Great days fishing

I got down to Orange Rocks  ( see Google Map) at about 8:30 on Saturday morning, a little late for the shad – but I had bigger things on my mind. The rocks were quite packed and I could not find a peg to place my rod, so I threw a bit of spoon in the hope that I would get a Garrick or Kingfish. I have never caught either of them on spoon and it is high on my priorities.

The first bit of action came about 20 minutes after I arrived, with my friend Luck’s reel screaming the beautiful buzz of FISH ON.

Pictures speak louder than words so here is a short video of the landing. I promise that my video taking skills will improve, but it was just so darn exciting.

Just to share a bit of info on Lucky. He is the guy that goes around and cleans up after everybody, when they just throw their rubbish on the floor. He does this out of a love for our environment and our fishing spot, not as a job.  He is a devoted angler and a true gentleman.

A Kingfish is well known to be a dirty fighter. He will find every hole, reef or rock to swim through, under or around. Many, many times an angler looses a Kingfish when his line is cut off during the fight.

Next up it was Ricky’s friends turn. Sorry bru, I can’t remember your name, but today you are Garrickman – enjoy.

Again it was a first for the angler, who landed his first Garrick. Also on live shad.

Congratulations.

Even the youngsters were getting in on the action, with this nice sized Blacktail

Nice sized Blacktail

By now the North Easter was howling at around 18 knots and everybody abandoned their days fishing. I absolutely loved the peace and quiet and decided to throw my spoon.  My second Mackerel Bait was in a nice bit of blue water and I had a feeling that I was gong to be visited by a Gentleman in a Grey Uniform.

It was about half past two in the afternoon and I had lost count of how many times I had thrown my spoon. I knew that it was more than 80 times and I was loving every moment of it.

The next thing, out of the blue….. BANG ——–> I was FISH ON.  Hallelujah.

It was actually surreal and it took a few moments for me to register that there was a fish on the other end of the line. It was so sudden and it truly felt like I had hooked a rock or something. Until he decided that he was going to make a break for it.

Sorry my friend…. not today. My custom built Purglass 14ft rod and Grandwave 50 made short work of him.

He was by far not the biggest Garrick that I ever caught, but he was my first ever on spoon.

So stoked.

A passer-by saw me fighting the fish and he came down to have a look. For those who don’t know Orange Rocks, it is a series of ledges that lead down to the water.

I asked him to hold my rod as I wanted to grab hold of my leader and lift the fish out of the water.

As I lifted him, he shook and fell off the hook onto a small ledge that jutted out of the rockface. First wave and he was right on the edge, second wave and he was gone.

Then I did something really stupid,  I jumped down into knee deep water to grab my fish.

I managed to grab him by his tail and passed him up to my “assistant” and his son.

The next thing I see a wave coming and as we say in South Africa….. “I kucked myself”  as if you get washed off Orange Rocks, you are DEAD.

It is as simple as that.

The first wave hit and I was completely submerged in water, holding onto the rocks for dear life.

Then the second and then the third.

All I could think of doing was to hold on and pray.

I got a gap and climbed up the rocks like a fairy crossed with mountain goat. I don’t think that my feet even touched the rocks.

Anyway, safe and sound and a good lesson learnt. It is not worth loosing your life, just to land a fish.

Yea right.

Unfortunately, my  “assistant” had held onto the fish by sticking his fingers into the fish’s gills.  Sadly, he was bleeding from the gills so releasing him would only mean one thing – SHARK FOOD.

It would have been nice to tag him, but it just did not work out that way….. sorry bru.

At 83cm he was over the minimum size of 75cm so all thanks to God for providing something for the pot.

The compassionate way to euthanaise/slaughter  a fish is to cut his throat -  all the way through in one cut. Ensure that you cut straight through his main artery and spine. It is sad and not the nicest thing to discuss, but it is something that every fisherman should know.

When you leave a fish to asphyxiate, he releases chemicals into his blood – which then degrade the quality of the meat. So if you are keeping your fish to eat, slaughter him quickly and humanly. Let him bleed out as fast as possible, gut him, rinse him off and get him into a fridge as soon as possible.

All that aside, it was a wonderful day on the rocks.

Alls well that ends well.

Tight Lines to all.

Read here for more information on how to catch Garrick on live bait