FISHING EC BAIT DEMO
CATCH COMPETITION
TIDES
AUGUST 2014
LIGHT TACKLE
LURE FUN THE STRENGTH OF 4KG LINE
TARGETING
CAPE SALMON
DURING WINTER
F C RE O E P Y
BIG SHARKS FEC | August 2014
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ISSUE: 8
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FEC | August 2014
CONTENT
Kleinemonde Light Tackle Leadheads 04 Targeting Cape Salmon 08
Big Sharks During Winter 10
The Strength Of 4kg Line
FEATURES Bait Demo
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Good old Chokka and Sardine combo bait for targeting Kob and just about everything else too.
Catch Competition 26 Send us your photos and you could win.
Tides
Check the tide tables to make sure you fishing the right times.
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18 Readers Report
Bait balls of Sardines spotted around the East London Orient pier.
20 The Aware Angler & The Incomplete Fish
Jared Kruger, an avid angler and conservation enthusiast, recently collaborated with WWF-SASSI.
FEC | August 2014
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FEC | August 2014
EDITORS
LETTER
MAGAZINE EDITOR Nigel Louw
CONTRIBUTORS Nigel Louw Justin Du Preez Trevor Schmidt John Leuf Jared Kruger
CONTACT ADVERTISING: email: nigel@fishingec.com Mobile: 073 690 2606 Website: www.fishingec.com
Find us on Facebook Search: Fishing The Eastern Cape No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Fishing The Eastern Cape. The magazine is published monthly and cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies in articles. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the editor. Fishing The Eastern Cape does not accept responsibility for advertising content.
T
he sun has already started rising earlier as we moving through the winter. I can’t wait for the summer months and the fish that come into our local estuaries. This month we have an article where I had some fun in Kleinemonde with lures. The river water was freezing, but the fish were still eating. Even if you think conditions are not great, have a throw and you might be surprised. Thats fishing, never stop learning. Don’t forget to send us your latest catch photos with a bit of information. You could win a monthly prize, see the Catch & Win section for more info.
Nigel Louw Editor
ON THE COVER
Nigel Louw with a +65cm Kob caught in the freezing waters of Kleinemonde river recently. FEC | August 2014
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KLEINEMONDE
Light Tackle Leadheads Words: Nigel Louw Pics: David Drennan
ith a Nigel Louw w on Garrick landed blue d an k ac bl e th leadhead.
M
y wife and I recently celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Kleinemonde. We stayed right on the river with David Drennan and his family. What an awesome spot. With the wives and the little ones being there we still managed to squeeze in some fishing time. Our first gap was to walk up to the rivers bridge and throw some lures on the Saturday morning. After a few casts I was on to a young Garrick, then a few casts later another one. The Lure I had on was one of the Alcock’s Olive and white leadheads. Dave was using a jighead with a jerk shad and had no bites so I gave him another leadhead that I had in my bag, it was black and blue in colour. He still had
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no hits but I managed to land another one on the olive. He was convinced it was the colour. They just did not want the black and blue one. After that fun little session we headed back to the cottage to have a lunch time braai for the family. Timing was perfect as by the time we finished eating the tides were right for a rock and surf session. We packed very light with some Pink Prawn and Sandprawn. As we got a little way up the beach the wind started blowing stronger than it already was. it was quite bad as we were getting sand blasted and could feel the sand particles stinging our legs. We reached a good spot and decided to give it a try in the wind anyway. After two casts
David Drennan with a Garrick taken on a leadhead.
FEC | August 2014
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Nigel Louw with a 65cm Kob caught on a black and white leadhead.
and both losing everything we re-tackled and tried a little bit more to the left of the spot and Dave got a young Blacktail followed by a nice pickup and what felt to be a decent fish. We were both waiting to see what it was and as it got right on the edge of the water his hook pulled and the fish was still in the foamy froth from the sea. We missed it and could not get a glimps. I think it was a good size Bronze Bream. We decided that we had had enough of this wind and wanted to go play around in the river a bit more before the sun goes down. Dave was still convinced that the olive leadhead was the one to use so I gave him that one and I tried the black and blue one. I think it was on his second or third cast he was into a young Garrick. So the Olive deffinately was good. I persisted on with the black and blue colour and finally got a hit, the fish had some weight to it and turned out to be the biggest Garrick for the weekend. So they do eat the black and blue too. I think maybe it was also as it was getting 6
FEC | August 2014
darker and maybe a bit overcast so they see more of a sillouette of the lure. It then got to dark and the fish went off the bite so we headed back for some supper and the next day was time to head home. We decided we would fit in one more river session on the Sunday morning before leaving. So Sunday morning about at about 09:30 headed back to the same spot. I tried one of the new McArthy Baits 3 inch paddletails and landed a Garrick after a few casts. Dave was still using the olive and white leadhead, he was convinced this was the best one working. He also laded a few Garrick and then a bout a 50cm Kob, and after that had a pickup from a fish with some serious weight. It swam towards us and as if it was heading for under the bridge and then the hook pulled. That could have been a nice Kob. We carried on trying and landed a few more Garrick adn then I managed to hook about a 65cm Kob that hit my leadhead while it was still sinking. So what a weekend, great family time and short fishing sessions with
David Drennan with a Kob landed on the olive and white leadhead.
