Enjoying the last weekend of Crayfish season

West Coast Rock Lobster (Crayfish) season kicks off every year between November and March. As it happened this year, we blinked and discovered the season was nearly over. But not to miss out on a good excuse for a bit of male bonding, we headed south towards Kommetjie to get in a catch before the cut off date.

Onroute, our team of Peter Oakley (Skipper), Derrick Levy, Greg Alice, Will Sisson and myself Nic Strydom, shared ideas and tactics on how best we should bait the Crayfish. No one knew what we were in for when the first basket scooped up a baby shark, followed by an eel, then another baby shark, a few crabs - till we eventually got it right and started hauling in the real deal.

The conditions on the day were perfect, but it was still a challenge to keep the Targa 48 just off the kelp line but still close enough to drop our baskets. We quickly discovered that it was the Pilchards that attracted the Crayfish the most, but  the Fishermen in the rubberducks were having more success.  Luckily for us, one of the of the Fishermen even gave us his extra catch.

We came home with 11 Crayfish in total, a couple short of our total allocated quota, but enough for an enjoyable Friday afternoon braai and another great fishing story that will be told for years to come.

Boating World advises anyone interested in finding out about West Coast Rock Lobster Season to contact City of Cape Town for the Recreational Fishing Regulations or the South African Marine Living Resources Act.