The Demons of Durban- Part II

 

A humpback whale at the Durban Slipway Circa 1909

"The Gear"

     The anglers would load up their newly acquired whale meat and head southward on the railway that lead to the end of Durban's south jetty, with hopes of taming these beasts that constantly patrolled the harbor. But the tackle and techniques these anglers choose to use were somewhat primitive, even for the day and age they were stalking these sharks. The tackle which was most commonly used to try to tame these giants from the rock laden jetty typically consisted of a wooden Scarborough reel, with rods constructed from locally grown bamboo. These outfits usually held anywhere from 600-800 meters of Flax line, which was then proceeded by a 30 meter length of wire or cable trace, that normally would have a dog chain link somewhere along the leader that was closer to the bait and homemade sinker. To deploy these baits off the jetty and into the shipping channel, one angler would typically hold the rod, while another angler would strip anywhere from 20-40 meters of line off the spool of the Scarborough reel, and lie it flat on the surface of the jetty. At that point, the second man would then take a strap of leather or a belt, and place it through the dog chain link that was on the cable trace leader. After the belt had been secured onto the chain, the second angler would then begin to propel the bait in a helicopter like motion about six or seven times, or until enough momentum had been built up, and then relinquish his grip from the belt, enabling the fifteen to twenty pounds of bait and sinker to sail across the horizon and into the shipping channel. The anglers were also resourceful by using little home made wooden boats, with an oar that is similar to that of todays kayak paddle, to deploy baits out into the shipping lanes, as seen in the video below, which is the only known video to exist of this group of anglers.

'WARE SHARKS!

Peter Botha with a 793lb Great White Shark

     But where did these men put their rods while they were waiting for hell to erupt on the jetty? Well through a labor intensive task, these men carved numerous holes into the slabs of rock that formed the jetty with just hammers and chisels. Each man had their own hole to place the small butt end of their rod in while they awaited the bite that could have made them immortal. Another problem that needed to be addressed , was how to prevent line from coming off of their Scarborough style reels while they waited, for these wooden reels did not have any drag system or anti-reverse. The men were very creative and resourceful in this effort, using a wadded up piece of newspaper placed between the reel and the rod to prevent line from escaping off the reel while in the waiting position.

Angler fighting a shark; Note the Carved holes and the newspaper preventing reel from free spooling.

 Up to this point, the anglers had it all figured out, from how to get the bait, to how to deploy their lines. But alas, the toughest part was still ahead of them, and far from over ever before it began, for the epic battles of the South Jetty of Durban were about to commence, and separate the men from the boys..........

Anglers from the club proudly displaying their 33 Bull and Dusky catch from a mere 5 hours of fishing

The Demons of Durban- Part I

"Winds of Change and A Tale of Two Cities"

 It has been a little while since we have last reported in, stuff has been getting in the way like work and life, but Team Rebel has been strong and we have been prevailing throughout it all. This report is a couple of weeks late but we promise it will be a good one. This report will be highlighting the events that took place during a period of three days, during the time in which Tropical storm Nicole blew up the coastline delivering to us much needed rain, and her winds of change...

It all began with a quick flip to the weather channel, and seeing the projected forecast for the tropical storm that was allegedly going to bring down the apocalypse upon the eastern seaboard of Florida. While most northerners and newbies in the state panic at the very thought of wind, we begin to plan an assault to seize the waters from fresh to salt with very little sleep in our limited window of opportunity when these storms grace us with their presence. Therefore, with a cooler full of energy drinks and a well full of bait, we began our assault by tapping into the always excellent bass fishing that presents itself as water management drains the canals in preparation for the "biblical" rains that are usually projected. With a bribe paid off to a security guard, we hit the super secret shiner hole to load up on some bait, and the 72 hour assault was underway.

 This was going to be much different from any other storm over the past few years though, with the hellacious and relentless rain and wind that this storm presented early throughout its course , this had all the makings of a an excellent window of hardcore angling, one that most people never stick it out in. But this time a voice from a girl from New Jersey rose above the crowd, and she claimed that she was in fact down for the struggle and the difficulty this weather would be presenting. Naturally, a claim like this from a Jersey girl, I was skeptical, but all that would change by the end of the expedition that took us far and wide.

 We began to hit the locations that are bass strongholds during the floods. Before the rain began I was able to raise this beastly little creature on a Bass Assassin.

