ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website
General Angling Topics => Species targeting articles => Topic started by: Ziggy on August 19, 2013, 06:39:35 PM
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I mentioned elsewhere that I was fishing in Durban harbour when Ezemvelo checked my licence. While checking, the official said that there had been 4 or 5 large garrick caught along the centre bank using maasbanker as live bait.
I saw the guys trolling slowly along the banks. Not having any livebait, I trolled a rapala (I only had a black and grey deep diving one) but had no hits.
What rapalas would be good for garrick? Would throwing a chisel nose plug work? What other options would there be? Can you troll a dead maasbanker or a mackerel?
I found this article which was useful Dummies guide to Leervis Fishing - http://www.boatfishing.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=1033 (http://www.boatfishing.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=1033)
Any body got some ideas?
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Ziggy, live bait is best, try a mullet if you can't find mozzie, throw a chisel nose plug onto the bank and pull it into the deep, the Garrick tend to eat right on the edge, good luck. I can't wait for them to come into the surf off Lugs,
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Hi Ziggy, yes there has been a few Garrick in the bay and as CLS mentioned the best technique to catch them is with a live bait. If you want live bait and you dont have the option to run out to sea quickly and get s a few is to try your luck in the area close to the NSRI. Just use your fish finder to look for a showing and use your mackerel jigs at the depth of the showing. Normally these bait fish bite early in the morning so it is always good to get there early and secure your bait. Garrick are very fussy, at this time of the year they 99% of the time will only eat a live bait, no plugs or lures will do the trick, obviously there are exceptions but the fish only seem to start eating the lures/plugs towards the end of September and then into October. Not sure why that is on the KZN coast but it is fact.
Once you have secured a few live bait, best to have a trace that is either just a 5/0 type hook directly to your CLEAR mono leader, about 0.65mm is normally thick enough and just drift that live bait about 15 meters behind the boat, slow slow drift, just one motor in gear moving slowing forward. If it is windy you can get your line and just drift with the wind.
Sometimes if the Garrick are not eating off the surface, you can down rig you bait simply with a 3oz bottle sinker and elastic band about 3-4m away from your bait. Just drop this behind the boat as you move away.
Once you have secured your baits and you are happy with the placement, I would focus my troll/drift to the center banks and work the drop-offs.
It is key, you have to make sure that you set the drag on the reels very light. When the fish picks up the bait, he must not be able to feel any resistance or in more cases than not he will drop the bait. Once the Garrick picks up the bait, it is best to let it eat for a while, let it run on free spool for at least 20m before tightening up and setting the hooks.
One of the most favorite fish to catch, an absolute gentleman of the ocean, clean, strong and very fussy.
Hope that helps.......
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Thanks CLS and CASTA
I will try and hunt some livebait in front of the NSRI - and if I dont succeed....I will wait for the right season to get them on lures and plugs
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Ziggy, when you have some time. Pop into see colin roper. He is a master at catching bay garrick and has been doing so for years. He showed me his trace he uses and its extremely simple. Basically 2 hooks, one through the upper lip of your live bait and the second beneath the live bait facing in the opposite direction to the front hook. There is no wire trace used, only monofilament. The leader is about a meter in length and he has a home made set up with the sinker. Basically a barrel sinker with a wire trace through it with loops on either side of the swivel. Thereby having the barrel sinker stationary by the swivel, this also prevents the bait from flipping and keeps it a little deeper in the water. they trawl extremely slow and around the center bank.
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Ziggy, when you have some time. Pop into see colin roper. He is a master at catching bay garrick and has been doing so for years. He showed me his trace he uses and its extremely simple. Basically 2 hooks, one through the upper lip of your live bait and the second beneath the live bait facing in the opposite direction to the front hook. There is no wire trace used, only monofilament. The leader is about a meter in length and he has a home made set up with the sinker. Basically a barrel sinker with a wire trace through it with loops on either side of the swivel. Thereby having the barrel sinker stationary by the swivel, this also prevents the bait from flipping and keeps it a little deeper in the water. they trawl extremely slow and around the center bank.
