South Sea Safaris Fishing Charters - Game Fishing

Welcome to the web site of South Sea Fishing Safaris. As one of the longest operating deep sea and tuna fishing charter businesses in Cape Town and the Western Cape our success rate speaks for itself. Started in 1998, our reputation has been built on solid service and performance. Most of our clients come back for more and some use us to the exclusion of all other charter operators. We have added a local fishing report at the bottom of this page to give our overseas and upcountry visitors and idea of what is happening on the local scene. We'll tell it like it is, no frills, when it's good we'll tell you, and when it's bad, we'll tell you that too. Please have a look and e-mail your comments to us.

South Sea Fishing Safaris caters for local as well as visiting international anglers and spearfishermen. Join us on one of our customized craft, from the custom built 11 meter sportfishing cruiser to our 9 meter sportfisher and an 8.6 meter ski-boat suitable for smaller groups. Operating from Gordons Bay and Struisbaai, all boats are fully seaworthy and safety certified. We have self-catering or fully catered accommodation at both venues. The choice is yours.

NOTE - Pictures are thumbnails for quick downloads. Please click on thumbnails to see full size picture and text.

Our 9 meter catamaran, "Tyler", named after our trusty jack russel boat dog, is bigger and better than the old 8 meter cat, Le Boat. Tyler is a 9meter butt-cat powered by twin 200 hp Suzuki four strokes. She is extremely fast and very comfortable. During her maiden fishing tournament she took top honours with an 86kg yellowfin tuna caught by Gareth Beaumont. Lynx is a 11meter Gecat powered by Suzuki 250hp motors and she is, as always ready for her next trip to the deep. Below is a list of notable achievements over the last few years:

LYNX - 1st Prize, Gordons Bay Offshore Classic 2003 - 1st Marlin landed at Gordons Bay Feb 2004 (97kg Striped Marlin) - 1st Prize, Hout Bay Tuna Derby 2004 - Top Boat, Gordons Bay Offshore Classic 2005 - Top Boat, Gordons Bay Offshore Classic 2006 and numerous other achievemnts over the years.

TYLER - 1st Prize Gordons Bay Offshore Classic 2007 - 2nd Place, Two Oceans Marlin Tournament Struisbaai 2009. Last year (February) Tyler became the first boat to catch and release 10 marlin in a single month in Struisbaai at Cape Aghulas.

If rock & surf or fly-fishing is your forte, allow us to take you to some of the best fishing spots around the coast and some of the most productive inland waters. We provide good quality tackle, and apart from specialist fly-fishing equipment, everything will be supplied. Fishing is to IGFA standards and records can be claimed.

On the underwater side of things, we offer blue-water hunting off Cape Point and reef diving trips up the Cape Coast. These trips can be arranged for any period of time. Have a look at our rates page for and idea of what is on offer. The South African record yellowfin tuna was broken many times by spearfishermen in the last couple of seasons and I have no doubt it will be broken again soon. Our biggest fish speared so far was a brute of 95kg with a number of fish in the 90's having been taken. Fish of between 80 and 90 have almost become a formality. If you could ever say spearing a yellowfin is a "formality". Incidentally, we managed to catch our 100+kg fish during the last season, 101.2kg to be exact. We once again had a number of fish in the 90 to 95kg class, but only one of over a 100. Our ladies spearfishing record yellowfin of 66kg also still stands. This is only 2kg short of the current ladies world record.

We will arrange all bookings, collect you at Cape Town International Airport, arrange transfers and/or car hire and ensure you are accompanied to our guest house/holiday apartment or any other accommodation you may choose.

Join us for a day, a week, or a month, we offer a truly memorable local fishing adventure.

The early part of the tuna season has come and gone and whilst we did not catch huge numbers of fish, we did get yellowfin on almost every trip. What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in size. We had fish of 80kg plus on every trip that we did catch yellowfin. Our best tally was 13 in one day. The usually fickle Cape weather kept us off the sea for most of the time, but we did get the odd gaps between blows. October and November were OK, but December turned into a pretty bad time as far as wind is concerned. We only managed three sea days in the latter half of December. This when our book was overflowing with anglers wanting to get out there.

We are now fast approaching February and will shortly be heading for Struisbaai and the marlin season. Hopefully we can beat our record of last year

Shore Angling

On the shore angling side things have been pretty quiet and I have not heard of any really good fishing anywhere. There have been some flurries of cob and so on from the Swartklip/Strandfontein area, but the big bronzies have to a large extent been absent. The Strand reefs have delivered the odd good fish, but once again, generally quiet. A few weeks ago there was some very good activity down at Struisbaaiplaat and the guys that were there caught some very nice cob. The beaches around Hangklip have produced cob fairly regulary, but the cape salmon never really arrived in any numbers.

Offshore
As mentioned above, the yellowfin have not been too prolific. Apart from one week in November when the guys had really good catches. We were unfortuately, due to a bit of brainfade on our side, not at sea that week. As for the rest of the season, it was OK with some really enormous fish being caught. The Hout Bay Tuna Derby was won by a fish of 109kg and second place went to a 102kg fish! I think the top ten fish were all over 90kg. We had good fun during the last week when plenty of young longfin tuna went on a feeding frenzy just off Cape Point. On light tackle the guys really had some good fishing. The yellowtail and snoek have been plentiful at the Cape Point and on some days it has been a formality to get 10 yellowtail per person. True to their form though, there have been other days when the yellowtail have been as tight lipped child refusing brussel sprouts. Nothing and no-one could entice them to open their mouths to eat something. The fishing at Cape Point continues to be good however, and most days produce good fish. We now wait patiently for the return of the tuna in April.

Cape Agulhas
Contrary to last year when nothing happened, the fishing down there has been very very good. There have been enough cape salmon and yellowtail to keep everyone happy and although I have been stuck in Gordons Bay, the reports coming through are that the fish are still plentiful. Both divers and anglers have been doing well. We will be heading down there at the end of Jan and hopefully the fish will hang around long enough so that we can also have a go at them. I have not heard of any marlin sightings yet, but we will be focusing on them during Feb and early March. As mentioned before, we became the first boat to catch and release 10 marlin in one month in Struisbaai last year. Our book for Struis is pretty full and if you are interested in going, I would suggest you contact us soon. Even so, we may only be able to accomodate you in the event we have a cancellation. The marlin comp had 38 boats entered at last count. This competition, although the organisers said they wanted to keep it small, has grown into one of the biggest in the Cape.

Last, but not least, we are sending out regular reports and fishing updates to our friends and customers, both in South Africa and internationally. If you would like me to add you to our mailing list, feel free to drop me an e-mail. Please come back and check our regular updates.