ULTIMATE ANGLING - the Ultimate SA Fishing website
General Angling Topics => Fishing Hotspots and locations => Topic started by: Goose on December 01, 2014, 10:46:37 AM
-
Good day Guys
Going down to Kenton on sea for the December Holidays. Have never fished there before, any tips for the area?
-
:hnthnt: ...Fish on the Kariega side of the river and walk to EL about a kilo...very good structure there.....kob...silvers...poensie...blues ....chokka...pillie ...sand prawn ....
-
Good day Guys
Going down to Kenton on sea for the December Holidays. Have never fished there before, any tips for the area?
:welc:
Please do a search on UA. Plenty of info already shared.
-
thanx for the help Kent, will try out the spots down the river.
-
:hnthnt: ...Btw...if you staying at Kenton...just watch that river mouth...its not wide BUT can get trick and a bit deepish at times when you cross it to get to the other side.... :tite
-
Will try my Luck! w;k
What baits works best in that Mouth and in the surf?
-
:clwn ..Im not a bait kinda okie...BUT...pillie...chokka and pump some prawn...Im sure that Kariega will have some sand prawn in it.....
-
Hi Goose have a look at these threads:
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=4916.msg61399#msg61399 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=4916.msg61399#msg61399)
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=7712.msg113284#msg113284 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=7712.msg113284#msg113284)
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=7711.0 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=7711.0)
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=10990.msg168380#msg168380 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=10990.msg168380#msg168380)
http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=9801.0 (http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=9801.0)
Let me know if you need any further help w;k
-
December time, if you fish the Kariega mouth you will struggle to get any edibles. Too many Raggie pups, Blue Rays, Diamond Rays and Sandies around, havent caught an edibvle in the mouth between Nov and Jan except the odd small Kob and Sea Barbel, Sandsharks are thick.
Bushmans mouth is better, lots of Garrick around and lots of broken reef with Blacktail, Stumpies, and always a chance of Grunter and Kob. Less Raggies in the Bushmans mouth area normally, also quite a few Sandsharks.
The beach is also very busy, best time to fish both mouths in December are between 3am and 7am. Incoming tide is best, especially over a spring tide.
If you want to walk (Which is what I normally do in December), walk from Bushmans beach parking lot to kwaaihoek/diaz cross. Lots of good scratching water there, and a few nice holes that hold Steenies and Kob.
Also Kasouga is worth a fish, especially if you want to throw in the surf. Right and left of Kasouga for 3kms is great water, all fishable and all sorts of species.
What are you looking at targeting/catching?
-
thanks for the links and tips Walkerskiller.
Im hoping for a few grunters, blacktail and maybe some Zebras, a Cob on line also wont hurt.
it might be a dumb question- can I buy sand prawns from the tackle shops or must I pump for them rather?
-
No worries.
Grunter, your best bet is the Bushmans river on the mud banks...
You can buy sand prawn from the locals, but that is illegal so I wouldnt encourage it. You can pump mud prawn between the 2 bridges at the bushmans and kariega and you can pump sand prawn at the bushmans river mouth.
You can buy pink prawn from Buco (They have the fresher bait), but the sards at spar are cheaper.
-
100%.
Thanks a lot for all the help. We give report on the fishing afterwords.
-
Awesome :tite
-
Hi there
I hope I can add some assistance. Bushmans was my backyard for many years. Havent been for the last 4years though but im sure you can still have some luck in my old spots.
I presume your going without a boat so will only mention shore areas.
At the bushmans bridge, the grassy bushmans side, you will find a lot of Garrick, and the odd springer. Slow worked lures are best, had some good fishing on yozuris back in the day, but the newer lures should work great! They do not like fast retrieves, many times following but no attacks. You may also get the odd shad and Kob here too. (Not sure when is shad season but when its out of season they feed at the bridge ferociously, just have your fun and put them back)
On the Kenton side of bushmans going from the bridge up river you will find a rocky stretch, its a bit of a walk but from before the bend to past that bend, there have been many big cob, even mussel cracker taken out there. Night time is best with live mullet or big fishy baits.
The floating restaurant (If its still there) is an awesome light tackle spot at night, use a float and drift sardine or prawns about 30cm under it, along that stretch, lots of fun with smaller cobs. Small lures also produce here, slow jerky movements.
