Ultimate guide to fishing spots from Kleinbrak to Gouritz...

[Mal Hannes]

Hi one week to go!
Next week Friday I am in the Southern Cape.

By Sunday I am at Gourikwa.

I am mostly drawn to the Gouritz river because I know river fishing the best.

Hopefully I can organise one deep sea trip and one cracker from the side.

A nice elf off the rocks, and imagine a steam train in the river.

Attached is where I will be staying at H20 in Gourikwa

[colin]

enjoy  Hannes

[Mal Hannes]

Thanks Colin.

Sorry I realised I put this in the wrong thread.

[Visenvryheid]

  Season closed, sexy time for them now.. Open season!

Looks like cracker country there, enjoy mate..any of those reefs should hold fish you'll have to scratch around and get a feel for the tides and reefs. Water really warm there now and warmer water offshore so you would want some easts to kick life into the water in that part of the world. Good luck. Find some sand for the steamers and put out a bait that would entice a range of species including Mr. cracker..Leave the big mamma's to go back swimming, for the locals and you to catch again next year. Should be bronze bream aplenty there but there also remember that they are second only to the blacktail and black steenbras in terms of slow growth rates and pair for life and can live a half a century. So keep the inbetween size for the braai and you'll ensure more for the future. Very good reports of cob from that coast too with the warm water, just also there remember the stock is collapsed and still being nailed so small ones back, extra large ones too, and stick to limits and we'll have more for the future.

With that 20plus degree water offshore, I'd throw a small tin spoon too off any point for bonnies/katonkel, leeries might be too lastig to target with the warm water and blue shad gone with the cooler water, but small shad should fill those foamy gullies with that beautiful but sterile water (lower oxygen) around and you'll pick them up spinning in the foam early morning and late evening or when the tide pushes or drains over a foamy ledge or shelf with gullies in it.. looks like paradise there, nothing to do but fish.

[Mal Hannes]

Thank you for such an excellent post.!
Can't wait.

[Psy]

Be very careful of Voelklip, it is a dangerous place. I think it was Defenition that said on another inferior forum that the sea bottom has changed and it is now even more dangerous to fish there. I would give it a miss as Def is a pretty adventurous fisherman and if he says a place is dangerous I believe him.

   


What....another 'inferior' forum....which has over 40,000 members and +96 thousand topics with 1,292,408 posts




 


   some misconceptions here....but back to the topic of this thread....




Die Leertjie is a good cracker and galjoen spot and bigger kob are also caught. As with all our R/S spots on the Garden Route, the larger breeding fish have already been somewhat decimated, leaving only juvenile fish.


Kranse includes Voelklip which is east of Leertjie ~ a rocky point which has claimed the lives of many fisherfolk. Be very wary and careful of this slippery rock and what it holds, if you decide to fish it. A large cross on the hill top marks the spot where many souls have been swept away by the sea.
Kranse continues to the Gwaing river mouth and Vic Bay area ~ all are dangerous bays with step cliff sides and difficult slippery access, delivering large Galjoen in the winter months.


Forward of Gerickes point is deepwater with submerged rocks. Cracker and kob can be found as well as roman and the usual Kollies. Galjoen of course. Dangerous to fish on a bigger sea as the water rises unexpectedly and will wash you off the higher rocks easily.
West of Gerickes toward Kleinkrantz beach is a rocky shelves interspersed with sandy beaches with banks and gutters. Most renowned 'Gonnas' and 'Diep Draai' ~ which deliver steenbras/kob/zebra/kolstert/galjoen/cracker/hounds & spotted gulley sharks.
Further west from Kleinkrantz on the beaches at Sandhoogte and Wilderness will give you Rags and Spotties. If conditions are right you will find Bellman, kob & cracker.


Southern Cape is    country! 

[SAfish]

Come on my good friend, you know what I'm talking about. How many active members are there on 'that' forum? 40 000 really?? The members don't even know who the moderators are....   
At least here the membership numbers are a true reflection of what is going on because if you don't post for a certain period your membership gets suspendid. I have not posted on 'that' forum in the last 5 years but I am still listed as a member.   
Now, lets get back to what we love doing, fishing! There are good info on this thread, thanks for sharing. 