 But as the rain began to move in, Jersey or "Jessica" took over and started doing some damage of her own on the stick.

We hit a few more spots before sundown which didn't yield the bounty that we were after , only a couple of more small specimens before we hit the showers to re-tool a plan.

I then decided it was time to move eastward in search of the linesiders that were residing beneath the tides of the wash out, and Jessica signed her name into the late night expedition to see what the bridge snook fishing was all about. We arrived on location to find a barren bridge full of mullet pushed in from the rough surf and we had a small window to capitalize. And apparently with all the freshwater being dumped into the raging ocean, mullet weren't the only bait to be found at the bridge......

I dropped the first bait in around the tide switch, to have an instant hit, but upon the hook set the hook doubled back into the 12inch mullet, leaving us with a sense of angst, but hopeful at the same time. The very next bait, another thump was felt almost instantly, only to this time have the uni-uni connection fail, the first time this had ever happened to me, the day/ night was going to well, but I was then "promised" the next bait would yield the culprit, skeptical yet again, I proceeded to drop the bait, and within a minute another thump was felt, and a hook-up finally! After a short fight we put this over slot on the bridge, a quick pic and release and she was off back to her home, after another hour of hitless fishing it was time to rest up for the true assault that was to begin at dawn.

 The next day started exactly how the first one did, a quick bribe and a trip to the shiner hole and back to the pipes in the pouring rain. But today the fish were feeding and the bites were non-stop and instant for 5 hours. Though we didn't get any of the 8lb class fish we usually get, a ton of nice healthy fish and a few 4lbers, almost all of which were tamed by Jessica in the driving rain, spirits and morale were again high and we were now in full fledged assault mode, with around thirty fish being caught during the time period.

 Shortly after the all day bass assault, the rain let up a bit and we headed back to the bridge with Team member Chris and Robert to try to get on some snook and tarpon action from the heights of the bridge span. Within 15minutes of our arrival Robert had already hooked, and landed a tarpon in the 80-90lb class range, no pictures were taken as it was too larger to bring up in the net. Within the next hour the bite began to take off, Chris landed a large over slot fish around 25lbs, which after a pic was safely released as usual.

 After Chris' lunker was released, it was my turn, within 15minutes I was able to get my bait down into the zone and land two nice overslot fish before we had to turn in for the night and prepare for work in the AM.

Running on only energy drinks, I was able to make it through the work-day and to the night, in which we then decided to head up north to the Flagler bridge and do a little bit of shark fishing from atop of the concrete structure. The whole team headed up for some low effort/ high output sharking. We arrived in hopes of putting Jessica on her first bull shark, that we knew were lurking throughout the mullet and bluefish schools that littered the lagoon at night time. After Tyler had landed two small bull sharks around 6ft, Chris' Avet 4/0 wide perched upon a 10ft unlimited Harnell rod with 130lb braid let out a cry from hell, a quick hook set and the rod was handed to Jersey to see if she was really as hardcore as she made herself out to be, she had proven herself through bad weather, and no sleep, all while having a fractured foot in a boot, but she hadn't tangled with the denizen in which we make our career off of, the shark. In the mean-time Robert was messing around with some of the local "Lumpys"

I have to take my hat off to her, she fought this shark on straight braid in the current like a champion, the rod never hit the railing once and after twenty grueling minutes in the raging current, we finally caught a glimpse of her first shark. A stout 6ft bull shark, but the most impressive thing was she handled this fish like a veteran, this was after we learned that she had drug the fish to the bridge in reverse due to the hook placement in the tail of the shark. We clipped the line and the shark swam away like nothing had happened.

All in all, it was a great way to spend three days during a storm while most northerners are hunkered down waiting for the impending doom that the weather channel usually forecasts. But the solitude and bounty was well worth the struggle, and my skepticism cowered away into the shadows like all the fish we had caught and released over the course of these three days, as Jersey held her own tougher than most of the team did. And we hope to see her again in the future in some more of our expeditions, who knows when she will pop up with something amazing. We have learned in the end, that maybe Jersey girls are a lot tougher than we expected, and maybe they are a misunderstood creature that can do more than just fist pump.....we will see

Until next time....

