FISHING EC BAIT DEMO
CATCH COMPETITION
TIDES
JULY 2015
MONSTER
GREY SHARK Mazeppa Bay
SA CARP Nationals
GONUBIE INTERCLUB Deep Sea
KAYAK CORNER Brett Armstrong ISSUE: 19
E FRE Y COP ASE PLE ONE E K A T
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FEC | July 2015
CONTENT
Monster Grey Shark off Mazeppa 04 Gonubie Interclub
FEATURES
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Bait Demo
Kayak Corner 14
SA Carp Nationals
24
Shad lures and baits.
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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22 Target Line Freshwater club 3rd outing and overall standings
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EDITORS
LETTER
MAGAZINE EDITOR Nigel Louw CONTRIBUTORS Matthew Schrier Rory Leonard Brett Armstrong Frikkie Botha Carl Henn
CONTACT ADVERTISING: email: nigel@fishingec.com Mobile: 073 690 2606 Website: www.fishingec.com
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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.
Hope you guys have been braving the cold and still getting out on the water to chase some fish. There has been a lot of activity off shore with Mackerel, Yellowtail as well as Dolphins and birds diving. It is also Pignose Grunter season, we will have an article for you on that in our August edition. The Shad have been a bit scarce in the larger sizes. Lots of reports on Shad being caught, but they all just on size, only the odd 50cm coming out here and there. Don’t forget to send in your catch photos for our Catch & Win page. You could be the next winner.
Nigel Louw Editor
ON THE COVER
Mike Carr with a nice Silver Steenbras he hooked while fishing for Bronze Bream on a 1/O hook. FEC | July 2015
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Monster Grey Mazeppa Bay does it again!
Words/pics: Matthew Schrier
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kay so we hit Mazeppa Bay recently and had a pretty bad first day with no fish landed and just Raggies messing around with our baits off the island. Anyway so early the next morning I was at the Island again and sliding a nice small Mackeral off the front right hand side of the island and after about 10 minutes caught a nice 8kg Grey Shark. I wanted to swim him and some guys already had put out two baits on the kite and offered to send out my Grey whole on the kite so I quickly ran and got my shark extreme heavy and lever drag rigged up and
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put on a 2.5mm wind-on leader and 4m of 287lb steel with 2 big Tuna J-hooks (those expensive ones). Everything was right except for the fact that my knots and steel were not exactly neat and finished off properly as we were in a hurry to put it out so the shark would stay alive. So we dropped him at 300m and I waited for around two hours and got a Raggie pull but it came in about 50m and dropped the bait. So I left it out there and chilled. Then the pull came at 10am, four bites and then down one way, I let him run for 20m then I wacked up the
Shark Matthew Schrier with the 297kg Grey Shark.
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was around n ru t rs fi e th ver tight drag, o 200m on a ure. 15kg’s for s
drag to 15kg and struck him like I’ve never struck a fish before. Afterwards it was basically tight drag and straight sticking as the drag was so tight it wasn’t possible to lift the rod, the first hour of the fight the fish FEC | July 2015
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was playing around on the left hand side of the Island, the first run was around 200m on a tight drag, over 15kg’s for sure, then the rest of the first hour of the fight the fish was still playing around on the left hand side of the island. The 2nd and third hours of the fight the fish was basically going straight off the front of the island and going left and then right but not really taking much line as she was trying to sit in the currents. After about 2hr 45min the fish went right towards the pot and I made my decision and bailed towards the beach with the fish still on and the drag around 7kg, getting across the bridge was pretty difficult while trying to keep the line tight on her but I got to the beach in one piece and ran right and got an angle on the fish and about 10 minutes later Jacques grabbed the leader and we had her. From a distance it looked like a buss Bronzie
but when we saw the ridge we knew it was a monster Grey Shark female. She was very wide and measured 275cm PCL, IM 105KGS AND COULD FIT INSIDE THAT SHARK, it’s mouth was much wider than my shoulders. According to Fishweights it’s 297kg’s but the measurement we took was a conservative one so it could have been 300kg’s I reckon. Anyway the fish is a dam monster and I am very privileged to have landed her. It all worked out for me that day, the dolphins didn’t swim into my line, the sea was flat and I had the right tackle and bait.
