The writer Oscar Wilde is reputedly responsible for the often used quote 'There are lies, damn lies, and statistics'. One interpretation of this is that with careful massaging of facts and figures, the truth need not be allowed to interfere with a good story. Raw statistics on the other hand can tell little other than the truth. See what do these figures say to you.... 11 anglers, six days surf fishing and 15,000 pounds of fish Five members of the party not dedicated shore anglers Most members of the party took at least one day off 88 bronze whaler sharks caught averaging between 150 and 160 pounds apiece Two anglers each landed in excess of 1000 pounds of fish in a day Eight fish in excess of 200 pounds One fish touching on 300 pounds

To me that is irrefutable evidence for the most impressive shore fishing in the world. Accumulated by a party of UK anglers fishing the surf beaches of Namibia in February, this trip has to rate as one of the best surf fishing trips ever.

Namibia is one of the newest countries in Africa, encompassing one of the oldest and certainly one of the hottest deserts on earth. Don't however read too much into the hot desert bit as it can be positively cold on the beach and up to maybe half a mile inland to the point where a couple of fleece jackets might need to be worn. A little intervention from one of the coldest places on earth is actually the main driving force behind this remarkable marine and coastal eco-system. For this region, known as the skeleton coast, receives cool nutrient rich water all the way from Antarctica carried north by the Benguela Current.

Our guide for the trip was Namibian international shore angler Johan Berger. A man whose enthusiasm, work rate and temperament make him the finest fish guide anyone could ever hope to meet. At 8 o'clock prompt he would pick us up at the Hansa Hotel and wouldn't pack up until everyone in the group was satisfied with the fishing, or it was no longer light enough to see. He would then make the long trek back along the salt tracks of the Namib Desert to Swakopmund, usually in total darkness. Just time for a quick shower, a bite to eat, a couple of beers and a few hours sleep then start all over again.

Other than the occasional mile marker, out on the desert salt tracks there are no sign posts to pick up on. But like a cruise missile programmed to find a specific target, Johan would suddenly detour from the track out across the desert sands to the lip of a steep surf beach where he would sit for a few minutes watching, looking at the surf tables, water colour and current. Some days he would even walk into the water to see if it felt cool enough. Only when all his criteria were satisfied would the rods be unclipped from their racks for a cast. But you only got 10 minutes. No bait fish and we were off again looking for a new stretch of beach. The first priority on most days was the catching of at least half a dozen gully sharks. A fish not unlike a bull huss but with the capacity to hit weights of 70 pounds and more. A powerful fish in its own right. My best tipped the scales at 48 pounds, but not the fish we had traveled all the way to Namibia to catch. Standard UK shore fishing gear is fine for these fish. A heavy mono leader, 6/0 hook and a mullet head make the perfect business end combination. Stingrays, bull rays and sand sharks also came the same way, and like the gully sharks, all found their way into the back of Johan's truck. Never again will fishing for bait ever be so pleasurable.

With the bait requirements taken care of we headed north looking for cooler water. To me, one piece of surf beach looks much the same as the next, but not to Johan. He was looking for water with an olive green tinge and breaks in the surf indicating deeper gullies between submerged banks. More importantly, it had to be a piece of coast where the current was being deflected outwards by the shore and the breeze. This is crucial if the big bronze whaler sharks are to be drawn within casting range. For its this that will deliver the chum trail out beyond the banks. After removing the gills and liver for bait from the gully sharks they were pegged out on the beach at a point where each incoming wave would pick up a bit of blood and other body juices to establish the chum trail. It was usual at this point to be given a guarantee of how long it should take before the first dorsal fin is seen within casting range. Sometimes this can take half an hour. Just time to set the rods up and get everyone prepared for action. Prepared in their minds that is. But on this, the first days fishing, far from prepared physically for what was to come.

Tackle for the shark fishing is provided in with the guiding fee. One piece 14 foot Purglas Executive rods with their reel seats around 9 inches up from the butt are favoured in these parts. The reels were a mix of Penn Senators and Daiwa Sealine 450 heavy duty boat reels. I have used a Daiwa 450 on quite a number of occasions in the UK for big common skate fishing. Here Johan was using them for surf casting. To do this he had had to hacksaw part of the frame away to get his thumb close enough to the spool to control it to prevent casting overruns. These were loaded with 16 Kg monofilament tied to a heavy mono shock leader with 12 inches of heavy wire armed with two 10/0 hooks and a small sliding lead.

