Fishing EC June 2014 by Nigel Louw

FISHING EC BAIT DEMO

CATCH COMPETITION

TIDES

JUNE 2014

FISHING TRENNERY’S YELLOWTAIL KING OF THE KEI

SHAD L A I C E SP SARTICLE

BAIT DEM

F C RE O E P Y

TUNA CLASSIC RESULTS

FEC | June 2014

ISSUE:6

FEC | June 2014

CONTENT

Fishing Trenneryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 04 Shad Fishing PE

FEATURES

Bait Demo

The Shad Species 12

What Lures Are Working For Shad

Sardine bait for targeting Shad.

Catch Competition 26 Send us your photos and you could win.

Tides

Check the tide tables to make sure you fishing the right times.

22 Seriola Lalandi - King of The Kei Some great catches of Yellowtail in the Kei. Dylan Peinke tells us what happened.

24 Tuna Classic

Results from the recent Tuna Classic held in Port Elizabeth.

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EDITORS

LETTER

MAGAZINE EDITOR Nigel Louw

CONTRIBUTORS The Alcocks Christo Geyer Dr Warren Potts Dylan Peinke Richard Donaldson

CONTACT ADVERTISING: email: nigel@fishingec.com Mobile: 073 690 2606 Website: www.fishingec.com

Find us on Facebook

he Shad season should be in full swing now with catches being made all along our coastline. This species of fish also known as elf are targeted during the winter months and swim in huge shoals at times. We have put together a Shad special for you guys this month. Some Shad articles as well as bait demos, traces and artificial lures to use. I hope this helps you find more fish and increases your strike rate. Hope to see some nice photos on the website with some big Shad caught in our waters. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

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.

Nigel Louw Editor

ON THE COVER

Chad Alcock with a large Shad caught on a leadhead in the Port Elizabeth area. FEC | June 2014

Fishing

TRENNERYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S Words/pics: Christo Geyer

e Kob and Pieter with a nic posing in the ws co some local background.

rennerys is for me one of the most diverse fishing spots in the Transkei area because you can fish for so many different species of fish along the coast line. Myself and a friend (Pieter) decided a few weekends ago to go

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to Trennerys and fish for Kob. We left the Friday morning early for Trennerys, but when we got to the Kei River pont it was already backed up and we had to wait for about an hour before we could cross the river.

Pignose G runter lan ded by Christo Geyer.

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ha eyer wit Christo G Trenneryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s t a b nice Ko

After we finally arrived at Trennerys the water was very low but the weather was excellent so we decided to first have some lunch and when the water starts pushing we will go fish for some Kob.

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The afternoon fishing session started off slow, the water temperature was cold due to an east wind that was blowing for about 3 days. After about 4 casts I decided to change my bait to pilchard and chokka mix.

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to e any one is v d a l il w I ood rys for a g visit Trenne fishing trip.

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I cast in again and waited about 40 minutes before I hooked up with this nice 64cm Pig Nose Grunter. It took me about 5 minutes to land the fish. Unfortunately this was the only fish we landed that afternoon. We decided to go and make a fire and braai. Early the next morning we started fishing on the right hand side of the beach on the rocks after about 2 hours with no luck we decided to move to the surf. Pieter got the first 65cm Kob with a long thin piece of chokka and landed the fish on the beach within 5 minutes. Then after 15 minutes I hooked up with this nice 81cm Kob also with a piece of chokka. Trennerys is one of the few places that I really enjoyed the fishing because of the size of the fish you get and also the beautiful scenery. I will advise any one to visit Trennerys for a good fishing trip.

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L A I C E P S D A H

S I N O S A TH E SE

Justin du Preez wi a big Shad caught on bait.

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S H ERE! TRACES SHAD ARTICLES BAIT DEMOS LURES THAT WORK

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Port Elizabeth

SHAD FISHING Words/pics: The Alcock’s

ith a Chad Alcock w ht on ug ca nice Shad re. lu o Pr e rik St a

e are well and truly in the heart of our Shad season and what a season it’s turning out to be! It was an incredibly slow start to the season – almost no fish coming out at all but fortunately things have turned around and Shad of all sizes are coming out in excellent numbers. The Marine Drive has seen huge numbers of Shad caught over the last 2 weeks with most of the fish in the 1-2kg range and Lando and I have had some classy Shad fishing in the Cape Recife area, all caught on our new Alcock Brothers Double Spoon. We just got our deep sea boat back from Johannesburg

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and we knew we had to give Coega harbour a bash with the Shad being around. The fish there are always of a bigger size and they love taking on surface lures which is fantastic. So we launched the boat early on Tuesday morning in beautiful conditions and ran the 6 kms to the harbour wall. Lando and I put on Strike Pros and threw into the white water to bring the lures back into the clear water. First cast each – we had 5 or 6 Shad chasing each Strike Pro, jumping out of the water on top of the lures and then, Vas – nice fish in the 2-3kg bracket.

