Page 124 - Bulletin 7 2003

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teems with red roman. In the winter months the boats fished close by home and I
have been told by old fishermen that when the skippers could see the chimneys of

their houses starting to smoke they would prepare to leave the fishing grounds
because they would know their wives were beginning to prepare their lunch. And of

course they would take a few hours to beach their boats, wait their turns to sell their

catch, and clean and secure their craft in readiness to launch once again in the early
morning.

The other type of fish were called pelagic or surface feeders and feed on pilchards or

anchovy, not quite on the surface but well off the bottom. You would be fishing for
yellow tail, snoek, geelbek, kabeljou, mackerel, elf, etc. These fish would be called

summer fish as they were usually brought into False Bay by the south-easter, and the

best catches were usually made at Cape Point or off Cape Point. In the summer
season we had good catches of elf and kabeljou in the Strandfontein area with the

fish moving and feeding inshore all down the way to beyond Somerset Strand and

Gordon’s Bay. Most fish feed only during daylight hours but geelbek and kabeljou
would be caught on the bright moonlit nights. In the earlier years with small open

boats, should the fish put in an appearance at the Kalk Bay end, then some of the
Strand boats would come and sell their catches at Kalk Bay and skippers and crews

would be accommodated with Kalk Bay families. And later in the season when the
fish had moved further away into the Somerset Strand / Macassar Beach area some

of the Kalk Bay fishermen would in turn be accommodated by the Strand people.

(Figs. 3.26 - 3.29).

There is a true story about this fisherman Orgill who was a top skipper in his day and
had been married four times, as he had lost his wives through illness, child-birth, and

other things. He met a Moslem lady, married her and lived there for a few years
before coming back to Kalk Bay. Years later the Kalk Bay fishermen, who were keen

rugby players, arranged a game with a rugby club from the Strand. Whilst the players

were busy in their dressing room at the Strand a young player from the home team
walked in and made enquiries as to whether there was a player from Kalk Bay who