South African Fishing

Red bait is most probably the most common bait used in the Western Cape to target galjoen.  Red bait is a good bait to use when the sea is rough with lots of wave action.

Galjoen are at their best in rough foamy water with lots of oxygen.  However if the water is too rough this is not good either.  At times like this the sea will have a lot of pull in the wave action, move away immediately and find water that is deeper with less pull making it easier to present your bait.

With the water being much stronger with lots of foam the smelly red bait is much easier for the galjoen to find than your smaller worm baits.  The angler should also note that the water is not to cold, no galjoen likes a shriveled up piece of bait, these fish prefer a softer well presented bait.

The colour of the water should ideally be a milky brown or a dirty green colour similar to cob water.  The calmer the water the fresher your red bait can be, also a good time to use your worm baits again.  Red bait is better in the winter months when the winter storms break the red bait heads off the rocks causing them to lie on the ocean floor and rot making an easy meal for the ever hungry galjoen. When this happens the galjoen will focus on finding red bait only.

Many fishermen have been dumbstruck by this phenomenon where they have had the freshest worms and don’t get a single bite while the bloke next to them are pulling them out one after the other, these fish are focused on the red bait only.

Mooi visse Gert, vertel ons so bietjie waar jy hulle gevang het, ek is seker die ander manne wil ook weet.  Behalwe as dit natuurlik ‘n geheim is.

This book was written by Ivor Whitley and Pat Garrat and was first published in 1989.  It covers the entire South African coastline.

The book is a must for any serious angler, with tackle tips, bait tips where and how as well as all the most popular towns and their most well known fishing spots. 

The book is a little dated with regulations having changed over the last couple of years but is still worth buying with all the Towns and fishing spots being well marked. 

I have owned my copy for many years and often make use of it when going on holiday to new and exiting seaside towns.

Conditions for galjoen are ideal when the following factors come into play; colour of the water, foamy water, constant even breaking waves, water temperature, washed open holes, proximity of rocks and the wind direction.  The galjoen fisherman may have the best bait and tackle available, but if the conditions are not favourable his chances are dramatically reduced.

The sea must have a lot of wave action that will in turn ensure adequate oxygen in the water causing the ever evasive galjoen to become very active.  A calm sea with little or no foamy water will cause the water to have less oxygen thus sending the galjoen off to find a more suitable place to feed.  The waves need to roll in evenly with a constant white foam to be classified as ideal galjoen water.

Galjoen prefer the water to be slightly discoloured with some wave action, should the water be too clear and transparent you can be sure no galjoen will be around.  A dirty green milky colour seems to be the colour preferred by the galjoen.  The ideal water temperature for galjoen fishing is between 15º and 19º Celsius.  Should the water be too cold the fish will go off the bite, too warm water will not have enough oxygen and also cause them to go off the bite.

Most experienced fishermen will avoid going fishing should the sea be to rough.  Huge swells running in smashing against the rocks followed by the water pulling back leaving the area you wanted to fish all but dry is not the way to spend your free time.  With this type of sea condition there is usually free floating kelp that is bound to find your line and cause many break offs and possibly even a broken rod for good measure.  Your sinker and bait will not be in the same place long enough for you to stand a chance of hooking a fish.  Move away from this area and try and find deeper water with some protection in small bays that will not be hammered by the surf,  by doing this you will find the galjoen has done the same and luck could be on your side with a fish or two.

There are areas along our coast where stronger water is referred, usually shallow rocky areas like Pearly Beach and Rietfontein that only allow galjoen to come into the shallow areas when there is a strong sea breaking over these areas.

Most fishermen prefer calmer seas with waves running in evenly in threes and fours.  This causes only slight waves to hit the rocks with only enough strength to wash around rocky outcrops causing small worms and bits of food to be washed free attracting feeding galjoen.  The water should not be to calm, there must be some foam breaking to ensure sufficient oxygen in the area being fished. 

The galjoen fisherman is always on the lookout for holes that have opened up, this is caused by rough seas washing open areas that have been covered by sand for some time exposing small black mussels, worms etc.  Keep a look out for are rocky areas exposed after storms, shale and bits of rock washed up on a beach, beach areas with higher embankments  and steep drop offs should indicate good areas to fish for galjoen and other fish like steenbras.

  Should you however only get to the water on a higher tide be on the lookout for areas  where the waves tend to sit while rolling in on either side leaving a darker area that is deeper than the surrounding area.  These areas will have a darker blue colour to them, by casting your sinker into these holes you should feel a rocky bottom when slowly retrieving your line.  The moment you feel your sinker touch an object under the water let it stay there for a couple of minutes, any fish in the area is bound to pick up your bait.  Try casting your bait into this area for another 30 minutes or so, if you don’t feel a fish move to another spot, the hole has been open for to long or the fish are not feeding in the area at the moment, maybe try the spot later on in the day on a different tide.