some nice fish landed on light tackle. All fish were released. Please guys with young fish like this in closed estuaries, always try release them safely. If we look after them and let them grow bigger then we will be having some great fun in years to come.
OR RELEASE F E THE FUTUR
One of the Garrick releases.
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TARGETING
Cape Salmon (Geelbek) Words/pics: John Leuf SADSAA Development
G
eelbek are one of the most satisfying fish to target and land from a ski-boat as they are very elusive and when hooked, put up a tremendous fight all the way up to the boat, this makes them well worth looking for, especially on light tackle as they can give you a great thrill. Geelbek are also in my opinion, one of the best eating fish in the sea as they are tasty and their flesh is slightly oily and stays moist when battered and deep fried. It is always nice to keep one or two for the pan and then release the rest. Geelbek are normally not caught all year round in the Border area except for in the Kei Mouth area just outside the MPA where
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FEC | August 2014
Haley and Jacky Leuf with two nice Salmon.
you can catch the odd one or two most of the year around. They normally follow the sardines up in the annual sardine run and start making their appearance in our area from middle May. They can be caught for a couple of months before the bulk of the schools move on up the coast. A few years back, they used to form large schools in shallow waters in the Glen Gariff and Cintsa areas which saw many excited recreational anglers fishing for them but now, seem to pass in the deeper waters, causing much frustration amongst the ski boat anglers. Geelbek are normally ferocious eaters and will feed on any bait presented to them with their unmistakable aggressive shakes,
SADSAA
even grabbing a shiny bare hook at times and then on other occasions, they will just swim around under the boat and are very difficult to entice into taking your bait. Pilchard seems to be their more fancied bait and they will readily take it whole, sliced or even mixed with squid. When they are in a non-feeding mood, they can be sometimes enticed to bite on an inside out pilchard tied on with cotton. This is prepared by cutting the head and tail off a whole pilchard and then carefully slicing along the top of the back of the pilchard, downward towards the stomach about three quarters of the way through. The pilchard is then folded inside out around your hook and tied on with nice thin cotton. Usually the smaller fish in the area will attack your bait and create a commotion and this sometimes entices the Geelbek to grab the bait. When rigging up for Geelbek, light tackle is always very challenging and fun but a minimum of 20kg leader should be used and I normally use a 35kg hook trace. The trace should be a minimum of 600mm but not too much longer and the sinker trace, I normally make just longer than the hook trace. Any large sharp hooks ranging from 9/0 to 12/0 are normally used as these fish have very large mouths. Circle hooks have also proved to be successful. Some anglers like putting a nice sized sliding green luminous bead on the hook trace especially in deeper darker waters. Geelbek are easily identified by the bright yellow orange colouring inside their mouths. At this stage the bag limits are two fish per angler per day at a minimum size of 60cm. Once you have had the thrill and adrenalin rush of landing one of these feisty fish, you will be hooked. FEC | August 2014
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BIG SHARKS
During Winter Words/pics: Justin Du Preez son with a Stuart Atkin ip shark at male Blackt int. Po r ve Fish Ri
W
ell it’s that time of year again where the shad run and obviously big sharks are around and about our coastline. For the past couple years we’ve been having a go at turning and landing one of the big sharks that seem to be more frequent during these colder months. It’s been a tough challenge, I’ll tell you that. Tackle testers reel strippers and demolishers. There has been a nice mix of fast sharks dining on our baits. Blacktips, Bronzies and Duskies being the main contenders. The “jumping jack “ Blacktip Shark tests termi-
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nal tackle to the max and then has a turn of speed to be admired. Bronzies boxing hard with nice runs has resulted in a few stiff backs. But these Duskies (Ridgeback Grey Shark) are something else, popping pinion gears, stripping reels on locked drags, biting off steel and generally just throwing their weight around. They strong fast cunning buggers. Anybody that’s landed a big one will tell u it isn’t a walk in the park. So winter is here and so we “man” up for the next round. Guys if u going to try tame these sardine run bullies be prepared for
Justin du Preez holding tight on the beach.
