Our Africa trip was long in the making, as Ben, Eli, Ken and I had been talking about fishing Africa for a couple years before we actually made it happen. We started with talks of flying to Zambia with the idea of chasing tigerfish in the Zambezi River and myriad cichlid species in Lake Tanganyika. Ken had even communicated with some guides about renting boats and lodging, but ultimately we shifted our focus to South Africa due to the easier logistics and access to a wide variety of both fresh and saltwater species, including high-percentage tigerfish opportunities at Lake Jozini through Shayamoya Lodge. I think we all felt more comfortable renting vehicles and driving our way around South Africa than trying to stitch together long bus rides through Zambia to get from Lusaka to Lake Tanganyika and back. The long list of marine species off the South African coast was very appealing, as it meant we would be almost certain to rack up new species very quickly!
In the months leading up to the trip we hashed out an itinerary and booked airfare, lodging, and fishing guides. We were all coming from different places (Ken from Toronto, Eli from Colorado, Ben from California, and myself from Michigan) so our arrival times were different, but all we planned to meet up at the Balmoral Hotel in Durban at around noon on March 12. Ben and Ken had flown into South Africa first and the two of them met up for some guided yellowfish angling in a reservoir west of Durban (click here for Ben’s blog) on March 10 and 11. Eli and I arrived on the 12th and after that the four of us traveled together through the 18th, when Ken had to return home for work. Eli fished with Ben and me until the 22nd, then he went off solo to Malawi while Ben and I spent the last few days of the our trip catching sharks in the surf with guide Xander de Beer (Zoo Look Fishing). It’s always so much fishing and fun exploring new places with these friends!
I went into the South Africa trip with 493 fish species on my lifelist, which meant I was the rookie of the group. Eli was already over 1,000 species and Ken and Ben were somewhere in the middle. I had a rough goal of 50 new species in mind, which I thought was doable with the mix of saltwater and freshwater habitats we would be casting line into. We also built in some fun non-fishing activities like trail running (well, at least Ben and I did), safari tours, and impromptu activities like body surfing the waves off the beaches of downtown Durban. It was a very fun, well-rounded adventure!
March 10-12, 2019
Although I flew out of Traverse City, MI on March 10, I wouldn’t arrive in Durban until about 5am on March 12. It takes a while to get from Michigan to South Africa! My flight route was Traverse City -> Chicago -> London -> Durban and the London layover was a long one.
I passed the hours at Heathrow International Airport eating, sleeping in quiet corners, and perusing stores including a Harry Potter themed souvenir shop. When I finally landed in Durban, I grabbed breakfast at an airport shop and ate it while I filled out my fishing license application at the airport post office before I grabbed a taxi to Balmoral Hotel. I met Eli in the lobby of the Balmoral in the morning and got checked into a room. We didn’t waste any time assembling our travel rods and walking the waterfront to one of Durban’s fishing piers. We used scented soft plastic as bait but it was pretty ineffective. Eli got one small Olive Grunt, but we’d see many more of those in the upcoming days.
We met up with Ben and Ken in time to head to the marina for an afternoon session of guided boat fishing with Just Fishing Durban, and we’d highly recommend them. The offshore winds were blowing hard but we found shelter in Durban Harbour and dropped baited Sabiki rigs to find out what was around. It didn’t take long to start getting bites.
My first fish of the trip was a Malabar Trevally.
Captain TK got in the on the action as well.
We tended to have better action closer to the seawalls, with bites coming fewer and farther between as we drifted out into the harbor. So Captain TK kept motoring us back close to the action when we’d drift too far and the bites slowed. Over the course of the evening I caught a handful of other new species including Olive Grunt, Spotted Grunter, Natal Pandora before dark, and then Cape Stumpnose, Tropical Stumpnose, Goldsilk Seabream, and Commerson’s Glassy once the sun went down.
The Goldsilk Seabream turned out to be my 500th lifetime species caught on hook-and-line fishing! The other guys caught some cool stuff that I didn’t catch on the trip, including Terapon Jarbua. Ben got a Butterfly Ray at dark, which was pretty exciting to pull into the boat (I would get one in the surf later in the trip).
We headed in satisfied with the number of new species we hauled up in limited time on our first evening in Durban. We still had two full days of boat fishing with Just Fishing Durban, and hoped to get out to some offshore reefs soon.
Ken and I ordered food from the hotel’s restaurant when we returned. We were ravenously hungry and impatient at the long wait, so after nearly and hour I finally phoned down to check on our order. I was told they didn’t have one of the two meals we’d ordered, so apparently they just canceled the whole order without informing us. We placed a revised order, choosing something they did have, and after another long wait Ken and I finally had our late night pasta dinner.
March 13, 2019
We started the morning after sunrise with Just Fishing Durban and attempted to fish just outside the shelter of the harbor. The wind was still too strong to explore the reefs and rock shelves along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, but we dropped lines into the deeper water hoping for something new. We caught fish. Lots of them. But no variety. It was all Natal Pandora, a small, elongate, pinkish porgy species that we soon came to regard as a nuisance. After maybe an hour of that monotony TK motored us back into the harbor and we fished some murky brown water where the Umhlatuzana River flows into the harbor. My first new species of the day were the Javelin Grunter, Common Ponyfish and Orangemouth Anchovy.
