TACTICS
Hooked on False Bay Fishing
The author with a kob caught in front of the Strandfontein pavilion. By Donavan Cole
K
OB is probably my ver y favorite species to catch in the bay even though I will often return mombak. I still ask myself why I bother when I come back empty-handed, but those trips when we find the fish after the persistence makes it all worthwhile. What I love most about catching them is that when a fish take the bait you never know if it’s a 1kg or a 20kg specimen. The kob caught in the bay are often
undersize (under 50cm) and most of the time you will throw back ten undersize fish for every one that is above the legal size limit of 50cm, but then you’ll find quite a few fish between 3kg and 12kg. Bigger fish are not uncommon, but around 20kg is the biggest that you will encounter. WHEN AND WHERE I will mainly be discussing fishing the areas accessible when launching from the western side of False Bay at Simonstown or Millers Point.
In False Bay kob are predominately caught during the summer months, with catches starting around early October when the south-easterly winds start blowing and warming up the water in the bay. These winds will also start churning up the water creating the milky brown “kob water” that is seen inshore along the stretch between Muizenberg and Gordon’s Bay. A change of wind direction will, however, change conditions pretty quickly. When the wind swings more to the east this “kob water” will be pushed SKI-BOAT March/April 2020 • 31
