The Shark Fishing was Wild
A few years ago Jeff and I spent a weekend shark fishing the beaches of St. Lucia on the KZN north coast. It turned into a weekend to remember.
As the sun began to rise Saturday morning we were already sliding our first baits into a sea that was too flat, calm and way to clean for us to expect to catch anything. We were just happy being on the beach with a rod in hand, the conditions were ay to perfect to catch any fish. To our surprise and excitement Jeff had the first bump of the day before his slide even reached his sinker. Knock, knock and away he went into a tug of war the lasted nearly 2hrs before being burnt off on the back sandbank.
After that first pull the flood gates opened. Every bait we put in the water got pulled flat often within minutes. The first fish I landed was a lovely 189kg Raggie. After a quick photo it was safely returned to the water.
For the rest of the morning we got pressed by monster fish. With each fish we’d be locked into a 2 hour-long battle before finally being burnt off.The dropping tide exposed the bank more and more to the point were we couldn’t pull these monster fish over it without the line wearing through on the sand. Come lunchtime the tide had gone out fully and fish with it so we hadn’t back to camp for a bite to eat and to reassess our tactics for the evening session.
With heavier leader and longer traces we marched back to the beach just before sunset. As the sun went down the Raggies moved back in and we were in for some fun. After a few lost fish both Jeff and I landed ones of 193kgs and 195kgs respectively.
After a good evening session we headed back for a good dinner and a few hours of much need rest. Our bodies were burning after a long day of being dragged up and down the beach.
Sunrise the next morning were back ready for round two. Our excitement almost palpable as we imagined the shoals of raggies swimming just behind shore break. We weren’t let down in the slightest right from the word go the raggies were feeding even more so than the day before. We were wading into the water chest deep to get the baits to slide out faster and before we could even make it back to the beach we were getting pulled flat. It was the stuff dreams are made of. I landed two more raggies that Sunday morning the first 195kgs and the second a real monster of 223kgs. Still my biggest fish of the side to date.
