extreme{stupid}fishing

as i said tony was going to take me to groot bank as this was the easiest {ha} places to go.
so the alarm went off at 5.30 am and a quick wash and brush and it was off to pick up one of tony,s young protoges up , Brandon Willmer,who is one of the up and coming youngsters on the local beach scene. it was a one hour drive to the mark of which the last 7 1/2 k was down through a forest track which is still home to leopard, lynx and not to mention puff adders and boomslangs all of which can give you a nasty nip!!!!!!!!!!!!. after parking and unloading the gear it was a 2 min walk to the beach which was easy then it was a 1/2 k walk to the rocks then 1 1/2 k walk or should i say in my case scrabble over rocks boulders crevices and around rock pools(now i wasnt looking forward to the journey home), but what a place, not only was the scenery amazing with waves crashing onto rocks all around us but the rocks gave way to amazing long golden beaches with not a soul in sight, and where else could you go and be greeted with the sight of a 50 ft right whale with its calf by its side,and further out in the bay humpback whales going somewhere only they know, also i saw seals , pods of bottle nose dolphins and to cap it all a great white leapt clear of the water about 500 mtrs out all amazing sights but to see them all in one day is something else.
back to the fishing and it was first blood to tony with a doughnut which is a type of doggie which curls itself into a circle and it stays that way until you put it back, then he had a striped cat shark which is also like our doggies but striped. then it was my turn for a bite but its not so much a bite as line just being stripped from the reel, but unfortunately the fish dropped the bait , a quick check of the bait which was still in good shape(mullet head on a 8/0)so it was lobbed out again . i didnt have long to wait until line was once again dissapearing from the spool but this time the the strike was met with resistance and the fish started to take line against a tight drag, unfortunatley i was fishing close to rock pinnacle which partly due to inexperiance and a lack of confidence on the rocks and not being able to jump round the rocks like a mountain goat i couldnt get enough angle on it to stop it getting back to the rocks and it went solid. game over.
to be fair sport wasnt hectic but both tony and brandon(if any of his teachers read this we did make him take his books and revise on the rocks) did manage a couple more small stripeys and doggies before tony hooked a smoothhound of about 7kg and they pull really hard as it did manage to pull tony across the rocks. once you get in close you have to send someone down to the waters edge to grab it, so thats why we brought brandon, i dont know if he is stupid or brave but he seems to love it and today was a calm day with only a 2mtr swell but you still need to watch out for the odd rogue swell that can catch you out, and as for tony he is just as daft and seems to thrive on rock hopping, even the man in the local tackle shop said he was mad likening him to a dassie which is a large rodent which lives in and around the rocks and looks like a big guinea pig and to be honest there is a likeness.
it wasnt long until i had another run and i also had a hound of about 7 kg and they give a good account of themselves even on the heavy gear we were using 100 lb leaders 45 lb mainlines on rods which can cast up to 10 oz plus bait.
next cast and again line was dissapearing from the spool and the strike was met with solid resistance as the fish took line tony told me to stop pulling like a pussie and give it some , so i did and i soon had my first spotted gulley shark under my feet, and again brandon was sent down the rocks to land it. they dont weigh fish here you measure them then convert it later. mine went 155 cm which works out at about 45lb. i did hook another a bit later which i got under my feet which made me think the fight was over (wrong) it turned tail swam against the drag and ended up in the same snag as the first one(bugger) to be honest it did feel bigger than the first one but i will never know.
we were going to pack up at 4 so at 12 mins to 4 brandon slung out with a small mullet head on and by 5 to he was hooked up with the moving bottom, this could be a long job as tony has hooked large fish and played them for 5 hours only to lose them(ha ha) but he played the fish well and it was by the rocks ready to land that took another 5 mins . i would like to say that i was a help but apart from holding brandon,s rod while he helped tony drag it onto the rock that was it. there it was about 150 lb of black skate which was duly unhooked piccy,s taken and slid back un harmed, which is more than can be said about brandon he fell over cutting his leg pulled a muscle in his back playing the skate as hard as he could and the tail af the ray whipped round catching his figer tips, you can see how steve irwin was killed by one of these as they are lightening fast and the sting was probably about 8 inches long. after that it was a quick pack up a 2 k walk back to the pick up and a 50 k drive home of which branbon slept all the way , any one would think he had had a hard day. back to tony and barbs for a tasty braai(barby)a few glasses of wine then bed.
the hospitality of the people here especially tony and barb is as good as would get any where in the world and the food is second to none, whether barb cooks or we eat out and it is very cheap to do the latter meaning i have probably gained a couple of pounds but in all fairness tony has been trying his best to walk it off me .