BARE HAND CATCH

An ordinary fishing outing for a Pumula man ended in a duel to the death with a kingfish. HANNES VAN SCHALKWYK REPORTS. SOUTH COAST HERALD 28 March 2008
FOR Andreas Fourie, it was just a normal Wednesday's fishing. The sun was shining, the waters were calm and he had just cast his line, hoping to snatch a kingfish from the murky depths off Pumula beach. As he stood on the beach, rod in hand, at 7am, something grabbed his attention. In front of him, a small moonfish jumped out of the wa¬ter, flew past his face, and disappeared. Andre, mildly startled by the little fish's aerobatic manoeuvre, returned to his fishing, only to be distracted yet again. There was a commo¬tion in the water next to him, and another fish broke the surface. Only
This time, the fish miscalculated its jump and landed on the rocks. And it wasn't another little moonfish, either.
Flapping about in front of him was a king¬fish! Andreas wasted no time, pounced on the fish like a rugby player securing a ball during a Currie Cup final, and a struggle of epic propor¬tions took place.
For a brief moment the kingfish, living up to its name, had the upper… er ... fin and managed to throw Andreas off bal¬ance. A friend rushed to his assistance and picked up his rod. The mighty tail of the king¬fish delivered devastating blows to Andreas's body, but he managed to subdue the fish with a couple of WWF-like elbow drops and back¬breakers. Finally, the fish tapped out. Andreas, against all odds, proved to be the victor.
"It was an unbeliev¬able experience. I suppose I was just in the right place at the right time, really. When I grabbed his tail for the first time, I knew there was no way I was going to let this one go.
"It put up an awesome fight, though. I couldn't hold onto it with my hands and had to wrap my legs around it to get a good grip,” explained the victorious Andreas.