What Lies Beneath

Hout Bay might someday be named The Yellow Fin Tuna Capital of the World. That’s according to a growing number of experienced saltwater anglers, including my friend Graham George as we chat on our day’s fishing outing. But wait, the discussion halts… Graham has a pressing matter at hand.

The deep-sea fisherman from Constantia holds tightly onto his fishing rod as a powerful Atlantic tuna drags him across the stern deck. He plants his feet, bends his knees and quickly wrests control as the torpedo-shaped monster peels line, dives deep and breaks all the rules of fair fight.

Yellow fin differ from the more celebrated, flashy deep-sea species that jump and tail walk, and find their way onto the covers of glossy magazines. Tuna are the misfit cousins, the hard-nosed underwater goons that cut and slash through hapless schools of baitfish, and when hooked, burrow deep and buck