Fishing Stories:

In true fishing story tradition, the size, weight and quantities of the fish concerned in these stories cannot be guaranteed.

"There's a reason they call it fishing and not catching." - Anonymous

"Fishing is not a matter of life and death - it's much more important than that!" - Anonymous

"Even a bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work." - Anonymous "I only make movies to finance my fishing".  - Lee Marvin Learning to Fish in the ‘Vubu: Every fisherman has to start somewhere, and the children of Port St Johns had the perfect fishing school.  The river provided a bountiful source of delight for every young child and rewarded them richly for their cumbersome efforts.  Generations of Port St Johns children served their apprenticeships on the river. “The river at that time was still in pristine condition and teeming with fish. We started fishing at a young age using sticks with line tied to the end and a cork with about a two foot trace.  We would catch a lot of eels and small fish.  We would also have great fun catching prawns.  We would use earthworms as bait and fish in the muddy river water.  When our corks began bobbing in a certain manner we would know that there was a prawn (or two) on the end. We would lift the line slowly until the prawn’s feelers breached the surface of the water and then scoop it out using an ordinary little kiddies beach scoop net.  We would fill a bucket with prawns in no time.  I remember doing this a lot with Donovan, Joe and Tim Mcloughlan as their mother, Aunt Sybil, had a particular appetite for prawns and was always thrilled when we came home with buckets full.  The Mcloughlan brothers lived on a farm several kilometers further up the river from Undercliff.”  (Dudley Daniel) River Mouth - Port St Johns * Photo taken by and reproduced with permission from Dale Clendennen * See her Facebook page: South Africa My Best Click on photo for larger view Fishing Stories that gave Reg and Keith Daniel their Pondo names: “One morning, when fishing in the main river, Reg Daniel hooked something very big and strong. It was so big that it began pulling him out into the river. Unwilling to let go of his rod, he was battling to hold his ground.  His younger brother, Keith, grabbed Reg from behind and dug his heels in.  Suddenly, the line snapped and they both went flying backwards, landing in a heap in the mud.  Keith found himself buried in the mud under Reg and to this day, holds the name Madakisa meaning ‘the dirty one’. In time, they grew more skilled and would regularly catch bigger fish in the river and sea, keeping mom and dad well supplied, especially during the Cob and Grunter runs.  Because of all the time he spent fishing, Reg’s name is Gudlulwandle which translates to ‘walk along the edge of the sea’.”    (Notes recording the memories of his brothers, Reg and Keith Daniel, by Dudley Daniel) Cob Fishing Stories from Port St Johns: “In 1960 the cob were on the run in the Umzimvubu River mouth.  My dad* had a rowing boat and Gloria (Keightley) Daniel and I got into this to join the whole of Port St Johns on the river.  I was rowing and rowing and rowing, everyone who had a boat passed us. We were going fast to nowhere. We didn’t even get our rods wet, still rowing up stream.  We eventually made it to the Rock when the boats started passing us BACK to the river mouth. So we turned to follow them. I was rowing as fast as I could and then disaster ... one oar broke.  I moved to the front of the boat to punt home.  There was a Coloured man by the name of Nelson**.  He saw we were in trouble and he rowed out to help us.  He got to us and said “Pass your anchor over”. Well, that’s when we discovered we hadn’t even upped anchor and were dragging it along with us!  Needless to say, we were nearly crying with laughter and I was more than pissed off because we didn’t catch a fish. Some of the fish caught that year were in excess of 100lbs”.*** (Shirley Eayrs Smith) * James Eayrs, owner of the Central Bakery in the 1950's ** This may have been Napoleon, a well-known Port St Johns fisherman, ghillie, and source of other amusing stories in the town.  (See the post in October titled "Characters of Port St Johns - Napoleon the Fisherman") ** 100lbs = 45 kg "I can remember the pavement in front of the Winston Hotel being lined with cob as people waited to weigh their fish on the hotel scale.  I can also remember many successful occasions for us, fishing with our cousins Anthony and Lindsay. The first one that I ever pulled in was when I was about nine years old, fishing with Dad* and Uncle Cecil**.  Uncle Cecil had already caught a few and when he hooked another one he gave his rod to me and allowed me to fight it and land it. I will never forget the thrill, the fatigue and the relief of not losing his fish, which was a cob of around thirty pounds or more.”  (Dudley Daniel) * Willie Daniel ** Cecil Daniel Cecil Daniel looses his shark to a bigger shark: “Our uncle Cecil was a great fisherman and, at one time, fished for a living. My older brothers, Reg and Keith, remember being with him on one terrifying occasion when he was fishing for shark off Bird Rock at Third Beach. Uncle Cecil hooked into a large shark.  He played the shark for a while, and then brought it in close to the rock.  Suddenly a large, ominous dark shadow approached the shark, and with a flurry of white water and a burgeoning mass of blood, the mysterious creature bit Uncle Cecil’s shark off just below its head. That kept them out of the water for a while.” (Notes recording the memories of his brothers, Reg and Keith Daniel, by Dudley Daniel) DO YOU HAVE A GOOD FISHING STORY?  Every person who has visited the Wild Coast has an interesting fishing story.  Send your story to the email address at the top of the page for inclusion in the collection.   Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend". - Zenna Schaffer