I saw him catch a nice garrick a few weeks ago - I will pop by and have a chat to him - thanks for the response
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Ziggy, when you have some time. Pop into see colin roper. He is a master at catching bay garrick and has been doing so for years. He showed me his trace he uses and its extremely simple. Basically 2 hooks, one through the upper lip of your live bait and the second beneath the live bait facing in the opposite direction to the front hook. There is no wire trace used, only monofilament. The leader is about a meter in length and he has a home made set up with the sinker. Basically a barrel sinker with a wire trace through it with loops on either side of the swivel. Thereby having the barrel sinker stationary by the swivel, this also prevents the bait from flipping and keeps it a little deeper in the water. they trawl extremely slow and around the center bank.
Michael K - something like this? My father used to use the alternative sinker arrangement to keep the bait from spinning when pulling a live bait offshore(swivel on line side and a kind of haywire twist on the other side)
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One change Ziggy, the second hook faces backwards with the point towards the tail and is set on the bone of the pelvic fins. Me thinks
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Like the bottom one, but hook facing backwards.
He reckons he gets more hook ups that way, he says a garrick takes the fish in head first. So upon striking the bait is not pulled straight out
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Hi Ziggy, yes there has been a few Garrick in the bay and as CLS mentioned the best technique to catch them is with a live bait. If you want live bait and you dont have the option to run out to sea quickly and get s a few is to try your luck in the area close to the NSRI. Just use your fish finder to look for a showing and use your mackerel jigs at the depth of the showing. Normally these bait fish bite early in the morning so it is always good to get there early and secure your bait. Garrick are very fussy, at this time of the year they 99% of the time will only eat a live bait, no plugs or lures will do the trick, obviously there are exceptions but the fish only seem to start eating the lures/plugs towards the end of September and then into October. Not sure why that is on the KZN coast but it is fact.
Once you have secured a few live bait, best to have a trace that is either just a 5/0 type hook directly to your CLEAR mono leader, about 0.65mm is normally thick enough and just drift that live bait about 15 meters behind the boat, slow slow drift, just one motor in gear moving slowing forward. If it is windy you can get your line and just drift with the wind.
Sometimes if the Garrick are not eating off the surface, you can down rig you bait simply with a 3oz bottle sinker and elastic band about 3-4m away from your bait. Just drop this behind the boat as you move away.
Once you have secured your baits and you are happy with the placement, I would focus my troll/drift to the center banks and work the drop-offs.
It is key, you have to make sure that you set the drag on the reels very light. When the fish picks up the bait, he must not be able to feel any resistance or in more cases than not he will drop the bait. Once the Garrick picks up the bait, it is best to let it eat for a while, let it run on free spool for at least 20m before tightening up and setting the hooks.
One of the most favorite fish to catch, an absolute gentleman of the ocean, clean, strong and very fussy.
Hope that helps.......
Top reply!!! Have some :+ cred:
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One change Ziggy, the second hook faces backwards with the point towards the tail and is set on the bone of the pelvic fins. Me thinks
Like this?
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Right position, just reverse the second hook so the point and eye face the tail
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Right position, just reverse the second hook so the point and eye face the tail
liike this?
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:corrct: :happ:
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:corrct: :happ:
thanks! Now I just have to find the maasbankers
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As Castsa said near the NSRI at the harbor mouth early, even if you have to keep them for the incoming tide in the afternoon
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As Castsa said near the NSRI at the harbor mouth early, even if you have to keep them for the incoming tide in the afternoon
like here?
- I assume that a dead bait trolled wont work - so I would have to keep them alive? Or will a dead bait work as well?
- I am also assuming (from your comment) that the incoming tide is when to fish for them?
