A tale of the old man and the sea…

A fisherman’s catch has made history. The Lyle family has recaptured the result of an epic struggle, and framed it for the PORT SHEPSTONE MUSEUM.
Angela Kelly and Daniel Lemmer report. South Coast Herald 4 April 2008
It was an early morning in late June, 1946. Rupert Davids Lyle, like many other fishermen on the SOUTH COAST, cars bristling with fishing rods, drove out into the sunrise to head for the beach.
Rupert or ‘Pop’ as he was fondly known, was the magistrate at the PORT SHEPSTONE court. When the sardines made an appearance, all court proceedings were cancelled.
After weeks of preparation for the SARDINE RUN, armed with his rod and flax lines waxed by his own handiwork, Pop thought he was ready to reel in anything the sea had to offer.
The clear water, boiling with an enormous shoal of sardines, was outlined beyond the dirty Umzimkulu effluent, and Pop wasted no time in casting out his bait. Within minutes, some powerful force suddenly yanked on his line.
A still unsuspected Pop tried to reel in the line gently, but the hooked creature put up a tremendous fight. The flax line screamed through the agate eyes, as whatever was on the other end headed for deep water. About 200 metres of fishing line had already spun off the reel. Three hours later the unrelenting fisherman, who was almost 70 years of age at the time, was still struggling.
Rumours that he had hooked a whale spread among the onlookers.
With grim determination, the fisherman slowly reeled in his tiring opponent though the outgoing tide. Finally, spectators could see what Pop had caught. It was a huge shark.
When the exhausted shark felt the sand under its belly, it found renewed strength, and people standing knee deep in the waves fled the thrashing jaws and headed for higher ground.
Finally, a rope was tied around the shark’s tail and it was dragged onto the beach.
To make the catch official, certain procedures, including the weighing of the fish, had to be followed.
However, when Pop and his uncle went to search for the equipment necessary to weigh the shark, someone slit open its stomach and edibles and sardines removed.
Because of this, the catch was no longer eligible for registered as a record.
Nonetheless, the photograph of the catch has been donated to the Port Shepstone Museum by Mr Lyle’s grandson, Julian Lyle. Now, the memory of this spectacular catch can be admired by other fisherman.
Although not making it into the record books, the catch has now secured a small legacy of its own.