and i need a break(yeah, a break from fishing!) ... until the next report, tight lines.....Maestro. (I leave you with Danny K, the running repair man...)
It was a great trip to say the least....On the way back, i received a call from another friend saying that he wants to go down today(Mon 20th)and that I should join them...lol...mmm...not this time, i have been fishing from Fri 10th, and i need a break(yeah, a break from fishing!) ... until the next report, tight lines.....Maestro. (I leave you with Danny K, the running repair man...)
:woohoo