For grunter, I would focus on drift baits, mud or sad prawn, all alond the bushmans side of the river, cast it out and walk with it. Just use an medium size swivel to weigh it down.
From bushmans side, walk onto the "island" onto the sand stretch, cast drift baits and walk them along that whole bank, I have had good luck with steenbras on that section. Biggest of 6kg, but have seen bigger come out there. Cob and grunter also taken along that bank.
The river mouth area where the sand bags are, was usually busy with smaller fish, never tried lures though, and got stuck a lot.
Just outside of the rivermouth into the sea there is good fishing, Kob and Steenies, lots of sharks, what we used to do was once you catch a shark, cast 5meters right of that, if you hook a shark again then cast 5m from that spot, the fish are never too far from the spotted gulley sharks there.
I tried plugs and dropshot a few times in the surf but had no luck, you do however see the garricks occasionally and the shad also shoot around the shallows, so the possibility is there.
Hope that helps.
-
Awesome info :+ cred:
The sandbar (Last 2 times I have been there) is under new ownership (Again) and the oke running it hates fishermen and disallows any anglers into the restaurant now...
-
We used to park our boat on the opposite bank to the sandbar and cast to the middle of the channel and let it drift into the light.
Lol can't stop us that way
-
Hehe, yeah I have resorted to taking my ski into that channel :hehe:
-
Hi Bigles
Thanx a lot for the help, was not sure on what Techniques to use in the river as well as the surf. I think I will certainly land a few for sure.
What types of Bait did you use in the Surf? would Sand Prawns also work or would some chokka be better?
-
Goose, chokka backing with 2 or 3 sand prawns in the surf is a :win:
You can throw chokka and mud prawn close to the bushmans mouth, you will get some nice :blktl: and Cape Stumpnose of 35cm + ...
-
For the river, my all time favourite was a live mullet!
Off the surf, I would suggest live mullet for cob and sand/mud prawns for everything else!
Honestly get yourself some fresh healthy sand prawn slide 4 on your hook and up ur trace then tie another 3 prawns around each of the prawns on the rig! It's big and doesn't resemble a prawn but it's a Steenbras KILLER!!! And I have seen cracker, cob, big spotted Grunter also fall for this!
-
Ill then make an effort to pump enough Prawns before every session, Looks like will be the winning recipe. Will also get fresh chokka for the backing.
Hopefully the fish is lekker Hungry! :fshn:
-
Get a few chokka jigs, put a prawn on and cast it out and let it drift bouncing on the bottom, Bushmans is full of cuttlefish... You must have bait on the jig or you won't get any... Why pay wen its free but I wouldn't use it with the prawn.
-
You can also add some sard to a spoon with trebles, you will get a chase every time and if you quick you can get them as they let go of the spoon just before the side.
Make sure you have the relevant bait collecting license for the cuttlefish.
-
Lots of great ideas here for me to try in Port Alfred this Holiday!!!
In Port Alfred if I do not get sand prawn can I use mudprawn as you suggest by tying mud prawns to the ones I have slid up my trace.
Excited now!!!!
-
We should probably have a UA get together in Dec/Jan :ult:
-
Gareth I would love a get together nut I am only in PA 3 nights 26 27 28 and then I will be trying my best to catch something.
-
No worries bru!
-
The best advice I can give you is don't weigh down your baits in the river in the day... The little ones will destroy it in seconds, somehow drift baits last! Best is mud prawn in my opinion in the river.
Best in surf and sandy banks closer to the mouth is sand prawn.
At night you can use a sinker. If you can, try get mackerel. I found mackerel at night is a cob favourite. I don't like pilchards all that much, seems a much smaller size fish attracted to it. And barbel love it... So yeah.
My fav as I mention is live mullet at night.
Grunter on any tide with the drift. Kob only on incoming.
This is my experience and do not want to take away from what others have said!
-
Awesome info BigLes, agree with you regarding the mackies!
Goose try get Mackies and take them down, in December they are scarce!
-
I wil for sure then get the Mackrel up here to avoid disappointment. Will try the drift bait Technique for sure in the rivers, looks like a winner.
starting to count the days now to get down there and wet the line! :tkx:
-
Maybe see you on the water Goose w;k :tite
-
Walker if I may get sidetracked for just a second, how many years have you been going to Kenton and do you guys stay Kenton or bushmans side?