Ponyfish are covered in viscous slime that is difficult to wipe off your hands, have highly protrusible mouths, and have a light organ in their throats housing a culture of bioluminescent bacteria.
At midday the tide started to rise and we tried another spot in clearer, deeper water. I caught my largest fish of the trip to that point, a Spotted Grunter that put up a good tussle on light tackle.
The fishing was slow at that spot so we moved to a nearby flat in shallower water. After a few drops resulting in nipped-off hooks we caught a school of Immaculate Puffer. I caught two on one drop of a multi-hook rig, and we all got them before the bite stopped.
We ended the fishing day drifting the harbor wall we had fished the prior evening and watching the shipping traffic.
Ben caught a cool Torpedo Scad high in the water column and I picked up two more species, the Smallscale Grubfish and the African Scad. We also caught several more Olive Grunt, Malabar Trevally, and other repeats.
We reeled up our lines and headed back to the dock in time to go grab dinner.
March 14, 2019
The wind finally died down, enabling us to fish off the coast on our third day in Durban. We started early that morning.
We started outside the harbor to load up on Natal Pandora and Olive Grunt to use as bait. I realized just how bad the sunburn on my rod-holding hand was. I cut a thumb hole in a buff and wrapped it around my hand to shield it from further sun damage.
After acquiring enough fish for cutbait Captain TK took us south along the KwaZulu-Natal coast to some reefs in about 100 feet of water.
We were in for an amazing mix of species. Eli, Ken, and I fished bait while Ben opted to use a metal jig, a tactic he had built confidence in out in California. We all caught a lot of new fish, and some of the largest fish of our time in Durban.
My first new species included the Santer and the Slinger, both species of porgy, the Striped Grunter, and a Lampfish (AKA Cave Bass).
Ben got a big Dusky Grouper, Catface Grouper, and Tomato Hind on the jig (see his blog for pictures). Eli hooked into something that peeled a lot of line off his medium-light rig before breaking off. Ken and I kept pulling in various fish on baited Sabiki or hi-lo rigs.
The Rosy Goatfish was among my favorite catches of the trip. Eli got into four of them on a single Sabiki drop (photo below), much to the chagrin of Ken, who was anxiously watching us all catch them before he finally added the species.
The other guys got some species I didn’t catch, but it was fun to see another Catface Grouper, Coral Hind, Englishman Seabream, Whitecheek Monacle Seabream, some kind of Soldierfish, and probably several other things I’m forgetting. Check out Eli’s lifelist and Ken’s lifelist for additional photos!
I pulled a Ben and eschewed bait in favor of a plain metal jig, which was worth one new species for me, the Indian Lizardfish. Although it was a different species than the Atlantic Lizardfish (a species I still haven’t caught) that resulted in me visiting a Portuguese hospital in 2018, it felt like sweet revenge.
Ben had also switched back to a metal jig and caught something highly unexpected. A cuttlefish! It shot black ink all over the boat, and his crotch.
On the way back to the harbor TK set up trolling rods. Close to shore and in less than 100 feet of water, we didn’t really expect any big game fish to hit. I was fighting a cold and was a sneezy, tired mess all day so it felt good to close my eyes and rest in the shade as we made our way back. But we were surprised when a Yellowfin Tuna smashed a trolling lure. Ben, Eli, and Ken had already caught the species and let me take it. It was my largest and perhaps least satisfying fish of the trip to that point, since all I did was crank in a hooked fish on the heavy tackle. The crew gaffed it, and we ate some as fresh sushi, gave most of it to the crew to keep and eat, and saved a chunk of meat for use as bait.
Back at the harbor we dipped micro hooks in to catch a daytime Commerson’s Glassy for a photo-upgrade and one final new species on the day, a Silver Moony.
We spent some time swimming and body surfing at the beach across from the hotel before dinner.
March 15, 2019
Eli and Ken ventured out with TK for another morning of fishing while Ben and I opted to sleep in a little later and go for a five-mile run along Durban’s waterfront instead. Along our run we saw a children’s park, fountains, monkeys, flocks of pigeons, beach views, and Moses Mabhida Stadium, which houses soccer, cricket, and rugby games, concerts, and other events.
Ben and I checked out of our hotel, stocked up on supplies at a tackle store in Durban, and swapped rental cars, which was a major hassle that took about 90 minutes. When we finally hit the highway north we had limited time to try fishing a promising shore spot we’d identified on Google maps. The spot was Tinley Manor and featured a public access point along a rocky shoreline. We used tuna meat for bait on single hook rigs and micro gear in the tide pools.
I started with a small hook and cast my line into the surging waves while Ben caught some micro species in the isolated tide pools. My first catch there was the Blackspot Sergeant, an abundant and aggressive damselfish that we would become very familiar with in the next few days.
My other catches in the hour or so that we fished that spot included the Stonebream, Kosi Rockskipper, and Cocos Frillfin Goby. Ben got a Highbrow Rockskipper, Maned Blenny, and Surge Wrasse there (all three of which I missed that day but would get later in the trip). Ben’s blog post for this day of the trip is here.
