Author Topic: "WE BEEN HAVING IT !!!" - Vidal Trip Report (Read 24486 times)

Homie · « **on:** November 17, 2010, 08:18:54 PM »

DAY 1 – Sunday 7^th
After much planning and research, the day arrived and a 3am wake-up call saw us meeting at the Total Petroport on the N3 and at 5am we left in convoy to travel down to Cape Vidal. We had a quick breakfast at McDonalds in Newcastle, and after a 8.5 hour later, we arrived at Vidal, without incident.

On arriving, Reefz came round a corner to be confronted by the mother of all Black Rhino’s who proceeded to walk down the road directly at his Jeep. Some deft reversing (had a trailer behind him!) for about 300m, before the animal decided that she’d had enough fun and headed off into the bush. Within the first 15minutes, we spotted 3 of the Big 5 – Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo! Awesome Game reserve!

The original campsites that we booked were allocated elsewhere, perhaps fortune smiled upon us here, because the ensuing weather would have flooded those campsites badly, as they were in the valley nest to the beach. We unpacked and some tired travellers set up the mother of all campsites! Those who made it this far were Homie, Mike, Lichia Amia, Doc, Jan and Reefz. We were quickly joined by Toppie’s clan, which consisted of Toppie, Rusty, Walla and Jacques, who had arrived the day before.
We decided that we would not fish that day, and after a walk on the beach, we ended of a tiring day with an excellent campfire and some bitterly cold beers.

DAY 2 – Monday 8th
Next morning was Bacon and Eggs time after fighting off the monkeys, Mongeese and Squirrels. Lost 3 loaves of bread in the process! Note to self: don’t go to Vidal without a Paintball gun. It is absolutely necessary. A Kettie is but a small deterrent!

Tackle ready, we decided to fish the low tide off Lighthouse and the 3.4 kms walk down the beach saw amped anglers flying lead! As we got there, the wind started to pick up, a steady North wind that increased in intensity at a rapid rate of knots. After about 3 hours of fishing and a few Wave Garrick, Blacktail and Karanteen, the wind was now sandblasting everything in sight and it was decided to return to base. That’s when the fun started… walking into a 50km/h headwind through soft sand carrying everything but the kitchen sink, with sand pelting your face is not exactly fun. Somehow, we made it back to camp, but there were some very hot, sweaty and sore campers all of a sudden…! Some of the guys really put in an epic effort, most notably Toppie, with his Gammy knee, he was visibly proud of himself for making it back in one piece!

That evening, we decided to try fish the High in the Bay. We found a nice spot to the left of the bay, with a nice hole and rip. Baits in and in no time we had some pulls. Deon, Craig and Homie landed some Wave Garrick and Doc had half a chokka removed by a toothy critter, which just missed the hooks. Reefman had a good hit, and was vas with a big Blackfin as night fell. Into the braid and 20 minutes into the fight, the fish swam over another anglers line, who struck and that was the end of the story.
Wind continued to howl, but the guys persevered.

DAY 3 Tuesday 9th
We woke at 4am, which became the norm, because that’s when the monkeys raided our camp en masse, throwing pots and pans and generally making themselves an absolute nuisance.

Now here I have to make special mention of the “Flying Carpet” The Mongeese ! These are amazing creatures, and bloody noisy ! When they move together, it looks like a moving carpet !

Craig started his Loser streak. He lost everything he touched… bed pump, Bluetooth earpiece, keys. If Craig didn’t have a belly button, I’m sure he’d have lost his poopall!

Fished the right hand side of the bay with spinning tackle – guys had some small shad – Doc ended with about a dozen – all released. Most of his fish were taken on Dropshot using Berkley Camo worm! Some more Wave Garrick as well.
Mike and Reefz took a walk up to Dunn’s Hut, which is 4.5km from the Campsites. We sussed out and marked some good spots. Little did we know that we would have no opportunity to go and visit those spots! Arggghhh!