The Shad were on the boil! We got a fish almost every cast for another 20 throws each. We decided to try some lead heads to see if we could drop below the surface Shad and get some bigger fish. On my third throw I let the lead head sink to the bottom and retrieved it with a quick jerking action to the surface. Half way up, a nice Shad hit me and I landed him after a good fight – he weighed in at about 4kg. It was a fantastic day’s fishing and as we speak the Shad are gale in the area. If you’d like any information or need to know what lures to use just give one of the Alcock Brothers a shout.

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The Shad

possibly the world’s most popular coastal recreational species Words/pics: Dr Warren Potts

id you know that most coastal fish families have many species? For example, the Sparidae have blacktail, bronze bream, streepie, musselcracker (black and white), red roman etc., while the Sciaenidae have the dusky kob, silver kob, squaretail kob, geelbek, etc. Strangely, one of our coastal fish families, the Pomatomidae comprises only one species. But what a species it is! The SHAD (Pomatomus saltatrix), is arguably the best known coastal recreational species in the world. This species is found in 61 countries and in almost

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all of our coastal oceans and seas. You may ask why this is the case, when most of our coastal species are actually only found in South Africa? Well, I’m not really sure, but they appear to have evolved a streamlined, elongate body form which allows them to capture a wide range of prey items and appears to make them very well suited to their coastal habitats. They also have a broad temperature tolerance, which is unusual for most migratory species. For example, shad in Angola tolerate and feed in temperatures ranging from 15 – 26°C, while other

species, such as the west coast dusky kob only feeds in temperatures from 15 - 20°C. Many anglers have wondered whether these global populations are connected and if shad from South Africa might migrate all the way to the Mediterranean, the USA or even Australia? Well, the truth is “no”. We had a look at the genetics of fish from Angola and South Africa and found that individuals from these two regions have been separated from each other for at least two million years. Another study showed that the USA and Atlantic European populations were totally isolated from one another (Pardiñas et al 2010). One would think that if these populations have been separated from each other for such a long time, the fish may, when exposed to different habitats, start to evolve and look different from one another. However, the shad’s body shape and behavioural strategy is so perfect that it has never had to change. It is really an amazing fish. Although the results of the genetic studies show that individuals do not undertake huge across

ocean migrations, shad are capable of migrating long distances within their populations. In a recent South African study, one fish that was tagged in Langebaan was recaptured in KwaZulu-Natal approximately 1760 km away (Hedger et al 2010). With such a cosmopolitan distribution, it is unsurprising that this fish has 109 common names (Fishbase), with the most common being bluefish (mostly in the USA), tailor (Australia), anchova (Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Portugal) and obviously, elf and shad (South Africa and Namibia). Some of the stranger common names are “snapping mackerel” (Guyana) and “marine piranha” (Australia). These last two names do however give us a hint about its fearful reputation, which it no doubt holds amongst its prey and those that are unfortunate enough to have been bitten by one of these fish. Indeed, the razor sharp teeth are one of the main weapons of these voracious predators. They use these to turn even large prey items into bite size snacks. When looking at their diet all over the

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Jacques Nel with a decent Shad caught on a 1oz surface plug.

world, it is clear that they favour fish, no matter where they are. Interestingly, shad tend to be most successful where there are large populations of small pelagic fish such as sardine, sardinella and mackerel. The biggest shad ever reported was 14.4 kg and was caught in the USA. This seems to be quite an unusual specimen however, as fish of over 10 kg have seldom, if ever been captured in the other regions. The South African record for example is 10.3 kg. Shad have been described as really fast growing, particularly during the early stages of their lives. Although there seems to be quite a lot of variability between areas, the average size at one year old is about 30 cm fork length. This means that they are able to reach their minimum size limit in South Af14

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rica by the time they are one year old. Shad donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get very old. The oldest specimen in the USA was 14 years and in South Africa, 10 years old. This is much younger than the maximum age of many of our recreational species and suggests that this species could be more resilient to fishing pressure. Unfortunately, the heavy recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing pressure in South Africa has reduced this population considerably and this species was categorised as overexploited in 1997 (Govender 1997). Besides too many fishermen, one of the major reasons for their overexploitation, which is thought to be a problem all over the world, is their very predictable migration patterns. This makes it very easy for anglers to target them. For exam-

ple, any KZN angler will tell you that they begin dusting off their rods in May as they wait for the arrival of these fish in June. This predictability and heavy fishing pressure in KZN between June and December has been alleviated by the two month closed season from the 1st of October to the 30th of November. I would like to tell you that this closed season, the bag limit (4 per person per day) and minimum size limit (30 cm TL) has improved the stock status of this fish since the last assessment. However, that study has not yet been conducted and we are really not sure. Unfortunately, the data from the KZN recreational fishery shows that the catch rate of these fish between 1985 and 2009 was very variable, with a general downward trend. This suggests that while FEC | June 2014