- I am installing a fish finder - and I assume that should make it easier to find the maasbankers
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As Castsa said near the NSRI at the harbor mouth early, even if you have to keep them for the incoming tide in the afternoon
like here?
- I assume that a dead bait trolled wont work - so I would have to keep them alive? Or will a dead bait work as well?
- I am also assuming (from your comment) that the incoming tide is when to fish for them?
- I am installing a fish finder - and I assume that should make it easier to find the maasbankers
The more alive the better, I change my baits every 10 - 15min.
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We've picked up mozzie on a regular basis when fishing the harbour, the NSRI is great but also try across to the coal terminal. I'm my opinion you need to swim your livie on the shallower side of the drop off on center back on an out going tide.
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As Castsa said near the NSRI at the harbor mouth early, even if you have to keep them for the incoming tide in the afternoon
like here?
- I assume that a dead bait trolled wont work - so I would have to keep them alive? Or will a dead bait work as well?
- I am also assuming (from your comment) that the incoming tide is when to fish for them?
- I am installing a fish finder - and I assume that should make it easier to find the maasbankers
The more alive the better, I change my baits every 10 - 15min.
:corrct: In an estuary system most fish feed more aggressively when the tide is coming in. The area is correct for bait and a fish finder is a must. Look for rips leading into deeper water on the center banks and try get your baits to swim through these areas, as other baitfish congregate there to feed off anything washed off or churned up off the banks and this is where the Greeks in turn hunt for them. Do not be scare of using very small hooks as you should be able to hook and subdue a garrick on small hooks with a long soft pressure fight. I must say often a small treble in the nose like CLS advocates is a good way to go with small baits like Pinkies and Mozzies, feel it out put in the time steal with your eyes and you will catch them sooner than later, who know maybe even a king fish or a queenie at different times of the year :dunno: Tight lines mate
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:corrct: The plot thickens, Corks has been there and done that, so his point is valid, but once again, I would guess a rip is somewhere in the picture ?
We've picked up mozzie on a regular basis when fishing the harbour, the NSRI is great but also try across to the coal terminal. I'm my opinion you need to swim your livie on the shallower side of the drop off on center back on an out going tide.
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:corrct: :happ:
thanks! Now I just have to find the maasbankers
Plenty on the corner by N Shed
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:corrct: In an estuary system most fish feed more aggressively when the tide is coming in. The area is correct for bait and a fish finder is a must. Look for rips leading into deeper water on the center banks and try get your baits to swim through these areas, as other baitfish congregate there to feed off anything washed off or churned up off the banks and this is where the Greeks in turn hunt for them. Do not be scare of using very small hooks as you should be able to hook and subdue a garrick on small hooks with a long soft pressure fight. I must say often a small treble in the nose like CLS advocates is a good way to go with small baits like Pinkies and Mozzies, feel it out put in the time steal with your eyes and you will catch them sooner than later, who know maybe even a king fish or a queenie at different times of the year :dunno: Tight lines mate
thanks - this is very useful - especially since the Greeks hunt the banks too - how did you know I was a Greek? :+ cred:
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:corrct: In an estuary system most fish feed more aggressively when the tide is coming in. The area is correct for bait and a fish finder is a must. Look for rips leading into deeper water on the center banks and try get your baits to swim through these areas, as other baitfish congregate there to feed off anything washed off or churned up off the banks and this is where the Greeks in turn hunt for them. Do not be scare of using very small hooks as you should be able to hook and subdue a garrick on small hooks with a long soft pressure fight. I must say often a small treble in the nose like CLS advocates is a good way to go with small baits like Pinkies and Mozzies, feel it out put in the time steal with your eyes and you will catch them sooner than later, who know maybe even a king fish or a queenie at different times of the year :dunno: Tight lines mate
thanks - this is very useful - especially since the Greeks hunt the banks too - how did you know I was a Greek? :+ cred:
