Author Topic: Spinning for Kob (Read 80614 times)

Tommo · « **on:** March 29, 2011, 09:27:30 PM »

SPINNING FOR KOB IN THE SURF
BY Craig Thomassen
2004
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Other names: Kabeljou, Salmon, Daga.

Where found:
Kob occur all around the South African coastline, with peaks in different areas at certain times of year. They prefer cool water and are rarely encountered higher up the coast than Sodwana Bay. Kob are tolerant of low salinities and readily move into rivers to feed. Juvenile fish will often live in estuaries until they grow large enough to move into the sea.

Seasons:
Kob can be caught year round in the Cape and Eastern Cape, with a peak over July and August. In Natal and Zululand kob can be caught in summer, but winter is the period of peak activity for these fish. They are more plentiful along the Natal coast during the annual sardine run.

Size: Kob grow to in excess of 70 kg.

Natural history:
Kob are a shoaling fish, which prefer to hunt in low light or dirty water. They have an advanced lateral line system, which makes them efficient hunters in bad visibility and gives them an advantage over their prey. Their sense of vibration is so good that they are often able to find a moving artificial lure more efficiently than a still bait. Kob are normally found over sand on the edges of reefs. River mouths are another good place to target these fish, as well as in sand gully formations behind sandbanks along beaches. At night or in dirty water they will move very close in and hunt in the sand trenches right behind the shorebreak at times.

How to catch Kob:
Kob will take slow moving lures, especially those that swim near or on the bottom with lots of vibration. Spoons retrieved slowly so that they bump the bottom occasionally are successful for this fish, as are weighted swimming plugs, also retrieved fairly slowly. Swimming plugs with rattles have an advantage over those without. Leadhead jigs, dressed either with bucktail, or preferably with a plastic grubtail or fish body with plenty of vibration are also succesful, especially if worked slowly and allowed to make plenty of contact with the bottom. Yellow seems to be the best colour for plastics when fishing for kob. Obviously when using lures and making contact with the bottom one should try and fish over sand, otherwise you will lose lures. Lure fishing at night is particularly successful for kob. There are anglers in the Eastern Cape who specialize in throwing lures for kob at night with great success. When fishing swimming plugs over scattered reef and sand it is advisable to use a floating swimming plug, weighted with lead wire wrapped around the shanks of the hooks. The plug should be weighted so that it still floats when at rest. This means that if the lure runs into rock the angler can immediately stop retrieving and the lure will float up, enabling the angler to carefully draw it over the rocks. When using weighted plugs, use plugs equipped with a big lip, preferably concave in shape. The added weight robs lures of most of their action, big lipped lures retain a certain amount of action, whereas small lipped lures tend to run straight once weighted, with very little wobble to attract fish. When planning to fish at night for kob it is a good idea to visit the spots where you plan to fish during daylight for a recconaisance. Get a clear picture of where the holes are and where there are rocks. Learn the layout of the area with particular emphasis on your own safety in the dark. Things tend to look very different at night.

Status:
Kob are a collapsed fishery from a commercial point of view. The big breeding stock fish have been targeted for years by commercials and recreational anglers alike. The bigger kob don’t taste good anyway, the flesh is rather coarse, smaller Kob of between two and five kilos are the best eating. Do yourself and all other fishermen of the future a favour and release the big fish so that they can breed and restock our waters.

SAfish · « **Reply #1 on:** March 29, 2011, 09:57:14 PM »

Thanks for sharing.

fedu · « **Reply #2 on:** March 29, 2011, 11:07:08 PM »

YES, YES, YES!!!!

First class article, so many very true statements.

"...........Kob are normally found over sand on the edges of reefs
...................
especially those that swim near or on the bottom with lots of vibration.
........................
Yellow seems to be the best colour for plastics when fishing for kob........................."

It's allways a pleasure to read from people willing to share and with proper hands on experience that think about fishing

Fritz · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2011, 04:46:09 AM »

Thanks Tommo for sharing that info. It has been a dream of mine to catch some kob on lure this season. I will actively try for them in my upcoming trips into the Transkei.

Kumz · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2011, 07:06:02 AM »

Tommo .....

Have sum Cred ....

....

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #5 on:** March 30, 2011, 08:37:19 AM »

Awesome article Tommo! I have had a bit of success with and orange and black halco sorcerer, fishing it in about 2.5 meters of water very slowly at night, it occassionally hits the bottom but the juvenile Kob smash it!

Proppie · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2011, 09:47:51 AM »

Goeie stukkie skryf werk, DANKIE

pawn · « **Reply #7 on:** March 30, 2011, 10:12:42 AM »

Thanks Tommo, great article, glad to have the info now to target the Hob, can't wait.

J-Rock · « **Reply #8 on:** March 30, 2011, 10:19:54 AM »

Great article. Enjoyed it.

Sailor · « **Reply #9 on:** March 30, 2011, 01:53:03 PM »

Yes great post. Thanks Tommo.

craigb · « **Reply #10 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:25:21 PM »

wow.Dont think ive ever learnt so much from one article.

.Cant wait for those winter nights

for salmon.

1309sg · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2011, 09:12:55 AM »

Great article Tommo. Back to basics and just reminds me why I have been struggling for cob on artificials!

Milky · « **Reply #12 on:** September 07, 2011, 02:56:41 PM »

Just wanna say thx for all the info. Have been targeting Cob for a while now, but with no luck. Have been reading alot of the stories on the forum about where, how and when on diffirent species. I am very exited to try and catch the big one.

Many thx for sharing.

REEFMAN · « **Reply #13 on:** September 07, 2011, 04:05:08 PM »

Milky! Keep us posted on your quest!

deezynking · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2011, 04:24:07 PM »

:shre:

Manuel Junior · « **Reply #15 on:** September 07, 2011, 04:26:21 PM »

:shre:

krissi · « **Reply #16 on:** September 07, 2011, 06:09:59 PM »

wonderful article Tommo - this is why I enjoy this forum. Can any guys expand on targeting them with baits for those of us who don't use artificials and the use of beads with baits - yes or no? Apologies if this topic has been covered

Kaspaas · « **Reply #17 on:** November 03, 2011, 10:19:28 AM »

I read the article with interest. Having targeted cob with natural bait all the time I have never bothered taking note of the lures used for Cob and where to actually target Cob with lures in my neck of the woods, being the Cape Town area.

I very recently received a Berkley 9' Air Extreme Super Heavy spinning rod (cast weight 3/4 oz to 4 oz) from that incredible magazine, Rock, surf & deep (lucky Sept 2011 Readers Catches winner). I made a couple of casts this weekend at Melkbosstrand's beach near my home and I was impressed with the way the rod performed.

But this brings me to my dilemma. I caught a number of Garrick and Shad in Angola on spinners, plugs and some dropshot during my trip there last year but has since never tried it locally. Where can one target Cob in the Cape Town area? My impression is that one would need to have access to deeper water and preferably without too much obstructions that could snag your lures. Anyone care to assist in this regard?

Birtles · « **Reply #18 on:** February 04, 2013, 02:12:25 PM »

Great Article Tommo!
i am very interested by this! Tommo you mentioned that kob grow in excess of 70Kgs so what kinda setup would you need to ensure you wont get horribly embarresed if you do come across on of those?? and im sure the setup would cost an arm and a leg but i am really curious to learn more about this.

Debbie · « **Reply #19 on:** July 17, 2015, 01:37:27 PM »

Great article, thanks Tommo

Author Topic: Spinning for Kob (Read 80614 times)

J-Rock

Milky