That afternoon, the Rain started in earnest… poured solidly for 2 and a half days. It was quite hilarious the size of the trenches we had to dig to keep the rivers from sweeping the tents away! Resembled a WW1 Bunker zone! Some drenched anglers kept their spirits up however, and amazingly there were few complaints.

Someone noticed that our Bait Freezer had packed up and all our bait has defrosted! In the middle of the downpour, Homie became an electrical professional and by hook or by crook, we managed to get it working again. This being done in ankle deep water….. NO-ONE wanted to plug it in !! LOL

Evening saw us back in our hole on the beach, fishing for hours in driving torrential rain… those hot showers were our saving grace! Marthin landed an 18kg Blackfin.

DAY 4 – Wed 10th
Rain, rain and more rain… mud, glorious mud everywhere… nothing dry anymore… reminded me why Reefz’ hates camping so much!

Irrespective, we decided to fish the hole in the bay… was actually weird to see all of us standing knee deep in water, with our rainjackets on in pelting rain still fishing !

Gatvol of the weather conditions, we decided to go have lunch in St Lucia… a welcome respite from the weather… some good chow, cold beers and good company.

The funniest part ??? After 2 beers and a burger, we had one Mike “The Mongoose” Pike order a pot of tea ! I mean a boys week out and the man orders tea ??? Laughs all around !

On the way back, we decided to do a little recce at Mission Rocks, which was looking good for the next day !

DAY 5 – Thurs 11th
A very bad day for Homie.

Everyone was seriously amped to try out the light tackle and dropshot at the famous Mission Rocks. A couple of hours of preparing tackle etc and off we Drove to Mission Rocks…. Never forget the look on Marthin's face as we headed down the path to be treated to an horrific spectacle! Thick Brown treacle water! :sadd The Umfolozi had come down in flood and the strong Southerly wind had made Missions unfishable. No-one wanted to catch barbel all day, so some very disappointed anglers made their way slowly back to Vidal and we fished the ledges south of the bay.

Craig landed another Wave Garrick and Reef caught a 2kg Salmon/Kob - all released safely. Marthin continued his plunder of Shad and Wave Garrick with Camo worm!
I had the worst day… every cast, either stuck, broke off or lost sinkers !!!!
Besides losing a few other important unmentionable items, I almost lost my marbles too... and had small sense of humour failure...

DAY 6 – Frid 12^th
Fished the ledges south of the bay again. The water had now started turning brown with the North wind blowing it up from Mapelane.
Evening – Walked a short way up the beach and slides in! Craig, with his first slide ever, lands a small Blackfin in the region of 12kg! Awesome to see a new guy applying all the knowledge he has learnt and getting the rewards! Well done Craig!

Later, we moved back to “our hole”. Within half an hour, Reefz, fishing on his ace, got properly flattened with a big run on a whole Chokka slide – first run took about 600m of line straight out to see. Reefz says: "By the time I turned the fish and got back into my topshot, my body was aching already… this was a serious fish. Thought I was winning the fight when I got the fish to the backline waves, but fish said “ja sure!” and went on another blistering run.
By this time, Marthin had joined me and gave me moral support and encouragement. Body was taking huge strain! When he saw the braid going off at a rate of knots – “bliksem, dis ‘n goeie vis die!”

The fish had now pulled me about 300m up the beach and after about an hour into the fight, I was finally winning the battle. Marthin and I saw the fish in the shorebreak, it was a beauty! Maybe 100-120kg Blackfin! But sadly, as the story goes, with only about 20m of line left out, the tjopp anglers adjacent to us felt the fish go over their line, and struck… I was left standing with a reel filled to the brim, with only the leader missing…. This is why we call it fishing and not catching…. Sad.

The rain came again shortly after this and with it came the wind again… everyone called it a day shortly afterwards.

DAY 7 – Sat 13th

Mike decided there was a Blackfin with his name on it out there and went out with Doc to go get it, Craig followed, and I went down with some dropshot after. The South had returned and had blown all that treacle water up into the bay at Vidal.... No bites.
We then started the great pack-up !