Our unusual micro-fishing tactics attracted the curiosity of the local boys. I would not be surprised if Ben and I were the first people to ever “micro-fish” the tidepools of Tinley Manor.
We lucked out on hitting Tinley Manor at low tide but with the delay at the car rental place we had to pack it up and hit the road after a mere hour of fishing. We grabbed some fast food burgers and shakes on the go. It was a pleasant evening and I enjoyed the scenery of the rolling landscape and distant mountain ranges.
We arrived at Shayamoya Lodge at dusk, where we met Ken and Eli in time for a delicious Braai (traditional South African-style barbeque). We would be spending the next few days at Shayamoya, fishing for tigerfish in the freshwater reservoir Lake Jozini, going on wildlife safaris, eating good food, and chilling at the scenic hilltop resort near the Swaziland border.
The braai dinner, featuring some exotic game meat along with barley and an assortment of vegetables, was good and our overall experience at Shayamoya Lodge was excellent. The rooms and shared spaces were classy, the staff members were friendly, and the guided fishing and safari tours were awesome. Huge thanks to our fishing and safari guide, Lucky, in particular!
Lake Jozini is tucked up in the far northeast corner of South Africa, which gets into the tropical region of the African continent, so I was taking typhoid and malaria prophylactics. Our beds were equipped with mosquito netting but I don’t remember having any issues with insects.
March 16, 2019
We got up early and piled into the Shayamoya safari truck with our fishing gear for the short drive down the hill and through the Pongola Game Reserve to the boat. The entrance to the park is right on the Swaziland border.
That short drive was almost as fun as the fishing day because we saw impala, warthogs, and zebras, along with a beautiful sunrise. Once on the water we saw hippos and crocodiles, an elephant, rhinos, a herd of water buffalo, wildebeest, an African fish eagle, and many other birds. It was quite the place to be!
Lucky positioned the boat in the main lake, near the mouth of the wide, sluggish Phongolo River. The water wasn’t overly deep and there were a few drowned trees nearby to provide some cover for fish. Our bait was sardines tied with bait thread around large hooks, which we tossed weightless and free-lined. When a tigerfish took the bait we were instructed to wait a few seconds for them to take it deeper into their toothy mouths before attempting a hookset. We got lots of takes but our hookset ratio was poor. They often dropped the bait immediately, otherwise jumped and jumped and threw the hooks.
I was the first one to pull a tigerfish into the boat, but Lucky had set the hook on that fish and I didn’t count it. Fortunately I got one legitimately soon after, and the pressure was off. Since we had three days of tigerfish fishing, I could now focus on trying for a larger specimen or the chance of a Sharptooth Catfish or some other species. We had built the idea of traveling to Africa around the Striped Tigerfish in the first place, so it was definitely the top target for us on this trip. Ken and Eli got their tigerfish in that first morning as well, leaving Ben a little bit anxious. But after a lunch break we returned for a late afternoon session and Ben caught the largest tigerfish of the trip.
Ben actually got a few really good-sized tigerfish specimens. These iconic gamefish put up a great fight, and they just look so badass! Lake Jozini’s Striped Tigerfish population is one of the healthiest, providing some of the best odds in the world at catching the species, but the average size runs a little small compared to the Zambezi River and Lake Tanganyika populations we had originally been scoping out. Nevertheless, I think we were all quite pleased with what we caught on Lake Jozini!
We saw a family of warthogs and some impala on the drive back to the lodge that evening.
With the four of us all catching our target fish on the first of the three days we could unwind with a celebratory dinner back at the lodge. I enjoyed an oxtail soup (I wasn’t vegan, yet!) and a delicious salad. I forget what the other guys ordered but I think it was all really pretty amazing. So was the sunset over Jozini from the restaurant balcony.
March 17, 2019
We did another session of fishing in the morning. This time, we saw giraffes and rhinos along the road to the boat dock.
I caught a couple more Striped Tigerfish on day two, and hooked into something slower and heavier that kept near the bottom. It was most likely a Sharptooth Catfish, and I was crestfallen when it became hung up on a snag and broke off. I was hopeful that was a good sign, and in fact Eli did succeed in catching one the following morning, but I would not get a second chance at that species. However, the intermittent tigerfish bite, exotic landscape, and African wildlife still made the day quite fun!
We took some time on the boat ride back to the dock to pull up close to shore for wildlife photography. Ken got the best photos of the trip.
We returned to Shayamoya Lodge at lunchtime and I went for a run around the property roads, keeping an eye out for snakes, leopards, and other hazards.
We declined the afternoon session of tigerfish angling and instead Ben, Ken and I opted to join lucky for a safari tour through Pongola Nature Reserve. We saw lots of giraffes, rhinos, a secretary bird (my favorite bird species!!!), another elephant, and more!
Since Ken’s photos are so much higher resolution than anything I captured, it’s worth sharing a handful of those here:
Top row: water buffalo, zebra, elephant
Middle: waterbuck (antelope), wildebeest, elephant
Bottom: giraffe, vervet monkey, warthog
Right: African fish eagle
After the safari tour we enjoyed another delicious dinner at the Shayamoya Lodge restaurant and retired for the night.
