Chris gets some good Kakaap off Banganek 

This was a great day after days of disappointing weather at Banganek. The South West had pumped and sea was upside down. But on the Tuesday morning the conditions started to settle and by mid morning there were only the occasional white horse.

We had heard of a reef up north and decided to go and find it. We (Marcus, Clint and myself) figured the currant would be hauling ass so we decided to drift with the current on route to the mysterious reef.

I thought we would bump into some other scattered reef on the way or maybe a stray cuta, but to no avail. All we saw was sand and more sand.

We had drifted....more like swam as the current was gentle, for about 2km. When I decided that enough was enough. We began swimming towards the shore, and when we got to about 12m of water, which was crystal clean, I saw a group of fish muddling around on the floor.

I though they were Kakaap, but was not to sure. And being the only fish I had seen I went to take a closer look. My first thoughts as they came closer was "they are Kakaap..but these are to stupid to be Kakaap" They swam right up to me, and in the excitement shot to soon and did not reach the fish, as I was not used to the crystal conditions.

I had only ever encountered Kakaap at Vidal and Sordies, were you see them......out there and I had never seen groups of them before. I call them groups because they weren't swimming together they were scattered above below and all over. And some times there must have been 10 fish with in visibility.

After missing my shot I followed in the direction that the fish shot off in. And shortly afterwards we were hearing reef. But before we got to the reef I saw some more Kakaap, this time I breathed up properly and went straight to the sand floor. Facing the general direction I thought the fish would be. I lay dead still, and on every odd occation I would throw up some sand. And almost immediately they were in view, but with the 20 -30meter vis I knew they were way off. But like I said these guys were doff, they kept coming closer and closer. Then one faced right at me, looking like a torpedo it just kept coming. "This one's inrange" but it was coming closer and closer....doff fish. It had probably halved its distance from when I first contemplated taking the shot, and was now looking like a much bigger fish.

The fish suddenly stopped and turned, had the movement of my eyes spooked it? My gun was already close on target and with a small adjustment I let rip. The spear seemed to travel for ever, then the gun was ripped from my hands. I hit the mark!!!! The fish didn't give a heavy fight, and I could see from the pale colour after the spear that I had got the spine. When I reached the fish it was bigger than I though and my spear had not gone all the way through the fish.

I strung up the fish and showed Marcus and Clint the fish. They had also been seeing the Kakaap but did not know what they were. And being in a Marine reserve were only pelagics can be shot they did not want to make a mistake.

We found the reef, and if it were not for the Kakaap we would have missed it.

Marcus managed to get a fish click here . The reef went out to about 18 meters and everything was looking very promising.

We didn't see any other game fish, other than a huge tiger shark that swam right under Clint. We drifted over the reef heading North for about an hour. I managed to pick up another two fish that came in on me on the bottom groveling in the sand.

That night we went to bed excited with what the next day would bring. We woke up to a pearler of a day, and set off an our long journey to the reef. Clint must have been feeling the effects of the day before's labor and opted for the warm bed. The walk up the beach was a long one, but Marcus and I were filled with enthusiasm, it was no time and we were in the water.

It was even cleaner than the previous day....could it get any cleaner? We found the reef and followed its drop off passed were we had gone the day before. The reef was epic, I seriously thought I was going to see Sailfish and Wahoo, never mind Cuta!!!

But it was dead quiet, the Kakaap were there as usual. But with a few family member short and flat super crystal seas....they were wise. Marcus and I dived super hard, and the damn things just did not come in close enough. We got a few shots off but nothing stuck.

The current had now turned and we found ourselves swimming into the current to stay in position. We were both starting to tire, and I found a cave / over hang to go hide in. On the third attempt at hiding in the hole a pushed myself deep into the over hang. This was enough the get the Kakaap in and one swam right over the top of me. I aimed for the head and got the fish just behind the pecs with the spear popping out the top of its head.

After stringing up the fish we had drifted down a long way and it did not take long for the fatigue to set in and we gave up and headed for the beach. It seemed to take for ever and by the time we were on the beach, both of us were tired and maybe even disappointed. I know Marcus would have wanted to stay out a little longer to try get a fish, but with both our legs cramping from the swim against the current and the days before's long swim we had to go in.

The walk back was hell, thank goodness some local chaps had come to help us. We paid them R10 each to carry our kit...the best money ever spent.

All in all it was a successful trip, we had found some reef that was never dived before and we had both got good fish.

After a hot shower and some chow, we sat relaxing in the sun enjoying the last moments before heading home. Then Some pipes up, "that's a damn long walk". And it stuck, we know know the reef as 'Long Walk Reef'. We will be back........for sure!!

Chris