Fishing EC magazine, November 2014

FISHING EC BAIT DEMO

CATCH COMPETITION

TIDES

NOVEMBER 2014

Fishing The Surf

Rigging The Stealth Supalite

YELLOWFIN TUNA Record

SWARTKOPS

Alive On Lures

6T RO H A CK NN AN UA EN D L F TE SU IS FR R N R F HIN C E OW CO G E O E M C P P Y

KOB ON DROPSHOT

KAYAK CORNER

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ISSUE: 11

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FEC | November 2014

CONTENT

Kob On Dropshot In The Surf 04 Yellowfin Tuna

FEATURES

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Bait Demo

Swartkops Alive On Lures 10

Fishing EC Comp POSTER

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The double hook dingle dangle bait.

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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16 Kayak Corner With Brett Armstorng

We follow the progress of rigging out the Stealth Supalite fishing ski.

18 Fly Fishing the Karoo

Alan Hobson shows us how good the Karoo waters are for Trout fishing.

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EDITORS

LETTER

MAGAZINE EDITOR Nigel Louw CONTRIBUTORS Nigel Louw Bridget Rodgers Malan Horak Brett Armstrong Alan Hobson Daron Parker

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.

Kobtober has just passed and the Kob have been around so looks like we are going to have a good summer season.

Exciting times at Fishng EC in November as we have our big annual Rock & Surf Challenge competition held at Haga Haga. We have loads of prizes for you guys to win and its a great fishing area on our coast. For more information on entering the competition see the centre page spread of the magazine.

I hope to see you all there on the 15th November. Tickets are on sale at Bilimoria’s, Target Line and if you out of town contact me on 073 690 2606 to book your spot.

Nigel Louw Editor

ON THE COVER

Nigel Louw with a 87cm Kob caught on paddle tail dropshot in the surf.

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TARGETING KOB

DROPSHOTING THE SURF ZONE Words: Nigel Louw Pics: Craig Tessendorf & Daron Parker

b ith an 87cm Ko Nigel Louw w ddle tail pa hy rt cA M caught on let Jighead. with Mad Mul

O

ne of the most exciting ways to target Kob is with soft plastic lures rigged on jigheads, known as dropshot fishing in South Africa. There are however a few things to consider and look out for when trying to target the Kob species. I have often had comments from anglers like “I don’t know how you guys do it, I tried dropshot for months and have still caught nothing”.

You can’t just buy the best tackle, dropshot baits and then go to the surf and expect to catch a Kob. There is a lot more to it and a bit of planning involved. I am going to tell you about a recent trip we had and then some tips that will hopefully help you to catch your first Kob on dropshot.

I received a Whatsapp message from my friend Craig Tessendorf asking if I want to

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go dropshot for Kob. He had found a website that said it was going to be one of the best fishing days according to weather, tides and moon phase. So I quickly checked Windguru as well and yes it did look good.

It was a 1.4m swell and we would be fishing the morning on outgoing tide turning to push at about 09:30am. We drove about 20 minutes outside East London to a spot on the East Coast. On arrival I just had a feeling that we would catch as the wind was perfect, swell looked good and I couldn’t wait to put in that first cast. We found one spot that looked good and had about 30 casts and no Kob so we moved further up the beach. We found a spot and I said to Craig “There has to be a Kob here it is perfect”.

The one important thing to look for when

Craig Tessendorf with an 80cm Kob.

targeting Kob is structure and we had just stumbled upon the ultimate spot. The river mouth was flowing out which had created a hole with a gutter of about 50m running to the right and another gutter running about 100m to the left with banks at the back.

