ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website
General Angling Topics => Rock and Surf Fishing Reports => Topic started by: AndriesH on May 19, 2016, 08:10:52 AM
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Hallo - it's me.
Here is the short short version of the Angola trip Mrs H and I made during April and May 2016.
Been saving and planning for a long time and drove and drove and drove about half way around the world.
What a trip, what a woman - it was freaking awesome.
In short:
We left JHB on the 20th of April with the Amarok to Swakopmund.
Being 2x4, the trip organizers insisted we get a 4x4.
In Swakop, we collected the rent a dent, Nissan NP300 4x4 2.4L petrol - a real THIRSTY donkey. NEVER left us in the lurch - respect.
From Swakop we traveled to Ruacana where we met up with the rest of the group on Friday the 20th.
In total, we were about 28 people traveling in 14 vehicles.
Saturday, hit the road from Ruacana, through the Angolan border to Xangango - 4 hours of the worst 90km dirt road ever.
From Xangango to Lubango, nice tar road and there we camped for the night in an new Marble processing plant.
Sunday from Lubango over the Lebo pass to Namibe, Tombwa and on to the beach to set up main camp in Iona national park.
We made a 2 day trip north to Pipas - home of the giant shad and several game fish species.
We also made a trip through the doodsakker for another 2 day stay on Tigres, the home of the giant cob.
The trip back home started on Friday the 3rd of May at sparrows targeting Ruacana as our stopover for the night.
Got lost in Ovamboland and set up a bush camp for the night - 16km from the border.
Home on Thursday the 9th of May.
The general consensus was that the fishing was bad due to an upset ocean - we blanked 5 days.
Personally, with the group catching more than 3.5 tons in 10 days, I think is good.
Mrs H topped the scales with more than 120kg's of her own catches.
Highlights:
Biggest Cob = 32kg
Biggest Leerie = 18.6kg
Biggest Bronze whaler = 132kg
Biggest Kollie = 42cm
Plenty of foto's, and please enjoy the scenery with me - it is an amazingly beautiful country that added immense value and appreciation to our trip.
Note - not 1 little begging hand at the window, not 1 bribe, not 1 corner salesman dumping his groceries on your lap - ANYWHERE - until we came through the RSA border. Amazing people and discipline.
Do this trip - it is AMAZING.
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Hit the road:
Leaving JHB before sparrows, Staying over at Zelda's just before Gobabis and the road leaving Henties going North East
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Water break, Ruacana waterfalls and some of the local BUGS
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Border crossing into Angola, grouping together and some local game - road hazards
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Tar road from Xangango to Lubango, The view from the Christ cross and us.
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One of the greatest mountain passes in the world - we dropped almost 1000m in just less than 14km.
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Some scary moves on the pass. All the vehicles had radios and it helped a lot with road hazards etc. Also caused a lot of k@k that resulted in strafdoppe - he he he.
The town of Namibe at the coast with the harbour looking like it was cut out of the sandstone.
Onto the dirt and the sand for the final stretch to camp.
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The road to no where - Everywhere.
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Finally, our base camp
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Opening the account with Kollies.
I don't mind, I'm going to get my 2kg boy.
Keith on the other hand came up for big cob - Fished 5'0 hook, caught kollie, upped to 6'0, caught kollie, upped to 8'0, caught kollie, upped to 10'0 and ------------------ fowl hooked a kollie. He suffered badly.
Grunter
Mrs H - Kollie
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Wikus, Hendri, Johan and Xavier.
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Mrs H sandy
Cobby
The monster Nissan rent a dent
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Getting stuck was easy for some guys. Between the salt flats and washing water, very easy.
Miss the tracks by 30cm !!!!
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Going to Pipas - home of the giant shad.
Over these two days we caught a grand total of -----------------------4 shad.
The afternoon after we left a group a 6 anglers caught 40 in an hour with the smallest being 4kg.
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Pipas was plugs and artificials.
Spoons and plugs.
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Camping in PIPAS was crude to say the least.
Travel light and sleep wherever you want.
Our bedroom for these two nights.
This is where the night sky is made.
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Shad at Pipas and the Leeries back at base camp
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Back at base camp we had a leerie smash - Absolutely incredible.
For the first time in my life I had a hit on a popper - like hitting a brick wall and then some.
I had him on for about 3 minutes, putting my tackle trough it's paces - shees, it felt like the varnish was popping off the rod as it buckled and bent under the punishment this fish was handing out - FREEEKING AWESOME.
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Fishies
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Hendri with another cobby and the Mrs H went all in.
Main hook 8'0, skelm hook 5'0 and she hooks then both in the bek.
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Fishies
Big leerie - Henri
Xavier releasing his leerie
Mrs H smacking another cobbie
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Johans se leerie.
All packed and Ready to go.
Next stop, Tigres via die doodsakker.
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Doodsakker.
You have 1 hour before low and one after low to get through.
The major danger is at the entrance where a rocky outcrop is sometimes washed free of sand leaving you no place to get over.
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Made it
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Finally, my miniature shad - huge by Durban standards but mostly the size of the bait up there.
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SMASH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We ran into a bronzie smash - 18 bronze whalers in one afternoon with several others in between
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Yolanda opens her Bronzie account with a small fish on 104cm.
