One Lucky Call That Changed Everything! || Westbrook Mission

A pre-dawn launch out of Tongaat Ski Boat Club, a stiff scrape over the back line, and a long day on the kayaks chasing the big couta along the Westbrook stretch. The plan was simple on paper: pick up a few liveys off the shark nets, set one up top and one weighted to the bottom, and wait for a croc to climb on. The execution was a different story. The livey scrape was a grind from the first cast. The bait that did come up was the wrong kind, the right ones stayed shy, and the trade rate of one live bait per snipped-off elastic started to feel expensive. A nice gesture from his partner kept the rods baited just long enough to drift over Pet Shop. 24 metres of water, 22.2 degrees, marks lighting up the sounder, and one well-pinned mozzie swimming for its life on the surface. The marks paid eventually. A solid hookup that screamed kingfish turned into a chrome bigeye over the side, then the rod loaded up again and a long teeth-bearing barracuda came up to settle the score. Daniel pulled the hooks on what felt like the right kind of fish, a chunky rock cod nailed a squid bigger than its head, and a strong GT came over the rail to make the slow start feel a little less personal. The afternoon slipped into the usual late-season story: a fellow boat sliding over a spare livey, one giant couta shadowing the kayak on the sounder, and not a single one of them willing to bite. Water colour off, jigs sacrificed to the bottom, snipped-off squid jacks, and a Cindy's atcha sami eaten somewhere between marks. No croc on board, but no one else on the water was doing better either. Faf met the boys on the beach with a camera for the surf landing, which is worth the stick-around at the end. 📍 Westbrook (Tongaat Ski Boat Club), KZN, South Africa Chapters: 0:00 Surf launch over the back line 1:00 Good morning and the plan 1:57 Scraping for liveys off the nets 2:55 Wrong bait, an expensive trade 3:35 Arnold shares a live bait 4:00 Rigging up and paddling to Pet Shop 7:00 Phone call between marks 9:00 Hookup: bigeye kingfish over the side 10:22 And then the barracuda climbs on 11:00 Daniel pulls hooks on a good one 11:58 Rock cod eats the giant squid 12:50 GT on the rail 14:15 Squid jacks lost to the bottom 15:06 Stranger boat hands over a livey 16:30 Calling it, packing up 16:57 Surf beaching with Faf on camera Connect with us here: Website: https://www.saltrockers.co.za/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saltrockers... TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@saltrockers?_...