A FAMILY AFFAIR

By Johan “Bees” Terblanche (originally published in the November 2025 issue of SKI-BOAT magazine)

SINCE my very first day on the ocean when I was five and we surf launched a 14’ 6’’ ski-boat off Sodwana, the sport of big game fishing has been a family affair and a shared passion for us all.

I cut my teeth fishing mostly with my family and close friends both competitively (Mpumalanga interclub tournaments, the OET, Mpumalanga junior tourneys, junior nationals, the Billfish 15 000, etc.) and during family vacations, with a month-long annual pilgrimage to Sodwana for marlin season and a few other trips mostly along the South African coastline during my formative years.

From a very early age, I was fortunate, to have not only the guidance of my parents, but also that of many of the serious Mpumalanga marlin fishermen and a number of the Dorado Ski-Boat Club stalwarts, chief among them Oom Piet Joubert (Bonito). I was privileged to spend countless hours fishing with and learning from a number of the top billfish teams in the country.

Those early experiences were the sparks that lit a fire that still rages (some might say mostly out of control) almost half a century later!

PICKING A BASE

As I built my professional career and my wife and I raised our two daughters in a land-locked country, I fished a lot less than I’d have liked to until I acquired Impi, a 48-foot Ocean Yachts sportfisher, in 2020.

Having fished in many of the top marlin locations in both the Indian and Atlantic oceans, I then had to decide where I would base the operation. I considered what I knew and had personally experienced, spoke to a lot of fellow fishermen, professional captains and friends, and ultimately decided to base Impi at La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

There are a number of reasons I made this choice: great fishing throughout the year, relative ease to get to and from continental Europe and the UK, the variety and size of the fish we have there, the natural beauty and incredible diversity of landscapes on the island, the availability of other activities such as golf and hiking, the quality of the food, and last but not least the African weather combined with European infrastructure and security.

While it is difficult for me to believe, I recently calculated that the last time my folks, my brother Wian and I fished for marlin together was over 25 years ago! In the interim, I have fished separately with my dad and my brother a couple of times, and even did some gamefishing with my mother and another brother in the Caribbean, but Covid kiboshed a trip to Cabo Verde for those based in South Africa, and circumstances outside our control meant that my mom could not join my dad on his previous trip to the Canaries, and my brother’s visits did not coincide with that one either.

I was determined to get us all together for another roll of the dice.

TWO MORE CONVERTED

Things finally fell into place this past July/August and I had not only mom and dad with me, but also my brother (Wian), my wife (who I met on a fishing trip to the Seychelles many years ago), my two daughters and their boyfriends who all descended on La Gomera to finally chase blue marlin together again. Not only did we manage to do it together for the first time in a long time, but we also added the next generation, and I’m pretty certain that we have converted both of the boyfriends to lifelong marlin fishermen too. My apologies for the certain and significant negative impact this will have on the collective finances of both couples!

While the fishing was excellent, the older two generations also revelled simply in the nostalgia of being able to do this together again after such a long break. I smiled when my mother frequently referred to the house we had rented as “the camp” and used the phrase “boat packs”, a term I had not heard in many, many years!

For those who are not familiar with the Canary Islands, the islands (which oficially belong to Spain) are located in the Eastern Atlantic, west of the southern part of Morocco. This is north of Cabo Verde and south of Madeira, and is therefore slap bang in the middle of the annual migration path of the Atlantic blue marlin. La Gomera is the second smallest of the seven main islands that make up the Canary Islands and is recognised as the prime location for marlin fishing in particular because of the topography, the currents and the abundance of baitfish and tuna.

JURASSIC PARK

When it comes to fishing, I think of La Gomera as the Jurassic Park of bluewater fishing. For just about any species that we catch, the average sizes are enormous. In just about every season we catch as many blue marlin of 500 lb or larger as we do smaller ones, and granders are caught each year. Giant bluefin tuna pass by in March and April each year and range between about 600 lb and 900 lb for the most part. Bigeye tuna range from about 140 lb to well over 300 lb, and skipjack tuna get up to 45 lb. The all-tackle world record was caught there. Massive amberjacks abound on the reefs, bluefish/shad of sizes that not even the Durban old-timers will believe are frequent in winter, and we can literally fill the boat with decent (35- to 50 lb) wahoo year round. White marlin, spearfish and dorado also show up from time to time, as do longfin tuna (albacore) during our winter months. There is also excellent jigging for snapper, bream, grouper and other bottomfish – if the amberjacks don’t get to the jig first. I still get excited just writing this all down!

PAYDAY

The marlin season lasts from mid-May to early October, with the largest fish typically caught at the beginning and back end of the season, although August usually produces plenty of fish in the 500- to 750 lb range.

This year, in ten days of fishing, we released eight blue marlin from 17 bites (and saw a bunch more), and went one-from-one on white marlin – despite “wasting” a couple of hours to get some wahoo for ceviche.

For some reason the fish were generally a bit less aggressive on the bite, leading to a few more pulled hooks and missed hook-ups than we usually have. On one afternoon everything fell squarely into place and it seemed that there were marlin everywhere! We had two from five (including two double strikes) in a matter of about three hours or so on the tide change. Adrenaline aplenty!

However, more important even than the amazing fishing we experienced was the opportunity to do it with three generations of the family.

We have shared these special times since the early 1980s when my dad acquired Shani (a name shared by my eldest daughter) and it was a true privilege to be able to do it all together again.

When all is said and done, it is the experiences (and the passionate people we meet along the way) that make life special. Who better to share it with than family and friends? I feel truly blessed to be able to still do this together with those I love, and this recent trip will live on in our individual memories for as long as we all live.

We’re not all able to take luxury trips to international destinations, but I  encourage SKI-BOAT’s readers to continue to relentlessly pursue their passion with good friends and family, wherever they may be.

• If anyone is interested in finding out more about our fishing adventures and charters in La Gomera, they can follow my Instagram account impi_fishing.