CONSERVATION Andries Riersma with the 93cm red steenbras he caught in January 2020, and (inset) Kyle Hansen with the same fish he tagged and released on the same spot four years before.
COPPER RECAPTURED Tag and release does work on bottomfish by Kyle Hansen
R
ED Steenbras (Petrus rupestris), or “coppers” as they are affectionately known, are prized catches among recreational and small scale fishers alike off the east shores of South Africa. They are known to reach weights over 100 lb and are renowned for their dogged fighting ability that will test even the most skilled angler’s technique and tackle to the limit. Sepia-tinged memories will recall a time when these fish were caught in vast numbers from shore and boat, the former a distant memory of days gone
by for all but the lucky few. As a child I was obsessed with this iconic predator of the deep. Perhaps it was the stunning pink hues they don or their reputation or scarcity — likely a combination of all three. I spent hours staring at pictures of men in suits and ties with primitive tackle, nonchalantly hovering around heaps of coppers big and small, dreaming what it might have been like to be around in that day and age. In September 2015 I enjoyed a day out at sea with Org Nieuwoudt, an experienced Gouritsmond skipper-cumconservation-advocate. On that day I was fortunate to land my first decent sized copper — a 61cm fork length
beauty. Org and I worked quickly to get her measured, tagged and released. We also made a shallow puncture in the abdomen of the fish to help it descend back to its rocky habitat some 30m below. This was to be the start of a good thing as Org soon became a regular ORI tagger, often educating his charter clients on the values of the project. One lucky angler got to witness this first hand. Andries Riersma was fishing with Org in early January 2020 when he recaptured my originally tagged red steenbras more than four years later, on exactly the same GPS co-ordinates. Personally I found it nothing short SKI-BOAT March/April 2020 • 41