I did not, we call them Greeks LOL, I think Cork's approach is sound in that the smaller fish attracted onto the banks to feed during high tide, become more compact as the water receedes on a dropping tide and they eventually have to be washed off into the deep, again rips rips rips
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Hi Guys,
I have successfully fished for Garrick in the harbour for the last 15 years or so. I have not fished this year but last year managed to boat about 15. Our record for a season is from about 10 years back now where we managed to tag and release 76 fish between 3 of us on one boat. One thing that i can say is that no two seasons are the same in terms of where we managed to find the fish. I have been successful on the drop off, in the deep, on a downrigger, on the surface, on the high tide and on the low tide. The only two constants are that i have always trawled and never drifted, have always used a 6/0 circle through the top lip and lastly ALWAYS USED MULLETT! For those that know the harbour, i have always fished from E10 around the point of the bank to S9 at St Ives. last year, the fish were concentrated in the deep water between S1 and S3. We used downrigged mullet and trawled very slowly, almost in line and slightly outside of the two buoys. My trace has never changed over all the years. I have used at meast a 1,5m trace of about 20lb mono, and more recently flurocarbon. Happy hunting :grk: :grk: :grk:
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Hi Guys,
I have successfully fished for Garrick in the harbour for the last 15 years or so. I have not fished this year but last year managed to boat about 15. Our record for a season is from about 10 years back now where we managed to tag and release 76 fish between 3 of us on one boat. One thing that i can say is that no two seasons are the same in terms of where we managed to find the fish. I have been successful on the drop off, in the deep, on a downrigger, on the surface, on the high tide and on the low tide. The only two constants are that i have always trawled and never drifted, have always used a 6/0 circle through the top lip and lastly ALWAYS USED MULLETT! For those that know the harbour, i have always fished from E10 around the point of the bank to S9 at St Ives. last year, the fish were concentrated in the deep water between S1 and S3. We used downrigged mullet and trawled very slowly, almost in line and slightly outside of the two buoys. My trace has never changed over all the years. I have used at meast a 1,5m trace of about 20lb mono, and more recently flurocarbon. Happy hunting :grk: :grk: :grk:
More info, as with all fishing, different seasons bring different patterns, get out there, put in the time and you will come right.
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Ziggy, been thinking since you sold your trimcraft and down graded to a much smaller boat. I'm assuming that your skytjie does not have a live bait well. If this is the case then you have 2 options. You can get a 25lt bucket and rule water pump.Contact Chappie wicks at 031 - 3378786 to make you a bracket which is placed on your transom, the pump is put on that. It basically pumps water from the bay into your bucket, then near the top of your bucket you place an over flow and have another piece of piping runing over the transom. In doing this you have a constant flow of fresh water to keep your live bait alive.
Should your boat be still to small to do this then mullet are extremely resistant and simple refreshing the bucket with new water every so often should keep them alive.
Also what the paddle ski guys do is to take pvc piping and drill holes in it. Plug the top and bottom of the tubes and tie them all together. Place a float on the tube to keep it neat the surface and tow just behind your craft. Place your live bait into the tubes.
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Ziggy, been thinking since you sold your trimcraft and down graded to a much smaller boat. I'm assuming that your skytjie does not have a live bait well. If this is the case then you have 2 options. You can get a 25lt bucket and rule water pump.Contact Chappie wicks at 031 - 3378786 to make you a bracket which is placed on your transom, the pump is put on that. It basically pumps water from the bay into your bucket, then near the top of your bucket you place an over flow and have another piece of piping runing over the transom. In doing this you have a constant flow of fresh water to keep your live bait alive.
Should your boat be still to small to do this then mullet are extremely resistant and simple refreshing the bucket with new water every so often should keep them alive.
Also what the paddle ski guys do is to take pvc piping and drill holes in it. Plug the top and bottom of the tubes and tie them all together. Place a float on the tube to keep it neat the surface and tow just behind your craft. Place your live bait into the tubes.
