I was recently invited to come and challenge some of Cape Town’s super powerful fighters, and I’m talking about the ones 30 miles out to sea and not the ones you find on the Cape flats. Besides for being one of the most beautiful and picturesque cities in the world, Cape Town also offers access to one of the best Yellowfin Tuna fisheries in the world. When the weather allows it, you can have a shot at not just large volumes of fish, but also some seriously big specimens.
I took the long drive from Durban down to the Cape with one plan; to land BIG tuna on my Spinning outfit. I was never in doubt that my tackle could overcome the task at hand, but I was a little nervous about my body being able to last against one of those Yellowfin gladiators that just never seem to tire. Generally the fishing conditions 30 miles off Hout Bay is not for sissies, but I was fortunate enough to find the Cape weather doctor in an especially good mood and I enjoyed incredible weather for my couple of days fishing.
Catching any fish in excess of 60kg on a spinning reel without a harness is no easy task, regardless of the weather conditions. And one thing is for certain, out there in the deep where the monsters roam is Shimano Stella country. It’s a place where only the best will do and thankfully that’s exactly what I had armed myself with. Loaded on my Stella 18000 was 300m of 120lb braid which would hopefully be enough. Stories of guys getting spooled on their spinning reels is commonplace out there. It’s not hard for a 80kg fish to pull 300m of line off a reel and because it 1km deep there he can empty you heading straight down so there’s no chance of following him with the boat unless you have a submarine. Initially I had planned to use my popping rod but luckily common sense prevailed and I paired my Stella with a Shimano Trevala XXH jigging rod. Throwing any type of distance isn’t a prerequisite at all as the fish will come right up to the boat so a long rod has no benefit. Fighting a large fish on a 5’8ft rod is also a lot easier than on an 8’0ft rod.
My first day I headed to the tuna grounds out of Hout Bay with Sean Todd from Hooked on Africa Charters. A large, comfortable, walk-around boat like Sean’s was certainly going to make my challenge of taming a big tuna a whole lot easier. After an hour and a half’s run we put out a couple of Rapalas to try locating some fish. It wasn’t long before we heard the screeching ratchets on a few of the reels as we went through a shoal of Longfin Tuna. I decided that the small 8kg – 12kg Longfins would provide me with a nice little warm-up and tackle test for the Yellowfins I’d hopefully encounter a little later. After catching them on vertical jigs, Rapalas, poppers and baits all on my spinning outfit I was ready to take on something a whole lot bigger and stronger.
We had been enjoying the sport provided by the Longfins round the boat for over an hour before the first couple of Yellowfin showed up in the chum line. It didn’t take myself or Mark long to get hooked up and within twenty minutes I had caught and released a nice 40kg fish. While it provided a far stiffer challenge than the Longfin, a “smallish” Yellowfin like that was no match for the tackle I had. We managed a few more in the same 40kg – 50kg class before Mark got a nice 70kg plus specimen. As the day drew on I noticed a few bigger fish showing up in the chum and after having a few fish under my belt I was a bit more selective on what size fish I threw my bait to. Being selective was rewarded as one of the bigger fish engulfed my bait a couple of meters from the boat.
It’s amazing what an extra 20kg can do to the strength of a Yellowfin Tuna. Its initial run is quite something to behold. Against a drag that a 10kg fish can’t even budge, he managed to pull a comfortable 150m before settling into his slow circular fighting pattern. The fight time doubled from the fish before and after just under an hour I had a beautiful 65kg fish beaten next to the boat. I released him to fight another day and was really chuffed that I had achieved what I had set out to do. My tackle had stood up just as expected but my body could feel the effects of my outing. We decided to call it a day and save some strength for my next day.
The following day I headed out with ex-Protea and Cobras cricketer, Justin Kemp and the team from Two Oceans Charters. Justin had been catching the Yellowfin on spinning tackle for a while and was the main influence of me going down to do the same. Our task of finding fish was made much simpler when Sean, with whom I had fished the day before, gave us a call and told us where they were. Once arriving, it was a matter of seconds before we had ten decent-sized Yellowfin around us. Justin hooked up straight away and bullied the 50kg fish to the boat. Mark and I wasted no time in landing our first few for the day either. After continuously battling tuna I decided to watch the action from the fly bridge. Seeing huge Yellowfin just about getting hand fed is a sight to behold especially coming from KZN where a 25kg Tunny is considered a big one. These look colossal and just glide in the water as they slowly eat all the pieces of chum.
There were a few Big fish around the boat and I watched as one of them swallowed Mark’s bait and sped off into the deep at a million miles an hour. It was a good opportunity to see things happen from a different angle and also to see the difference in power from 70kg model and an 80kg plus one. Once again the Stella did its job without missing a beat but Mark got put through his paces and after an hour and a half of burning he had the beaten fish to the boat. Seeing such an incredible fish had definitely energised me again and I was ready for another battle. I had the back of the boat all to myself as Mark was recovering in the cabin. I looked into the water and there were still a few big tuna in our chum. One in particular had long, bright yellow sickles and seemed comfortably larger than the others in the spread. He came up towards the surface towards some chum pieces and I threw a bait into his path. Without hesitation he engulfed it off the surface literally two meters from the boat.
I clicked the bail arm over and watched 200m of line get ripped off my Stella at a speed I’ve never seen before. Experiencing the visual take and then feeling that raw power will stay with me forever. Having just seen Mark battle a big fish and seeing his condition at the end of the fight I knew what I was in for. It’s definitely a marathon fight and not a sprint and resisting the temptation to pull as hard as possible in the beginning in order to save some strength for later paid off. After about twenty minutes the fish came and surfaced about 50m from the boat, almost just to show me what I was dealing with before boring back down to the depths. What followed was just a slow and painful tug of war that lasted about another hour. With my entire body burning when I finally brought the beaten monster to the surface. At 95kg it was a real giant of a tuna, and that on a Spinning reel!
Battered and bruised I had accomplished more than I dreamed I would when I first decided to go to Cape Town. The world-class fishery had produced like it often does and I thoroughly enjoyed a truly memorable fishing experience. It certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea to try and tame them on spinning tackle but it was something I really wanted to try. In hindsight I may just have changed my braid from 120lb down to 90lb for in case you hook one that decides to go on a really long run. And secondly I would probably change my reel from a Stella 18000, which has a high speed retrieve, to a Stella 20000 which has a slower retrieve and will give you more torque. That would certainly aid you in getting those big fish up from the depths as they do those circles.
Having travelled to some amazing exotic locations in the pursuit of big fish, like many others I have often overlooked what we have right here in our own country. As South Africans we have an incredible Yellowfin Tuna fishery off Cape Town, unbelievable rock and surf angling along the Transkei coast and some trophy Marlin and Sailfish off northern KZN. Maybe it’s time to focus on what we have right on our doorstep…
Brad's Angle 