-Team Rebel Out



The Demons of Durban - Part I

   With the popularity of Land-Based shark fishing again reaching a point of interest, which hasn't been seen since the late 1970's, I figured it was time to release some information I have diligently worked on gathering and researching over the past few years. We do not just participate actively within the sport of land based shark fishing, but we also like to pay homage to the history of the sport, to get a clear picture of how this revolutionary style of angling began, and if we can learn anything from the fore fathers of the sport. So it brings us to this day and age, its the year 2010 and do we know who really was responsible for the beginning of land-based shark fishing? Well, now you are all about to find out who these visionaries were and what their accomplishments consist of. It's truly amazing that not many have heard of this group of anglers from Durban South Africa, for their accomplishments were nothing short of amazing. This is the beginning to a multiple part series that we will be spotlighting the anglers and their achievements, along with how they executed these miraculous feats, that I can honestly say I didn't believe were possible until enough research was done, until I finally got to see it for myself, as you are about to witness first-hand with your eyes, so sit back and be prepared to be left aghast with the stories and pictures of "The Demons of Durban".

Part-I

"The Beginnings"

 Early in the twentieth century, in a town which is now known internationally for its history of violent shark attacks, a group of men would fish on the legendary South jetty of Durban South Africa just off the edge of the shipping and whaling lanes for grunters and various other pan fish for table fare. But over the course of the years during the South African whaling season, the anglers would constantly see numerous large sharks that entered the lanes to feast upon the whales scraps that were useless to the whalers, and tossed aside into the harbor's dead end. Every year between May 1st and September 30th, the south jetty of Durban, would be littered with the anglers that formed a small group called the Durban Shark Club.All these anglers congregated here during this time for the sole fact that this was the time period allotted for hunting the Baleen whales that migrated down the African coast, and that was the signal that the demons would be entering the harbor to feed. When the whalers would arrive back at port with their catches in tow, the sharks would be nipping at the heels of the boats and their prize harvest. Many accounts have even recorded that up till the moment the entire whale carcass was drug up the whaling chute, that there were Zambezi (Bull) sharks, hanging onto the carcass until the last possible moment to get one last chunk of the rich blubbery flesh before they awaited the return of the next whaler in the fleet.

With the assistance of the railway that ran offshore on the south jetty, which was placed there to lower large rocks into the water around the jetty for repairs after rough seas damaged the structure, the anglers would head over to the whaling slip and gather their bait for the afternoon. They would then proceed to place a hundred pounds or so of discarded whale blubber on the railcar and begin the trek to the end of the jetty, where the demons patrolled the channel,looking for yet another opportunistic, and easy meal to be presented toward them. But the task ahead was a tall one, with many of these sharks eclipsing the 500-1000lbs mark, how could these men hook these fish, never the less have a shot and landing one of these giants..........

The Contest is On!!!

 Thats right! Team Rebel and our newest sponsor DEVIL MAN CLOTHING APPAREL, a kicking off the start of our new partnership with a contest for the Rebel Nation Militia!

 We want to get our fans more involved with our adventures, so what better way than to give free DEVIL-MAN GEAR AWAY!

 Details you ask? The best part is there is next to nothing to it! All you have to do is go fishing! You heard correctly! Catch something, send the picture in to us, and once a month we will announce a winner, whom will have their catch and/or website posted up on TeamRebelFishing.com, and recieve a free gift certificate to shop at the DEVILWEAR online store!

 Sweet deal right!? So get out there, get some fish and send your pictures to us!

               All Entrys and inquires, please submit to-    

  TeamRebelShark@Yahoo.com

 And lets get this show on the road!! GET YOUR DEVIL MAN OUT NATION!!Also,dont forget, if you can, the MORE METAL the picture is the better!

Remember, ANY species of fish can be submitted, and the winner will be announced at the end of each month.

For more Information about how to let YOUR DEVIL MAN OUT!! Visit the link to the online store below!

DEVIL MAN STORE

Monster Snook, Team Rebel Style 9/11 Report

With the change of seasons looming in the air, the time is upon us that the mullet make their suicidal migration southward in massive schools down the beach and the intra-costal waterways. Thus meaning it is now the time for football, the time for tarpon, and most of all, a time for snook ravaging baits in every body of water that mullet schools have access too. So naturally, we loaded up the truck and headed north to intercept the largest schools of mullet on the beaches, and see if we couldn't try our luck with some of the beach bound tarpon and sharks. I will spare you the details of this trip, for the fact that we didn't catch a thing. We did encounter some massive mullet schools with dozens of tarpon losing their minds on the outer edges gorging themselves with huge black mullet, never less, they were too far out for us to take a legitimate shot at one from shore. So after cleaning off the stench of failure, we packed the trucks and headed home, but not before the trip got even better, with a massive tire blow out at high speeds on the highway.

