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Yellowtail fishing off Cape Point!

During our Inshore Fishing Trips to Cape Point we mainly target game fish, this includes the Yellowtail fish. Simonstown is a mere 30 minute boat ride from the famous fishing grounds of Cape Point - Our most popular method for catching Yellowtail is what we call "trolling" where we drag our lures behind the boat, while searching for shoals of bait fish on the surface. Sometimes they Yellowtail prefer it when we stop and cast spinners at them - This all depends on the day as each day stems different results from different methods! 

Yellowtail fish:

The Cape Yellowtail (Giant Yellowtail) or Latin name "Seriola Lalandi" migrate towards the east coast of Southern Africa, following the annual Sardine Run. These fish are found in large shoals, in depths of up to 100 meters and feed off smaller fish like Sardines, Squid and Anchovy. Just like the Cape Snoek, Yellowtail is an important commercial line-fish species down here in the Western Cape. Females can reach up to 1.2 meters where males can reach up to 900 centimeters, but as it stands now there is no real legal size limit. 

Finding the fish:

Yellowtail prefer the warmer areas of the cold Atlantic waters of the Cape - An ideal temperature would be between 16 to 19 degrees Celsius, although we have caught Yellowtail in waters as cold as 13/14 degrees Celsius! As Yellowtail is a highly migratory fish, they usually follow the warmer waters, which are usually a result of particular winds blowing. In our case the Southwesterly winds bring the warmer waters to our coast line and with that usually the fish follow! 

We like to depart from Simonstown, False Bay as early as possible - Usually we ask our guests to be at the public jetty by first light, because In our experience, game fish generally like to feed best at first light (morning) or last light (evening)! The first thing we do when we arrive at our desired fishing spot is we start looking for certain birds, in this case "Common Terns" otherwise known to the local fisherman as "Sterretjies", which usually feed on the bait fish that are getting chased to the surface of the water by the schools of Yellowtail! Most of the fishing action takes place near these birds, so its vital that we keep an eye out for any bird activity during the course of our trips!

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Yellowtail Fishing - Cape Point

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Snoek fishing charters off Cape Point!

Cape Boat Charters offers action packed Inshore fishing charters off Cape Point - One of the fish species which we target is the "Cape Snoek"!

False Bay, Cape Point is home to a variety of game-fish including the "Cape Snoek" or its latin name "Thyrsites Atun". Also referred to as snake mackerel, these long, thin, silver fish can reach lengths of up to 2 meters and weigh in close to 5-6 kg's. Up until 6 or 7 years ago, Cape Snoek was known to the local fisherman of Cape Town as a winter fish, because they would only catch Snoek in all the month without an "r" in it - This being May, June, July and August!

Snoek feed mainly on sardine, mantis shrimps and anchovy, which gives this fish a unique flavor which the locals praise! The traditional South African way to prepare Snoek is on what we call a "braai" otherwise known and a barbeque around the rest of the world - An apricot jam dressing is known to go down well with Snoek!

Snoek is found in waters from Port Elizabeth to the north of Angola, but mostly between Cape Agulhas (the most southern tip of Africa) and the Cunene River. They are an important traditional catch for the line fishers of South Africa, but are also caught in the masses by the trawl fisheries using trawl nets, as they do with hake. It is favored by the local communities as it forms a big part of their diet.

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Inshore Fishing Charter - Cape Snoek fishing

Cape Point Fishing Charter!

Yellowtail fishing off Cape Point

Today, our group of guests from the U.K joined us for a day of deep sea fishing off Cape Point, South Africa! We ran a Half-Day Inshore Fishing Charter to the famous fishing waters off Cape Point (for our group of 6) in search of some game-fish! There were plenty commercial fishing boats off Buffels Bay trying for Cape Snoek, but we were determined to try for some Yellowtail fish first - It was a wise decision indeed! When we arrived at the tip of Cape Point there weren't any other fishing boats around, but the water temperature was 16 degrees Celsius and there was plenty of bird life so we quickly got our lines in the water! 

Not even 15 minutes had past and we already had our first strike on the back-lines! One of our guests, who we had already prepped on how to operate the rod and reel, quickly jumped up first to grab the screaming reel! He landed the first 5 kg Yellowtail and shortly after our next guest was battling a fish of his own! Before you knew it, we had 6 Yellowtail fish and the guests were happy to start heading back to Simonstown with their catch for supper - Well done to our team today on their catch, it was great having you guys! :)

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Yellowtail fishing off Cape Point!

Game Fishing Off Cape Point!

Yellowtail Fishing!

We headed off for a Half-Day Fishing Charter towards Cape Point from Simonstown at 6:00 am this morning in search of Yellowtail, Katonkel and possibly Cape Snoek! There were a couple of commercial boats on anchor sitting off Buffels Bay trying for some Snoek, but we didn't see anything coming up so decided to push on towards the point. When we arrived our guests took some photos of Cape Point and the South Western Tip of Africa, Cape of Good Hope as we were setting our lines for a days fishing. 

