My first fish

Ryan Nienaber behind the scenes fishing stories our passion western cape

I'll never forget the day, 11 July 1988. My dad walked in with his retro neon pink running shorts and a long gift wrapped present for my 5th birthday. I opened it and there in all its glory was my first fishing rod kit. It was yellow and about double the length I was tall. Immediately I begged to go fishing and, since it was my birthday, we did. I hooked and landed my first fish. 

Looking back on this day, little did I know that this was the beginning of a lifelong obsession. My brother and I fished every rock pool, river and piece of shore line we could find growing up. Continuous adventures in and around the Cape, chasing fish on and under the water, yellowtail, snoek, kob, cape salmon, yellowfin tuna, albacore, red roman to name but a few. 

Greenfish was born from a family’s dedication to supplying the local restaurant trade with the freshest quality produce the abundant Cape waters has to offer. This same offering is now available to home chefs with our latest evolution of our online boutique seafood deli that delivers to your door the same day.

Fishing is not something you can simply do. You either love it or hate it. It takes many seasons to learn when and what to do to improve your chances of catching a fish. I still have days when I can't get it right but that’s what keeps me going back for more.  

What would a fisherman be without a good story, about the one that didn’t get away, Andrew has taken his passion one step further winning the Western Cape Pro bass League 2 years running, and recently breaking the long standing record of Biggest bass in the Cape. Along the way claiming the All African record for slender tuna, and myself the All African and SA record for Yellowfin Tuna on rod and reel and spear.

It's these 60 plus combined years my brother and I have fishing that has assisted us to get to this point of supply, being able to share a export quality cape fish with you here in the cape and why we are so passionate about keeping this way of life alive. There is very little young blood entering the industry, it's somewhat of a dying trade along with carpenters, masons and other artisan trades.

We want to share our story, share the journey of what we do and most importantly for you to enjoy our catch.



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