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GONUBIE MARINE INTERCLUB 2015 Words: Rory Leonard Pics: Holmes Photography
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e had 13 teams participate in our 38th Annual Interclub and due to the massive sea conditions experienced on the Thursday and Friday only managed to fish the Sunday and Monday, after the sea had thankfully settled a bit. On Sunday the sea was still very bumpy and the bottom churned up pretty badly on the inside, with even the baitfish been very scarce! Most competition boats braved the bumpy sea and ventured up to the Kei despite a tedious one and half hour boat ride with most boats only getting their first lines in the water after 9am! Those who went to the Kei and middle banks got some good fish while the boats that ventured deep and stayed west had to contend with the numerous sharks that were about, more than likely feeding on the unusual abundance of mackerel on the shelf. Some quality fish that made it to the scales on day one included a 19.35kg Copper Steenbras caught by GMC’s Wesley Hoffeldt; an 18.65kg Yellowtail caught by PEDSAC’s Peter Dawson; a 12,50Kg Black Steenbras caught by PEDSAC’s Ben De Bryn and a 6,70kg Miss Lucy caught by GMC’s Wesley Hoffeldt. Numerous Yellowtail in the 12kg to 14kg class were also landed and as usual, numerous yellowtail also got the better of some of the anglers! On Sunday most of the boats ran to the Kei in search of the yellowtail and though FEC | July 2015
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CONTACT: NIGEL LOUW NIGEL@FISHINGEC.COM 073 690 2606
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All the skippers for the competition. they were about, certain boats managed better returns than others! Quality fish for day two included a 22.50kg Copper Steenbras caught by Xmasvale’s David Bowker; a 14.20kg Yellowtail caught by Kwelera’s Bjorn Ericstrom-Lindquest; a 12.85kg Yellowbelly Rockcod caught by PEDSAC’s Peter Dawson; a 5.65kg Scotsman caught by ELSBC’s Theunis Nagel and a 4.15kg Soldier caught by NR&R’s Grant Wessells. Again a good few Yellowtail were landed in the 10kg to 13kg class. In total, 184 fish and 13 species were weighed in at the scales over the two days. Congratulations to Port Elizabeth Deep Sea Angling Club (PEDSAC) “Team 2” of Wayne Gerber, Peter Dawson and Chris Gerber for taking the gold medal with Kwelera Ski Boat Club (Kobus Koekemoer; Ashley Senekal / Bjorn Ericstrom-Lindquest and Everit Van Loggerenberg) in 2nd place and Christmasvale Ski Boat Club (David Bowker; Michael Marriot and Carlo Marriot) coming in 3rd. Top angler went to Bjorn Erichstrom-Linquest who stood in for Kwelera due to an illness to one of their team members and biggest fish went to David Bowker for his 22.50Kg Copper Steenbras.
David Bowker with a Copper Steenbras.
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The winning team. Port Elizabeth Deep Sea Angling Club. Top boats went to Cost-a-plenty (Skippered by Steven Beckermann) in 1st place with Rip-Curl (Skippered by Ryan Kretzmann) in 2nd place and Kwatchacat (Skippered by Dave Russell) in 3rd place. Once again, the GMC interclub was a huge success, which was well supported by both our local clubs as well as no less than 8 teams from Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town and Kleinbaai. I would like to take this opportunity to once again, on behalf of the GMC Committee, thank all the skippers, GMC’s and those who assisted us from other clubs, John Luef, Wille Basson and Theo Peake From Kwelera, Andrew Gericke who brought his boat from Kei Mouth, Donovan Amos from ELSBC and Dean Dustan for skippering the standby boat. A big thanks to all for putting their boats in and assisting us with skippering for this competition, as without them we couldn’t have accommodated all the teams. Also a very big thankyou to all the participating teams for continually supporting our interclub and we look forward to hosting them all again in 2016. Lastly, a huge thank you to our numerous sponsors and in particular our main sponsors
Caltex Gonubie, The Oil Centre, Ocean Basket, Buffalo Toyota, Ellies and Fusion. Peter Dawson with a nice size Yellowbelly Rockod.