The banks were nice and close too so we only had to stand waist deep and managed to land our dropshot on the back bank. On my first cast I had a knock so I checked my McArthy paddle tail and there were teeth marks near the head. This was a good sign and got the adrenalin pumping. After another 2 casts and I had a hit and a Kob was on. No better feeling than when that paddle tail stops and then takes off with some head shakes. The Kob was 58cm. I ran about 30m down the beach and released FEC | November 2014

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the Kob. Then sprinted back to the spot to cast again. I was on again after a few casts and managed to land a Kob of 60cm. The tide started turning then and on the push I managed to land another 2 Kob and Craig finally had some nice hits, he landed 2 Kob with one of them being the biggest of the day at 80cm. While the conditions were right I decided to go again the next morning and the wind had picked up the sea a bit and brought in seaweed, so it was not that good, but I had one hit and hooked a nice Kob that peeled some drag. It turned out to be an 87cm Kob. What a great outing and the style of fishing is awesome as you can walk far to find spots and don’t have to carry heavy. All you need is your tackle and a small backpack. I was using the McArthy 6” paddle tail on a 1.5oz Mad Mullet jighead and Craig was using the 5” McArthy paddle tail with Mad Mullet 1oz jighead.

FINDING KOB The most important part of targeting Kob in the surf is being able to find them first.

If they on the spot and you cast a paddle tail in, they will eat it. Kob are ambush predators and hunt along the holes, gutters and banks. You need to learn how to read the water so you can see where

Nigel Louw with a good size Kob taken on McArthy paddle tail rigged on a Mad Mullet jighead.

a hole is, where a bank is and where a gutter is. One ideal spot is to be able to cast your paddle tail over a gutter onto a shallower bank and then as you reel off through the gutter, that is when the Kob will most likely hit you. They lie on the edge and wait for mullet to swim over, same as your paddle tail goes over the drop-off into the gutter. Structure is very important, but also weather and sea con-

LOOKING FOR STRUCTURE GUTTER SAND BANK

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SAND BANK

ditions. If the swell is huge you are less likely to catch and also less likely to find a bank as everywhere will look like white water. The current needs to be low. If you have a strong side wash you might as well pack up. The side wash pulls your lure to the side and also moves it to fast. You need to be able to reel in at a steady slow pace with your paddle tail as close to the bottom as possible.

HINTS & TIPS: 1. RETRIEVE YOUR PADDLE TAIL SLOWLY FOR KOB. 2. KEEP TENSION ON FISH ALL THE TIME DURING THE FIGHT SO THEY DON’T THROW THE JIGHEAD. 3. USE A 10FT ROD WITH 4000 OR 5000 SIZE SPINNING REEL. 4. BRAID LINE IS BEST FOR CASTING AS WELL AS FEELING THE BITE. 5. USE 1M FLUOROCARBON LEADER ONTO MAIN BRAID LINE. 6. BIONIC FINGER OR FINGER GUARD GLOVE IS GOOD FOR A LONG SESSION OF DROPSHOT. 7. A WETSUIT IS A GOOD IDEA AS YOU WILL HAVE BETTER RESULTS IF YOU CAN GET IN THE WATER TO REACH THE BACK BANKS AND GUTTERS. FEC | November 2014

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YELLOWFIN TUNA! Pending EC Ladies Record Words/Pics: Bridget Rodgers

g Bridget Rodgers fightin Fin low Yel g .5k 42 the Tuna.

T

rawling the current 100 km from land nothing but crystal Blue Ocean surrounding us.

Visibility clear, full sun, sea temperature 21 degrees, the lines are rigged and ready.

Playing the waiting game entertainment comes in the form of an abundant amount of marine life. Huge schools of dolphins weaving at speed spinning in and out of the waves around us, killer whales and flocks of gannets and albatross circle us.

Further amused by laying a few small wagers on first fish, size and just about anything else we can find to keep ourselves diverted with.

Then the sound we have been waiting for “Zizz” a line runs.

Ladies first, I race for the rod it’s an 80 pound reel and I realise if it’s a big fish this might prove to be quite a fight. Not

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disappointed after about half an hours battle, at times wondering if the fish or me was going win, me over or him I manage to get him close enough for the boys to gaff, he’s on board still fighting to the death a big Yellow Fin tuna, another round of wagers on weight only to be determined later on the scales at St Francis Port proves not only have I won the closest weight but weighing in at 42.5kg this Yellow Fin Tuna is the St Francis Rod Reel and Boat Club Ladies record and pending Eastern Cape ladies record off an 80 pound line.

