Fish Hoek Beach #3: Top-Side
The cache, a black 35mm film canister, is hidden mid-way up the dunes which occupy the central part of the beach between the Sailing Club and Clovelly Beach to the north, where the Silvermine River outlet is located. This part of the beach is often used by trek fishermen to bring in their catch.
To reach the cache: depending on which caches you are going for and in what sequence either:
a) park on the roadside at S 34 8.206 E 18 25.989 near the beach access 'road' of the sailing club. Then make your way onto the beach and head north to the cache location, or
b) park at S 34 7.928 E 18 26.271 and locate the beach access trail/rail crossing point either to the north-east (may be inaccessible due to road works) or (over the river bridge) to the south-west, get onto the beach and head south-west to the cache location.
Fish Hoek derives its name from the activity of fishing and was called Vissers Baii ( Fishermen's Bay) and Visch Hoek (Fish Corner) as early as the beginning of the 16th Century less than 50 years after the founding of the Cape Town settlement. Apart from a road connecting the city with Simon's Town and a small farm, Fish Hoek was only known for fishing and whaling until the present town was established in 1918. Today most fishing activity is in the form of 'Trek Fishing' whereby a net with weights at the bottom and floats at the top is trawled from the beach by a single (usually rowing) boat into a wide circle in the bay and the catch hauled by hand onto the beach. There is some fishing on the rocks along Jager's walk and Clovelly but most local anglers prefer the harbour at Kalk Bay which is 2 km north of the town.
The more common fish presently to be found are the yellowtail, kabeljou, geelbek, elf and snoek (a barracuda-like winter
season fish) with the bottom-feeding redfish also occurring regularly. Back in the 50s and 60s bluefin tuna was a popular catch in the bay but has not been seen for more than 20 years.
For more information on Fish Hoek Beach, see GC77HMH Fish Hoek Beach #1: Overview.
See here for another good drone video of beach - you may wish to turn the IYF audio track down . . . and here for an all-action video of the culmination of a trek-fishing trip for Yellowtail.