This is one of my favourite fish to target, and has been nicknamed The Steamer; because the speed of their first run is the equivalent to a steam train speeding off. In the Eastern Cape we call this fish a Pignose Grunter; because when the mouth is fully extended it resembles a snout and it is very similar to the Spotted Grunter in many of it's habits.
Before I go into detail about catching the White Steenbras on light tackle, please note that this fish is often confused with the Sand Steenbras. The juveniles can be very similar in appearance, especially in their body and mouth shape. However the Sand Steenbras has 14 vertical bars spaced very close together, compared to the White Steenbras' 7 or so vertical bars. The Sand Steenbras often is more brown in colour and sometimes a freshly caught specimen has brown bars, opposed to the White Steenbras, which has grey bars. You will often encounter these 2 species living side by side in estuary systems.
Sand Steenbras
There are 3 different methods or categories when it comes to targeting the White Steenbras on light tackle, I will discuss them all below.
On DropshotAt the time of writing this, I have only ever caught one on Dropshot, but have seen others being caught with a similar method.
A half ounce jighead rigged with a Berkley Gulp Camo Worm seems to get their attention nicely. The trick here is either to work the Camo Worm very very slowly along the bottom, or to drop the Dropshot into the path of the current and free spool your reel so that the worm moves with the current, at the same time bouncing along the bottom and disturbing the sand, which often gets the fishes attention. This is best done from a boat in an estuary system, but works from the side as well.
15cm fish caught on Camo Worm drifting, at night!In The Estuaries
Steenbras frequent estuary systems, and you can catch all different sizes of them in the rivers. When targeting them here I use a size 6 Mustad baitholder, with a 20lb fluorocarbon leader. The only baits to use for these fish in the rivers are Mud Prawn, Sand Prawn and Bloodworm. I will use a small coffee grinder reel with 7lb - 10lb main line and anyone of these 3 traces: Sliding sinker above the swivel; normal bottom trace with a bottle sinker; weightless and letting the bait drift. A 6-7 foot rod with a bit of backbone will do the job.
1.2 kg fish caught on sand prawnIn The SurfThis is one of the most challenging and fun fish to catch in the surf. They love to hang around sand banks, often close to white water or rocky areas. When targeting them in the surf on light tackle, I will use a 6-9 foot rod with a size 4000 coffee grinder, loaded with 7-15lb mainline. A 0.45 leader is perfect, preferably fluorocarbon. Here I will use between a size 2 and 2/0 short shank Diachii. The only bait to get a Steenie on in the surf in my mind is a chokka and sand prawn combination. A tenderized strip of Chokka as the backbone of the bait with 1-3 sand prawn loaded on top and cottoned together. 9 out of 10 times they will, out of nowhere, eat your bait and scream off with it. Keep your rod tip up high and let the fish take you on the first run, if you do not lose the fish on it's first run your chances of landing it increase tremendously. I have lost a few Steenies on their first runs in the surf, one being about 5-6 kilograms which I hooked on 5lb line. Strangely enough the hook pulled, and I did not get burned off.
1.1kg fish caught on 7lb line and a 3 and a half foot rod
29cm fish caught on 5lb SufixWK