The reason I'm asking is, for many years my family had a house on the bushmans river, we also owned the logout pub for a brief stint as it was my fathers favourite watering hole.... You may per chance have seen a big kid on a big Sunseeker boat that was virtually 24/7 on the water
-
Learning big time here.
I have never used Mackerel in the rivers!!!!! No wonder I am always known as the barbel king!
Thanks guys!!!
-
Walker if I may get sidetracked for just a second, how many years have you been going to Kenton and do you guys stay Kenton or bushmans side?
The reason I'm asking is, for many years my family had a house on the bushmans river, we also owned the logout pub for a brief stint as it was my fathers favourite watering hole.... You may per chance have seen a big kid on a big Sunseeker boat that was virtually 24/7 on the water
BigLes, since I was born hey, so 25 years, been fishing hard for about 12-13 years though. We stay on the Kenton side, 13 Clyde Street in Merry Hill, close to the Kenton Marina on the Bushmans River, Im sure if I think back I can remember something like that!
-
Learning big time here.
I have never used Mackerel in the rivers!!!!! No wonder I am always known as the barbel king!
Thanks guys!!!
You know, I started young in that river, my dad gave me a boat and said I want fresh fish...
So I also started with the basics, pilchards prawns pencil bait etc and after struggling for a long time listening to the conventional ways, I started experimenting. I mean I had the time as we went there for almost every school holiday!
I also had a few guys that shared some intimate knowledge of estuary fishing with me! I was genuinely privileged!
Many ppl out there will spin you stories and tell you talk tails, as they wouldn't want ppl to know their secrets, but as ppl helped me, I'm also inclined to share.
I was once given a fresh bonito to give to my father, who intern did not want to eat it, so I used a whole side fillet of Bonnie and caught a 10kg kob... That started me thinking, maybe the fish are wise to pilchards as its so commonly used... So I tried mackerels which again produced when using a big bait of both fillets. I used very little cotton if any as in the river you don't need to cast hard, and with a Skelm hook it held great.
A part time mechanic at the boat yard we stored our boat at, came down one day and showed me the advantages of drift baiting, and how to work an area from the bank. It was amazing as he showed me how to tell the difference between it bumping on the floor and a fish tasting it... And he work one area over and over saying there's a big fish in this bend but it just won't commit. He proved it with a 6kg Grunter, one of the biggest I have ever seen...
The owner of the little shop in bushmans and who later bought the pub from us, he was a great fisherman, with his subtle changes to my ways of fishing, I went from one or 2 jobs a night, to over 20 between 2 of us! I wish I could get in contact with him again! Just to thank him for all he taught me!
There was an elderly gentleman with a cabin cruiser the lived in bushmans right up near the bridge who was a master of Artificials. I watched him for many hours and stole with my eyes. Each afternoon he would come down to the river, get on his boat and drift the little stretch infront of my house catching, Garrick, kob, shad and Grunter making the rest of us look bad! Haha
The rest was just trial and error.
-
Walker if I may get sidetracked for just a second, how many years have you been going to Kenton and do you guys stay Kenton or bushmans side?
The reason I'm asking is, for many years my family had a house on the bushmans river, we also owned the logout pub for a brief stint as it was my fathers favourite watering hole.... You may per chance have seen a big kid on a big Sunseeker boat that was virtually 24/7 on the water
BigLes, since I was born hey, so 25 years, been fishing hard for about 12-13 years though. We stay on the Kenton side, 13 Clyde Street in Merry Hill, close to the Kenton Marina on the Bushmans River, Im sure if I think back I can remember something like that!
I'm 26, had a house there for 10 years... I'm sure somewhere along the way our paths must have crossed!
-
Awesome story that!
Im sure we did cross paths a few times without a doubt, I have fished all over that place, mainly on the beach and the sides of the rivers.
I recently got a paddle ski so have been cruising the kasouga and the bushmans with that, know a couple of good holes that I want to test out :happ:
-
thanks for sharing the great story Big Les,you've certainly got me thinking... :hnthnt: :tkx: :udman: some techniques could work here in the Southern Cape(Garden route)... :clwn
-
Happy new years guys!
tried the fishing at the Kariega Mouth as well as the Bushmans Mouth as well as some surf Fish, had no luck, 1 enquiry, could not set the hook. Weather also punished us a bit.
Tried some Pink prawns I bough at Buco as well as some squid pieces.
Still, very nice Outing.
-
Nice one goose, we have been getting bronze bream and kob at kasouga, got a sandy and some barbel in the kariega surf, but know a grunter came out.