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KAYAK CORNER FISHING
Words/pics: Brett Armstrong
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i there fellow “fish-yakers”. Well, this winter is proving to be an amazing one. Some unreal water conditions, with an abundance of bird and fish life everywhere. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful region. So just a couple days ago myself and two mates, Mark and Paul, armed with some sardines, chokka and our Stealth kayaks hit the ocean in search of a memorable experience and stories to tell our family and friends. Little did we know that this would be one of the most memorable fishing experiences we will possibly ever have. Hitting the water at 07h00 at our local fishing spot, and after remembering we should have charged our camera and GoPro batteries the night before (we would learn later that this was a huge oversight on our part), we set off to find a couple of reefs to bottom fish off. Big-eyes were as usual everywhere and on a mission to destroy our bait before it could reach the lovely reef filled with an amazing selection of God’s creations. After moving around a bit and releasing a few yellow belly rock cods and a few other species,
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we realized we were not along, our of nowhere hundreds of birds and dolphins surrounded us and on a feeding frenzy. The group gradually moved in and out of our area and eventually I thought, okay we let me throw a whole sardine out and just paddle through the zone, it was only a couple of minutes later and my unsuspecting sardine was munched by what I would later know to be a massive yellow tail in excess of 20kg and almost half the size of my kayak. Its sheer power dragged me while I tried to ensure my drag was correctly set and reel in. Eventually after being dragged out at least 2km and then back and forward it became clear that I was tiring the beast of a fish and as it got closer to my craft, I was witness to its absolute beauty and it went back straight down and up and forward until one last surfacing when it managed to break my line in what I felt was a rookie mistake on my part when managing my drag. I’m not sure what was more of a thrill; knowing that is was such a huge and beautiful fish, or the reality that it wasn’t a shark I would have to somehow deal with releasing. But nevertheless, an experience,
which has kept me captivated and the feeling of being privileged enough to have had the opportunity of the fight that had me freaking for about 30 minutes. What can I say; I was blessed this fine day. But the three of us, sat in complete disbelief of the beauty of nature while surrounded by so many dolphins, birds and of course I’m sure a few undesirable creatures lurking below us. These kinds of special experiences are what make kayak fishing so amazing. Wow! While on the topic of ocean kayaks, I thought I would share just one helpful idea for your ocean going kayak (which obviously also could apply to any kayak with a hatch lid for storage). We all have had those frustrations while trying to access our fish hatch and the lid completely opens and falls forward, only to have to reach far forward to gain access to it to then close the lid. This a few times is okay, but when you need to do it a lot, it eventually gets frustrating. So a simple modification is the installation of three well-placed saddles and on piece of 5mm bungee cord with two plastic hooks, for extra support an addition piece of webbing as a limiting strap on the inside of the hatch to the hatch lid. Install the one saddle in the middle of the front third section of the hatch lid and the two others at 45 degrees about 150-200mm in front of the hatch lid. Then attach the plastic hooks to the front two and feed the bungee cord looping it with a knot on the hatch saddle. Finally attach the webbing to the hatch and hatch lid at a distance best suited to your reach. See photo for he end result. Simple but extremely effective.