After an AWESOME meal consisting of some potbrood and pap, we had the prizegiving
Champion Angler – 18kg Blackfin + Numerous Eds

Martin (Doc)- 1800m Berkley Whiplash

Best Edible – 2kg Kob

Reefz – Cooler box

Most Fish – Numerous Eds

Deon (Walla)- Pioneer HMG rod

Runner up / Most Improved Angler – 12kg Blackfin + eds

Craig (Lichia Amia)- Kingfisher Braid and line + Tline

Most Species (By default)

Homie – Leeukloof weekend

Best Person in Camp

Clive (Toppie) – UA Shirt +Cap

2^nd Best Person in Camp

Garry (Rusty) – UA Shirt +Cap

Tjop of the week

Mike “The Mongoose” Pike – Torch

Best Photographer

Jan – Cap and some DVD games

An AWESOME week with AWESOME mates…..

WE BEEN HAVING IT !!!!!!!

Homie · « **Reply #1 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:20:59 PM »

Pics to follow, having issues with my camera cable.

A HUGE Thank You to all that made the trip, and also, to our dedicated sponsors !

John F · « **Reply #2 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:39:28 PM »

Awesome report Homie... makes a pleasant reading! Looking forward to check the pics!

Homie · « **Reply #3 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:42:00 PM »

Thanks John,
Credit goes to Reefz, he did 99% of the report !

Tommo · « **Reply #4 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:44:28 PM »

Eish, it sounds like the weather was awful. Well done for sticking it out, and well done for a great and entertaining report!

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #5 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:45:33 PM »

Ok i'll put some pics up, thanx for the report Homie herewith some pics.
The campsite.

jaenswart · « **Reply #6 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:49:16 PM »

Good stuff guys, next time I'm sure the weather will play along

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #7 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:50:04 PM »

Kitchen area.

Action Man · « **Reply #8 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:50:26 PM »

NIce report bru...next time lets hope the weather gods are on your side and I can teach you how to hook and land big fish

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #9 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:53:38 PM »

The boyz spinning in the bay. Homie / Craig and Tony.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #10 on:** November 17, 2010, 08:56:21 PM »

Doc (Martin) the ultimate winner, spinning as well.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #11 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:00:41 PM »

Mission rocks, looked good on this day ....next day the water was chocolate brown from heavy rains and Umfolozi flooding out to sea.. :sadd

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #12 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:07:29 PM »

Lekker trip guys.

Every time I have been to Vidal for some R&S the weather has been foul.
If I take my boat then it is Ok.
Go figure.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #13 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:11:13 PM »

Some shots of everyone fishing the start of "ledges". and Craig with a small wave garrick.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #14 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:14:51 PM »

Got up sparrows after the monkeys had raided the kitchen yet again headed off to the beach and took pic of awesome sunrise.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #15 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:22:42 PM »

Prize giving time.1st up . Martin (Doc) with the 1800 m whiplash kindly donated by BigG...

....Reefz and cooler box....Deon (Walla) Pioneer HMG rod.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #16 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:31:42 PM »

Craig (lichia amia) most improved angler. Homie , most species. Clive , best person in camp.

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #17 on:** November 17, 2010, 09:43:10 PM »

Garry(Rusty) 2nd best person in camp, yours truley Mike "the mongoose" Pike ,tjop of the week.

.

.. and Jan , best photographer. im sure theres still plenty pics on there way from all the others as well.... enjoy

Action Man · « **Reply #18 on:** November 17, 2010, 10:06:05 PM »

Next time I promise I will stay longer!

I wanted to come through on saturday morning again but when i woke up we were half way back to durbs already! yes I drank that much on my birthday that I could not wake up in the morning and was somehow carried to the car, put in the car and drove for an hour before i woke up at about 9am! I think that is quite funny

But Im glad you gents had a good time despite the horrible weather!

MIKE PIKE · « **Reply #19 on:** November 17, 2010, 10:24:18 PM »

Was good to see you there Stef hopefully next time the weather is on our side and you can stay a bt longer , looks like the birthday was a joll of note or what u can remember.. :sml: