So, there I stood! Barefeet, hanging onto a empty rubber duck. We ran out of fuel in the middle of the river and luckily a light breeze pushed us into the shore on the Witsand side. Deon had left me behind and was on a mission to go and beg someone upriver to leave his fishing and take him to town so we could get some fuel. I was holding onto the boat and smiling and waving to all the boats passing as if I didn’t have a care in the world.
The fuel tanks (ja both, don’t judge) might have been empty, but my heart was full. This little miss hap couldn’t bother me one bit, we just had an epic fishing weekend by our standards. And besides we have gotten used to a few struggles and bumps and bruises along the way over the years. This was just another day on the river.
We have literally paid our school fees on the Breede. On one occasion we overslept, resulting in us launching hastily and forgetting to put the plugs in. We only realized this halfway to the fishing spot and had to around and run back home on full throttle to drain excess water out of the boat. When we eventually got to the spot the sun was already sitting very high. Our cast net got stuck and we tore it in half before we had caught livies. Luckily though we had octopus, so all was not lost. That was until we spilled petrol all over it trying to refill the boat on choppy water. But we also had paddle tails so there was hope still. Unfortunately though, because we had the wrong anchor it kept pulling in the strong current and wind and we almost drifted into rocky terrain a couple of times. It was a total fuckup! (Oom oubaas sou gesê het dit was ‘n fokkop van epidermiese proporsies)
We have spent endless hours seeking a spot where we can catch a big fish. We have listened to the old ballies, the aunties and cool kids. We tried every possible bait, but for some reason the big elusive Breede River Kob always eluded us. I was lucky (or is it unlucky) enough once to hook into something big, but lost my fish because of tackle failure. I made an inferior snell knot that parted after an epic fight. That day I also learned that the longer a fish stays in the water, the more things can go wrong.
We have been coming to the river for over ten years and on a boat for the best part of seven years. We literally did not have a clue in the beginning. No spots, no guidance, no clue! We knew what bait to use, but that was about it. If you have ever been on the river and saw two guys zig zagging over the river, that was us looking for where the channel is. We spend days drooling over Facebook photos, trying to make out what the landmarks are in the background so we could go and try out those spots.
We did get lucky with a few fish from the side as well as from the boat, but our biggest fish to date was a 122cm fish which we caught late in September 2016. But nothing epic, nothing huge, humongous, monstrous. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying we set out to get a hundred pounder and after seven plus years our biggest fish weren’t even half of that. We thought it would be a little easier you know. Every year you see photos of big fish coming out, I mean how hard can it be?
Usually, we will make our first trip to the river, end of October, but because of all the rain that fell this year the first real opportunity to visit the Breede was this past weekend. I didn’t think that I will see Witsand this year, but when Deon suggested we go and have a look, I was in. The wife was not happy since we had to pull a few strings to get a reservation at a very busy De Grendel restaurant for the Saturday night. But you know what they say, “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission”.
On the road we had a bit of a debate. You see, I strongly believe that the biggest fish is caught on Occie leg (Octopus). I went as far as to say that 90% of the fish over 25kgs is caught using seekat toon (Occie leg) and that only now and again one might get lucky on a livie.
Saturday
We started casting for livies just after dawn. It wasn’t long and we had a few mullet, unfortunately all on the small side. I prefer using big mullet because, you know, big bait catch big fish. We got a bit “busy” in the cooler on the Friday night and with that went all the hope of securing the “real” big-fish bait, octopus. As we arrived at our preferred spot we dropped anchor and quickly started baiting the hooks before dropping them behind the boat. I had two setups one with a small hook for a small livie and one with a big hook for a big livie. Big bait, big fish…
The tide just turned and the river was steadily dropping. Early mornings on the river is magical. It’s a wonderful mix of pink skies, fresh air and singing birds. Now and again the sounds of wildernes is rudely interrupted by a passing boat, but then as the invader dissapears in the distance, piece is restored.
Tranquility was broken by the sound of a screaming reel on my small livie setup. The fish took off like a typical Kob with head shakes the works. She then came left and just hanged next to the boat for a couple of seconds before going on her first run. The fish took maybe 20 meters or so before turning and swimming towards us all the while giving head nods. Now when I say head nods it wasn’t exactly distinctive. It could have been something elses wings. I started having second thoughts regarding the species I was tussling with.
The second run was impressive. Line was peeling from my Stradic faster that a brandy special in Bellville. And the fish just kept going and going. I reckon 100 meters plus was stripped from the real at a steady pace. This had me seriously worried because now the anchor rope of the boat lying down stream from us came into play. I had no choice but to start putting more pressure on the fish. One turn on the drag knob, nothing. One more, fish kept going! I thought for sure im loosing this fish but for some unknown reason it started swimming towards the middle of the river and away from the bogey. With the third turn on the drag knob the fish turned.
Dead weight, no head nods nothing! I thougt to myself I cant beleive theres a fucking Diamond ray this high up in the river. I started putting more pressure on the butterfly and with each aggressive pump of the rod the fish came closer. When it was about ten meters out it sort of darted away from the boat. This seemed strange to us, because flat fish don’t have than maneuverability.
Then all of a sudden it surfaced next to the boat. A slab of gold and silver! All I can say is, I am from the West Coast and that I uttered a few words that would have made Gatiep (and Maraai) proud. With a quiver in my bones and jelly in my legs the fish dived again like the Red October. For the next couple of minutes it was a tug of war. The drag was set a bit softer and I played the fish a bit gentler, gaining a little more on her every time before she darted and dived again.
I told Deon to get the net ready because the fish was spent and about to surface next to the boat. It was a good ten minutes since we saw her the first time. Then it happended. This beautiful majestic animal was lying right next to the boat. I was in awe and in a bit of a daze, as if I was dreaming. However Deon woke me up with, “Die ding gaan nie in die fokken net pas nie!”
You must understand, none of us have ever seen a big Kob, let alone handle it. All we could think of was to secure the fish by gaffing it in its mouth. This isnt ideal but causes minimum damage to the fish. It took both of us pulling as hard as we could to lift the fish into the boat. We took a few pics, more than we probalby should have. Soon enough though the fish was back in the water and it took only about 30 seconds for her to flair her fins, then she kicked and disapeared into the depths. It was quite surreal.
The fish measured 150cm, meaning that we missed our target by 15cm (165cm converts to a 100 pounder). But we didnt care, we came and we conquered. School fees paid!
So what now? We came heavily psyched thinking we would work our buts of for hours to get fish and now we were river gods floating through the clouds. We baited the hooks again but after a few hours we started getting thirsty and decided to pull the achor and take a scenic trip up river towards the Bush Pub. I did have a slight dryness in my mouth from all the stres but we also wanted to do some more scouting. Looking at land marks and river structure, making metal notes of a few new spots we can try in future.
When we arrived at the Bush Pub I was thinking this looks like a lekker place and couldn’t help but wonder why it was so quiet with not another soul in sight. I looked at my watch, it was 9:47.
blikkiesvis 