Part 2....

15 minutes on the beach and it's time for the first work-out...

and in 37 minutes the first bronzy is on the beach...

183cms nose to base of tail and calculated at 85.3kgs (188lbs). Get the classic pose...

...and back it goes to be quickly followed by a 7-Gill or Cow shark...

155cms and estimated about 65kgs (143lbs).....

Refused to pose nicely...

so quick dental shot and back it goes...


Things went a bit quiet after that and also the grass and weed moved in (something that plagued us quite a lot over the next few days) so we moved on to another spot....

But all we could find was a small sandshark...

and a tiny shy shark. Never mind, 4 species and 2 very decent sharks for my first day.

Day 2 was out on the boat. Part 3 to follow.....

 

Part 3:
Day 2 and an early breakfast prior to heading off with the boats.

A large group had booked Manta Ray for some eaters, while I was out in Unicat with Simon, one of his mates Johan and son William as Deckie.

All ready to head off to Swakopmund to launch...

It is a bit wet which makes the drive on the salt roads a bit tricky when you get a windscreen brown-out every time a lorry comes the other way. Nice clean car and boat on arrival...

Busy in the Car Park above the ramp (as the weather has not been kind for some time and there is really only a couple of days window before it blows up again) and everyone wants to get out...

A short steam up to just off Mile 6 (about 6 miles not surprisingly?) and while waiting for a bronzy to turn up we are all pulling in shedloads of barbel (white catfish) which are excellent bait for spotted gully sharks (see later) and lots of barely legal kabeljou (kob).
Everyone locally is complaining that the snoek, which should have arrived many weeks ago, have still not turned up and that there are very few decent sized kob around either. Indeed, in the 'Henties Bay Boxing Day Bonanza', (the Comp for the biggest kob on the day), 1st to 4th were 13, 7, 6 and 5kgs. Most years produce many fish over 20kgs.

I digress...back to the boat. The first balloon pops and a bronzy gives me the run-around....

On this one the hooks pull after a few minutes. The second one I fight for a long time, (including a couple of times of William scrambling round the bow under the anchor rope), but eventually the 30lb mainline succumbs to an edge under the boat.

Numbers 3 and 4 are at least leadered....

before "self-releasing" under the boat. It is clear that Simon is unimpressed with the duffer who can't keep number 5 anywhere near him either...

Well....at least we've got a few kob for the braai tonight and LOADS of bait for the Spotties! Home for some beers Simon!

Day 3 on the Spotties. Part 4 to follow.....

 

Part 4:
Day 3 and back to the beach. Difficult conditions, blowing a bit and lots of weed/grass to contend with. First thing to do is help out a numpty who really shouldn't be there!...

Trying a rock platform near Mile 6; lots of kelp and heavy ground...

But there are spotties here...

although it's sometimes a bit tricky landing them...

Feisty suckers....

When the incoming tide gets too much we have to retreat to another mark near to Henties and pick up 2 more...

Less scary gnashers...

and that's it for the day. Spotted gully sharks of 10, 15, 11 and 17kgs.

Home and beers....

Part 5 to follow....

 

Part 5:
Day 4...back to the beach. Pretty rough and lots of weed everywhere. Decide on an early start so 5.30am breakfast and straight down to the low water mark at the rock platform near Mile 6.

Strange seagulls on the rocks...

Just about fishable...

But have to retreat a few times....

Lose the first one in the reef, but then land the second (50% is about the norm for spotties considering the ground you're fishing over for them)....

Then I land one on my 6-piece Shakespeare Agility (a new upgrade of the old Salt Travel beachcaster), while Kyla (Simon's 14-year old daughter and beach-ghillie during her school holidays) fights another one....

The fish turn out to be 12kg twins....

then one final decent one before we call it a day on the spotties and go looking for another bronzy...

We find a spot near Mile 26 that looks fairly weed free, but it's quite rough and a fair old chuck to get nearly a pound of lead and bait out far enough. Our neighbours 400 metres down the beach have been cheating with a drone to carry their baits out, but haven't had anything for 5 hours. Not much hope......or is there?.....

35 minutes later.....

Pose with the 178cm, 78.2kgs (172lbs) bronzy...

and home for tea & stickies....naah....beers.

Part 6 to follow....

 

Hiya D, brilliant read & pics mate in parts 1 to 5. Ever so slightly envious after reading/seeing them bet the adrenaline was pumping when you hooked into some of those lumps.
Looking forward to part 6.
Great posts so far.
Tight lines. Rick

 

Part 6:

Last day of 5....

Tried several spots; hard work with lots of kelp and grass in the water.

One sand shark and 6 undersize kob later we decide to cut our losses south of Henties and drive way back north to Mile 72 where we had the first bronzy 4 days ago. When we get there it looks good and there is no grass in the water. 20 minutes and we're in.....

and a crowd soon gathers...

Getting close now...

and 33 minutes and this healthy 177cms female bronzy, 76.8kgs (169lbs) poses for the camera...

Time to call it a day.

Fabulous holiday, great fishing in challenging conditions and truly outstanding value for money.

Simon......I'll be back mate!!! (Please thank everyone else involved, not least Sharon, Kyla and William).


That's all folks (for a short while anyway).

 

Part 6:

Last day of 5....

Tried several spots; hard work with lots of kelp and grass in the water.



One sand shark and 6 undersize kob later we decide to cut our losses south of Henties and drive way back north to Mile 72 where we had the first bronzy 4 days ago. When we get there it looks good and there is no grass in the water. 20 minutes and we're in.....



and a crowd soon gathers...



