SURF CASTING ADVENTURE: Lanterns after dark – a true story

WORDS: Werner Lubbe IMAGES & VIDEO: Jessica de Villiers

Travelling from Gauteng to Durban for a few days in the KZN winter has become an annual event in the week prior to the Comrades Marathon, and fishing with ‘Running Ray’ Thompson of The Kingfisher on one of those days seems to be in the order of the day. This time around we went down ‘Heart Attack Hill’ to get a few lights – yes, it’s true, these fish are called “lanterns”

The Cavebass (Dinoperca petersi) or Lampfish, is an interesting species. Along the KZN coast they are also referred to as ‘lanternfish’, although the true lanternfish is actually a small bioluminescent mesopelagic fish found in the deep ocean.

The cavebass is found under ledges or at entrances to caves. It has a compressed oval body covered with small comb-like scales. It has a truncated caudal fin and the lower jaw protrudes further than the upper jaw. The skin is blackish brown with white specks which fade when the fish attains maturity.

So accompanied by Jessica and Running Ray Thompson I set off to Amanzimtoti’s southern beaches, only accessible by going down a long steep embankment, known locally as “Heart Attack Hill” for obvious reasons, especially when climbing back up it late at night with a few nice table fish in hand. To get there we had to first search the streets to find secure parking.

As we went down the hill, treading carefully, the awe-inspiring view of the ocean dawned on me and I felt so small – what a sight! It is important to travel light, and everything you need should be packed in a rucksack or cooler box that you can sling over the shoulder

Halfway down we briefly stopped to have a look at the sea for clues on where and how the ledges, sandbanks and currents were behaving. Ray’s trained eye immediately analysed the situation and he knew exactly where he wanted to go.

To get to the ledges and rocky bays Ray wanted to target, we had to take a quick walk down the shore. The tide was high and we had to walk in the softer sand higher up. “The Comrades Marathon – at 87km not just a parkrun- was coming up in two days, how far are we going?” I thought to myself as I tried to keep up with Running Ray.

When we reached the spot I had a closer look at the tackle I was going to fish with. The Poseidon Eclipse Shad is an excellent all-round rod and I would soon learn firsthand about its capabilities, so I was understandably quite excited about the opportunity.

We started off with some cracker to see if the bronze bream were there in the late afternoon. We scratched around for an hour or so, got a few pulls and runs into the rocks, but no good fish on the beach.

As the sun started looking for a place to sleep, Ray showed me what to look for and where to fish. “Find the rock, get the bite!” he explained.

“That is easy enough” I thought as I flicked the Eclipse over my shoulder. It is such a light and energetic rod that I kept going too far out and had to wind back in a few metres to get to the rocks. It was quite clear how the bites only came when you could feel the rocks.

Ray went further to the right to a nice ledge and was onto a fish straight away. When fishing the rocks, you have to be quite quick and fight the fish hard, as they know exactly where each cave and rock is.

The first fish was a beautiful rock cod that initially ran him into the rocks before he could muscle it back out.

Ray has an interesting way of finding the rocks – he casts in deeper and then slowly brings the line back in dragging the weight on the bottom. When he feels the rock, he leaves it for a while. No bite for a minute, and he would bring it in to the next rock. When he got stuck, he would leave it and shake it every now and then. Most of the time a fish would take it and pull it loose.

As the sun set we were just soaking in the awe of the ocean, the beach and good friends – what a blessing!

As soon as it was dark we changed to a chokka-flapper bait – it is basically just a few strips of ckokka criss-crossed onto the hook to give a lot of movement. It is also paired with a ‘glow in the dark’ float.

See how Ray prepares the bait:

My first fish for the evening was a double-up with Jessica, a smallish cavebass and a small grey grunter. The cavebass reminds me of a largemouth bass from Loskopdam, the only difference is that the teeth are a bit longer and quite sharp.

Ray quickly dialed into what they wanted and where they were, so regularly started wrestling them out of the caves.

Another nocturnal cave dwelling species is the eel. Jessica caught her first one ever.

If there is one sure thing about eels, is that they absolutely destroy the trace!

So another rig had to be tied on, but fortunately Ray was well-prepared; his rigs are stored neatly on a foam rubber cylinder cut out of a pool noodle.

See how Ray makes the trace:

“You have to make it glow!” Ray exclaimed as he put both baited hooks in his hand and shone his gazillion lumens headlamp on it for a few seconds.

And look how pretty they glow – and believe me, the better they glow the quicker the bites come. The lanterns were specifically fond of these glowing chokka baits and were onto them straight away. If we missed a bite and had to recast, we just re-energised the glowing floats before casting.

There were however other creatures in the rocks that loved the glowing chokka baits – the crayfish! They can also take your rig into the caves quite quickly.

I picked up a good fish that ran me into the rocks straight away. Ray guided with some good advice, and I briefly got it under control, but a few minutes later it wrapped me properly and I had to break off everything.

The next round I was on the winning side and managed an excellent specimen. These fish are very strong and know exactly where every cave, rock and ledge is.

One of the species that eluded us for most of the night was the kob, but Ray managed to land a young one on the same bait as the lanterns, but on a sand bank.

The prize catch for the night – after it took her for a walkies through all the available and possible crevices, Jessica wrestled this one out of the rocks with all the power she could muster!

The chokka bait with two pieces of glow did the trick again. The Maruto circle also holds well and if you can pull hard enough, it will get them out of the rocks.

Another one on the beach, but this one would land in the pan. The lantern has beautiful fillets and the meat is fatty and fine. Pan fried in butter and spices delivers a delicious meal.

A final word about the rod: the Eclipse is an excellent all-round rod that enables one to target a wide variety of species at various distances. Although the rod is rated 3-5oz,(Medium Heavy) the fact that it is 13’6” makes the tip soft enough to feel the smaller bites, just flick the bait quite far out and play the fish hard.