-
Good day Gents,
I am currently in the area, but on a "family" holiday, so no fishing. I am, however, planning a "fishing" holiday for this area for 2016, but am unsure as to what time of year is the best, especially taking into consideration the weather etc. I am convinced that this area must deliver plenty of fish if one actually concentrates on fishing and no family time etc. I have fished the area once before during September and had some success, but also had to juggle my time between family and fishing. My planned trip, however, will be fishing only. I have read just about all the posts on ultimate in respect of this area, but somehow could not find any reference to preferred time of year, weather and fishing wise.
Any pointers on time of year for mainly scratching?
-
Inkvis , best person to speak to on this would be Walkerskiller (Gareth)
-
Inkvis , best person to speak to on this would be Walkerskiller (Gareth)
Yup, am hoping to get his input.
-
Hey Inkvis
Avoid December !!! Millions of boats.... lol
To be honest, you can get fish all year round at bushmans...
I preferred winter, very quiet on the river and larger specimens are around, although, December has produced the biggest Kob...
During winter I have seen Big Mussel Cracker (18kg) come out of bushies, Steenbras, Grunter and Nice Kob, but the fish are not as full up as summer months...
Summer you have the quantity over quality in my opinion, in one night we could easily land 15 kob between 5-12kg in the right spot with the right bait... Sharks are also more prevalent during summer months, heard of lots of raggie pups coming out (although I have never seen one)
Hope that helps...
-
Thanks a mil Les!
In general I try to go on holiday out of season, the less people around, the better! hehe!
Are all your references below in respect of fishing from the river/estuary itself? I presume the wind plays less of a role when fishing in the river or estuary?
Would you say the same principle in respect of size v quality in winter is applicable to rock and surf?
-
I can't help you a huge amount yet as I only got transport mid April but I am now living in Grahamstown (studying) and I fish most weekends usually saturday and sunday. I sleep in a car park at boknes on the back of my bakkie :hyst:. Anyway that means I am working stuff out fast so while I can't help you much now by next year I should be able to give you some decent info. PM me if you would like my number.
-
In all my years there I did very little surf fishing, I used to only catch sand sharks by the million while my buddy next to me catches Steenbras and mussel cracker! Lol
My experience is mostly related to the river and while I have seen beautiful fish come from bushmans surf, I wasn't as lucky... If you read the previous comments from this thread is mention surf baits, I have seen that work.
Can honestly not comment on surf seasons but I can only believe it is similar to the estuary.
My time fishing there was 90% from a boat!
-
Thanks Les,
I'm sorted with all else. The guys' posts on ultimate i.r.o the area have been very helpful. The only outstanding info at this stage is what is the best time of year.. I love catching kob and steenbras and want to plan a trip for a week or two, must just figure out what time of year is the best. I spoke to a local fisherman earlier today who recon Feb - May is the best weather wise and fish wise. He also said all winter months are fine, his greatest issue with the winter months was the fact that the days are too short as the sun sets too early!! :hehe:
-
Hi Inkvis, sorry for the delayed response.
For edibles without a doubt your best months are April, May, September.
For Garrick and Skipjack and Kingies further up the rivers, November to March.
The big Daga Salmon come into the rivers from KZN in June and July.
Non eds, November to January, but flatfish all year round.
If I had to plan a trip I would avoid busy times like December, Easter etc. But my preferred time would have to be September because there are still lots of nice edibles and the Garrick start coming thick in the rivers :happ:
Hope this helps, let me know if you need anything else...
-
Thanks a mil Gareth! your advice is always of great value! If you refer to ed's, I presume it includes steenbras? i.e good times for steenbras will include April, May and September?
Now I can start my planning!
I tried to reply on one of the p.m.'s we exchanged earlier, but I get an error message. Are you aware of any problems or is it just a setting on my side?
-
Hmmm thats weird, maybe a connection problem, didnt receive any pm's.
Most of them I have caught, not very big, have been during April and July. :-)
-
Thanks for the tips Gareth and Les. it is much appreciated.
-
Only senior members and above can send PMs
As a mod you should know this duh
-
I tried to reply on one of the p.m.'s we exchanged earlier, but I get an error message. Are you aware of any problems or is it just a setting on my side?
You've been upgraded to Senior member. PM's will now work.
-
Thank you sir!
have a good day!