Transkei 40th

[tkei]

The lack of reports  here is scary. It seems this is a site for people who used to fish.

Since being in CT, my fishing has all  but come to an end. The long cold dry winter here got the better of me. My 40th  is this month, so I decided to have an early 40th boys long weekend over the  August public holiday. A group of +_ 12 guys all in all joining me to  celebrate.
I flew down to East London mid  Wednesday,  arrived mid afternoon and headed off with my dad. Always good  to see the old man after last seeing him in December. My mom got to see me for  the drive from the airport to here house. LOL.

We arrived around 7pm on a beautifil  winters evening. Shorts were the order of the day. Bless african winters.

Transkei  Sunset on the way down

My older brother took his 16 ft boat,  so 2 would fish there, with 4 up on my dads boat.
6 am wake up with very fuzzy head after  too much fun the night before. We were on the sea just before 7am.
We got a few tiny mackrel, and she shad  seemed to be absent other than the 15cm guys that just made a mess of the mackrel  flies. We eventually got a few decent mackrel. The forecast was for a light NW  turning light SW. Well the SW howled from 7.30 till about 11am. The sea was  rather messy  and definitely not suitable for the 16 ft, so they headed  in. We decided to fish around our shallower marks. One of my mates went tight  with a very good fish. it somehow managed to wrap my dads line so as the 30+kg  fish surfaced the braid on my dads rod snagged the leader knot. As I was trying  to unwrap it, my dads bait was taken and floor boarded and burnt off the fish  with leader in hand. A decent braid cut to the finger was all I got from  the deal and some choice words from the angler. Copper 1, anglers 0

We moved to another spot as quite a few  boats came into the area, and its never nice fishing asif its north beach pier,  when there is a big ocean to fish.

A few drops to find the spots where the  fish were eating followed. My lack of sea legs, the night before  and  a rather unhappy sea meant a little me.  LOL. A little chunda and all was right again, but a few photos may have been  sent to the party group Well worth it though.

My dad got a good pull and landed a  25kg copper. A mate (who lost the one earlier) got a 25kg fish up only for the  hook to pull at the the boat while my dad was fighting. It floated away. Afer  landing the fish we went up to it where it was flapping on the surface. As we  leant out to gaff it, it woke up and disappeared. Copper 2, mate 0.

The reef we were on is known for BIG  coppers, last year my brother getting a 56kg on the spot. My boet and I went  down and he went tight, followed shortly with me bending double. His was a  small fish which was duly tagged and released while I fought what was clearly a  far better fish. After much puffing and panting, a brute came up. MY PB by 9kg  all 44kg of male copper. Much back slapping as I have previously ha the bad  luck of getting the small fish while others fishing with me get the big ones.

44KG
The next drift my brother put on a big  Blueskin instead of the mackerel and he went gight almost immediately afer a  skelm bite that was hard to detect was even there. A 41Kg was the result. My  mate was still fishless so the remains of the Blueskin were put on, much to his  disgust and sent down. He went tight almost immediately with a 22kg size  fish.  Quota so we called it a day. We  had a drop for small fish in shallower and my dad went tight on a  good fish on a small 5/0 hook. It was another  25kg copper, which was duly tagged and released. The fact that the coppers were  eating everywhere put us off as we didnt want to catch anymore so we called it  a day. A few decent photos, and the filleting started which took a good few hrs  to complete.

After sorting them out we packed a cool  box, some fresh fish, a few crayfish and oysters and we headed off too the  river for a barge trip. The weather was magnificent, no need for jackets etc so  a braai, beers, laughs meant a great afternoon/ evening was had. One mate got a  decent leerie on rapala on the troll, a first for him, so he was pretty chuffed.  That evening was a bit quieter.

River  Sundowners in terrible conditions for mid winter

Friday we were up early again, this  time we went 5 up with my 2 brothers, dad and another mate and myself. Repeat  of the day before. The fish were not quite as co-operative, but we managed to  get a few more fish, most of which were tagged and released. They ranged  between about 20 and 35kgs a piece. I got one of about 28kgs. We knew more  mates were arriving so we headed in earlier, with more than enough fish having  all caught at least one again, releasing most.

The guys had a surf that afternoon in  some great conditions while other cleaned fish and drank beer. Life at its best  I tell you. Friday night with 5 new recruits was another huge party, many  laughs around the fire over a few too many cold ones.

Saturday we woke rather weary. The  current had been running strongly the 2 previous days so we had a late start.  We debated whether to fish, but eventually launched around 8.30. The forecast  looked ok till id day. Well we went around the point and were hit by a nasty  sea. One mate had never caught a decent fish so we decided to see if we could  get him one. In our haste to get out, I had taken a jacket that was not  waterproof. Bad idea. The spray wet me to the bone, and with the wind I was  soon a shivering mess. The fish were off the bite and we moved around for about  2.5 hrs. I was miserable, cold, babalas and green. Not happy, but I had gone to  the kei to fish and fish I would.