Bait was a sandwich of gully shark liver wrapped in blood rich gills bound together with elasticated thread. The fixed hook at the end of the trace is inserted into the resulting sausage rather like putting on a lugworm. The free sliding second hook is then nicked into the other side facing the opposite way. Then, with a skill that had even the shore specialists in the party standing back in amazement, the end gear was sent out to the back of the breakers. But before the last of the baits was in, the first one had been picked up by a shark and it was game on.. Two other sharks were hooked a short time later making it a triple header, and all within the first hour. Shortly after, John Devine was latched on to what would be the biggest fish of the trip. With John still struggling, after a couple of pulls and several good hard strikes, line started pouring from my reel too, and after a grueling hour long tussle I had a 192 pounder on the beach. The other lads had also landed their fish by this stage. John meanwhile was still struggling, and a further hour later was still into the same fish. By this time people were starting to rally around offering him encouragement. But unlike the fish, John was tiring fast. Then, two and quarter hours after hooking up this fish, he handed the rod to me. At first I refused. Only when he said well cut the line then did I relent. With nothing to loose, I really started laying into the fish. After all, if we parted company, it wasn't really my fish anyway. So beach or break I had nothing to loose except for seeing what it was that that could pull so hard. When finally it was beaten, that fish was touching 300 pounds, and like John, I too had literally had enough.

Day one produced seven sharks, all over the 100 pound mark. Day two was a little more productive with ten fish, reverting back to seven again on day three. Day four was a lot less productive in terms of the sharks as much of time was spend fishing for edible species such as steenbras and kob. We only managed two sharks that day, both over 160 pounds. So on the fifth day we decided to concentrate solely on the sharks at a new mark to the south of Swakopmund known locally as Donkey Bay. But with no opportunity this time to catch gully sharks, bait would have to be frozen mackerel, and no chum sharks either staked out along the waters edge to draw the bigger sharks in, which in light of what was to happen, was perhaps as well.

The response to the mackerel baits was instantaneous. Reels were pouring out line on all sides. It was however to be a day of mixed blessings. Our final total for the day was our best yet, but that was only half of the story. So effective was the mackerel and so numerous were the sharks that it was drawing in from seemingly miles around that we had a feeding frenzy on our hands. The problem with this was that with so many sharks cruising the shallows with their mouths open, they were repeatedly swimming into our lines, sometimes while we were playing a fish, and accidentally biting the monofilament reel lines through. Were it not for the many bite offs, our total of 22 fish beached would have and should have been twice that. Instead we ran out of traces and had to call a premature end to the fish allowing us a good night out in the town.

Day six was to be the big day to remember. Johan took us to the sheltered side of the bay we had fished the previous day where conditions were mirror calm. The beach there didn't look too steep. But several yards out the water colour quickly changed from sandy brown to blue as it dropped off suddenly to around 20 feet. Spurred on by kob to over 40 pounds taken from the shallows by local anglers, four of our party decided to devote themselves to fishing for edibles leaving the rest of us to work on the sharks, which we did to some tune. Over the week we had 'enjoyed' numerous multiple hook ups. It was fairly common to see three or four rods in action at any one time. But on day six we had seven sharks being played simultaneously. And these were in the main big fish in the 150 to 240 pound bracket. Total catch for the day was exactly 40, with Dave Devine and Mike Dennehy both taking well in excess of a 1000 pounds of fish apiece in a single afternoon. I remember the golden days of west country wreck fishing back home when 10 anglers sharing a charter boat would be given loads of press space for a haul of over 1000 pounds of fish. To do it singled handedly from a beach in half a day quite literally defies belief.

My best fish went 212 pounds which I took using my my own UK beach tackle on the last day, and I don't reckon to be any sort of a shore angler at all. Provided you are prepared to listen to the guide and use the right terminal gear, anyone could enjoy this sort of unbelievable quality shore angling. As long as the reel is seated low down on the butt to go into a butt pad for actually playing the fish, I don't think any reasonable quality UK surf rod would find it a problem either. But you do need a reel capable of packing at least 300 yards of 30 to 40 pounds bs line. Its no good fishing light for these fish. You have to be able to pile on the pressure otherwise they will simply spool you out as one South African visitor next to me found to his cost. Both the TLD15 and the Daiwa LD50H would be good reels for the job. Anything less and you would be making a rod for your own back in every painful sense of the phrase. Make no mistake about it, as good as the fish may look in the pictures here, each one comes at a price in terms of back, leg and shoulder muscle pain.

SEE VIDEO VAULT – Skeleton Coast Sharks