FEC | August 2014
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Justin du Preez with a good size Bronzie
Willie Herbst with a Blacktip Shark
some serious pulling, hidings and scary moments. I suggest nothing under .55mm line, 200lb steel, 800m of line on your reel with strong backs and lots of luck. Baits vary but live baits are the boss. Fresh Bonnie, Yellowtail, Blacktail, Kob heads, Grunter heads, big Mullet or my favorite shark fillet. There’s many a spot to try your luck. Be prepared with a good game plan and mates to assist. Also have spare tackle. Don’t be afraid to fish at night either that’s when the real big boys come out to eat. Circle hooks rigged correctly will get u a solid proper hookup and will almost always hook in the corner of the mouth making removal for release much easier. Have fun and be safe.
FEC | August 2014
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The Strength Of 4kg Line
Words/pics: Trevor Schmidt
Trevor with a large Black Steenbras caught on 4kg line.
B
eing retired allows me valuable time to participate in one of my passionate sports being angling, I must confess that I once said I would never participate in completive angling or use 4kg line, but it took a big barble in the bridle drift dam to change all my statements. This is another story that could be told but in a nut shell I was beaten by the barble on 4kg line, realised the strength of 4kg line and what I was missing out on. This led to me buying half shares in a deep sea boat and competing in two South African championships, which I must confess I enjoyed. We had a league on the 14 June. The targeted species were scarce so we had to
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resort to scratching for fish as Border is well known for. Des my brother caught some small fish, mostly Big Eyes and Shad for bait. He then recommended that I try for a Black Steenbras or a shark species as we had been successful on the mark previously. With a three quarter shad on an 8/O hook my rod lay in wait for whatever felt tempted, when I looked up my rod was buckled as the line was running steadily off the real on the first 100m run. I was fairly lucky and continued to have a good clean fight as the steenbras species are known to bury their heads in the reef. When weighing the Black Steenbras it was determined that it was a
4KG
IGFA
RATED LINE
new Border record on Double X 4kg line. The impression by many is that we fish with cotton, 4kg line is highly under rated as many anglers have land great specimens of over 50kgs. Just to emphasise the strength of the Double X line I also successfully landed a kob of 37kgs and Tim Styles achieving his 100 pound club badge with a Diamond Ray over 100 pounds. Border Light Tackle Boat Angling Association encourages the development of junior anglers and teaches the youngsters to fish with 4kg line. It was great to see Trent de Coning land a Black Steenbras of 6.54kgs which was a junior SA record. FEC | August 2014
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A 20.45kg Barble caught by Platon in the Bridle Drift Dam on 4kg line.
FEC | August 2014
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S R E D A RE PORT RE
Photo of the bait ball snapped from a cell phone.
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P
addy de Lacy from North & Robertson Electrical was walking along the small pier the other day and was very lucky to experience some sardine action right at his feet. He sent us this photo from his cell phone. It is a bait ball that was hovering around the Pier. He mentioned that the Sardines looked a bit skittish and it was not long after that Dolphins appeard and chased them right onto the Yacht club side of the Pier.
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The Aware Angler & The Incomplete Fish Words/pics: Jared Kruger
The artwork of a Yellowbelly Rockod by Jared Kruger. There is no doubt that the world’s fish stocks are dwindling. The strong focus on commercial fishing and the sustainability of the methods used is pretty evident in the media. But what about the recreational fishing sector and its impact on our fish stocks? It is estimated that there are 800 000 recreational anglers in South Africa, surely they have a substantial role to play in the future of our fish stocks? The heated debate around restrictions, best fishing practice and catch-and-release are not new within recreational fishing circles. 20
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Jared Kruger, an avid angler and conservation enthusiast, recently collaborated with WWF-SASSI to encourage conversation about the role the recreational angler plays in the future of some of South Africa’s most loved angling species. Jared did this by creating art work of some of the fish which appear on the SASSI red list. WWF-SASSI is an initiative that is focused on raising awareness amongst retailers, restaurants, chefs and consumers of the challenges integral to the sustainable utilisation of our marine resources. To aid sea-
food lovers in making a sustainable seafood choice, SASSI has created a quick reference guide called ‘The Consumer Seafood Pocket Guide’. Within this guide, fish are categorised according to their relative sustainability status. If a fish is on the green list, it is considered the most sustainable and well managed choice, while a fish on the orange list you should think twice about buying as there are associated ecological reasons for concern. Consumers should never buy fish on the red list as they are either considered unsustainable by experts or they FEC | August 2014
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The artwork of a Banded Galjoen by Jared Kruger.