She is now a career woman - wants to catch sharks for life - she LOVES it.
Me on the other hand went hanging three times on my own with bronzies.
1/ Pickup, strike, drop
2/ Pickup, VAS 30 minutes later dropped - steel trace fail
3/ Pickup, vas, 15 minutes later, SPOOLED- tighten up and leader knot failed.
Further to this, we were frequented by Black pylies.
Score = Black pylies about 7 vs fisherman -------------- 0
I participated in three of these battles and I can assure you that the short ones lasted only an hour before being spooled.
Longest was 2hr 30min when 0.71 Maxima parted with the fish on the sandbar - tail came up the thickness of a man's wrist.
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She pulled them jaws to look like trunks - work work work, pull, drag, backwards, run and reel - work work work.
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Monster - well done Mrs H - 142cm, about 40kg.
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Smash !!!!!!!!!!!
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Smash more and more
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And so the days ended at Tigres
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The legend - Oom Frans de Witt
Mrs H taking best lady angler and most species.
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En route back to the states we got lost in Ovamboland and pitch camp in the bush - best night of the whole trip.
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So, is this the end? - no, this is the beginning of preparations for next year.
I'll be posting some more pics as I get them. The guys and dolls are uploading to a dropbox, but it is coming in slowly.
Hope you enjoyed the trip with us. :rck" :rck" :rck" :rck" :rck" :rck" :rck"
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WOW!! Fantastic report Andries!! Seems like a trip of a lifetime! Congrats to Yolande for some spectacular fish! Awesome, well done!
Thanks for sharing this...
:+ cred:
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Brilliant report :rck" :rck" :rck" :+ cred:
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Stunning report. Thanks for sharing it with us. :+ cred:
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Awesome report! Loved reading it all. Sounds like it was still an incredible trip!
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Top3 on the bucket list, thanks for sharing!
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Excellent report Andries, you guys look like you had an absolute blast. Definitely a trip that is about more than fishing
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Fantastic... Trip of a lifetime. Big cred to Mrs. H too. Thanks for sharing mate :+ cred:
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(clap) :+ cred:
Lekker report, followed with great pics, well done.
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Awesome Andries and Mrs H , an adventure of a lifetime , some great fish and pics , outstanding report ... (clap) .
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Great report, thanks for sharing :yipee:
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wow :win: :envy this is bucket list stuff. :toppie:
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WOW :shk :shk :shk :shk :shk
Well done bru! :resp: :cgrts:
:+ cred:
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. Definitely a trip that is about more than fishing
She is the spindle around which my spool runs. :sreel: :frid
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Great Report Andries ...thanks for taking the time to share it with us. Definitively a trip for the bucket list!
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Just got some more pics via dropbox
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And more
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And more
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And last for now
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Definitely a bucket list trip. That pass must be something to behold.
Thank you for sharing. You a lucky man to have a lady at your side that loves to fish :resp:
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That was some trip! Great report. You have the Ultimate guys drooling.
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Thanks ofr the report and for sharing !! Great stuff !! (clap)
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Made it
:hnthnt: ..Had that "brown" jersey been to Angola before?????
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Agge nee man - hoe moet n man nou na die lees n dag se erk insit by die kantoor.....!!! Great report - loved it... jealous as hell...
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Very lekker report thanks for sharing
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Wow! Your trip is the stuff of my dreams. And a girl not only to go with you but to fish beside you as well. You are a lucky man indeed.
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Baie geluk met al die visse en die mooi verslag.Ek was in 2012 daar saam met Simen en Frans de Witt .Ons het 7,0 ton vis en haaie gevang. dit was self 'n awesome trip gewees. Toe was petrol R 5 a liter en diesel R 6 a liter gewees.
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Awesome Report Andries and Mrs H...and well done on the catches,
sheez brought bacl alotta memories to that place, now i wanna go back
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Dankie Andries julle twee is 'n great paartjie saam. Dankie vir die mooi foto's :grk:
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Wow wow wow!
Awesome report, great photos, looks like the trip of a lifetime, thx for sharing Andries, really looks like it was a great trip, one day when I have lots of leave................ :dunno:
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Great report, awesome fish!!! (clap)
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Excellent report Andries - thank you for sharing some of this beautiful country's treasures. Definitely on the bucket list!! :+ cred:
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Wow! What a trip! Definitely on my must do list. Awesome report! (clap) (clap) :udman:
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Guys, cant we plan a trip like this for 2020? Who will be interested?
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Shawn Ninja Mey does a guided trip every year to Angola. Some of the pics are insane...Go fish Mosselbay
https://www.facebook.com/gofish.mosselbay/?hc_ref=ARQoedUzZbx6eKd80a9u9HYnZ68UQMO3PirMYyiaOPZuqqVTN0lmbTpxOk5HankajWE&fref=nf (https://www.facebook.com/gofish.mosselbay/?hc_ref=ARQoedUzZbx6eKd80a9u9HYnZ68UQMO3PirMYyiaOPZuqqVTN0lmbTpxOk5HankajWE&fref=nf)
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Excellent report Andries
One day when I am big I will make that trip
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Made it
:hnthnt: ..Had that "brown" jersey been to Angola before?????
Must have been