My first fish off the beach with a 14 foot rod happened late on the afternoon of the second day after we had unpacked. Casting was a challenge because I had to make sure I didn't get an overwind, especially me, the Amerikano as I became known to these Dutchmen who've been doing this for years and can cast their bait way out over the huge breakers!
Arnie had many spots marked on his GPS where they'd fished before, looking for kabbeljou, galjoen and steenbas. They told me that at times when the fish go on a bite they can catch up to 30 fish weighing between 20 - 30 pounds each in an hour! Unfortunately for us, the wind picked up on the second day and the ocean "went on it's head". The fishing got really slow for the next few days. We ended up catching 64 fish between the 11 of us over 10 days.
Our guilly (?sp), Rumpie, a local guy who helped us bait (especially Buzz with his one arm), was quite a character. By the end of the trip he had conned me out of my sunglasses and two shirts, and had done the same to the rest of the guys too! He looked mighty fine in all his pickings at our last dinner together!
Spending two weeks with 10 South Africans listening to Boere music and eating Boere food was an experience of it's own.
I'm happy I went.