March 18, 2019
Ben wasn’t feeling great and decided to sleep, leaving Eli, Ken and I to fish with Lucky one last morning on Lake Jozini. Eli caught a Sharptooth Catfish and we collectively caught a couple more small tigerfish, but it was a hot, calm day and the fishing was pretty slow.
After the half-day fishing session we settled our bill with Shayamoya and checked out. Ken took one of the rental cars back to Durban to catch his flight back to Canada and Eli loaded up with Ben and I into the other car.
Our next couple days would be based out of Saint Lucia, a coastal city between Lake Jozini and Durban. Saint Lucia had some beaches, which we’d identified on Google Maps as spots for surf fishing, and it was not far from iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a protected area with public access to some rocky shorelines and additional beaches that looked great for shore fishing.
We checked into Ingwenya Lodge in Saint Lucia and then stopped at a tackle shop before heading to the beach to try our luck at surf fishing. There was a lot of seaweed drifting in the ocean and it quickly caught on our lines, which then pulled our sinkers out of position when the current and waves pushed on it.
My patience grew thin and I opted to go for a barefoot 5K beach run while Eli and Ben fished. I ran towards the Mfolozi River mouth, which made me a little nervous because I knew just over the dune of sand was a freshwater lagoon full of hippos and crocodiles.
Ben didn’t have any luck, either, but Eli managed a couple of Largespot Pompano (pictured above) before we packed up and went out for dinner. Eating dinner at open-air decks of restaurants in Saint Lucia (both nights) was the only time on the trip I recall being bothered by mosquitoes. Also, we ate by lantern or candle light because most of South Africa practices scheduled blackouts to conserve electrical energy, and while we were in Saint Lucia that was roughly between 6pm and 9pm daily.
If you’ve never seen a boat and tractor combo pull up to the pump at a gas station, well… here ya go:
March 19, 2019
On our second day in Saint Lucia we did a day trip up the coast into iSimangaliso Wetland Park to fish the Mission Rocks tidepools and Cape Vidal beaches. Just inside the nature reserve we drove past a majestic kudu standing on a roadside ridge.
We arrived at Mission Rocks early in the day and at low tide, allowing us to fish the incoming tide until it covered the large shelf of pocked and crevassed rock and forced us to retreat.
Eli hiked down the coast on his own for some solo fishing, whereas Ben started with an exploration of the many tidal pools sitting at various elevations. Click here for Ben’s blog entry for our day at Mission Rocks. I hung out with Ben but started with a standard hi-lo rig and fished the deep water just off the edge of the rock shelf.
I think my first fish there were Blackspot Sergeant, which I’d caught at Tinley Manor, but I soon started pulling up some interesting new species. Among them were the Surge Wrasse, Single Bar Devil, Yellowtail Damselfish, and Spotted Hawkfish. I also snagged a Convict Surgeonfish, but snagged fish don’t count on my list and I tossed it back into the ocean without a photo (Ben got one and posted a photo in his blog if you really want to see this cool-looking species).
Ben and I traded tactics after a while, and I caught a variety of small fish in the tidal pools. Tide pool fishing is a unique experience. The crevasse tidal pools, like the one pictured below, were deep and clear, full of fish and invertebrate life, and almost made me feel like I fishing out of a 100-gallon aquarium.
I caught some micro species including the Barred Flagtail and Reef Margin Blenny before something larger darted out and grabbed my fleck of shrimp on a hook. The hefty fish snapped the light micro line. I tried again and it broke me off a second time before I decided to tempt that fish with a larger piece of bait on my standard rig. It jumped at it and put up a wild close-quarters battle before I was able to lift it out of the water. It’s a fish I still am not 100% on the identification… a rubberlips of some sort. White-barred Rubberlip is the closest match I’ve found, although it doesn’t quite look like any other photo of the species I’ve been able to find.
Upper right: Reef Margin Blenny
Lower right: Barred Flagtail
Ben had ventured a hundred yards or so away while I was fishing these tidepools and came back with excitement. He had just caught a Snowflake Moray in a tidepool and told me he had seen others over there. I followed him to where he caught his and scanned the tidepools until I saw an eel head poking out from under a rock. I dropped a bait in front of it and it was almost too easy. The moray engulfed the bait and I lifted it right out of the water and over dry rock. The catching had been the easy part. Photographing a moray is the tricky part. They literally tie themselves in knots (see Ben’s photo of that here), slime your line, and writhe continuously. They also have razor-sharp fangs that can inflict a nasty bite, so it’s best to use a long-handled pliers to unhook them and snip the line if you have to. I gripped it by the lip with a pliers and was able to lay it flat long enough for a photo. I released it back into its spot and was done. One moray was enough!
Soon after catching my moray waves started to push up onto the rock ledge as the tide rose. We fished there a bit longer and caught some more Blackspot Sergeant and other repeats. The tide rose to the point that it was tough to fish that spot, so we grabbed our gear and walked north to a beach area.
