Here along the coastline of the great Atlantic Ocean on the
Namibian Coast there are fantastic beaches with breathtaking
scenery. Here you can wonder at the mountains in the background
as they stand like time itself, towering out of the Namib
desert. You can watch the sea change to pure silver as the sun
sets out at sea. This is a coastline full of stories. Of
shipwrecks and survivors of such, finding themselves alive on
the beach only to face the unforgiving Namib Desert.
From these same beaches, is one of the most exciting sports
fishing areas left on this planet comes the stories of the fish
that got away, fish that pulled rods out of strong hands, never
to be seen again. Stories of big catches and record fish, get
caught from these beaches. Here you can still get pulled into
the sea. The sea is like a beautiful woman - sometimes still and
peaceful, sometimes quiet, sometimes loving and sometimes moody
and unpredictable. Then there are the times she is full of fury
and temper that can last a few days or even weeks and then
without warning, she is calm again.
It was on one of these calm days after a few days of rough
seas that we were fishing for the Bronze Whale Shark. The sea
was calm and I could feel the sun on my legs. I was thinking how
good I felt to be here, when my rod was pulled right down with
such force I had to run forward to keep hold of it. The brake
was set for just such a happening. The line was racing from the
spool. I braked and struck. There was a very solid feeling on
the other end. I knew I was into a good shark.
I have played and landed many sharks from the beaches, the
best I have landed was 120 kg and I have also lost more than my
fair share. I don’t feel too bad when the hook comes out or I
get well and truly smacked, but I always feel bad when I loose a
big fish through a bad knot or a frayed line that I should have
checked. I make sure of these things now. So here I am holding
on to one very big fish, my line is good with full spool and the
rod is right and I have a good steel trace on the hook. I start
to put more pressure on the fish, but he is still taking line.
The 50lb line feels strong, but the fish is stronger. I start to
get the feeling that this is one of them big sharks that just
keep going. I put all the pressure I dare on to try and turn
him. He increases his speed not only that but he has the rod
down and I can’t get it up. I give him a slack line and let
him take some free line. Sometimes this works and the fish feels
free and turns or just stops. But nothing changes, he is moving
at the same speed. Now the line is nearly out. I go into the sea
up to my waist, it’s now or never. I pull with all my strength
and the fish just takes off even faster. I know I can’t stop
him. There’s this last desperate tug of war and as I give my
all there’s a loud snap and I very nearly fall back into the
sea . One of my companions commented. "Man, that was one
hell of a fish" (Tell me about it!)
I stand there just looking at the sea thinking that I must
make another plan. The problem from the beach is that if you go
into real heavy line you will not have enough on the spool and
if you go for bigger reels for holding capacity you won’t be
able to cast the bait out far enough .I have seen big setups go
out to sea because they could not hold for a brake in the line,
the line being too strong.
Just recently a friend, Bruno van Marcke, was fishing for
Bronzes. He was some 200m down from me where I was talking to
Renier de Villiers, one of the most experienced professional
fisherman on this coast, when we both saw Bruno’s rod go down
with such a force that he had to hold on by running the first
couple of metres, then he struck and that fish went off like an
express train. It took all the line as Bruno fought to get
control of the fight. Now we knew what was happening, he was
pulling hard and as his line was nearly all out he was going
into the sea. From where we were I could feel that fish! There
was a loud crack and the rod shot up and Bruno was left looking
out to sea. Renier commented "Man, I’m telling you, there
are some o!o!o! big sharks here to-day"! Well, he was
right, between four of us we were smashed five times. My wife
Lynda caught one of 75kg and Ilse landed one of 65kg. Then
Bruno, now all fired up hit another big fish which he played for
more than 2 hours. That fish also wanted to go out to sea
several times, but Bruno managed to turn the fish with only 20
metres of line left on his reel. He ended up walking out to sea
up to his chest and from there he slowly gained line with back
and arms aching he landed a magnificent Bronze Whale shark of
138kg!
(Article by Ken Morris)
