This years trip will be in September through October and this diary is a work in progress, keep an eye out for updates as I manage to get them done!
Preparation
Ok just under a month to go now so it's time to think about packing and stuff! Having broken my suitcase last year, which incidentally cost me £2 from the chinese man in Walvis Bay, I have been give a large 'solid' case for this years trip.
Things I must remember to pack are my reels (SL50SH and Sealine 400H), wetsuit, neoprene boots, first aid kit, decent windstopper, jumper, tioletries, foam padding (for the butt pads), passport and tickets, insurance details, full contact details for all aspects of the holiday (courier, estate agent etc), clothes. Also need to organise some SA rand to pay for the courier.
E-mailed Terence, lots of spotties around and some bronzies but winter not really over for another 2 weeks so that's hopefully going to change before we get there although I'm not too bothered if it doesn't, we are likely to be the only guys there bronzie fishing so we won't be sharing them with anyone else except maybe on weekends. Going right at the start of the season was/is a concious decision mainly for this reason.
Must also send final confirmation e-mails to all concerned. Spoke to Pete and Mark last week, the excitement is mounting now!
The Journey - 24/25 September 2006
Pete arrives on the Saturday afternoon and after a heavy night out we begin the journey from Luton to Gatwick, from where we will catch the 21.30 Air Namibia flight to Windhoek International, Namibia. The journey was fairly uneventful except for Mark's bad guts! Upon arrival we were met by George, our transfer operator, this was a relief to me as I had made all the arrangements by e-mail and was concerned that one of the parts of the journey would go wrong!
After our transfer to Eros, which is the internal airport in Windhoek approx 30km from the main international airport, we had enough time for a couple of beers before boarding our 11.30 am flight to Walvis Bay. Again this all went without a hitch and after collecting our luggage we were warmly greeted by Terence (our guide), who proceded to transfer us to Swakopmund.
After paying the balance of the rent for the apartment we were given keys and escorted to our accomodation. I had again arranged this via e-mail and to be honest hadn't even seen a picture of the apartment. All I knew was that it was a 2 bed (sleeps 4) apartment close to 'The Lighthouse'. Well we were in for a very pleasant suprise, the previous year we had walked by a block of apartments that overlooked the beach and looked very impressive and had all said it would be nice to stay there, and staying there is exactly what we did!
The apartment was indeed 2 beds with 2 en-suite bathrooms, under-floor heating and all the mod-cons. The view was stunning and for approx £120 pp we really couldn't have asked for anything better! Many thanks to Nels and their staff for arranging this so well for us!
A quick trip to the supermarket, where we spend £10 on food that would last a week and then it was off to 'The Lighthouse' for a few post travel beers and a chance to see if the staff recognised us from last year. No problems there, as soon as we walked in we were greeted by several of the staff who made us so welcome the year before. After a few beers we retired at an early hour, 6.30pm, and had some cheese rolls and a couple of games of dominoes before an early night, all of us looking forward to a good days fishing.
Day 1 - 26th September 2006
As expected Terence picked us up at 8.00am, and even he was suprised that we had not had a late night after the previous years experiences. A trip up the coast to Mile 30 was on the cards and we were all very keen to get there, but as we were driving up Terence was concerned that the sea was a little rough and deviod of real colour. As it turned out we spent 1.5 hours at Mile 30 but drew a blank and we were all disaappointed.
A move was made to Mile 17 where I caught the first fish of the holiday, a small Catfish which simply hooked itself and gave me a drop back bite and no fight whatsoever! The highlight of this mark was my attempt to show Terence that I had learnt how to cast a multiplier which ended up in a bait cast 10 yards and the biggest birdnest ever! Pete and Mark took great joy ribbing me and taking photo's for the record.
Since the fishing was still slow, Terence moved us once more to Mile 14, where Pete hooked and landed an 18kg Spotty (Gully Shark - male), our first proper fish of the holiday! No more fish were forthcoming but since we now had chum bait we decided to spend the rest of the day fishing for the Bronzies. We moved again to 'Old' Mile 8 and fished out the tide there but without success.
As Terence had predicted the conditions were against us and we finished our first day with just those 2 fish, which was of course a bit disappointing. We adjurned to 'The Lighthouse' for a few beers, a meal and some nightcaps but hopeful that the following day would prove better!
Day 2- 27th September 2006
Conditions were again not looking good. We started at Mile 8 below the toilets but after a blank hour or so quickly upped sticks and moved north to Mile 13. This was also slow but Pete started the ball rolling with a small Kob. Nothing more was forthcoming so another move was made, this time to Mile 15.
It's very common to move about until fish are found so bear this in mind when you think about how your trip will go. Mile 15 proved more productive and Mark soon landed a 20kg Spotty (female), quickly followed by a smaller one of 5kg. I managed 2 small Kob but we now had chum and made the decision to go for Bronzies at Mile 17. We fished out the tide there but without so much as a rap. Things weren't looking too hot................
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