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K A Y A K R E V I ULTIMATE R PROJECT
Okay so on to my Project Ultimate River Kayak‌. So my decision after a ton of internal questions about what I need in a base river kayak was to go for the Feel Free Moken 10 Angler kayak. Dimension and specifications are, 3.1m long, 89cm wide and 27kg heavy. It is an amazing little work of art with some lovely features, but the Wheel in the rear underside keel is what I was really excited about. The length was also great for me to load into the back of my bakkie. So I started off by making a few additions and modifications to best suit my needs and my mission. I replaced the 6-inch rubber center hatch cover with an 8-inch inspection hatch, this allowed for easier access and storage of fish. I also fitted to watertight smaller hatches on the sides for cell phone, keys, camera and other items, these work great and are a must. I mounted two Railblaza attachments, one in the front in the centre for a GoPro or my Navigation light 16
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for the night time river fishing adventures (these are amazing – so tranquil and lots of fish to be released) and then one at the rear for my extended GoPro arm. Although the Moken comes with 4 fitted rod mounts in great places, I changed the left front to fit an external Scotty rod mount, this just makes it better for slightly longer paddle strokes when picking up a bit of speed when trawling. I also fitted two additional real rod holders a little further back to take my net and another rod. But most importantly I fit-
ted a slightly closer bait-up rod holder, this is a must for baiting up, you just pop the rod in there, it’s close enough to not have to stretch and you don’t get your reel in the water when trying to stretch to grab the line. Like most river kayakers, they love to fit a crate or carry box of some sort in the rear compartment, I definitely opted for this option to store a couple things like my throw net, bucket and something special I will mention in my next article. But I opted to fit another 8-inch inspection hatch lid and this makes access so much easier and looks pretty cool too. I secured it with the built in bungee cords and a few strategically placed screws. I was able to use the bungees provided to also secure my prawn pump. The seat provided is pretty good and secures very nicely. I may look at changing this. The fundamental thing about kayak fishing to remember, the more organized you are, the less stress you will have, so as long as you remember that, you will be good to go, but remember, although certain basics apply to everyone, at the end of the day it’s up to you to see and organize your craft the way you need it to be, personalizing the organizational aspects is about what works for you. It’s really fun getting everything done and organized, so make it a kind of hobby and you will feel like you achieved something. Finally, as mentioned before fiberglass ocean going kayaks are specifically built for the ocean, they are narrower and longer than river specific kayaks, making them faster and slightly less stable than the river ones. Each have the advantages and disadvantages, but both amazing fun. Anyway, for more information on kayak fishing and modifications and setup, drop me an email at brettflip@gmail.com In addition to this, if you would like to join the kayak fishing Whats app group, please also send your details through and I will link you. A great way to meet guys who share your fishing experience and passion for the sport. FEC | July 2015
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2015
n a c i r f A h t Sou p r a C l a n o i Nat s p i h s n o i p Cham
The EP team.
Words/pics: Frikkie Botha
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he Carp SA’s was held recently at Blomhof Dam. I was fortunate enough to be invited along as the Manager of the EP B team. Before I continue let me give you an Idea of how the Carp SA’s works. The Carp SA’s is completely different compared to your normal Bank Angling SA’s. In the Carp SA’s a province consist of one or two teams with six anglers per team. These six anglers are split into three teams of two. A section of the dam gets divided into an A, B and C zone. Each province has a two-man team in each zone. Those two anglers fish together as a unit on their respective peg. They are allowed to use four rods and they fish con-
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tinuous for 72 hours. You are only allowed to use hair rigs no bait is allowed on the hook. Your feeding plan during the 72 hours is crucial and each two-man team is allowed to take 150kg of feed into the camp. Every two hours or so a team of marshals will come past and weigh each pegs fish, only carp are eligible to be weighed and they have to weigh 1.5kg or more. All the fish are release immediately after the weigh in. The following guys made up the B team. Morné Potgieter and Lourens Coetzer, Les Burger and Melvin Potgieter, Oosie Oostuisen and Danie Le Roux. The comp started at 11 o’clock on the Saturday morning.