We had 15 degree water temperature and plenty of birds working in our area. We started off catching 1 or 2 Katonkel, but shortly after the birds seemed to disperse so we upped our lines and made our way to a well known reef called "Rocky Bank" about 3 or 4 miles south/south west of Cape Point. When we arrived there, there weren't a lot of birds working like earlier but the boats were all huddled up close to each other so we knew that something must have happened. We stuck it out and slowly the fish started to bite! 

First the one rod would go off (rapala) and then another rod (feather) and before we knew it we were having triple hook-ups! Each of our guests took turns pulling fish until we had a nice amount for then to take home. We had almost no wind the entire morning and zero swell. It was a pleasant Inshore Fishing Trip for all involved! :) 

Pelagic Bird Watching on-board "Destiny"

Yesterday, we headed off Cape Point, heading for the well known "Canyon" area in search of Pelagic Sea Birds! Unfortunately we weren't able to find any trawlers or long-liners (which usually have thousands of Pelagic Sea Birds following) so we decided to use an alternative method known as "chumming" to attract these birds. Chumming is the practice of luring various animals, usually fish, but also birds, by throwing "chum" into the water. Chum is bait which consists of fish parts, bone and blood, which attract fish or birds, owing to their acute sense of smell. We managed to lure a fair number of birds which included; Pintado Petrels, White Chinned Petrels, Sooty Shearwaters, Southern Giant Petrel, Northern Giant Petrel, Wilsons Storm Petrel, Subantarctic Skua and the Black-Browed Albatross, which is featured in the picture below.

Our guests managed to get some really amazing pictures of these magnificent sea birds and we soon after started making our way back to Simonstown, but our day wasn't quite over yet - About 8 miles from Cape Point we came across a pod of Orca Whales, which were busy feeding and putting on a show! This is a huge playing factor on why the Great White Shark season in False Bay, Seal Island has been so slow lately. The Orca Whales, also known as "Killer Whales" have been targeting Great White Sharks along our coastlines and killing them for their livers, which is known to be the most nutritional part of the animal!

It was a great trip for everyone involved! :)  

Photo: Jeffery Slater

EXPLOSIVE DAY OF FISHING!

Today was one of "those" days where everything seemed to turn out perfectly - With warm water, 16.5 degrees to be exact, there were thousands of Common Terns and Cape Gannets feeding off massive Anchovy Bait Balls as we arrived at Cape Point. To our surprise, there was only one other fishing boat out, but hey, we weren't complaining - Just meant more fish for us! We started troweling our lures as we reached the "washing machine" (a well known area at Cape Point for mixed currents colliding) and it wasn't long after that we had our first strike! We started off landing one's and two's of Katonkel for the first hour and then the Yellowtail decided to play! Our guests from Germany (all six of them) took turns in pulling fish, almost non-stop until we had our allowed limit, sometimes all three rods would go off causing for some real action! Before we knew it, we had a boat full of fish and the sun was setting, so we decided to head back to Simonstown.

On our way back we were greeted by three or four different groups of Southern Right and Humpack Whales - We made sure to keep our legal distance and the guests were able to get some good pictures of these incredible animals doing their thing! Once we got back, we helped our guests fillet one or two of their catch and off they went smiling from ear to ear! As we like to support the locals, we decided to give the remaining fish (20 or more) to the local haven, "Happy Valley Home", a place for the homeless and hungry people in Simonstown and it's surroundings. It was a perfect way to end off such a outstanding day at sea! 

Seal VS Fish?

As you can see in the picture below, our local guest Terry (right), holding whats left of his Yellowtail fish after a long and tiring battle between himself and a Cape Fur Seal - Fortunately, Terry won the tussle and managed to land his fish along with a few more, including a couple of Katonkel. Despite the seals making it more of a challenge, both our guests were happy with their catch and how the day turned out - On our way back to Simonstown, we thought we would get a picture of our guests holding their fish with the culprits (which made our day that much more challenging) in the background ha ha! Well done guys, great catch! :)

(The Cape Fur Seal is the only seal species that breed here in South Africa, however we do occasionally see Elephant Seals and Sub-antarctic Fur Seals popping up along our coast lines. Male "Bull" seals can grow up to 2.5 meters in length and can weigh up to 350kgs max, where the female "Cow" seals are much smaller, growing up to 1.5 meters in length and weighing up to 80kg max.)

60 000 SQUABBLING CAPE FUR SEALS!

Our guests from Spain joined us today on a Scenic Eco Trip to Seal Island, False Bay! The island is home to well over 60 000 Cape Fur Seals and a variety of bird life, including 4 different species of Cormorant. With the Cape Fur Seals being the Great White Sharks main source of food, there is always a chance of witnessing a once in a life time encounter between the two species! With the Island being situated approximately 16kms (8 Nautical Miles) from Simonstown, we frequently encounter other magnificent sea animals like Dolphins and Whales, like we did today! :)