I consider myself extremely fortunate yet again to have been on board such an awesome boat Inyathi with experienced skipper Tim Christy, St Francis Safaris and an absolute team of gems looking after me.

This is an experience not to be missed.

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SUNDAYS RIVER Bursting With Lure Action Words/pics: Malan Horak

PART1:

Malan Horak with a Grunter caught on leadhead.

I

phoned up a good friend and fishing partner of mine , Ruaan Watson , asking him if he would be my skipper if I were to come and test some new leadheads that I had let made from Springbok hair. The conditions were perfect and there was action from the word go.

Leadheads were definitely on the menu and our retrieves were seldom left alone.

The first spot we chose to drift had a shallow sandbank of 0.8 metres and a steep drop off which led to a 3.2 metre hole, perfect for ambush predators like Kabeljou and Leervis. With my first cast I felt the distinctive light taps of a young Leervis chasing and hitting my lure. Another few jerks and the leervis just could not resist the leadhead imitating an injured baitfish. Vas on

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the first cast, leervis number one in under a minute! We quickly set up the anchor and landed another 5 Leervis in 20 minutes.

The leervis started to come off the bite and we decided to slow down our retrieve, yet again producing good results. We managed to hook up on a small Kabeljou and a big gurnard. I was also pleasantly surprised to hook a Grunter on exactly the same lure I used for the Gurnard , Kabeljou and Leervis. Showing that they did not completely disappear, we quickly landed another two Leervis.

We decided to go down to the mouth area, where on a previous outing , we caught 14 Leervis on Strike Pro Thai Sticks and predator plugs, to put some dropshots to the test. Armed with a 4 inch McArthy goldfish coloured jerk shad, Ruaan landed 3

Malan with a Leervis caught on leadhed.

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fair sized Gurnards in a row. I then rushed to his side with a 3 inch Berkley chartreuse minnow , hooking a Leervis right on the first cast. The Leervis started to go off the bite on the dropshots, but we managed to land 3 more on surface poppers with the Rapala X-Rap doing the most damage.

What an experience it was to be able to catch that many fish and releasing them all and also tagging a Leervis. The total for the trip was eleven Leervis, a Kob, a Grunter and three Gurnard. It is amazing that you can catch a wide range of species on the same lure and every lure fisherman should invest in some nice leadheads and take the time to learn how to work them properly. I guarantee that you will enjoy every moment of it!

Next month in part 2, I will take you through the tackle, the rig, the retrieve and what lures are working.

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Malan Horak with a River Gurnard caught on dropshot.

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K A Y A K CORNER FISHING

With: Brett Armstrong

What an amazing month, summer is coming and I am amazed at how many people in this area have fishing kayaks. It’s great to see so many guys getting ready for summer.

PROJECT STEALTH SUPALITE: This last month has seen the beginning of our Project Stealth Supalite Fishing Kayak.

The Supalite range of fishing kayaks have proven time and time again that they are amongst the most popular fishing kayaks around. Stable and light (From 23kg) and ready for action straight off the shelf. Great for launching and landing through rough surf. I decided that I would turn my brand new standard Supalite into an extreme kayak ready for action in both offshore and inland waters. The first stage of our 16

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customizing was to remove the standard paddle protection pad and replace it with my custom Hydro-Turf Snow Camo traction matting supplied by my good friends and sponsors in the USA. This matt transforms the look of the kayak, but at the same time offers superior traction, protection and practicality. In line with this I fitted the same protective matting to the rear section behind the seating. Two new rod holders were installed here as well. These two rod holders are perfect for trawling, but at the same stage offer ideal place for just storage of rods or even your catch net.

