Author Topic: Bushmans River EC light Tackle Lures (Read 9652 times)

garethm · « **on:** October 23, 2012, 08:00:41 AM »

Hey All
Am hitting the Bushmans in Dec and really keen to have a go with light gear for all the gamey's i can find.
Anything special i should look at using and, more importantly, where should i look? Leeries, kob etc.
will be using a boat.
Any advice please.
Shot

WJ · « **Reply #1 on:** October 23, 2012, 08:16:56 AM »

Not clued up with the bushman's river. But in the rivers in EC the Strike pro Thai stick is a cheap lure that does wonders on top water. Another versatile lure is the slimspoon (single or doubled up). One tip would be to take 3 or 4 lures to the water. Not all of them....otherwise you will be spending more time changing lures than actually fishing.
The rapala X-rap walk is also deadly and the heddon zara spook. Aslo the new 4" mccarthy paddletails is a must have.

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2012, 08:37:40 AM »

Howzit Gareth, let me put something together for you to help... Know that river well...

PS you might want to look at trying the Kariega river as well, as it is not silted up and there is less weed, let me know if you want info on that.

tyrrell · « **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2012, 08:48:14 AM »

All three rivers coming down in flood, so silt shouldn't be a problem

tyrrell · « **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2012, 08:49:51 AM »

PAFloods Oct2012 x264 Port Alfred

tyrrell · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2012, 08:51:37 AM »

Bushmans River flood / Boesmansrivier Mond
Bushmans

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2012, 08:52:49 AM »

Hopefully the flood washes out all the weed and silt in the rivers there, a couple of houses have been lost to the Bushman's already...

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #7 on:** October 23, 2012, 09:15:18 AM »

The photo below is of the bushmans and the areas where fish have come out often...

The colour guide is: Pink for Leeries, Green for Kob and Blue for Skipjack.

Small strike pro lures, Rapala Xraps, Halco Sorcerers and Laser Pro's should find you some fish, best times early morning and late afternoon.

Mal Hannes · « **Reply #8 on:** October 24, 2012, 04:00:04 AM »

How long does it take for the rivers to recover after so much rain?

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #9 on:** October 24, 2012, 08:09:08 AM »

The last time the Kariega River was in flood it took a couple of months

Circus · « **Reply #10 on:** October 24, 2012, 04:46:12 PM »

Great info there Walkers, most appreciated.
Any and all advice you can offer on the Kariega would also be very valuable. Also, where can Gareth and I launch the boat on the Kariega?

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #11 on:** October 25, 2012, 09:18:00 AM »

No prob Circus

the Kariega has a slipway close to the river mouth. If you head towards signs to Karieag Beach or drive on kariega ropad, instead of turning right at the 4 way stop just follow the slipway sign. More of a difficult launch than bushmans because a strong current often runs through, but nothing too hectic.

Will do a similar map of points for a fish in the kariega... Will post soon.

garethm · « **Reply #12 on:** October 25, 2012, 09:32:56 AM »

Shot All
really appreciate the help!
is there anybody on the list who lives in the area, can let us know how bad the flood damage is, looks hectic!

checked the 'net' for pic's, found an article interviewing a fisherman who said that the mud prawns were crawling out their holes and hiding/dieing on the banks.

would that recover by dec, or should we have heaps of super hungry fish?

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #13 on:** October 25, 2012, 10:04:20 AM »

Been in contact with a couple of mates in kenton, not anglers though... The flood damage is really bad, its the highest rainfall ever recorded in history, its on the verge of being proclaimed a natural disaster area...

I am/was/maybe going to be heading down on the 13th of December, if the freaking roads are drivable I rate the biggest problem is not the rivers, its actually travelling to get there. At the moment you have to go on a really bad pothole filled road to bedford/adelaide and via Grahamstown to get to Kenton as the R72 off of the N9 to PE is closed and damged as is the Aliwal North road.

I have fished the Kariega and Bushmans many times before and after flooding and the fishing normally gets better for a week or 2 afterwards, but the rivers have never seen so much water before so anything can happen... Both the rivers are full up with weed and silt (Especially the bushmans, and I have given up trolling lures on that river because of the weed) so the floods would of sorted out that problem and I think on a whole assisted with the overall marine life in the rivers. If the rains calm down by the 10th or so of November, the fishing will be excellent in the rivers.

If you guys want to meet down there personally I will gladly give you any info you need about fishing the rivers and surrounds, and if you want to do any rock and surf I can put you guys onto some decent fish...

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #14 on:** October 25, 2012, 10:20:08 AM »

Further to what I have said here is some more info on fishing the rivers...

Bushmans

As mentioned have struggled trolling in the river with the weed but that might of changed with the floods, plenty small leeries and estuary kob in the river. Bushmans fishes 100 times better at night, lots of deep holes and the fish go crazy at night in the river, you can smash the kob in the holes on came worm in the complete dark fishes it over and through the holes with a super slow retrive bumping it on the bottom, they will hit the camo worm 9 times out of 10 as it comes out of the hole.

Kariega

I prefer fishing this river, its not as busy and the fishing is better during the day... Fishing bait is a must in both rivers after trolling to a spot it would be good to anchor and throw mud/sand/pink prawn... If you want to meet up I will show you guys where to pump big sand prawn and mud prawn, I prefer fishing mud prawn in the river. After the pub on the kariega river is a huge bend that drops off, lots of skipjack and leerie along this bend. Troll up and down there a few times you should pick up some fish.

You will eventually reach a game fence, i think it is marked Sibuya Game Reserve, after the end of the wake zone, on the fence line there doesnt seem to be much in terms of structure but the fish are full up there. Sand prawn and live mullet should be fished there. Gruntyer up to 4kgs nice size Kob, Shad up to 2kgs, plenty of Stumpies, a few catface rockcod and others occur here. In december get those fish in quickly at this spot as that specific area is full up with taxmen as well. Know lots of guys who get taxed by Raggies and even Zambis there. There are Raggies up to 80kgs in that area as well as diamond and electric rays if you want to target those as well.

garethm · « **Reply #15 on:** October 25, 2012, 11:03:16 AM »

Shot Walkers

we are down from 15 dec, would be wicked to take you up on the offer!

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #16 on:** October 25, 2012, 11:49:52 AM »

No worries, pm me closer to the time and i can help you guys out

garethm · « **Reply #17 on:** October 26, 2012, 11:59:04 AM »

Cool,
thinking about maybe having a go at the taxmen as well.
could be fun going tight on a 80kg zambie, and landing it in front of a few of the skier's!

De-waldS · « **Reply #18 on:** October 31, 2012, 05:14:36 PM »

Hi Walker
here goes my first..
Great info on the two Kenton rivers. Will be down that part of the world as well over the season.
Will be fishing from my ski, so it will be all new to me.

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #19 on:** October 31, 2012, 08:51:30 PM »

Great stuff, if I get down will also do a bit of fishing off my ski, pm me if you wanna hook up!