At least I'm consistent

[Stan da man]

Went to Toti for the week with dreams of reels screaming and rods bending. And after all the tips and tricks I picked up here I thought I was in with a shout. Friday after work we attended a friends wedding, the thought was to hit the road about 4am on Saturday...but as the car was already packed for the trip I convinced my lady that we should leave straight after. That decision was not the best one I've ever had but I needed to get to the water.
We got to Toti about 6:30am and was greeted with glorious sunshine. I thought it's on like donkey kong!!! The tiredness got the better of me and I had a kip for two hours. I got up, pulled the blinds and it was pouring!! I didn't drive 700kms to sit in the flat all day so I put on my raincoat and went out. The wind was blowing so hard that my cast went only 50m but more than 100m of line ran off the reel. I braved it for about an hour before I remembered the old saying that tomorrow is another day.


The next morning the water looked like milo and was full of grass. The weirdest things was washed up on the beach, from dolls to plastic toilets. It wasn't a pretty sight. After every cast I had to remove stuff from my line...got exited a couple of times when I hooked into a big clump of hyacinths that washed out from the river, but not a nibble from a fish. This weather and wind went on until late Tuesday afternoon when I saw a bit of sun.


Wednesday was awesome and I head down to the beach with renewed hope. I threw those lures so many times that I probably could have created my own patch of working water. I took some consolation from the fact that even the locals caught nothing.


Lets fast forward to Friday. This will be my last day of fishing. So I did what I said I wouldn't....I bought sardines. I chucked half a sardine into the water and stood there feeling like a papgooier. Two minutes later.... knock knock...shad on!!! I landed a shad of about 35cm which only bent my rod as I was lifting it onto the rocks. I heard that shad are never alone so I fed the rest of the sardines to the gulls and reverted to spoons. Two hours later I had cuts on my fingers from trying to cast the spoons to China but no fish.


Another disappointing chapter in my salt water lure fishing career but I have hope for the future. If on average you get a fish every 200 casts then on my next fishing trip I should get one every cast....at least for the first couple of days 

[Umpa Lumpa]

Unlucky Stan, yeah we been having really crappy weather on the coast for the last three weeks, us offshore guys all getting cabin fever, but tomorrows a gap and hopefully fish play ball.

[Shivaan]

Sorry bout the fishing Stan. Win sometimes and lose sometimes. Where in toti did you fish?
as I was reading your report I was waiting for the part that said "as I turned away I heard my reel go  ". But alas 
Next time bud. We all have those baaad sessions.

[Stan da man]

Yeah even though I know I'll get another chance it's still somewhat disappointing.
I used to organize huge fish braais even before i packed my bags to go down to the coast and stopped it after I got used to buying fish before i came home, asking the fish monger to throw the fish at me so I won't be telling lies when I say that I actually caught it.


Before I left I said that I will be catching something, be it pneumonia or a fish...looks like I caught both.


I guess there's a difference between a sea holiday and a fishing holiday, especially when it comes to location. Next holiday will be in Zanzibar.

[Happy Dog]

Stan know how you feel! i often blank. Pull lures for hours use up fuel and nothing!! But next trip it will change.Gotta keep on trying.

[Shivaan]

Stan I know how you feel all too well. I hardly catch these days especially with the weather having its own mind and playing tricks. On the upside you get to spend time doing the sport you like. Hope things improve and the weather settles

[Willie]

Eish!! Stan we can not control the weather better luck next time. My last 4 trips was like this. But the tides will turn 

[Stan da man]

Funny thing. I asked a local what type of fish I can catch in the lagoon. He said "the people catch catfish and things that looks like big goldfish" hahahaha I think that guy was talking about carp!!

[Stan da man]

Eish!! Stan we can not control the weather better luck next time. My last 4 trips was like this. But the tides will turn 

One day my lure will be in the right place at the right time and then it'll be worth all the graft I put in so far

[Shivaan]

Funny thing. I asked a local what type of fish I can catch in the lagoon. He said "the people catch catfish and things that looks like big goldfish" hahahaha I think that guy was talking about carp!!

    Carp in saltwater? lol! maybe they were goldfish!

[Lofty]

Eish!! Stan we can not control the weather better luck next time. My last 4 trips was like this. But the tides will turn 

One day my lure will be in the right place at the right time and then it'll be worth all the graft I put in so far

just some friendly advice,ALWAYS check and re-check knots,line,hooks for sharpness and that your reels are looked after(lubed),because you'll never know when a bus of a fish is gonna take your bait,lure,etc.I lost a big fish,a R125 Halco hamma 123mm and leader last week at Gouritzriver,and still don't know what happened as the drag hadn't even been tightened...you don't want your pb fish to be lost due to complaicency,ecspecially when spinning,your knots hitting the guides hundreds of times definately weakens them,unless your leader is outside the top eye...mine broke where my braid to mono leader knot was.. we think that was either a big leerie or big kob.. I've now changed all my braid to mono leader knots..even mono mainline to mono leader knots too..

[Willie]

Lofty great advice thank you