Another modification I did was to prepare a small storage hatch for small tackle, cell phone and a chocolate or two. This flush mounted hatch was relatively simple to

install, but it’s best to let someone experienced do it. Once you have cut – it’s done, no turning back. The storage hatch is sealed and bolted in and very secure. This little hatch is perfectly positioned for ease of use.

One element of offshore fishing is to protect your tools and accessories with leashes against losing them overboard and also for just keeping them handy. I installed to small saddles either side of the small hatch.

This is to secure my fish gripper and knife.

The positioning is perfect and secure. As far as rod holders are concerned, I believe my setup allows for any possible variable, with two rear side options, two rear seat options and two side front options. In addition to this you will notice I have placed a bait-up rod holder on the fish hatch lid. This is awesome for baiting up and I believe the perfect place for it as well. I have placed a convenient cup hold on the left of this bait-up rod holder. This is not so much for a refreshing drink, but more the perfect shape and size to store a few bits of tackle and cotton in while out at sea or even a few mud prawns when fishing on the rivers. In next month’s edition, I will show you how to mount a Fish Finder and GPS, anchor trolley system as well as a few other in-hatch options on how to secure your rods while launching through the waves in the search of that big fish.

PHOTO COMPETITION: Please send photos in of your catches from your kayak and stand a chance to win a hamper in our Kayak Corner Competition.

I trust this information was helpful, but for more information, submissions or questions, please email me on: brettflip@gmail.com FEC | November 2014

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KAROO RIVER Fly Fishing Adventure

Words: Alan Hobson

a Alan Hobson with ught good size trout ca in the Karoo.

No, I have not been smoking Karoo bush or been in the sun too long as I can see that perplexed look on your face of complete disbelief, there isn’t water let alone fish and Trout, you must be joking? Hundreds of years ago the Karoo was one huge marshland where Dinosaur like reptiles used to roam and more recently Hippopotamus who scoured pools below rocky out crops, specifically in the Little 18

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Fish River system. The irony is that the water disappears underground before being pushed back to the surface by these strata of rocky out crops along the river, resulting in deep pools within the river.

The fact that the water is mostly underground means that it is cooled by Mother Earth allowing suitable conditions and habitat for Trout. These conditions don’t allow them to breed, hence they need to

Bradley with a trout caught in the Karoo.

be stocked and managed like a still water, providing some rather unusual fly fishing.

Bradley was of similar opinion to you, so he decided to come and experience this phenomenon first hand. After an evening of fly tying at Nigel’s bar, housed in a hundred year old church, now the culinary centre of the Angler and Antelope Guest house in Somerset East, he spent some time in the old confessional, not admitting to how many single whiskies he had sampled from the collection in excess of fifty, but in the well-stocked fly shop quenching his desire for fishing gadgets.

With a hearty breakfast under the belt we headed for Swaershoek, the valley of the source of the Little Fish River system.

The journey becomes an adventure as we stopped on several occasions to view several Antelope. It is a free game drive on the way to the waters sighting trophy Sable, Buffalo, Giraffe, Lechwe, Kudu, Springbuck, Impala, Arabian Oryx, Waterbuck, Zebra, Wildebeest, etc., our best count on a day tallies 21 different species. Yes, Bradley did fall for my party trick, rubbernecking as we stopped on one of the bridges about 5 kilometres from where we fish, pointing to the dry river bed and saying “this is where the trophy fish are”.