MK - fortunately I do have a live well - and I have a bucket with a pump that I use for the beach. I have not used the live well yet - at the moment I store some of my safety gear in it! When I took my boat out for its maiden voyage, I did not check the live well valves- and it filled up with water and spilled into the boat. I found that the bottom valve was fully opened. Not quite sure exactly how it operates - time to find out!
I noticed from a distance that Colin has a "yellow thing" tied to the side of his boatin the water - I assume its for live bait
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This is what i use for live bait. Made from that plastic netting sold at the hardware.
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This is what i use for live bait. Made from that plastic netting sold at the hardware.
Excellent idea! So simple and uncomplicated! :+ cred: What do you do when you are moving to a new spot - do you keep it in the water when on the move? Would that not stress the bait?
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Yes, stays in the water the whole time. I unclip the front end and let it follow the kayak just behind the seat so that it doesn't get tangled with the paddle whilst paddling. Very simple and cheap to make, has no resistance whilst paddling and keeps the bait alive for as long as its in the water. (and never had a shark come up and have a go at it either)
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Nice one Parasite! Probably more effective and easier to paddle than my Stealth torpedo tube!
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Ziggy, i nearly peeeeeed myself when i saw colins home made contraption. He takes small refuse bins, the ones with a slide back lid and drills hundreds of holes in them. he simply ties them to the side of his boat and puts his mullet in that when achored. He has a portable live bait well that he uses when trawling.
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Ziggy, i nearly peeeeeed myself when i saw colins home made contraption. He takes small refuse bins, the ones with a slide back lid and drills hundreds of holes in them. he simply ties them to the side of his boat and puts his mullet in that when achored. He has a portable live bait well that he uses when trawling.
you would do worse than pee yourself when you take agood look at the inside of hos boat! Never does any "house keeping"!
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Morning guys 2 questions where do you net mullet and are you allowed to net in durbn harbour thanks
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Sorry about the hijack - does anyone know what the deal is with the chain across the public slipway?? :dunno:
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Sorry about the hijack - does anyone know what the deal is with the chain across the public slipway?? :dunno:
Never noticed it - I launch from Rod and Reel
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Morning guys 2 questions where do you net mullet and are you allowed to net in durbn harbour thanks
Apparently you can net mullet in the Silt Canal near the mangroves - not sure about if you are allowed. I know someone who does, and he has never indicated that you were not allowed to. I dont see why not if you have a netting licence
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Ok, so I was on the water in Durban harbour at 6.15am - and went directly to the NSRI to catch some maasbanker. There were already a few boats out ther doing the same. We caught 6 (thinking that was enough - and we were keen to get fishing).
We began pulling the maasbankers at the start of the centre island, and slowly made our way down to the end of the island (on the container side). The fish finder never made a peep all the way until we got to the last bouy. We slwoly pulled our baits in a wide circle whie throwing small sppons at the same time. On spoon we hooked and released two wolf herring - and had a number of follows.
One rod had a hit on the maasbanker and when we brought it in, it had lost its belly. The other rod went down and we were on to a garrick - we let it take line and eventually struck and it was hooked. We had it on for about two minutes and then it came off.
We pulled again for an hour or so, and then decided to head back - we had used up our bait. I bumped into a friend on the water who told me that the garrick had disappeared a week ago according to some Fynnlands club anglers. We came across a number of boats pulling maasbankers - but all that we spoke to had blanked.
When we beached at the club, we were greeted by none other than Aquafan. he identified himself after seeing the transducer on my boat - asking if I had installed it yesterday - he said he recognized the back of my boat....the power of UA identification - you can fish but you cant hide!
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Bad luck Ziggy, but it sounds like you had great fun getting blanked. Which trace did you use?
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Bad luck Ziggy, but it sounds like you had great fun getting blanked. Which trace did you use?
