[Stax]

On our last trip to Steep Point, 3 weeks ago we saw a few new sights of nature that most people would not believe.

I have heard these tall stories of the large Grouper that sit under the cliff edges and wait their turn in the feeding chain. Waiting and hoping that that Mackerel will fall off, or that Tuna will make a last gasp dash and swim my way….
Huge, I’ve heard, 200Kgs plus, yeh yeh… It might make great story, but what a load of baloney. Well that’s what I thought, until this trip.

Fishing Steep Point is hard enough without large, No…. very large…. No…. Monster Bronze Whale Sharks (should say Whaler, but their bigger than that) chasing your poor Spanish / Tuna all over the place. There was no shortage of that happening. Also with the Tuna going stupid, the Sharks had plenty to choose from.
So setting the scene…Barry and Eddie both lure fishing, Tuna fish everywhere, Spanish lurking under the marauding Tuna, Sharks circling everything, the water looking like a Spa Bath, foam and bubbles everywhere, water blue as blue and clear, yes so clear you could 15 feet into it.
Barry strikes….Eddie strikes….both fishermen hooked up, Barry with a Spanish and Eddie with yet another bullet train Tuna. As the large Bronze Whaler cruises pass for the third or forth time patiently waiting for the very distressed Spanish to make its way to the cliff’s edge and poor old Eddie with his Tuna now closing in on the Madagascar Coast-line, it came time to get Barry’s Spanish to the Gaff. As the large Bronzie swam past for at least the fifth time I told Barry to get that Spanish to the base of the cliff quickly. He did as he was told and dragged the now well beaten 10Kg Spanish to the base of the cliff for hopefully a very quick Gaff. As I placed his line through the Gaff eye and started to lower the Gaff I called to Barry that we had better hurry as the shadow of the Bronze Whaler had reappeared behind his fine fish. Barry, eager to make sure his prized catch was safe ventured to the cliffs edge and yelled “that’s not a shark, its too fat, its way too fat”
He was correct, as behind what now appeared to be a very small Spanish, was a 1960 VW Beetle Car trying to catch up on the now even more stressed out Spanish. Surely this could not be a fish. No way, no fish grow that big. And what are the blue things and red things dangling from its overly large frame. They were lures, lots of lures, at least 5 or 6 of them. By now the Gaff was firmly placed over our minnows head and out of the water it jumped. I really believe that this Spanish jumped clear out of the water all by itself as only inches behind it was the monster from the deep. At least 6 feet long, over 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep, with its mouth wide open, (I could have got my Landcrusier’s Spare tyre in there) it missed its prey by inches. So one fish down, or up, and one Tuna to go. Eddies Tuna darted past the cliffs edge at about 45 knots. The Grouper, now only 2 feet under the surface, defying any current and without movement was not going to miss out again. As Eddies Tuna approached the cliff edge the beast from the deep inhaled. Gone, missing in Action, one 7Kg Tuna! Eddie stood there in total disbelief and asked,
“Now what?”
“Hang on” was the reply.
Well needless to say, 200Kg+ Grouper with 7Kg Tuna in mouth, 14lb Line, No Contest.
As this marvel of nature cruised off, it didn’t swim, way too big to swim, three guys just stood there unable to believe what had just happened. Big, NO, Huge, NO, MASSIVE BEYOND BELIEF.
So now if someone wants to tell me of the huge Grouper under the cliffs at Steep Point, I will also have a tall story for them.
I am sure that to this day I would still have doubts about these stories…But now……I’ve seen a swimming VW Beetle.

More to come...

Sharks are faster than you think.
Believe it.
Stax