We decided to head back and last minute  stopped for a drop a spot near home. First drop and a mate and I both went  tight. His was a small fish around 18kg and mine a 23kg size fish, my smallest  for the weekend. Next drift and all 3 went tight. Some knitting happened on the  way up so to prevent burn off my brother let his down. He eventually landed his  around 28kg, which we tagged along with another one of +_ 25kg. The mate who  had never got a decent fish had a 24kg fish as a first. So, 5 fish,3 tagged and  released in 2 drifts. (we should have just started there)
We packed up and headed in. 


The  small one for the weekend, Note the green gills on the angler. LOL
Unfortunately, the 3 nights of party,  and 3 days of fishing, particularly the last in the cold and wet got the better  of me. I was man down all afternoon cold to the bone in bed. I missed out on an  afternoon session on the Umtata river, but no fish were caught.
A few of us took a walk along to the  mouth of the river at sundown, and its sad to see the amount of litter on the  beaches. My dad had spent about 3 hrs on the beach in the morning collection a  few grain bags full of plastic, and at the mouth of the Umtata river the amount  of Broken glass is scary. One step on that and the holiday is over for you or  even worse the kids.

Saturday night we had a good braai, a  good few beers and lots of laughs again. I was still under the weather, but  beer made up for that. I had to leave by 8am to make east London for my 2pm  flight so I headed early.

All in all an awesome trip with Mates  and family. Some good fish for all, good waves and cold beer. What more could  one wish for, for a 40^th.

I know some may chirp about keeping  coppers, etc. I fully understand the arguments (from Both sides).  Every fish that was kept was either eaten  fresh (we ate fish every day we were there, and 12 guys can be hungry). The  rest was shared out between all 12 people, some of whom were regular fishermen,  but their place has banned fishing for the last 8 years or so, so fresh fish  was a welcome treat for them and their extended family. Others never have  access to fresh fish at all.
As for me, These were the first coppers  I have caught since before the ban in about 2012. I brought back as much fish  as I could in my hand luggage and have enjoyed every single piece, having not  eaten any fish since January. At this stage my next fishing trip to the kei  will be Dec 2018 so I won’t be doing much damage to fish stocks.

Next trip, my Transkei marlin is  waiting.

[tkei]

My pics didnt load in the text

[John F]

Some awesome fishing tkei!

Tussling with these beasts... I imagine they kick and stubbornly keep themselves sideways?

Great way of celebrating your 40th!

[REEFMAN]

Ya awesome report Adam! Great fish! 

[Bwana]

Thanks for a great trip report and congrats on a 40+ copper on your 40th 


Seems like the stocks are healthy down there, decent sizes too. Well done

[FishStyx]

Great report bud... Thanks. 


 Happy birthday and cheers to many more spent in a similar fashion.

[sardinella]

Thanks for the report,  epic fishing. A big copper is still on my most wanted list.

[SAfish]

  Well done, Adam. Those fish must have stretched your arms off. 

[Grumpy]

Too nice dude, I am at that spot a little north of you in a few days for 10 days straight. It's going to be tough to avoid the coppers but there is plenty other stuff to keep busy with. The lekka thing is there is no pressure to launch in bad weather . Plenty of blacks, wagonwheels and yellobellies. I'll try not to make a pig of myself.
Nothing wrong with keeping a few fish, as long as its not a commercial venture.
 Have landed those big jobs occasionally , but prefer to have my hamba kaya fish under 20kg. 

[L Hooker]

Happy 40th and congrats on some great catches!!

[tkei]

Thanks all, They do give a good rev.
Grumpy, anything deeper than 50m and it could be a challenge to avoid them now, especially with Copper season having closed 1 sept, so blacks etc will have to be the target.

[sebatiaanc]

Happy 40th and congrats.

[basil]

Thanks all, They do give a good rev.
Grumpy, anything deeper than 50m and it could be a challenge to avoid them now, especially with Copper season having closed 1 sept, so blacks etc will have to be the target.

Please can you tell us what sort of tackle set up you used .

[tkei]

Tackle wise it's std bottom fishing kit. Blue marlin ski 3 rod and purchase tiger specials, 9inch kps and 50 to 80lb braid. 10/0 kendal rounds. I have a few videos of rhe guys fighting fish bit not sure how to load vids. 

[REEFMAN]

Vids you need to upload to Youtube and then post the link here.

[shu vawda]

Thanks for the report and well done on the catch.definately one for the bucket list.Please post the video.will be awsome to see that epic fight.