I used a 50cm 20 flouro with a 1/0 bandit hook hooked through the top lip of the maasbanker - tied directly on to my braid - no sinker or swivel. the hook was maybe a bit small - and I should have used two hooks. My mate who was fishing with me (he is a top class ski fisherman) insisted that this was the way to go. He now agrees that two hooks would most probably have been better
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I also think we were pulling the baits too fast - I went as slow as my motor allowed before kicking inot neutral. So mI had to continually click in and out of gear to keep the speed down - next time I will take my sneaker motor - or see if I can set my motor to idle a little slower
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Pop around to the shelter at about 12 tomorrow and I will show you how to tie those traces H12 S99
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Pop around to the shelter at about 12 tomorrow and I will show you how to tie those traces H12 S99
Thanks for the offer but I will be in PMB all day - and also scared I might catch that "banter" disease! :hehe:
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Pop around to the shelter at about 12 tomorrow and I will show you how to tie those traces H12 S99
Thanks for the offer but I will be in PMB all day - and also scared I might catch that "banter" disease! :hehe:
You must be ancient because those are seriously wise word sir :hyst: :hyst: :hyst:
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Pop around to the shelter at about 12 tomorrow and I will show you how to tie those traces H12 S99
Thanks for the offer but I will be in PMB all day - and also scared I might catch that "banter" disease! :hehe:
You must be ancient because those are seriously wise word sir :hyst: :hyst: :hyst:
ancient but none-the-wiser for it
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owzit ziggy have you tried again for the garrick?anyone know how long they stick around in the harbour for till which month???tx
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owzit ziggy have you tried again for the garrick?anyone know how long they stick around in the harbour for till which month???tx
Tried again last week - but they seem to be gone now.....not sure what months they actually visit and hao long they stay
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Howzit has anyone tried this season? all the angling reports suggest garrick are back in the bay
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i chatted to an old salt down at Fynnlands angling club on Sunday, whilst the trips comp was on the go.
He recons 2 garrick came out on friday and a diver spearing around north pier reported seeing a whole shoal of them swimming into the harbour on saturday morning.
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Thanks MichaelK looks like gotta start trying for them :sreel:
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Here is photo of the winning fish in last sundays Trips comp at Fynnlands angling club. Its a comp held in the harbour on a monthly basis.
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Why do they not have C&R comps? Don't get me wrong, those are good catches but it makes me a bit <: when I see all the Garricks that are being killed. duh
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Why do they not have C&R comps? Don't get me wrong, those are good catches but it makes me a bit <: when I see all the Garricks that are being killed. duh
Agree :win:
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Don't crucify the messenger, SAfish the garrick are so rarely caught within the Durban harbour.
I agree with you that these fish should be released to conserve our fish stock.
The anglers are however within the law though, until the regs change
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Don't crucify the messenger, SAfish the garrick are so rarely caught within the Durban harbour.
I agree with you that these fish should be released to conserve our fish stock.
The anglers are however within the law though, until the regs change
Don't get me wrong, I did not take a swipe at you. I know the anglers are within their bag limits but I stated how I feel about competitions that are not C&R orientated. Garrick stocks are under a lot of pressure as they get slaughtered along our entire coast. I just think it should be a club's priority to promote C&R in their competitions, especially when a large number of members take part. My 2c.
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hi all
does anyone still try for Garrick in the Durban harbour and has any come out there this year?
:grk:
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They have been coming out but not regularly and they seem to be on the small side.
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was out on friday - three boats pulling live bait (old garrick master Colin was one one of them)- no-one had any luck. I was unable to find and catch any maasbanker - So I failed totally!
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Please release the fish up north, just to reiterate!
I cannot stress enough how severe the pressure is that adult garrick stocks are under, the changes in the regulations have not reflected that at all?! I target them in eastern and southern cape in the main summers stock basins. The ones you see inshore are the majority of the stock, we do no see them offshore at all unless they are on a migration, although we see their choms offshore that they shoal inshore with, this tells me that what we see in close, is what we get unlike for example tuna and tail where there are extensive offshore stocks. There were no sardine runs for 4 or more years and we had season after season down south in summer with epic fish, numbers and sizes got bigger year on year and the stock was looking like it was making a recovery, I averaged 30-40 leeries in the 5-15kg range for at least 3 seasons, all were released except one smaller injured fish. We would cast at the same shoals all summer, they would just move around and we'd follow them on land or boat, our skipper knows them like the back of his hand and had a handle on where they were on any given day..
