South Africa

jeffrey's bay

South Africa fishing trip

Jeffrey's Bay – Surf Fishing

Jeffreys Bay, on South Africa’s east coast, is one of the world’s best destinations for surf fishing. With growing interest in exceptional shark fishing destinations, we set out to find the perfect spot – and found it in Jeffreys Bay!

Here, you have the chance to catch huge sharks straight from the beach. From hammerheads and bronze whalers to ragged-tooth sharks, grey sharks and other local species, Jeffreys Bay offers outstanding shark fishing. Our trip takes place during the peak season for large sharks, giving you an excellent opportunity to encounter these impressive fish.

The area has plenty more to offer, too. Alongside sharks, you can catch rays, eagle rays and a variety of other species from the shore, making Jeffreys Bay an exciting destination for anglers of all experience levels.

Our group trip focuses on shark fishing. During your stay, you’ll also contribute to a local research project by collecting tissue samples and recording catch data. This information supports scientific studies aimed at protecting biodiversity. All sharks caught will, of course, be handled with care and released back into the sea.

Join us on this unique fishing trip to South Africa and experience the adventure of a lifetime along one of the world’s most spectacular coastlines!

Your exemplary itinerary

Your group trip begins at your home airport, with a direct flight to Cape Town or Johannesburg with Lufthansa or Condor. The flight takes around eleven hours, depending on your connection. From there, you’ll catch a domestic flight to Port Elizabeth, a journey of approximately an hour and a half. Your private transfer will meet you at the airport and take you to your accommodation in just over an hour.

Your modern holiday home is one of the highest-rated properties in Jeffreys Bay. It has seven bedrooms, each with a private bathroom, and a spacious living room with a pool table and table football. With contemporary furnishings and the beach just fifty metres away, it’s an ideal base for your stay. Every guest will have their own room.

You’ll round off your arrival day with a traditional South African braai. Over the next eight days, you’ll enjoy surf fishing with our highly experienced guides, who are among the best in the area. They’ll choose the fishing spots according to the weather, tides and other conditions, with more than 150 kilometres of coastline to explore.

The Fishing

A typical fishing day starts with breakfast at around 5.30 am. Depending on where we’re fishing, we’ll set off by car at around 6.30 am and fish until approximately 3.00 pm. Lunch on the beach and cold drinks are provided. Afterwards, we’ll take you back to the holiday home.

There are several excellent restaurants and bars nearby, so you can choose where to spend the evening. Please note that dinner is not included in the trip price. Allow around €15–20 per person for each evening meal.

There’s also a supermarket in town where you can stock up on drinks and snacks. The holiday home has a large garden where you can enjoy a barbecue – or a braai, as it’s known in South Africa. It’s a much-loved local tradition and a great way to round off the day.

No trip to Africa would be complete without a safari, so we’ve included one in the price. You can decide during your stay which day you’d like to visit the park, approximately an hour and a half’s drive away. You’ll leave the holiday home in the morning, spend the day enjoying the remarkable wildlife and return late in the evening.

After nine nights at the holiday home, your private transfer will take you back to Port Elizabeth Airport for your journey home to Germany. You’ll usually arrive at your home airport the following day.

Shark Fishing

Jeffreys Bay is one of the best places in the world to catch large sharks from the shore. One of the great advantages of this trip is that you don’t need to bring any tackle – our local partner provides all the fishing equipment you’ll need.

You’ll usually target sharks with specialist surf rods and large fixed-spool reels, casting baitfish or other natural baits into carefully selected spots. Depending on the conditions, the fishing locations are between five and 45 minutes away by car.

This targeted approach has proved highly effective in recent years, with three to ten bites on a typical fishing day being quite common. Over a week’s fishing, you have a good chance of landing a shark weighing 100 kg or more!

Bronze whaler sharks are the main attraction. Known for their speed and powerful fighting ability, they often strip hundreds of metres of line from the reel on their first run, putting anglers to the test throughout the fight. All sharks caught are, of course, carefully released.

Other fish species

Alongside sharks, you can catch a variety of other species, including rays, kob, garrick and musselcracker. The rays put up powerful fights, making for some exciting battles. Smaller species such as kob, garrick and musselcracker are usually targeted with lighter tackle, offering a welcome change from shark fishing.

Addo Elephant National Park

Addo Elephant National Park is South Africa’s third-largest national park. Together with its marine reserve, it is home to the Big Seven: lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, rhino, great white shark and southern right whale.

The park is about an hour and a half’s drive from your accommodation in Jeffreys Bay. We’ll arrange a private SUV and a local guide, who will collect you from your holiday home in the morning and take you through the park.

Addo is known for its large population of Cape buffalo and, true to its name, its many elephants. You may also see zebras, warthogs, kudu, bushbuck and a variety of other wildlife. Within the park, hippos are found only in the Sundays River.

Lions, leopards and hyenas also inhabit the park, although sightings are less common. But a safari is much like fishing – you never know what you might encounter!

Accommodation South Africa fishing trip

The Accommodation

During your group trip, you’ll stay in one of the finest holiday homes in Jeffreys Bay. This spacious property has seven bedrooms, a large communal area with a pool table and table football, a generous terrace and a private garden with a barbecue area.

Jeffrey's Bay

Your Holiday Home

We know how important good accommodation is, so we’ve chosen one of the finest holiday homes in Jeffreys Bay. Close to the beach, this modern property has seven bedrooms with either private or shared bathrooms. Depending on their location within the house, the rooms have a balcony or terrace.

There’s a spacious lounge with a TV, table football and a pool table. The kitchen is equipped with a fridge, cooker and microwave.

The garden has a barbecue area with a large outdoor dining table and a choice of seating.

The holiday home is approximately 200 metres from the centre of Jeffreys Bay, with a supermarket and several bars and restaurants nearby for your evening meals.

Catering

Meals: Breakfast included, packed lunches while fishing, snacks and additional food can be purchased on site

Beverages during fishing: Snacks, beer, sodas and water included

Drinks Holiday Home: Drinks can be purchased on site at the supermarket

You need this fishing gear in South Africa!

Fishing equipment is included!

There’s no need to bring any fishing tackle on your trip to South Africa – everything you need is provided on site. The equipment is so specialised that bringing your own simply isn’t worthwhile.

Our local partners use only high-quality tackle, including Shimano Stella 30000 reels or comparable models.

That means you can travel light – just pack your toothbrush and a few clothes!

Helpful tools for your fishing trip!

Sonstiges Angelgerät

A good waterproof boat bag is well worth bringing. Zeck Fishing offers some excellent options, including the Tackle Container Pro and Tackle Container Pro Catfish.

As you may spend several hours at a time fighting fish, we recommend packing a good pair of gloves.

South Africa can get very hot, so bring UV-protective shirts, a sun hat and SPF 50 sunscreen. Our Expeditions UV shirts are available to order directly from us.

Good polarised sunglasses are essential for fishing. We recommend gloryfy unbreakable sunglasses, which combine polarised lenses with exceptionally durable frames.

Take a closer look at the gloryfy unbreakable range of polarised fishing sunglasses here: Polarized Sunglasses for Anglers!

This is what you should bring with you on your fishing trip to South Africa!

Binoculars & Clothing

You should definitely bring a good pair of binoculars with you on safari. This’ll let you see and find animals that are farther away.

The weather along the coast can be really different. In November, the average temperature is between 20 and 15 degrees Celsius. On average, there are about five rainy days during this time. So, be sure to bring a good rain jacket and clothes that will keep you warm.

We recommend a waterproof document bag and a waterproof backpack. It can also get wet at the surf, depending on the wind.