Longstanding tensions among Strand fishermen escalated once again this weekend after two local anglers nearly ended a twenty-year friendship over fishing positions separated by roughly the length of a cooler box.
Witnesses at the Strand pipes described scenes of deep territorial hostility after one fisherman allegedly cast “too close” to another despite both men standing practically shoulder-to-shoulder already.
“He knows that’s my water” explained one furious pensioner pointing vaguely toward an entirely identical section of ocean.
Experts studying local fishing behaviour confirmed Helderberg fishermen possess an extraordinary ability to identify invisible underwater “personal fishing zones” completely undetectable to ordinary humans.
These zones reportedly remain protected through generations with some locations inherited emotionally from fathers grandfathers and one uncle who “used to catch proper kob there in the seventies.”
One Gordon’s Bay harbour regular allegedly refused speaking to his neighbour for six months after a disagreement involving half a meter of harbour wall and a drifting pilchard head.
Meanwhile younger fishermen arriving innocently at popular spots often trigger immediate suspicion simply by existing nearby.
“You can stand there” one older fisherman reportedly told a newcomer. “But nothing bites there.”
At publication time six fishermen remained packed tightly together on the same rocks while insisting everybody else was “too close.”
“Ag, that’s not even an exaggeration,” one might say. “You can fish next to an “ou” and suddenly his whole family’s fishing spot is under your feet.” Another would simply shake his head and add, “There’s enough ocean for everyone, but don’t you dare cast into my water.” For many local anglers, the unwritten rules around fishing spots are apparently older than the fish themselves. It remains “TOP SECRET”
Be the first to comment