I chucked some artificial lures for a while in the hopes of catching a big, predatory fish, but nothing chased. There were some really small fish in shallow, so I tried microfishing them and got a small jack that I believe is a juvenile GT, a Giant Trevally, one of the premier gamefish throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific. Giant Trevally are strong fish that can top 150 pounds, but a species is a species and it counts as one more on my angling lifelist despite its diminutive size.
Ben and I both fished the patches of sand partially sheltered by rock outcrops with micro rigs and started to find our hooks were being snipped off. We knew what that meant. We tied on new rigs and kept trying until we caught the culprits. I present, the Evileye Puffer:
Eli joined us at the beach (pictured below) for a half hour or so before we decided to pile back in the car and head north to the beaches at Cape Vidal, which is also within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
We hit Cape Vidal right around high tide. Although it looked great for fishing, the bite was surprisingly slow there. The best action was right in the surf line, where Ben and I picked up the Largespot Pompano that Eli had gotten the previous day. We also caught some Silver Moony that were larger than the specimens we caught in Durban.
We noticed a lot of bluebottle jellyfish (as they are called in South Africa, Australia, and other parts of the Indo-Pacific region, but which go by the name Portuguese man o’ war in the Atlantic Ocean) drifting up on the beach, so we had to be careful walking around barefoot. These things pack a painful sting, which leave red welts that can last a few days, but are almost never fatal (unlike some species of box jellyfish, which can kill people).
We had been grinding hard for fish species all day and we took some time to reel in the rods and lie in the sand (after checking for jellyfish parts) to enjoy the beach and sun and breeze for part of the afternoon.
We headed back to Saint Lucia for dinner and beers at a seafood restaurant. I ordered a seafood pizza and remember it being pretty good, but then again we were distracted with having our fish identification books and cameras out while we ate and drank like the fishy nerds we are. We were definitely in a celebratory mood after such a successful day of species fishing along a wild and beautiful stretch of South Africa coastline.
March 20, 2019
We checked out of Ingwenya Lodge in the morning. On our way out, we encountered an older, shirtless South African man that was staying in the unit next to us and he asked if we were schoolboys. After explaining that we were not students but rather just a group of #oldboys on a fishing trip he proceeded to tell us how he likes to invite schoolboys home to stay with him for a while. I’m sure he’s just a nice, hospitable guy but it did seem a little bit creepy. Anyway…
Ben, Eli, and I were planning to catch a domestic flight across the country to Cape Town the next day and we returned to Durban that evening to stay once again at the Balmoral Hotel. On the way back we stopped to fish Tinley Manor again. The tide was higher than when Ben and I had fished it on the drive north, but we still caught a few new fish.
From the rocky surge zone, I caught a bunch more Stonebream, Blackspot Sergeant and my first Rippled Klipfish.
I spent more time fishing the elevated tide pools there and managed two more species of blenny/rockskippers. The first was the Highbrow Rockskipper, which is indeed a classy little fish. I actually caught a couple of those.
My third and final new species that day was the Maned Blenny, pictured below:
After an hour or two at Tinley Manor we returned to Durban, where we checked into the hotel, had dinner, and went for a nighttime stroll along the waterfront.
March 21, 2019
Ben and I caught a morning flight from Durban to Cape Town and rented a new rental car upon arrival (Eli flew separately and got his own car). Eli’s plan was to get right into fishing, but Ben and I had scheduled an afternoon to go trail running at Helderberg Nature Reserve, near Gordon’s Bay (about thirty miles east of Cape Town).
Driving out of Cape Town, the juxtaposition of extreme poverty and opulence was stark. Near the airport we passed expansive shantytowns (the photo below, from Cape Town, shows up on the Wikipedia page for “slum”). It made us feel pretty privileged to travel the world to pursue fishing, trail running and sight-seeing adventures…
Photo credit: “No Land Too Foreign” link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slum#/media/File:Townships_of_Cape_Town.jpg
Whereas KwaZulu Natal felt tropical and jungle-y, the Cape region, with a more Mediterranean climate, felt like an entirely different world. The mountains were gorgeous and the plant species were completely different. In fact, we were in a botanists dream world. Of Earth’s six floral kingdoms, the Cape Floral Region (Capensis) happens to be the smallest of them yet the richest in species diversity per unit area. There are so many endemic (found nowhere else on the planet) plant species there.
Photo credit: Dietzel – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1703126
The other big difference we noticed in the Cape region was the prevalence of an unfamiliar language Afrikaans being spoken on the streets. We got around fine, as most people there are equally fluent in English. The area was settled by the Dutch in the 1600s and over time the Dutch language evolved into what is now called Afrikaans, “the youngest Germanic language.”
We checked in at Just Unwind before changing into running gear and heading into Helderberg Nature Reserve. The first part of the trail was dusty, steeply inclined, and exposed to the hot sun so we did walk-run intervals on the way up. Then we followed a runnable ridge covered in unique wildflowers and other vegetation (I couldn’t identify any of them but it was neat!), with amazing view of the surrounding mountains, the city of Gordon’s Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Cycle through the gallery below for more pictures from our run through the Fynbos at Helderberg.
We met up with Eli for a nice dinner after the run.
