PHOTOS: Shark chomps Tardin tuna

Well to get myself in the mood for summer I thought a nice early morning on a kayak with my mate Brad Arthur from FreeSpool should do the trick.

Coming from a boating background this whole kayak fishing idea was very new to me, but given the chance to catch some fish I wasn't going to turn it down.

Brett Challenor from Stealth Kayaks was kind enough to lend us one of his double skis to head out on and hopefully get stuck into some fish.

Stories of a Great White shark leaping out the water to grab a dorado next to two kayaker's the morning before were still fresh in my head, so I had no intentions of falling out or off the ski.

We launched from Umdloti around 4am and took a nice paddle north. One thing I must admit is that kayak fishing must be one of the most peaceful ways to fish. There are no engine noises or petrol fumes to deal with. The only sound you hear is the water splashing as you paddle.

At one stage we stopped paddling to float around and it was so quiet that you could actually hear the bait fish splashing in the distance. I felt like I could actually leave the paddling up to Brad whilst I caught a forty winks.

Anyway, we were there to fish so we put two Halcos out the back that Freespool in Gateway kindly supplied me with. We paddled for about an hour with not much action, then as we slowed down to take a break from paddling the reel took off screaming.

I was into my first fish ever off a kayak and I must say I was very surprised at how stable the kayak is while you are fighting the fish. The fight lasted about 5 minutes before I felt that every familiar tug at the line knowing that the local taxman had taken a piece of my catch.

The local sharks even popped up alongside the kayak to pay us a visit. Seeing them that close is a really great experience where you actually notice how they have no interest in you, just the fish on the end of your line.

I managed to get the rest of my fish in and put it away in the hatch. I had landed my first yellowfin tuna off a kayak. We estimated it to be in the region of about 15kg before donating a piece to the local sharks.

I guess this is why they call KZN sharks country.

It was great to experience and I have been well and truly hooked by kayak fishing.

I sure hope the FreeSpool team will remember me when next they get their hands on a Stealth Kayaks double...

That is if Andre Bloem and Mak Dlamini don't jump the queue.

(Fighting a tuna moments before having to share it with the local sharks)

- Alain Tardin

Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @ECRSportswave @AlainTardin