The Demons of Durban- Part III

Club Member Johnnie with a grander Tiger Shark in 1951

"The Battle"

   The noise of endless scuffling and panic now echoed up and down the confines of the usually quiet jetty, fear and anticipation was now thick in the air amongst the anglers, as a large shark had just taken one of the baits that had been patiently awaiting a trip to its final destination, deep within the jaws of hell. The lucky angler quickly springs into action and promptly responds to the line being taken off the wooden reel by throwing the rod over his shoulder while palming the reel to not allow anymore line to escape from the spool temporarily, he then ran across the jetty in the opposite direction of the denizen attached to the other end. By employing this technique, the angler had now set the hook firmly into the mouth of the shark at the other end, which then solidified the commitment the angler had just made to see this battle out until the end, win or lose.

 

An unknown angler applying pressure to a shark with a leather pad

 The beast was now beginning to drag the angler at the other end of the line back toward the wall of the concrete jetty, where other fellow anglers awaited to help assist the man fighting the shark assume the battle position. Due to the style of rods and reels these men were using, the fighting technique was much different than that of which we use today. The angler sat on the ground in a position similar to the cross-legged "Indian Style" children sit like during early grade school. The angler would then proceed to place the bottom of the rod under one of his buttocks, and place the fore grip of the rod, just above the reel, on his left thigh for support and leverage. This sounds uncomfortable for most people, but this tactic was not only necessary, but a key part in helping to stop these giants of the inlet. Because the reels had no anti-reverse or drag system, the reels operated more or less as spools, which were free flowing at all times, unless slowed or obstructed by some sort of object.In the heat of battle and during the sharks initial run for safety, the anglers would use thick pads of leather and cowhide to palm the spool of the wooden reel with, and to have some sort of chance to apply enough pressure for a long enough period of time to break the sharks will.

A skilled angler could apply pressure with leather pads using both hands

The battles with some of these monsters could last from 6-8 hours, and these anglers would not take any breaks during this time period, it was not considered a catch within their club unless the angler fought the shark the entire duration of the battle himself, this process also included securing the first rope onto the unlucky specimen, to be drug up onto the jetty or beach and weighed after a short photo session. The anglers in the shark club may have also been the first anglers to ever use the modern day "bridge gaff" as a tool to help secure the catch, thus sealing the sharks early demise. But not all of these sharks were able to be pulled up by ropes onto the jetty, sometimes, it was a lot more complicated than that....

 Anglers subduing a small White Shark with grappling hooks better known as "Bridge Gaffs"

"The Demons of Durban- Part I"

"The Demons of Durban- Part II"

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

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..........