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The sharp teeth of this shad had no problem cutting through a barracuda, which was found in pieces in its stomach.

there has not yet been a good recovery, but it has at least stopped a further decline. So, what should we do to conserve these fish? I reckon it is time for us anglers to impose our own limits if we want to make sure that we continue to catch shad. My best suggestion is that we, amongst ourselves, implement a maximum size limit of 60 cm FL (2.9 kg). This, along with the minimum size limit, will protect both the small immature and the larger adult fish. Larger fish have more and bigger eggs, spawn more often in a spawning season and make by far a bigger contribution to the surviving eggs and larvae than the smaller spawning fish. They are definitely worth protecting. So next time you catch one of these beauties, think twice before taking it home for supper.

KwaZulu-Natal shad (Pomatomus saltatrix) fishery. Consultancy Report, Oceanographic Research Institute, Durban, 12pp. Hedger RD, Næsje TF, Cowley PD, Thorstad EB, Attwood C, Økland F, Wilke CG & Kerwath SE. 2010. Residency and migratory behaviour by adult Pomatomus saltatrix in a South African coastal embayment Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 89, 12-20. Pardiñas AF, Campo D, Pola IG, Miralles L, Juanes F, Garcia-Vazquez E (2010)Climate change and oceanic barriers: genetic differentiation in Pomatomus saltatrix (Pisces: Pomatomidae) in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Fish Biology 77 (8) 1993-1998.

References: Govender A (1997) The simulation effects of newly proposed regulatory measures on the sustainability of the FEC | June 2014

e c a r T d a Sh Use a toothpick to set the float wherever you want it on the line.

You can also fish a normal trace and just add float material inside your bait.

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t i a B d a h S

The best bait for Shad is still the good old Sardine. This is just one version, but there are many ways of cutting and rigging sardine baits. STEP 1 Slice the Sardine through the middle and cut off the head and tail.

STEP 2 Remove the spine from the back and place over hook.

STEP 3 Cotton the Sardine on the hook and you ready for that Shad bite. Repeat with the other stomach half for your next bait.

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S E R U L & SPOONS KING FOR OR W S ’ T A H W SHAD

STRIKE PRO Thai Stick in pearl or white colour THE ALCOCK’S Clear surface plug and the double slim spoons.

TRITON SPOONS The T14 works very well.

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SERIOLA LALANDI King of the Kei Words/pics: Dylan Peinke Lester Peinke pulling hard to keep that Yellowtail off the bottom reef.

ast London Ski-boat Club held a Mini Comp earlier this year. Philip De Lange, skipper of Copper Cat, phoned us to say the weather looked good for the weekend a trip to the Kei was planned. By Friday afternoon, tackle was sorted, leaders tied and the boat was fuelled. Early Saturday morning we were on the water. It took close to an hour and a half to make the +- 30 mile trip. Finally we arrived and the amazing 26oC deep blue water was a welcome sight. Unfortunately there was an irritating west wind, which had started blowing as we arrived. To our disappointment the morning was very slow, producing bits and pieces. Not a single yellow tail was hooked. Around 10am Dad (Lester Peinke) got a bus of a Stump, which lifted the crewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spirits. After a few more drifts Phillip decided to head back to the inside to look for shelter and maybe the chance of another species or two. On my first down I caught an undersized Stump and a small Dik Bek-

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Lester with a good fish after a hard fight.

Dylan with one his Yellowtail caught for the day.

borough! My fish popped my 1mm hook trace. Dad on the other hand was getting his arms pulled off! After a few intense minutes Philip had his leader and seconds later the gaff was in the big tail. Shouts and high fives all round, a quick photo and back to our battle stations we went! The next hour and a half consisted of the craziest and most intense fishing I have ever experienced! We would go onto the mark, go down, hook the fish, either lose it or fight it to the top, bait up, go back to the mark and repeat. The scores were as follows: I lost 6 – landed 3. Gary lost 4 – landed 2. Lester lost 1 – landed 6. Philip (skipper) landed 1. All in all we landed 12 Yellowtail ranging between 10-13kg each. At the end of the day the Scarborough proved to be the most effective way of getting the fish away from the reef to prevent cut-offs by this incredibly strong fish.