Fishing on the first day was relatively quiet and the guys were mostly concentrating on feeding and getting things organized. Only a few fish were caught during the first 24 hours. After day one the results was as follows, EP was lying in third position with 68 fish weighing 198.22kg, Central Gauteng was in first position with 108 fish weighing 347.41kg followed by Gauteng North in second with 98 fish weighing 325.82kg. The fishing picked up on day two as the feeding spots were beginning to work. At the end of the second 24 hours EP more than doubled the amount of fish they caught during the first day and ended up FEC | July 2015
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Peg station with all the feeds.
on a 146 fish weighing 624.56kg. This gave them a fourth place, 50kg behind Gauteng North, which had to drop a place to make way for Free State moving into second place. Free State was in fifth place after the first day. Central Gauteng was still leading and had 262 fish weighing 886.15kg. The final 24 hours was hectic. The fishing picked up dramatically and the guys were starting to get tired. Everywhere you looked on the bank you saw bending rods. The guys were still feeding right up until the end to keep the fish interested. The comp stopped at 11am and a bunch of very tired guys started breaking up camp. The prize giving took place the same night and at the end EP came in at number 7 with 336 fish weighing 1078.58kg. This was my first year involved in the Carp SA’s and I was amazed at how much planning goes into an event like this. The EP Team, both A and B were exceptionally well prepared.
www.getfish.co.za FEC | July 2015
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Jacques and Liane Husselmann with there medals.
TARGET LINE
Freshwater Angling Club Wriggleswade Dam Words/Pics: Carl Henn
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n the 06/06/2015, Target Line Freshwater Angling Club had its 3rd competition for the 2015-2016 seasons at Wriggleswade Dam, near Stutterheim. The weather on the day was as expected‌..cold, cold, cold. That is typical winter fishing, but did not stop the members from attending, and even visitors angling with us. Setting up the gear in the dark before the comp started, proved to be the difference between getting fish and hitting blanks for a lot of anglers. Riaan Nel, a visitor, pulled some tricks and produced some beautiful fish. He landed the biggest carp (6.825kg) and the biggest yellow fish (1.938kg). These fish together with another carp landed him a first place overall. Jacques and Liane Husselmann, father and daughter, came first for the club members
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in the seniors and men’s. Liane landed two nice carps and Jacques landed two carps and two eels, with the biggest eel at 1.081kg. Here are the resultsfrom the day: Seniors: 1 Jacques Husselmann 2 Martin Piek 3 Adriaan Domoney Ladies: 1 Petra Piek Juniors: 1 Liane Husselmann
Riaan Nel with a 6.825kg Carp.
Riaan Nel with a 1.938kg Yellowfish. Here are the standings after three competitions: Seniors: 1 Martin Piek 58pts 2 Adriaan Domoney 41pts 3 Carl Henn 39pts
Masters: 1 Chris Englebrecht 2 Anthon Henn 3 Chris Koch
45pts 40pts 27pts
Ladies: 1 Petra Piek 34pts 2 Lezanda Engelbrecht 25pts 3 Jackie Domoney 20pts
Juniors: 1 Liane Husselmann 2 Nikita Moodley
35pts 15pts FEC | July 2015
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X TIPS O B T I A B
THE
BAITS AND LURES FOR SHAD
Words/pics: Nigel Louw
The Shad are around and here are some baits you can use to target them. Shad are often found in bays and around points where there is a bit of foaming water.
SPOONS
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Sponsored by SPARGS MALL BEACON BAY 043 711 7700
SURFACE LURES & GOOD OLD SARDINE
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CATCH & WIN Angler: Edwin Taylor Species: Garrick Location: Kowie River Bait: Storm Lure Size: 73cm
Angler: Jack Olivier Species: Carp Location: Wriggleswade Dam Bait: Sweetcorn Size: 6.3kg
Angler: Joel Wicks Species: Kob Location: Hamburg Bait: Squid Size: 40cm 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) Email your entry to nigel@fishingec.com with the following details: - Anglers full name - Species - Location caught | July 2015 26 - BaitFEC used - Size/Weight
June Winner Angler: Mike Carr Species: Silver Steenbras Location: Nahoon Reef Bait: Octopus/prawn Size: 80cm/11.44kg
Mike wins himself an assortment of Triton lures/spoons.
Angler: Allen van Rensburg Species: River Snapper Location: Umzimvubu Bait: Whole Pilchard Size: 3.83kg
Keep sending in your catches and stand a chance of winning an assortment of Triton lures in August.
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TIDE CHART July 2015 Information supplied by the Hydrographer SA Navy The Hydrographer is not responsible for any transcription errors.
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