March 22, 2019
Our plan for the day was to fish on a charter boat for Red Roman and other fish, but it became intensely windy and the boat trip was canceled. So, we adjusted our plan and decided we would spend our morning fishing in the Gordan’s Bay harbor. But first, we explored a nearby freshwater stream for signs of life. There are a couple of endemic species called the Cape Kurper and the Cape Galaxia that inhabit those waters but we didn’t see any fish and decided our best chance at maximizing species would be to fish in saltwater.
The extreme wind was irritating. We couldn’t set anything light down for a second, and it made casting difficult. We didn’t even bother fishing the outside of the jetty, and spent the morning fishing the sheltered water of the marina.
I started with some shrimp on small hooks and soon caught a new species, the White Stumpnose.
I caught a Zebra Seabream, which I had caught on our offshore day with Just Fishing Durban earlier in the trip. My specimen from Gordon’s Bay was smaller and paler. We all caught a bunch of klipfish that we later identified as Super Klipfish. They were highly variable in appearance, but I think they were all the same species.
I tried some larger bait on the bottom in the hopes of something really cool like a small shark or ray, but my bait kept getting picked clean by smaller fish or else snagged in the rocks. I decided to give microfishing a try and caught a stout little bottom-dweller called the Barehead Goby (pictured below).
We took a lunch break and ate indoors to escape the wind for a while. I enjoyed a sushi roll and several glasses of ice water before we ventured back outside.
The tide was low after our lunch break so we decided to explore the tidepools that had become exposed (this was the area submerged by ocean water in the “windy” photograph above). That meant we couldn’t hunker down in the shelter of the jetty rocks, but the wind had subsided at least a little bit. The Gordon’s Bay tidal pool landscape was one of the most alien and interesting places I’ve ever experienced. Swords of sharp black rock, encrusted in barnacles, jutted up around shallow pools full of sea urchins and other invertebrates.
There were lots of gobies in the pools and we found at least three different species (more Barehead Goby and two new ones including the Commafin Goby and Banded Goby).
We also caught some more Super Kipfish and Evileye Puffer in the tidepools. I set my rod down for a while to explore the tidepools and capture some close-up and underwater photos of the marine lifeforms I encountered:
In a particularly deep tidepool I noticed what looked like an octopus tentacle. I poked the butt of my rod into the hole and to my surprise the octopus latched on and yanked the rod down deeper into the hole. It felt really strong, and I couldn’t do anything but wait for it to get bored and let go.
Convinced that the tidepools were dominated by the same klipfish, goby, and puffer species we attempted to fish the seaward side of the rock jetty. My line kept getting snagged, but Ben managed to catch the only Galjoen (the National Fish of South Africa) of the trip. An elderly South African angler saw Ben’s fish and exclaimed “Galjoen!” in a deep, guttural voice and with misty-eyed reverence. It felt like a special fish, for sure.
Finally, we returned to the shelter of the marina and tried one last spot. There were a couple kids fishing handlines and chumming up small mullet and other fish. I watched them pull in a few species that I didn’t have yet, fairly effortlessly, but I really had to work at it to catch anything.
I picked up two new species at that location, the Salema (locally called the “Strepie”) and a Cape Horse Mackerel. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to catch one of the mullet, although Ben was able to add it to his lifelist.
I also got a beefy Barehead Goby before we had to wrap things up. Ben and I were driving to Struisbaai to meet our guide Xander de Beer, with whom we would spend the last three days of our trip fishing. Eli, on the other hand, had to catch a flight for his solo adventure to Malawi to pick up some cichlid species in Lake Malawi (see the link to Eli’s video at the bottom of this blog post, which includes footage of his Malawi adventure and colorful species he caught there).
The drive to Struisbaai, located on the southernmost point of the continent of Africa, took us through a fairly arid landscape of mountains and ranch lands.
We met up with Xander de Beer and checked into the beach house he had rented for the three of us for the duration of our time there. Xander was an exceptional fishing guide, and he also prepared our meals and showed us some tourist sites. It was pretty much all-inclusive and at a very reasonable price. Look him up at Zoo Look Fishing if you’re ever interested in a spectacular shore-based fishing adventure in the Western Cape Region of South Africa, or if you want to live vicariously and learn some fishing tips through his fantastic series of YouTube videos.
We had a few hours of daylight to fish, so of course we did! Xander took us to a point with a mosaic of rock outcrops and sandy beach patches to fish from and we set up for sharks with his heavy South Africa-style surf rods. We fished with Xander’s specialized gear for the big stuff, as we didn’t travel with our heaviest rods, reels and tackle. Xander’s friend Stefan Oosthuizen, also an accomplished traveler and angler, met us there and we each manned a surf rod.
Bait was cut fish wrapped in squid or octopus, then tied to the hook with bait thread to prevent small fish from picking the baits apart before a big shark or ray could find it.
We used fighting belts to hold the butt of the rod and provide leverage when fighting a heavy fish.
Heavy sinkers held the baits in place through the waves and surging ocean currents. We held our rods and waited for a bite. I was lucky enough to catch a Spotted Gullyshark on the very first evening with Xander! What a magnificent creature!
