South African Fishing

The winter weather is still in full swing in the Western Cape with storms and rough seas being the order of the day.  A good couple of rather large Galjoen were caught at Baard se Gat in SchulpHoek, Sandbaai this weekend. Redbait is what the Galjoen like on this spot.  The more mature the better, White Mussel also works here but not as well as the Red Bait.

How to get to Baard se Gat?? This is where you have to be carefull guys, this is a very dangerous area to fish in.  Zwelihle the Hermanus Township lies right next to the SchulpHoek Road that runs from CTM Tiles right down to the sea.   There is a little stream that flows over the gravel road as you enter this no go zone, about 100 meters further on there is a gully going diagonally into the sea, you can’t miss it.  This is where you have to be very aware, the Blacks come through the bush right next to the road to rob and hassle you.  It is better to avoid this fishing spot completely as I am sure no number of Galjoen are worth your life.  The local fisherman usually go there in numbers, this seems to keep most of the kids that worry you away.  A fishing tackle bag was stolen this weekend by some of the very same little brats.

In the past many uninformed people have been mugged there, some threatened at gun and knife point.  Baard se Gat is usually unfishable due to all the kelp that ends up in the corner of the bay in any case.  In the old days, about 5 years ago this area used  to produce the biggest Crayfish as well, sad, but one of the things we get use to I suppose.

The rest of Walker Bay produced very little fish in the last week or two, the fishing holes have still not washed open.  The North Westerly winds have not been blowing much so the water is cold and very clear. For now it seems the Galjoen and Steenbras have moved off, hopefully to be back in the very near future.

Now is the time to be cleaning reels, replacing old line and getting all your tackle ready for the fish that I know will be back in the not too distant future.

How about the weather this last weekend awesome stuff, my luck was out no fish at all unless I get to count the three Rockcod (klipvis) that I landed.The wind was howling and I am quite sure it was close to 0º out there on the beach.

All the spots at Soetfontein and Pearly beach looked really good, except for the kelp floating around in every hole.New deep holes seemed to have opened up since last week still no fish.  Redbait white mussel and wonder worm produced no fish.

Christie my fishing mate in Pearly Beach was once again the man of the weekend managing 8 good sized Galjoen for Saturday and Sunday.All the fish taken on well matured Red bait.

I also heard of a Cob of 8 kg being caught at Buffeljags, this must be one of the last fish in the area as they seemed to have disappeared for now.Probably taken on White mussel?

Hermanus Plaat still has a lot of activity, Galjoen being caught at Robpolletjie and Die Polle.Brian McFarlane managed to land 1 Steenbras of 3 kg on Bloodworm at the Polle before the rain and wind chased him home.

In Hermanus the water was as rough, 2 Galjoen being caught at the Windsor Hotel on Red bait.

It seems to me as if the Galjoen prefers the Red bait when the water is rough, the more rotten the better.

Lets hope the storms keep coming, roughing up the seas.

Snow on the mountains, overall cold weather, rough seas, perfect weather for the serious galjoen fisherman.  Get the raincoats and OBS (old brown sherry) out guys the fish are going to be wild.

Many of the well known fishing spots on Die Plaat are producing good size galjoen  with the odd steenbras in between.  The fitter guys would be well rewarded to take the long walk from the Kleinrivier mond to Die Polle and Steenbras gat, good fish have come out.

With the South  Easterly being predicted for Saturday in Hermanus a good bet would be the Rietfontein area, lots of redbait guys, don’t get to this spot without it.

Reports have come in of Musselcracker taking the bait at Pearly Beach, mostly bloodworm meant for steenbras, sizes varying from about 6kgs to 9kgs, all good sized fish that would give most anglers a fight to remember.

There are still lots of Bloodworm in the Kleinrivier lagoon on the opposite side of the caravan park.  Prawn pump in knee deep water is all it takes to get the best bait arround for Steenbras, remember only 5 per person.  Prawn still seems to be plentiful as well.

A request to all anglers, please place all undersized fish back, there is plenty for every one.  If we don,t look after the stocks soon, there will be none left for our children to enjoy when they grow up.

Unfortunately there are a lot of stupid people out there, so lets do our bit to keep the rocks and beaches clean.Fishing line is the biggest killer of birds and small game, so take the time to stop and pick up the lengths of discarded line that seems to be everywhere.

The water along our coast has been very cold for the last 2-3 weeks, in the region of 13 degrees.This is quite strange for this time of the year, the Norh Westerly winds seems to have been having no affect on the temperature of the coastal zones whatsoever.

Fishermen in the Hermanus area have been struggling to get fish to take the bait, some very nice Galjoen in access of 2 kg have been caught though.Steenbras that have been few and far between in Hermanus for many months now are also starting to come on the bite.Many have been picked up while fishing for Galjoen in the gullies with disasterous effect.Most of these fish have broken the guys up, one or two only being landed.

Mossel river, Rykmansklip, Kafferklip and Karwessa have been the hot spots before the cold water came in.Most Galjoen and Steenbras being caught at Rykmans klip and karwessa.Some of these fish actually breaking hooks in the process.

Most of the local fishermen I have spoken to seem to agree that we have not had enough Winter stormy seas yet.This, as most Galjoen fisherman know, is what causes the holes to open up and bring the fish on the bite.

The Hermanus Plaat area has also been very quiet for a long time now. We know this by the absence of the Gansbaai fishermen in the area.Last week however a couple of nice Galjoen were taken on the upper Plaat, also many young undersize fish.

Pearly Beach and Soetfontein area had a lot of fish over the weekend, also mostly the younger fish.The fishermen along that area of the coast all seemed to get a few fish.The water was warm and had the nice ginger beer colour, no cob were seen coming out though.

The guys that were willing to take the longer drive to Rietfontein were not disappointed and caught a couple of nice size Galjoen, allso many undersize fish were returned to the water to fight another day.Redbait being most successful.

News also came in on Monday of a very big Steenbras head washing up at Steenbrasbaai stil bleeding, bitten off behind the head by a shark. It still managed to weigh in at over 9 kg.Exiting stuff, this could just be the sign we have been waiting for, the bigger fish moving into the shallower water.A well cast fresh bloodworm might be just what the doctor ordered?

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