Double time

[Nikao]

Trip 1 The Kiwi's

One thing about the charter business is that some days you end up running 2
trips in one day...yesterday was one of those days!
To start off the day I had a couple of Kiwi's and their friends from Ballito on board
for a Deep Sea trip. As avid fisher Men/Woman they arrived at the boat
for 5:30am...the weather was looking good - a light NE wind with 1 to 1.5m swells
and the water temp started off at 21 deg. Any way after a few quick Kiwi jokes
we were off to look for some game fish and it was not long before we had a
few small bonnie's on board...durning our game fishing session we stumbled on
a pod of whale's jumping and splashing (now, while we were definitely not whale watching,
we could not help but look back at them, Just to see them waving there fins in the air as to bid
us farewell as we headed for shallower waters!)
I must say though, that I am still amazed at how they are able to launch almost half
there body out the water...anyway, so with the whales waving goodbye we headed off
to do some bottom fishing. I decided I was going to try a new ledge I had found a
week earlier and see if it was going to be any good...well as it turned out, no,
it was not! Every pull we had ended up being a Jonnie. So we moved on - after setting
up a few nice drifts, we found our way on to some small Kingies a couple of
Trigger fish 1 x Remore and a nice little Bronze Bream...all in all some good fun!

Trip 2 - The 'Maritsburg Boys

So after a quick toilet break and a quick rince down of the boat, it was
time for my second charter. I get back to the boat to see the guys all
excited with their brand new sparkly fishing gear (that has yet to see the
water or fish for that matter), waiting by their car busy with their final prep before getting
on the boat. After a quick safety briefing we set off to the back line...
after putting out the pick and getting us into position on the fish it
was all lines down. I must say the guys where very entertaining on the boat
after about half an hour one of the guys decided he would like to try out his
new rod - with live bait, so we took a live mackrel from the live well, hooked
him up and let him swim...about 5 mins later *bang* the reel screamed to life!
A couple of mins later we had a nice little Hammer-Head next to the boat.
After a bit of a fuss we managed to get her onto the boat, cut the trace, have
a quick photo session and safely release her...next, we then found ourselves
right on the mackrel and the guys had great fun pulling them in on light tackle...
after a few hours is was back to the harbour.

[Rods]

Nice report Nikao.  :shre: and keep them coming.

[Manuel Junior]

 :shre:  Nikao

[Capt. Hook]

Trip 1 The Kiwi's

One thing about the charter business is that some days you end up running 2
trips in one day...yesterday was one of those days!
To start off the day I had a couple of Kiwi's and their friends from Ballito on board
for a Deep Sea trip. As avid fisher Men/Woman they arrived at the boat
for 5:30am...the weather was looking good - a light NE wind with 1 to 1.5m swells
and the water temp started off at 21 deg. Any way after a few quick Kiwi jokes
we were off to look for some game fish and it was not long before we had a
few small bonnie's on board...durning our game fishing session we stumbled on
a pod of whale's jumping and splashing (now, while we were definitely not whale watching,
we could not help but look back at them, Just to see them waving there fins in the air as to bid
us farewell as we headed for shallower waters!)
I must say though, that I am still amazed at how they are able to launch almost half
there body out the water...anyway, so with the whales waving goodbye we headed off
to do some bottom fishing. I decided I was going to try a new ledge I had found a
week earlier and see if it was going to be any good...well as it turned out, no,
it was not! Every pull we had ended up being a Jonnie. So we moved on - after setting
up a few nice drifts, we found our way on to some small Kingies a couple of
Trigger fish 1 x Remore and a nice little Bronze Bream...all in all some good fun!

Trip 2 - The 'Maritsburg Boys

So after a quick toilet break and a quick rince down of the boat, it was
time for my second charter. I get back to the boat to see the guys all
excited with their brand new sparkly fishing gear (that has yet to see the
water or fish for that matter), waiting by their car busy with their final prep before getting
on the boat. After a quick safety briefing we set off to the back line...
after putting out the pick and getting us into position on the fish it
was all lines down. I must say the guys where very entertaining on the boat
after about half an hour one of the guys decided he would like to try out his
new rod - with live bait, so we took a live mackrel from the live well, hooked
him up and let him swim...about 5 mins later *bang* the reel screamed to life!
A couple of mins later we had a nice little Hammer-Head next to the boat.
After a bit of a fuss we managed to get her onto the boat, cut the trace, have
a quick photo session and safely release her...next, we then found ourselves
right on the mackrel and the guys had great fun pulling them in on light tackle...
after a few hours is was back to the harbour.