[Visenvryheid]

You don't have to knock one down to lift yourself up. The real truth of the matter is that most of the real pros don't hang out on fishing forums, and compared to them we are all clueless kooks (Reefs, JohnF, Captain Hook excluded of course). Most here are binnelandse clueless kooks..But anyway.. I used to be a binnelandse clueless kook, now I'm just a kook with a little bit of a clue. That's why I try help a little, I realize how little I knew and how little I still know compared to those who will never grace these halls and who've been doing this successfully for generations.. Those that would never be here, have been showing me what is up the last few years and I can safely say my catch rate is a few hundred percent higher than what is was, I am not left wanting when it comes to seafood. If everyone had the knowledge that these folks had, but did not have the conservation ethic they have, the sea would be empty. But you don't find them around these parts, they are too busy fishing.

There is action and stuff that goes down in our little fishing world, action that will blow the average mans brains' and scar them for life, change their destiny...but if you looked online, it's like it never existed. At all. Spots seemingly have not caught a fish in years and techniques have never seen the light of day. Just sayin..if one drops the attitude, people start to share their nuggets.

[DannyDannhauser]

Nice Post... thank you for sharing

[Psy]

too true Herman....however I prefer it...theres somewhat more going on, loads of roofkykers !!

[Visenvryheid]

Latest reports from that side, water really warm and clear..Katonkel are absolutely full-up, couple cob around, leeries lastig. I feel vindicated haha..

I think throwing a spoon into some deepwater on light spinning gear when the bonnies are abouts, must be one of my favorite pastimes.. If they are around, you find a spot to reach them and you have them dialed in you can those little speedsters nailing you throw for throw.. as much fun as a grown man can have with his clothes still on!

[Mal Hannes]

No how can a leerie be lastag??????


What is a katonkel and what bait does it require.

[Marthin]

a toothie species of mini tuna.... artificials..

[REEFMAN]

It's confusing...

Katonkel in the Cape is the Atlantic Bonito or Sarda sarda.

Katonkel in KZN is the King Mackerel or Couta.

[SAfish]

Like this one I caught in Struisbaai.

[Visenvryheid]

When the water is too warm, the leervis will chase out of interest but not eat or commit and swim lazily, the warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold..and it makes em lazy.

katonkel, mean the cape fish, atlantic bonito, sarda sarda, but not the oceanic bonito (as i call them?) as in the struisbaai pic, although offshore they swim together but oceanic bonito doesn't go inshore to the bays whereas katonkel will fill the bays if the right water does. Great sport fish and they want a little spoon a meter under the water as fast as you can retrieve..Cast into deep water off points.



Looks just like that, although that is the sister species sarda orientalis, best pic I can get, you would not tell them apart if you caught them. Oceanic bonito, skipjack, has the stripes on the bottom and bold stripes but katonkel are on top and thinner. Also the oceanic bonito is a fatter fish like a rugby ball like a tuna and the atlantic bonito is much more slender but still fatter and rounder than a leervis or shad for example.

http://www.gma.org/fogm/Sarda_sarda.htm
http://www.fishbase.org/identification/SpeciesList.php?genus=Sarda
http://www.fishbase.se/summary/Sarda-sarda.html

Bag limit is ten, I've caught 50 in a day C&R, when they were thick before..the right spoon and the right retrieve when they are shoaling and you can get them cast for cast..those toothy critters will chase that spoon till your feet. If you are going to keep any, you have to spike the brain and bleed the fish as soon as you land it and keep cool and in the shade, otherwise they turn to mush. Then they are sharkbait and very good shark bait or dogfood, otherwise when looked after right, they are red/pink and rich flesh, make excellent sashimi, smoked fillets, braai vlekked or seared steaks.

[REEFMAN]

This might help...

http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=86.0

[JeandlH]

Has anyone had any success in the Kleinbrak River lately? Had one chase by a small garrick on a Kingfisher 1.V spoon, but after that nothing else.


And is it even worth it to throw spoons and plugs at the very first spot mentioned in this post?

[Lofty]

Has anyone had any success in the Kleinbrak River lately? Had one chase by a small garrick on a Kingfisher 1.V spoon, but after that nothing else.


And is it even worth it to throw spoons and plugs at the very first spot mentioned in this post?

Hi,I went to Kleinbrak about 2 weeks ago,threw paddletails and stickbaits under the N2 bridges but saw and felt nothing... As for the first spot,yes for sure,try bucktails,paddletails and spoons for Elf and Kob,perhaps even the odd Leerie...usual times will be the best,early morning and at sunset and even better if it coincides with the high tides..Hartenbos river mouth also giving some young Elf apparently(on bait I think)It's common knowledge that the fish go on vacation over December to hide from all the jetskis and boats from upcountry

[Mal Hannes]

Lofty thanks again for this it helped me a lot during my time in the area.