Getting close now...



and 33 minutes and this healthy 177cms female bronzy, 76.8kgs (169lbs) poses for the camera...



Time to call it a day.

Fabulous holiday, great fishing in challenging conditions and truly outstanding value for money.

Simon......I'll be back mate!!! (Please thank everyone else involved, not least Sharon, Kyla and William).


That's all folks (for a short while anyway).

Those spotties are something else, imagine a 50lb tope with attitude and with a knack of finding a rock to cut your line and you're about there. My best was 23kgs and Simon thought it could be a small bronzie but it was a spotty with extra attitude. I hope to get back for my third visit.

 

looks like a great place to visit ,and within budget considering the rand

 

Excellent report Dai and a pleasure to have you and your good lady here. Hope to see you again soon.

 

That's my problem Simon, Mrs B doesn't fish so every time I go away fishing, it costs me a holiday with her, and she's not cheap. When I was with the SAN I argued it wasn't a holiday, I was working, that doesn't wash now and these Cunard cruises cost a bomb.

 

what do you recon costs would be for a week or so fishing plus hotel/sc .flights run around 750,got a budget that due to family holidays I have promised to keep

 

Excellent fishing trip and report

 

Good to see you still at it, must be tough going on that very long rod (no wonder you had a harness).

Did you take your own gear as I noticed you were using a shorter rod at one point.

Where do those guys get their formula from for weighing sharks ?

JonD

 

Good to see you still at it, must be tough going on that very long rod (no wonder you had a harness).

Did you take your own gear as I noticed you were using a shorter rod at one point.

Where do those guys get their formula from for weighing sharks ?

JonD

Hi Jon,

I had seen pictures of the one-piece 14-footers with VERY short butts before I went and with talk of HOURS spent fighting these fish I was a bit worried, so adapted an old golf carry-bag harness into a shoulder/back harness with a carabiner clip and an assortment of short strops that I might be able to fasten at various points on the rods. In the end it was a godsend and took a massive amount of weight off my arms while I was concentrating on getting line back! ...while running back and for and up and down the beach! That little shoulder harness was the main reason each fight was under 40 minutes. It worked just as well with the short rod on the boat.

The length of the rod is purely to get enough swing and leverage with the heavy weight of sinker and bait to chuck it far enough. My Shimano 3-piece 763 spins would have coped equally as well with the bronzies, but wouldn't have cast anything beyond the first breaker!

For the inshore stuff (mainly kobs) and for the spotties I used a 6-piece travel beachcaster (11ft6) with the Shimano Saragosa SW25000. Coped very easily with the spotties.

Simon had a printed table of length in cms (nose to notch before the tail) vs weight in kgs for the bronzies. The cow shark was an estimate.

Simon's girl is cut from pretty much the same cloth as yours mate...already fishing for Namibia.

All the best,
Dai

 

Great stuff Dai - and you can never have too much gloss. Love the sand dune shot

 

what do you recon costs would be for a week or so fishing plus hotel/sc .flights run around 750,got a budget that due to family holidays I have promised to keep

PM sent

 

Think I got them all (Namibian technology )

BA are doing deals at the moment, what's beginning of April looking like?

 

Hopefully no weed!!

Drop me an email Norm (info@seaace.com.na).

 

Such a good read Dai, cheers! This one's definitely on my list for some time in the next couple of years. One question though, I've never seen myself as a particularly phenomenal beach caster. Most of my shore fishing never requires me to whack anything out past about 60-80 yd, and 80 is probably all I can usually manage (that's actually taped out though, not one of these wild estimates people sometimes give for their casting abilities). Would I be out of my depth trying to get a bait out there? Great advice on the harness by the way! I love fighting big fish, but it's nice to feel at least comfortable while doing it!

 

I tried casting a 14ft rod with 8oz of lead plus bait, got a nice blister on my thumb, left the casting to Simon or Godfrey after that. The fun is in fighting the fish, not casting the bait.

 

Such a good read Dai, cheers! This one's definitely on my list for some time in the next couple of years. One question though, I've never seen myself as a particularly phenomenal beach caster. Most of my shore fishing never requires me to whack anything out past about 60-80 yd, and 80 is probably all I can usually manage (that's actually taped out though, not one of these wild estimates people sometimes give for their casting abilities). Would I be out of my depth trying to get a bait out there? Great advice on the harness by the way! I love fighting big fish, but it's nice to feel at least comfortable while doing it!

Norm's right there! Casting a 14 foot rod with a Saltist 50 mounted only about a foot up the butt (with any mags removed!) would be WAY out of my comfort zone....particularly up to your waist in water if it's not a steep beach. Simon's the expert.....get on with it mate! ..... or get me a drone / bait-cannon! (Sorry to the purists, and I don't think the rules would allow it for any records if that should ever happen??).
Chucking baits 60 to 80m into kelp-infested gullies for spotties is a different matter as my travel beachcaster/fixed spool reel proved.

 

Hopefully I am being sent a drone for testing which can drop a bait. I am also almost done building a bait launcher (cannon). Still cheating though

Most guys do leave the casting to me and that's fine, I know that nearly a lb of bait/lead is difficult to cast, especially if you have never done it before. We do have a few that come over (England and Scotland WC tournament casters) who I can not compete with on the Spottie casting and they are more than happy casting for Bronzies too.