kie, baited up again and Philip said that we are still on the mark and I should go down again. I hit the bottom, only to be greeted by the usual peckers when all of a sudden there were 4-5 solid knocks. Winding into the fish and holding him, seconds later I was back-peddling. Before Philip could say “hold it – that’s a Yellowtail”, I was reefed! PANDEMONIUM!!! Three anglers digging in our bags for stronger traces. Minutes later we were ready and Skipper put us back on the mark. I had grabbed my Poseidon Couta with a Saragosa 14 000 filled with 50lb Fireline. Dad had his Couta with a 9’ Scarborough filled with 100lb Whiplash and 15-20m of 1mm leader. Gary also had a Couta and Scarborough filled with 27kg Maxima marine green. The three of us hit the bottom, few turns off and within minutes the bites were there! Dad was shouting as the tail pulled hard for the reef, the trick is simple – do not give any line – easier said than done, especially with a ScarFEC | June 2014

TUNA CLASSIC 2014 Results Words/pics: Richard Donaldson s Jnr Andre Wilkin Ford with his new er Rang

he Tuna Classic has once again drawn to a close. We are happy to announce that Andre Wilkens Jnr winning the bonanza prize of a brand new Ford Ranger Double Cab 4x4 T6 3.2L turbo Diesel supplied by Eastern Cape Motors caught a new Tuna Classic record Yellowfin Tuna of 102.8 kg. The only other fish making the minimum weight of 15kg weighed in at 18.6kg, winning the angler a top of the Range Raymarine Auto-Pilot system supplied by Bay Way Marine Electronics. Challenger, skippered by Andre Wilkens Snr was crowned top boat earning the crew R50,000-00 in cash sponsored by BLG Logistics. Richard Donaldson, The BLG Logistics Tuna Classic Tournament Director, said that he is confident that the hand hover of the Ford Ranger Double Cab 4x4 XLT will cement the future of the Tuna Classic as one of the premier Tuna fishing events in South Africa. Unfortunately, not many Yellowfin Tuna, besides young egg rolls (3-10kg Tuna) were

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caught. Tuna are not solitary fish and usually move around in great numbers and therefore more fish should have been landed and brought to the scales. Now that the record has been broken, It became evident that some very large fish are still present in our waters and that some anglers found large schools of Tuna possible feeding on small squid deep down in excess of 150 meters of waters, but were unable to lure them up high enough to catch. This theory was reaffirmed when the prize winning record fish was dissected and the stomach contents exclusively found to contain squid. This has answered some of our questions which has left anglers scratching their heads over the last few years why recreational catches have dwindled over the last 5 years while commercial long liners achieve great success in our waters. Donaldson said that recreational anglers will have to change their tactics and start concentrating on deep rigging bait fishing instead of trawl-

Andre Wilkins Jnr with the winning fish.

ing lures in order to achieve success again. BLG Logistics and Ford, in partnership with Eastern Cape Motors, has also provided the Tuna Classic, hosted by the Port Elizabeth Deep Sea Angling Club, with the necessary wow factor in providing the sponsored insured prize of the magnificent Ranger Double Cab for a record Tuna as well as R100,000-00 in cash the largest Tuna in excess of 25kg. This serves as a great attraction for all anglers, especially now that 10.8 kg’s raising the bar for 2015 to 102,8kg thereby proving that records are set to be broken has smashed the record. Skipjack Tuna was caught in great numbers with many anglers labeling them as a nuisance preventing the larger Yellowfin that was feeding on the surface from taking the lures.

The PEDSAC organising committee has already started with some preparation work for next year’s event and will be looking at introducing some exciting changes to the current format of this tournament by introducing categories for Skipjack Tuna, Dorado and Marlin as official tournament species while retaining the Yellowfin Tuna as the premier specie of the event. This will almost certainly attract more anglers with smaller boats as they now will an incentive to participate as they will not have to travel so far towards the continental shelve as the boats hunting for the large Yellowfin Tuna’s. Details on this format that will most certainly see this event grow in size and stature will be released early in 2015.  The organising committee would like to thank all our sponsors, supporting staff, attending public, participating anglers and boat owners for all the support and commitment in keeping the tournament alive despite growing financial pressure and the small numbers of fish currently being caught.

The tournament was well attended with this year’s classic being labeled by anglers and visitors as one of the best in quite a few years. The PEDSAC organising committee resorted to run the entire event, including the setup of the tent and bar facilities, inhouse. This arrangement tuned out to be a roaring success as this allowed the organisers more flexible with the variety of products, specials and pricing in the beer tent. FEC | June 2014

CATCH & WIN Angler: Louis Bredell Species: Bronze Whaler Location: Haga Haga Bait: Live Mullet Size: 50kg Released: Yes

Angler: Paul Ristow Species: Ragged Tooth Shark Location: Kwelera Bait: Carpenter slide Size: 208kg Released: Yes

Angler: Glen Warner Species: Pignose Grunter Location: Wild Coast Bait: Pilchard & Mudprawn Size: +6kg Released: Yes