Then two years ago there was a sardine run and we warned the guys up north to look after the fish as the stocks were just recovering, but still a mere percent of unfished levels. I fear they got hammered. We never saw our shoals return last summer at all. Then there was another run of sardines up the coast last winter..I fear the worst. It is like one of our summer gamefish has just gone? The only leeries I have caught in a year and a half have been a few guys the size of my hand in my thrownet. I saw two or three in total last season, all under 5kg, that from a normal hundreds of 5kg+ fish we'd see in a season. Something is seriously wrong. Anyway to flog a dead horse, guys and gals, we need to come together to start protecting the garrick..I fish with guys that fished them in the old days before they were targeted, decades ago and the returning shoals were 10-20km long in those days they tell me, it would take more than half an hour for the shoal to file past you. So when the scientists said a few years ago that the level of stock was only a percent or two of unfished levels, I'd tend to believe them.
Please catch the garrick for sport and return em to make more..
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Please release the fish up north, just to reiterate!
I cannot stress enough how severe the pressure is that adult garrick stocks are under, the changes in the regulations have not reflected that at all?! I target them in eastern and southern cape in the main summers stock basins. The ones you see inshore are the majority of the stock, we do no see them offshore at all unless they are on a migration, although we see their choms offshore that they shoal inshore with, this tells me that what we see in close, is what we get unlike for example tuna and tail where there are extensive offshore stocks. There were no sardine runs for 4 or more years and we had season after season down south in summer with epic fish, numbers and sizes got bigger year on year and the stock was looking like it was making a recovery, I averaged 30-40 leeries in the 5-15kg range for at least 3 seasons, all were released except one smaller injured fish. We would cast at the same shoals all summer, they would just move around and we'd follow them on land or boat, our skipper knows them like the back of his hand and had a handle on where they were on any given day..
Then two years ago there was a sardine run and we warned the guys up north to look after the fish as the stocks were just recovering, but still a mere percent of unfished levels. I fear they got hammered. We never saw our shoals return last summer at all. Then there was another run of sardines up the coast last winter..I fear the worst. It is like one of our summer gamefish has just gone? The only leeries I have caught in a year and a half have been a few guys the size of my hand in my thrownet. I saw two or three in total last season, all under 5kg, that from a normal hundreds of 5kg+ fish we'd see in a season. Something is seriously wrong. Anyway to flog a dead horse, guys and gals, we need to come together to start protecting the garrick..I fish with guys that fished them in the old days before they were targeted, decades ago and the returning shoals were 10-20km long in those days they tell me, it would take more than half an hour for the shoal to file past you. So when the scientists said a few years ago that the level of stock was only a percent or two of unfished levels, I'd tend to believe them.
Please catch the garrick for sport and return em to make more..
Good post but I am afraid it will fall on deaf ears, I have seen the killing firsthand, too many will end up as fried or as breyani I am afraid, three years ago I saw ONE angler remove seventeen fish in ONE day from the beach on the south coast!! :-(
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The above post is a great post and I hope the guys take heed to it. It is so so sad that the stock of these fantastic sport fish is dwindling towards extinction.
17 fish by one angler in one day :shk :shk :shk :shk :unhap :unhap :unhap :unhap :unhap [size=78%] is a massacre and I am sorry to say this but he should have been [/size] (bat
All we can do is try our best to do our bit towards conservation and protect the :grk: :grk: :grk:
GENTLEMAN OF THE SEA
cheers
:grk:
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What ever happened with the Durban seine netters that were reeking havoc on the shad and garrick a few years ago?