[miles]

DASSEN ISLAND!!!

A mere 80km or so from Cape Town, up on the west coast road. The harbour of YSTERFONTEIN is frequented by MANY commercial fishing boats, targetting snoek. So when the snoek are running, rather launch later, at say 8:00am, so that you avoid the que of 50-100 boats launching!!

The slipway at Ysterfontein is TREACHEROUS!!! I've PERSONALLY seen guys losing their vehicle to the sea on this slip!! With a big swell, the surge becomes vicious here.

A short run outside the harbour brings you to Dassen Island. Once again, 15-18 degrees water is prefered. Diving here is primarily chasing after birds working schools of baitfish. Unfortunately, these schools of 'tail are very spooky, making approaching them VERY difficult. Various tecniques that work: try getting schools in shallow dive-able water, like 6-12m deep. This way, the school can't swim under you. Try anticipating the schools movement and dropping divers in their path, then try chasing them TOWARDS the divers with the boat. Alternatively, pull bungees and once you get a strike, the divers jump in.......

The EASIEST way is to throw a spinner at the fish, and get the divers in the water, whilst one guy retrieves the spinner, attracting the schools of tail. Having a guy that can cast well is a GREAT asset!!

Normally its just yellowtail in the 2-6kg class, with the odd 8-9kg fish. How-ever, we often get Longfin tuna (albacore) and long-tail tuna with the yellowtail schools, so try and always use a reelgun or a floatline.