are illegal to buy or sell in South Africa. This information can be obtained using the WWF-SASSI website (www.wwf.org.za/sassi) and a mobi site (wwfsassi.mobi), which facilitates viewing of the SASSI website using a mobile phone. Additionally, the nifty FishMS brings the list to you via an SMS; by texting the name of the fish to the number 079-499-8795, the service will send the consumer an immediate response telling them whether to tuck in, think twice or avoid completely. There is also now a smartphone app which consumers can download for free. SASSI’s focus, however, is not specifically on recreational anglers but rather on using the consumer as a market incentive to drive better production practices 22
FEC | August 2014
in the seafood industry. The recreational angler is governed by the Marine Living Resources Act (Act No. 18 of 1998). So an angler may catch, for example, a blacktail which is a fish on SASSI’s red list species, and keep that fish if it is above the minimum size limit. However, because blacktail is a ‘no sale’ species, it should never be bought from a restaurant or fishmonger. Jared argues that although SASSI’s list does not govern recreational anglers, it most certainly should influence the recreational angler’s practice. ‘Taking it a step further, an angler should also take some time to understand the biological specifics of each species they target,’ says Jared. ‘This knowledge ties
into the restrictions which are placed on a specific fish. For example, the Yellow Bellied Rock Cod reaches sexual maturity at approximately 60 cm, and this takes 8 years therefore the restriction is in place to ensure that the Yellow Bellied Rock Cod stock have a chance to reach sexual maturity.’ The art work of the fish, created by Jared, was done to scale of the size at sexual maturity of the species and left delib-
erately incomplete. To understand why the image is incomplete download the Pictivate app for free onto your smart phone (from the Android Play store or the Apple iStore) and scan an image of a fish, which is on the SASSI red list.
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Good &OSlAdRDINE COMBO CHOKKA Words/pics: Nigel Louw
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Cut an oval piece of bait foam and place it on the back of the hook with a toothpick through the eye of the hook.
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Cut a nice size V shape out of your Chokka.
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Cut a smaller V out of that piece creating the two flaps or tentacles.
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Beat the Chokka with your mallet to bring out the flavour. 24
Cotton the foam on nice and snug and then trim the toothpick.
FEC | August 2014
Thread the Chokka once onto the hook.
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Turn the Chokka around so the tentacles extend off the end of the hook.
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Slice a nice frsh Sardine belly.
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Place the Sardine belly on the back of the hook. Always build bait on the back to keep the gape of the hook proud on the other side
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Cotton on the Chokka.
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The Sardine belly sliced nealy. It is easier to get a neat bait if the bait is still half frozen.
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Cotton on the Sardine belly and then you good to cast and wait for a nice Kob to bite. FEC | August 2014
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CATCH & WIN Angler: Bradd Botcher Species: Bronze Bream Location: Bira Bait: Pink/Sandprawn Size: 2.2kg Released: No
Angler: Tylo Stoltz Species: Bone Fish Location: Van Stadens Surf Bait: Chokka blob Size: 6.8kg Released: Yes
Angler: Ockert Ferreira Species: Kob Location: Kwelera Bait: Red Eye Sardine Size: +4kg Released: No
Sponsored by: Bilimoria Fishing Tackle
Send us your best catch picture and you could win an awesome prize. (Photo must be of yourself holding the fish and preferably still alive. Photos of gutted fish do not qualify) 26
FEC | August 2014
July Winner Angler: Malan Horak Species: Silver Steenbras Location: Cape Recife Bait: Saddleback Size: 14.2kg Released: Yes
Angler: James Posthumus Species: Bronze Bream Location: Mazeppa Bay Bait: Pink Prawn Size: 43cm Released: No
Malan wins himself 10 assorted Triton Lures sponsored by Bilimoria
Angler: Dylan Booth Species: Bronze Bream Location: Wild Coast Bait: Red Bait Size: 2.5kg Released: Yes
Email your entry to nigel@fishingec.com with the following details: - Anglers full name - Species - Location caught - Bait used - Size/Weight - Released (yes/no) FEC | August 2014
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TIDE CHART August 2014 Information supplied by the Hydrographer SA Navy The Hydrographer is not responsible for any transcription errors.
TO ADVERTISE WITH
CONTACT: NIGEL LOUW NIGEL@FISHINGEC.COM 073 690 2606
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FEC | August 2014
Buy your new Fluid Bamba at your nearest dealer or visit and have it delivered to your doorstep, forFEC free! | August 2014
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FEC | August 2014