29.12.2018 Fishing trip

After I was back in the accommodation at around 00:00 and the bass from the festival slowly disappeared from my ears, I also went to bed early. After all, I knew I had to get up early again.

The alarm clock rang early. Around 06:30. Still with the drinks from the previous day in my head. Quickly dressed and packed my things and off we went.

When Hendrik, Sven and I stood at the pier and waited for our boat, our other fishing colleagues who accompanied us today gradually joined us.

After some confusion, we finally knew which boat was ours. The "Ocean Pearl"

A white little boat with 2 x 175HP outboard motors at the stern.

Once everyone had boarded and the tow vehicle was finally on, we were lowered into the water and could finally start our trip.

We headed towards the open sea at full power. After about 15 minutes, we reached our first spot.

Hardly had we put the fishing lines in the water, the first bite came. The lucky one was the angler to the left of me. Gradually, everyone's lines started to twitch. Except for me. I stood somewhat disappointed between the first catch and Sven, who had already pulled two cod out of the water at that time.

After half an hour and a lot of casting and reeling in, I finally felt a slight tug on my line. Was it a fish? I couldn't say for sure, as it was very light. Well, never mind, better strike and hope there's a fish, instead of waiting and catching nothing. And indeed. Right after the strike, the "fight" began. Actually, I could have pulled the fish up immediately. It was a small catfish. I didn't care how big it was. The main thing was that I caught one and my motivation and mood were restored.

After we changed the spot, things really started to get going. There were no 5 minutes between bites. It was wonderful. We pulled one fish after another out of the water.

Suddenly, there was excitement at the back of the boat. Everyone reeled in their lines and watched an angler standing at the back of the boat, between the engines. His fishing rod was extremely bent, and he was struggling with something big. After 5 minutes, a big cow shark emerged. A magnificent specimen. After it was brought onto the boat, some photos were taken and the fish was returned to the water, we could continue fishing.

2 spots later and several fish later, my rod struck again. I struck the fish and immediately noticed that something was different. After about 4 seconds, I also knew what it was. It was bigger than usual. The fish was bending the rod almost at a 90-degree angle. I had to tighten the brake as it could simply pull the line out. My neighbors reacted quickly and pulled their rods out of the water. After a 10-minute fight, it finally emerged:

A shark at least 1.50m long. I was overjoyed. One of the crew members came with a gaff (a stick with a hook) and brought the shark to the boat. We admired my catch. After the hook was cut off, we let the shark go on its way, as our actual target were only catfish and cod.

Feeling totally proud and motivated, we spent the day on the boat.

When we returned to the harbor around 4 o'clock and the boat was pulled out of the water, all fishing boats gathered in one place in Swakopmund. It was a place where everyone parked their boats and unloaded their catch. There were many brick tables with large stone slabs on the square, where each crew went and presented and cleaned their catch. Many onlookers had come to view the catch of the day. Some also came to buy fresh fish right there.

Our catch of 104 catfish, 19 small cod, 4 big ones, one very big cod, and 9 mackerel was also processed there. From the whole fish to the fillet.

In the end, Hendrik, Sven, and I arrived with 16 pieces of cod fillets to join the others who were picking us up there.

In the evening, Sven, our hobby cook, prepared fried, freshly caught cod with rice for the fishing group, which was simply delicious.

Jan