Lekker bud, that Bream is a Copper Bream, not a Bronse Bream and the reefs are full of sharks every where at the moment, the Hammers will start getting thicker as we head towards December when they hit their peak.
In case anyone did not know: Hammer Head Sharks are the only shark that can bend their necks and this makes them very dangerous to handle as if you grab them by the tail they can bite your hand whereas other sharks cannot.

[Nikao]

Lekker bud, that Bream is a Copper Bream, not a Bronse Bream and the reefs are full of sharks every where at the moment, the Hammers will start getting thicker as we head towards December when they hit their peak.

Hey bud, I also thought it was a copper bream at first but is was a lot rounder than the one's i caught before.. so I went to my trusty Fishie book (A guide to the common sea fishes of southern Africa - by Rudy Van Der Elst) to check and from there identified it as a Bronze bream rather than the Copper bream as i had originally though? I might be wrong but if you have the Guide they are on pages 353 and 355... have a look and let me know..

As for the Hammers we had a few circling the boat though out the trip, but yes there are definitely more and more sharks around..  durdum....durdum.... durdum!!!!   

[REEFMAN]

Lekker bud, that Bream is a Copper Bream, not a Bronse Bream and the reefs are full of sharks every where at the moment, the Hammers will start getting thicker as we head towards December when they hit their peak.
In case anyone did not know: Hammer Head Sharks are the only shark that can bend their necks and this makes them very dangerous to handle as if you grab them by the tail they can bite your hand whereas other sharks cannot.

Nice catches Nikao. Old terminology of Copper Bream = the new terminology of Blue Hottentot. I think that fish is a Bronze Bream, it has the distinctive bump between the eyes of the older Bronzies.
More info here: http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,87.0.html

[Mudcrab]

Its difficult to distinguish the two at times and their habitats help in identifying them. The Copper (Pachymetopon aeneum) are found in deep water (60 meters plus) whilst the Bronze bream (P.grande) prefers shallow turbulent shoreline water

[WalkersKiller]

Great stuff Nikao  :shre:

[Prego]

Great stuff Nikao cant wait till your reports are filled with screaming reels with  & 

 :shre:
 

[dodger]

I thought the Copper Bream was a Natal name for the Red Steenbras 

[Mudcrab]

Copper Steenbras (Petrus rupestris) = Red Steenbras

[travelmember]

@FA, re the hammers, so can blues and makos and threshers. Trust me, I have learnt the hard way - stay away from the pointy end!

[shaheen]

HI NIKAO
 
thanks for an awesome afternoons fishing. we really did enjoy it and will be back on your boat soon...the sound of that reel crying is still singing the merry tune in my head. that hammer was my first and i hope to catch more....soon.
 
regards
 
"the maritzburg boys"

[REEFMAN]

@FA, re the hammers, so can blues and makos and threshers. Trust me, I have learnt the hard way - stay away from the pointy end!

Yup... even Raggie pups can bit their own tails... gotta look sharp round those little buggers!

[Nikao]

HI NIKAO
 
thanks for an awesome afternoons fishing. we really did enjoy it and will be back on your boat soon...the sound of that reel crying is still singing the merry tune in my head. that hammer was my first and i hope to catch more....soon.
 
regards
 
"the maritzburg boys"

Hey Shaheen

It was great to have you guys aboard look forward to the next trip.

Nikao

[Capt. Hook]

@FA, re the hammers, so can blues and makos and threshers. Trust me, I have learnt the hard way - stay away from the pointy end!

  sorry if I am laughing, but what you saidabout the pointy end sounds just so funny to me, but yes 100% true and yes they all can hurt you bad, have also got a nip before from a Hammer and a Black tip. John Jarvis from Wilsons got a bit on the calf last year and it went septic almost causing gangereen and he almost lost his leg due to the infection from that bite, after months of healing and some skin graphs it eventually came right.

[Capt. Hook]

Its difficult to distinguish the two at times and their habitats help in identifying them. The Copper (Pachymetopon aeneum) are found in deep water (60 meters plus) whilst the Bronze bream (P.grande) prefers shallow turbulent shoreline water

I still say it is a copper because I know where it was caught and how deep it was caught and have never seen a bronsie there and the copper population is strong where it was caught, I might be wrong,but I don't think so.

[REEFMAN]

I still say it is a copper because I know where it was caught and how deep it was caught and have never seen a bronsie there and the copper population is strong where it was caught, I might be wrong,but I don't think so.

Fair enough! 

[Nikao]

Looks like we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one

Any way Roshan enjoyed catching it..and that is all that counts..