Our "Fun Meter" was having an overload after all this wonderful excitement throughout the day and early night, with a big hole left that had not yet been filled with out dreams of tarpon and snook. While barely able to function from over tiredness, Chris convinced me to take a ride over to a couple of bridges with a hot bite during the mullet run. So Tyler, myself, and Chris headed out around 2 a.m. just to take a "Peek" and see what was lurking in the shadows of the concrete links to land.

 We arrived at the first location with no intention of fishing, but shortly after we ventured up onto the bridge span we witnessed a line of black shadows, darker than the shadow line being cast off the bridge from the street lights, with all these shapes prepared to pounce on any foolish little creature that wandered into the dark zone. Tyler couldn't help himself, so he ran back down to the car and grabbed a rod with a Storm lure, and within a matter of seconds he was hooked up on a nice little tarpon (his first if I may add) and pulled her up in the net to remove the hook, so she didn't have any jewlery hanging in her mouth when we lowered her back down in the net for a safe and smooth release.

After Tyler landed that tarpon, all the other ones got spooked and went down low and proceeded to get a case of "the lock jaw". So we pressed on to take a look at the mullet situation at one more bridge before heading home to central air conditioning and comfortable beds after a long day of heat and misery. But when we arrived at the bridge, something seemed oddly awry for this spot, which was very unusual to say the least. We stood around and watched the water closely for a few minutes, until a small school of finger mullet ran into the shadow line and half a dozen explosions lit the poor mullet school up, leaving them with half their family missing. So we went down to the truck and grabbed a couple of rods and the small cast net to see what damage we could do in a few minutes of fishing. I cast netted a few small mullet, one of which Chris took and dropped down into the shadow and immediately hooked into, and landed a 20-30 pound class tarpon, which was safely released without being taken out of the net.

I then was blessed by the bridge gods with a tasty, twelve inch, ladyfish morsel, and quickly tossed the "guarantee" bait into the shadow. Instantly a MASSIVE shape rose up to suck down my ladyfish off the surface, and in a mere split second, the whole ladyfish disappeared into a gigantic boil in the dark underbelly of the bridge and I was now pinned to the railing with the drag set to lockdown on the fifty-pound test line, trying to keep this beast away from the pilings. After a brutal minute or two, I got the fished head out of the water, and as Chris was getting the net the hook came flying back at the bridge after one of the most brutal head shakes I have ever seen come from any fish. As fast as it happened, the giant crept back into its barnacle ridden wood home to vast in the glory of its win. "Oh, Well" I said, "It happens" and proceeded to get another bait and drop it back into the shadow of hell. Before long, My line came tight again and pulled up this nice little guy without meeting any resistance. After a quick snap shot, we lowered it back into the water inside the net, and it was off.

 Around 4:30 a.m., my morale was low along with my eyelids as I was ready to go home before any hint of light broke the horizon offshore, but Chris on the other hand was persistent and wanted to get a snook for the night. After a little teasing, Chris shouts at me from up the bridge "GET THE NET!!" so without hesitation, I bolt down the bridge to assist him in the landing of whatever is on the other end of his line, and to grab a quick snap-shot of whatever the mystery fish may be. After a VERY dicey two-three minute battle, the denizen rears it head on the surface, I was absolutely STUNNED with how big it was, especially for this particular spot. I didn't waste any time throwing the net up current and pulling tight and forcing the fish into the net which it BARELY fit inside of. As I hoisted the beast over the railing, Chris and I were both stunned on how huge this snook really was!

After a couple quick photo op's we lowered the monster back into the water inside of the net, as always, and watched her lumpy and rugged figure slowly but surely make its way back to the bottom to full-fill her destiny as a breeder and mullet destroyer. All in all it was a great way to salvage a bad day and night, not only did we not even intend on fishing these bridges, but we have a great story to tell at the end of the night. We will be back after some more lunkers this week hopefully, so until next time....

Team Rebel Out!!!!