We fished until dark, then returned to the beach house for dinner and a beer with Xander. The Spotted Gullyshark was the only catch of that outing, but it was a perfect evening to be outside and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
March 23, 2019
The first spot we tried in the morning was one of Xander’s favorite spots for “Duckies” (Duckbill Rays), which get pretty hefty. We walked out on a point of slippery, rounded stones and cast out into deeper water. I had a good feeling about the spot, but after an hour or two of nothing Xander decided to take us to a different location.
Our next spot was reachable by walking a shelf of rock at low tide but we only had a couple hours to fish there before the incoming tide forced us to retreat. While Xander rigged up the heavy rods I took a moment to dip a small baited hook into an alien tidepool. I lowered my bait between the kelp clusters and it quickly disappeared into the chalky blue water. I had nibbles and missed the hookset a few times. I was super curious to know what was lurky in that strange water.
It took a few minutes but I finally hooked something. It was a klipfish with a really neat color pattern, which I had to look up later and I’m pretty sure it’s the Sad Klipfish (Clinus acuminatus). I’d be sad too if I had to live in that habitat.
Ben got a Super Klipfish from the same pool before we switched to the big rods. Xander was disappointed that the bite was not great, but we did each pick up a new species on the heavy tackle, albeit nothing very large. Ben got a Black Seacatfish (see it in his blog post) and I caught a Dark Shyshark. Then the encroaching waves forced us to retreat.
We took some time during the middle of the day to visit the park at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. Here’s Ben and I at the only location in the world where you can stand on dry land and observe both the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
After a greasy fish and chips lunch, Xander dropped us off at a marina to fish for species for part of the afternoon while he ran some errands and prepared bait and rigs for the evening session. Ben and I dodged wild casts of some of the locals, somehow avoiding getting hooked or blinded by hook or spider-weight prong. I caught a mix of Salema, Evileye Puffer, Commafin Goby, and Super Klipfish before getting a new species, the Two-tone Fingerfish.
Ben caught a fish called the Janbruin (“John Brown”), which resembled the Opaleye of the California coast, before Xander returned. We scoped out a couple beach spots until Xander decided on one that we would fish until after dark. The path to the beach was loose sand but Xander’s 4WD truck made it in.
Ben was the first to hook up with a fish, which turned out to be a Lesser Guitarfish.
My first catch was a Common Smoothhound, pictured below.
The bites came fast, and it didn’t take me long to get a Lesser Guitarfish of my own. We ended up catching several of those.
I caught another guitarfish before Ben and I doubled-up and caught Dusky Kob at the same time. Our specimens were pretty small, as this species can get very large. They’re in the drum and croaker family, and are regarded as a prized sport fish in South Africa.
I also caught a Bluefish. It’s the same species as found along the east coast of the United States, and I’d caught them before in South Carolina, but this was my largest:
The bluebottle jellyfish were all over the beach. We waded in the surf and I got their long stinging tentacles wrapped around my socks. The burn is a hot, itchy pain akin to walking through wood nettle or stinging nettle with bare legs. Poor Xander was wading further out to launch casts, and suffered stings on unmentionable places (he wore a full wetsuit the next day).
The sun set and we donned headlamps and fished into the night. The action slowed down, but just as we were discussing packing things up to go get some sleep one of the big rods got a strong take. Ben took this turn, and after letting the fish pull some line he flipped off the bait clicker and heaved back on the rod to set the circle hook into a behemoth.
Ben battled the huge shark for perhaps forty grueling minutes before Xander waded out to grab the end of the leader. All Ben and I could see was his headlamp somewhere out in the breaking waves, wading around with an enormous shark. It seemed like a potentially dangerous situation (which of course, it inherently is), but Xander expertly got ahold of the leader, enabling Ben to real line as we all waded to meet Xander. He worked with the incoming waves to pull the shark into shallow water, where we could take measurements, unhook it, and take quick photographs before turning it loose. In the light of our headlamps we saw it was a huge “Raggie” (Ragged-tooth Shark). That was a “Holy shit!” moment, for us, for sure.
Xander dragged the unhooked shark into deeper water by its tail (I’m glad he was doing it, not me!) and successfully released it. I was super excited for Ben and stoked about seeing that awesome creature up close! Of course, I was a little bit jealous of his catch.
Xander offered “one last cast” and we decided to give it ten more minutes. To my surprise and delight, the rod got a take in less than ten minutes. My turn. I picked up the rod, pulled back to set the circle hook, and felt an enormous weight on the other end. It steadily tore line off the reel and all I could do was strain to hold on while my arm muscles burned. It also took me more than thirty minutes before I could gain line back and make progress reeling the shark close enough for Xander to leader.
My shark was even longer than Ben’s and weighed an estimate 327 pounds. By far the largest fish I’ve ever caught. Both of our sharks had scientific tags. We took photos of the tags to look up the catch history and it was interesting to learn that both of our sharks had been caught-and-released by multiple anglers in the past.
Xander waded my shark out for release and then we packed up our gear and returned to the beach house for dinner and showers. We still had one full day and part of the next morning to fish, but we knew whatever we would catch the rest of the trip would just be icing on the cake.
March 24, 2019
Xander brought us to a spot near Cape Agulhas to kick off the next day of shark and ray fishing.