Fishermen will know that wind plays a large role in catching most fish, this is also true for galjoen fishing.  Most fishermen will agree that fishing when the wind is howling is no fun at all, your line gets blown into a bow that makes it just about impossible to feel a bite unless the fish takes the bait all the way down hooking itself.

However wind is extremely important to bring about the necessary cycle in weather that is needed to bring favourable fishing weather.  The cycle usually runs over a 7 day period starting with lovely sunny weather with no wind and bright blue ocean, no galjoen would be caught near the shallower areas. On day 2 the North Westerly wind starts blowing up a gale, the water still has the pale blue colour to it, making it very unpleasant for fishing. 

On the 3rd day it usually starts raining causing the North Wester to slacken and turn to a South Westerly wind.  Large swells run inshore bringing about a very rough foamy shore line.  The sea is to rough to fish.

The 4th day will have scattered showers with a light southerly wind, the water will still be very rough with lots of loose floating kelp and strong side washes making it impossible to fish.

Day 5 will have a Strong South Easterly wind blowing, flattening the sea.  Water colour has improved and waves are foaming through evenly in 2s and 3s, the water temperature has gone up making it a very good fishing day.

Day 6 will have a light South Easterly blowing, sunny skies.  Waves are breaking evenly close to shore bringing feeding fish into the tidal zone within casting distance.  Good fish should be taken.

On day 7 a light North Easterly wind blows causing the water to start changing.  The water looses its colour and gets colder making the fish go off the bite. 

The 5th of May was competition day in Hermanus again.  46 Anglers took part in what turned out to be a very nice day for fishing in Hermanus.  I never got around  to getting bait the day before and knew it was going to be a problem with the tide only being low at about 10.45 the morning.

Being spring tide I thought it would be possible to get to the bait a little earlier, so at  about 9 o’clock we got going to get some worms in the Voêlklip area. 

On the way we contacted our friend Andre Lourens to hear whether they had had any luck so far, luck, they had just about cleaned up and were on their way home already having caught 10 galjoen between them, only keeping the four biggest galjoen of course.

The one fish Andre had caught earlier the morning was a whopping 49cm, a huge fish and we knew it would take a special fish to beat this one, the other fish were only just size but could be in the prizes with the sea having picked up somewhat.

We managed to get our bait sorted in no time and made a couple of casts around the Rowweklip area.  The tide was getting low very quickly now and was kicking up a lot of sand in the holes around Rowweklip.  It soon became evident that most of the holes were closed up, covered by sand.  The most worrying factor to me was the pull the water seemed to have in it, filling right up and then emptying out in the next couple of waves again, this is not good for any kind of fishing.

We decided to move to spots under the cliffs where the water was much deeper, Blaas Gat was where we made our next cast with huge swells running in from the South West making it impossible to fish, every cast was washed under the rocks and broken off, not my idea of a nice days fishing.  My pal Yster persisted a while longer longer losing tackle, so I decided to move 50 meters or so to the right where there was more of a protected bay that would not take the full brunt of the waves running in.

The two youngsters had been fishing the bay for about a half a hour while I was losing tackle on every cast, with no luck.  My first two casts resulted in lost tackle again when I saw Yster packing up, my thinking was to make one more cast while I waited for him to catch up and then move on to who knows where in this weather.

I was just about to pull up when I felt the familiar tap tap of a galjoen on the end of my line and then, vas, fish on, and it felt like a decent fish to.  The fish was giving me quite a hard time diving towards the rock and kelp beds when I saw another huge wave approaching, I knew this galjoen had to be lifted out right away or be lost, being my very light graphite rod and a lift out of the water of about 6 or 7 meters it was all or nothing.  Luckily I had hooked the galjoen good and solid with the no 1 Mustad hook in the top jaw and managed to lift it onto the ledge next to me just as the wave hit the rocks, a very nice specimen of about 1.5 kg.

Needless to say we decided to stay a while longer knowing these fish usually swim in groups of three or four and some times tend to move in larger shoals.  The girls joined us on the rocks making for very interesting fishing, lines everywhere getting stuck and breaking off, total chaos.  Six of us casting into the same area the fish had been caught in, oh man. I did feel a few more fish but did not manage to hook up again.

A little later we packed up and moved off to the Boiling pot, Yster had heard they were catching many good sized Bronze Bream the week before so we had to give it a shot with nothing else happening on the galjoen front, and 4 hours to go before lines up.  He managed to land one Bronze Bream and lose lots and lots of tackle before the day came to an end at 4 o’clock.