Winding our way past some sheep kraals we came upon the river, which was a mere trickle, Bradley asked “so is this it?” As we FEC | November 2014

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drove out the river bed and parked next to some Lucerne lands I said “yes!� We kitted up and battled through the river thickets as the sound of running water increased our anticipation before being greeted by a big pool guarded by overhanging Willow and Karee trees. These pools are usually three to five meters deep, we lengthened our leaders to twelve feet and attached a bead head CDC marabou and copper adding some tungsten putty to the leader for extra weight. Negotiating the growth around us we got our flies into the water, not long and Bradley had his first Karoo river trout 30cm. Being the gentleman Bradley let me catch one too, we then drove further down river to a forest of huge Cape Beech trees that provided cool relief from the blazing Karoo sun. No adventure in the veldt is complete without a bush braai during which we strategized our approach, #14 mayfly nymph twitched actively to kick it to life swimming faster than the river current. The pools we fished were a few hundred meters apart, upon hearing

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a noise that sounded like a Reedbuck in distress I realised it was Bradley shouting for help, I ran to take his picture of another good Trout. Several minutes later Bradley must have thought the same as I hollered for his camera skills, netting a beauty of 1,5kg. The fact that these waters have produced the unofficial South African record for the biggest Rainbow Trout caught in a river, a massive 6,48kg and the environment that is completely unexpected and different makes wild fly fishing in the Karoo a great adventure.

W W W. A N G L E R A N DA N T E LO P E . CO. Z A

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TACKLE TALK halco c-gar

The Halco C-Gar is a weighted stick bait, designed for use on surface or sub surface.

The lure action is less splashy than a popper yet still produces enough surface action to entice a strike from a wary fish, looking for an easy meal.

Voted best hard bodied lure at AFTA trade show 2014.

Featuring heavy duty Mustad 1/0 trebles and the lure is 120mm long and weighs 40g for long casts into strong headwinds. www.tackletraders.co.za

mad mullet multi purpose pliers Made from machined aluminium so no more rust.

- split ring opener - Tungsten carbide cutters - Cuts braid, mono and fluorocarbon - 140mm and weighs 65g www.madmullet.co.za

mcarthy baits paddle tails The McArthy Paddle Tail Saltwater Bait is perfect for drop shot fishing in SA waters as it has been designed and manufactured locally in South Africa. These baits look, feel and move like live bait in the water. www.mcarthybaits.co.za

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X TIPS O B T I A B

THE

DINGLE DANGLE DOUBLE HOOK This bait setup is very good when using circle hooks as your hook is left open for a good hook-up.

Words/pics: Daron Parker

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You need bite trace wire, foam, 1 large bead, 1 small bead, piece of tubing or heat shrink, circle hook and small J-hook.

Twist loop in the trace wire, then thread on half a bead followed by foam then other half of bead.

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Twist the trace wire to secure your J-hook on the other end.

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Then thread half of a small bead onto the circle hook, thread hook through tubing and then another half bead.

Sponsored by SPARGS MALL BEACON BAY 043 711 7700

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Use the J-hook end to hook your sinker when casting.

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Cut the tail and head off of a Sardine.

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Then cut the boddy into four strips. Then cotton these strips around the foam.

The final product.

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CATCH & WIN Angler: Alan & Thelma Jonker Species: Pignose Grunter Location: Jeffreys Bay Bait: Pinkprawn/bloodworm Size: 8kg & 6kg Released: No

Angler: Gerhard Le Roux Species: Kob Location: Bluewater Bay Bait: Live Mullet Size: 19.5kg Released: No

Angler: Stuart Davis Species: Spotted Grunter Location: Nahoon River Bait: Mudprawn Size: 67cm Released: No

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

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Angler: Ti Plessis Species: B Location: Bait: Sard Size: 46cm Released:

October Winner Angler: Daryn Russon Species: Bronze Bream Location: Jacaranda Bait: Pink Prawn Size: 4.5kg Released: No

Daryn wins himself a Daiwa peak and 2 packs of McArthy baits.

imothy & Arnold Du

Blue Rays : Chintsa dine & Squid m and 52cm : Yes

Angler: Taygon Mauer Species: Black Steenbras Location: Christmas Rock Bait: Squid & Sardine Size: 45cm 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 | November 2014

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TIDE CHART November 2014 Information supplied by the Hydrographer SA Navy The Hydrographer is not responsible for any transcription errors.

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BAMBA

SYNERGY

CHUMANI

BUDDY

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