We hiked out on a rocky point and cast lines into a bay, hoping for something big to come along. It required patience, as we stood holding our heavy rods for a while with no sign of a fish.
I felt a tap-tap-tap on my line and waited for a stronger take, but the tapping continued without any significant weight. Eventually I set the hook into a something small, but I could tell I had something on the line. My arm muscles, fatigued from the previous night’s battle with the big raggie, were happy it was only a little shark. It was a new species!
I continued fishing a shark rod while Ben spent some time exploring the tidepools. He caught some Super Klipfish and Banded Goby before convincing a new face to bite. This one was the redfingers (see Ben’s full post of this day here). There was a second one in the same tidepool, so I tried for it. My bait was stolen in the process, and while I was putting a new bait on my hook Ben sniped the second redfingers. What a jerk move! But… how many shysharks have you caught, Ben? 😉
Xander advised we reel in. With the tide starting to come in there was one more low-water spot he wanted us to fish while we still had time.
The next spot was rough. Waves were crashing in and the wind carried the spray at us, while the fishing bite was really slow. I might have gotten a bite, but I did not manage to catch anything at that location. Ben’s lone catch there was another species of catfish, this time a White Seacatfish.
After breaking for lunch we returned to the Struisbaai beach spot where we caught the big raggies the previous night. The wind died down and the calmer water had a greenish color to it. I felt illiterate to the ocean’s signs beside Xander, who deftly read the water and identified likely spots for good action and confidently informed us that conditions were good for hammerhead shark.
He was definitely correct. I got a good take right away and reeled in a Smooth Hammerhead… except it didn’t count! The hook was embedded in the skin of the shark’s head, not in or particularly near the mouth. I took some photos before releasing the fish but Ben and I agreed it wasn’t a countable catch.
I hoped to get a second chance. But Ben was next up, and he got his Smooth Hammerhead fair-and-square. I caught a Common Smoothhound next, then another Lesser Guitarfish. Finally, around sunset, I hooked into a good fish. It was another Smooth Hammerhead, and this time it was fairly hooked in the mouth. I felt happy and relieved to legitimately catch the species.
We fished into the night again. The action was slow until suddenly it wasn’t. Ben and I both hooked into big fish, and we hoped they wouldn’t tangle up with each other as we reeled them in. Whatever I had hooked was big, but not quite as large as the Ragged-tooth Shark.
Ben and I realized something wasn’t right after a few minutes. We were fighting the same fish. It must’ve taken one bait and swam into the other line. With two of us pulling it in, the fight was easier than it should’ve been (so, an asterisk on this catch), and the question was, “Who’s line is the fish actually on?” Xander waded out to grab the leader and help us beach the fish, which he announced was a diamond ray. It took some time for him to work out the tangled lines, but ultimately it was my hook in the mouth. A strange and unorthodox capture, but ultimately I decided I was comfortable counting it on my lifelist. Ben was happy I could add the species, since he’d already caught one of those rays back in Durban Harbour. It was also the second-heaviest fish I’ve ever caught, likely weighing in at over 200 pounds.
It was an exciting way to cap off the night!
March 25, 2019
Ben and I had afternoon flights out of Cape Town, so we made the most of our last morning and fished with Xander at an estuary before we had to hit the road. Our main target was the Leerfish (AKA Garrick), a species in the jack family that can grow to sixty pounds. There were mostly just juveniles in the estuary, but they were abundant.
We tossed small artificial lures (soft plastics, inline spinners, Rat-L-Traps, etc.) and hooked a lot of aquatic vegetation but also had some explosive hits from aggressive Leerfish. Their feisty, schooling behavior reminded me of catching White Bass in the warm-water rivers I grew up fishing in southeast Minnesota.
After catching a few Leerfish I switched to fishing shrimp on the bottom in an attempt to catch one last species before we had to leave. I had bites on the bait but I couldn’t hook into anything. Ben managed another White Seacatfish and his final species of the trip, a White Steenbras.
The Leerfish would be my 63rd and final new species of this South Africa adventure, and my 556th lifetime species. I was incredibly happy with the species-hunting success we enjoyed, and South Africa was a remarkable country to visit for its scenery, wildlife, and people.
We bid Xander farewell and drove back to Cape Town. My shoes stank and were falling apart from repeatedly wearing them in the saltwater, so I threw them in the garbage and asked Ben to stop at a shoe store in a small town we passed through. I went inside wearing just socks and the lady working there noticed and exclaimed “You need shoes!” I responded by throwing my arms in the air and exclaiming “I need shoes!” I walked out in a new pair of Asics.
Ben and I parted ways at the airport. I had a layover in Johannesburg and had to wait through a very long, slow-moving line to pass a security checkpoint. I had to run through the airport and caught by Johannesburg to London flight just as it was boarding. I had another long layover in London, which I spent trying to identify fish and posting trip photos. After another very long flight to Chicago, a hop to Traverse City, and a drive to Gaylord, I was finally home!
Thanks Ben, Eli, and Ken for sharing this adventure with me, and Xander de Beer, Just Fishing Durban, and the staff at Shayamoya Lodge for putting us on lots of fish and showing us the wild side of South Africa. We had a blast!