I got a message to pick up a galjoen my friend Brian McFarlane had caught at Voêlklip earlier that morning.  He had a golf game on and thought he might be in the prizes with his fish.  We met a couple of the guys at the weigh in for a some cold beers and lots of laughs whilst waiting for the rest of the guys to come in.

We had a huge fire going for all the hungry fishermen, being sure they would like a nice boerewors roll after a long days hard fishing.  Most the guys had a reasonable days fishing considering the weather they had to endure. A total of 11 galjoen and one cob of 7.5 kg were weighed in, unfortunately Gerhard van Wyk who caught the cob was not in time to weigh his fish and be in line for what would have been first prize.

First prize went to Andre Lourens, a galjoen of 2.5 kg, second prize Denis Helfrich, galjoen 1.44 kg and the heaviest bag went to Hein Engelbrecht, 2 galjoen weighing 2.66 kg.

The club is planning to have a carp fishing family day on one of the farms in Bot river within the next couple of weeks, it will be new to most of our members but should be lots of fun.  We are planning to tag a fish and put a nice cash prize up for who ever manages to catch it again.

TUFFED STUMPNOSE ON THE BRAAI
 

                             800 g stumpnose gutted and scaled
 

                        Stuffing:   ½ red pepper, cut into thin strips
                        ½ green pepper, cut into thin strips
                        1 spring onion, thinly sliced
                        zest and juice of 1 lemon
                        1 clove garlic finely crushed
                        1 round feta cheese, crumbled
                        Salt and pepper
                        30 ml olive oil
 

·        Rinse the cleaned fish under cold running water and pat dry
·        Mix together peppers, onion, lemon zest and juice, garlic and feta cheese
·        Season with salt and pepper
·        Scoop the stuffing into the open cavity of the fish
·        Brush the skin with olive oil
·        Place the stuffed fish on the grill over hot coals and braai for 10 – 12 mins, turning once
·        Remove from grill and serve with boiled baby potatoes and a crisp green salad

FISH FLAN
 

Flop proof!!
 

                             ½ pkt savoury biscuits
                             ¼ cup melted butter
 

·        Crumble biscuits and pour butter oven
·        Leave to soak in
·        Place in 30cm flan dish
·        Bake 190º for 30 mins
 

250 g cooked fish – salmon, snoek or kingklip
2 medium onions, chopped and sauteed in 1 T butter
2 large eggs
1 T flour
¼ t sugar
2 T lemon juice
Dash Tabasco
Salt to taste
2 c grated cheese
 

·        Mix altogether EXCEPT 1 cup cheese
·        Dish mixture into prepared flan
·        Sprinkle cheese on top
·        Bake 30 min at 190º
·        Serve with tomato salad

HERB BUTTER
 

                            
250 g soft butter
3 T chopped fresh herbs
2 cloves crushed garlic
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
 

·        Whizz ingredients together in a food processor until blended.
·        Turn out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper
·        Wrap up and freeze until hard
·        Roll into a sausage shape
·        Freeze until hard
 

Variation:
 

          Anchovy butter:  Omit herbs and blend in 8 – 10 anchovies instead

TIPS FOR BRAAIING FISH
 

·        A hinged grid is ideal for braaiing fish, especially when the fish requires turning
·        Oil both the grid and the fish to prevent sticking
·        Always try to use fresh fish as the texture and flavour  will be better
·        If using frozen fish, make sure it is completely defrosted before braaiing
·        Fish should be braaied over a medium heat
·        To check your fire, hold your hand over the fire, about 20 cm above the coals and count the seconds before you  take your hand away.  Medium heat – 4 to 6 secs and hot 3 – 4 secs
·        Fish is ready as soon as the flesh turns opaque, about 8 minutes for fillets and longer for whole fish
·        Season your fish with salt and pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs
·        If the fish is whole, stuff the herbs into the body cavity
·        Serve immediately after removing from the braai

BEER BATTERED FISH
 

                             400 g fresh firm fish (such as hake or kingklip)
                            
                             Batter:  1 egg
                             75 ml self-raising flour
                             150 ml beer
                             15 ml lemon juice
                             Salt and black pepper
                             5 ml parsley
                             500 ml oil for frying
 

·        Cut the fish fillets into small strips and pat dry with paper towels
·        Make the batter by whisking together self-raising flour, beer and lemon juice
·        Favour the batter with salt, pepper and parsley
·        Dunk the strips in the batter until completely covered
·        Heat the oil over medium heat
·        Remove the fish strips from the batter and deep fry for about 2 - 4 minutes
·        Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel to dry
·        Serve with mayonnaise