Hooked, bait and tackle: Fishing in Cape Town, Part 1 of 2many.

Being an extremely coastal city, Cape Town offers the fisherman many choices as to where he/she can go, sit on a rock and drink beer.

The fishing drink of choice here though is Sedgwick’s Old Brown Sherry, a sickly sweet syrup that cures coughs, but tastes like angels tears within 100m of a body of water.

I fished a lot in Cape Town when I was growing up, mainly off the harbour wall (which is now the V&A Waterfront) and in the devils peak quarry, where I believe the carp gave up swimming and are now selling drugs.

On a few very special occasions we would hire a cubicle on a proper small fishing boat in Kalk bay. It would leave at 5am and have you back seasick and swollen with seafood by lunch. I highly recommend this trip to anyone wanting to pull up Snoek on a handline whilst fending off seals, seagulls and the odd hammerhead.

The Snoek is an enlarged and angry Barracuda with crisscrossed teeth and a thick neck, which you have to break between your legs and bleed or else the meat goes soft. They have to be pulled up very quickly or else the seals grab them, which feels like a passing cruise ship has caught your line. Snoek taste incredible when cooked on a Braai-B-Q, full of bones, but really gamey and delicious. Fingers cut, high on Dramamine and covered in blood and scales is the way to enjoy real seafood, oh and a spot of Sherry.

If you enjoy fishing and would like to get your hands on some gear-while-your-here, try “Hooked bait and tackle” on the corner of Blaauwberg Road and Boy de Goede Circle in Tableview. They are open 7 days a week and sell all manner of fish foiling equipment as well as being extremely helpful and knowledgeable about local waters and the critters therein. They are also the only place in the area to get real bait even on a Sunday morning.

Fishing from the beach seems to be where i’ts at, although I have never had the knack and just spend my time raising the lead content of the Atlantic with Gigantic sinkers. You can also get on a charter boat for some of the serious game fishing excursions, looking for yellowfin, longfin, bluefin tuna, marlin, bonito, shark and yellowtail. Ian and Cristo from “Hooked” can help you find someone. +27 83 354 0772 or +27 72 277 5866