How to target garrick in Durban Harbour

[Gregf]

  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.

[Capt. Hook]

thanks!  Now I just have to find the maasbankers

Plenty on the corner by N Shed

[Ziggy]

  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  Tight lines mate

thanks - this is very useful - especially since the Greeks hunt the banks too - how did you know I was a Greek? 

[Gregf]

  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  Tight lines mate

thanks - this is very useful - especially since the Greeks hunt the banks too - how did you know I was a Greek? 

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

[fishy1969]

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 

[Gregf]

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 

More info, as with all fishing, different seasons bring different patterns, get out there, put in the time and you will come right.

[MichaelK]

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.

[Ziggy]

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

[Parasite]

This is what i use for live bait. Made from that plastic netting sold at the hardware.

[Ziggy]

This is what i use for live bait. Made from that plastic netting sold at the hardware.

Excellent idea! So simple and uncomplicated!    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?

[Parasite]

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)

[super_daav]

Nice one Parasite! Probably more effective and easier to paddle than my Stealth torpedo tube!

[MichaelK]

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.

[Ziggy]

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"!

[1969]

Morning guys 2 questions where do you net mullet and are you allowed to net in durbn harbour thanks

[dugong]

Sorry about the hijack - does anyone know what the deal is with the chain across the public slipway??

[Ziggy]

Sorry about the hijack - does anyone know what the deal is with the chain across the public slipway??

Never noticed it - I launch from Rod and Reel

[Ziggy]

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

[Ziggy]

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!

[Gregf]

Bad luck Ziggy, but it sounds like you had great fun getting blanked. Which trace did you use?