Kenton on Sea Tips

[Goose]

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! 

[BigLes]

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.

[WalkersKiller]

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.

[Mal Hannes]

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!!!!

[WalkersKiller]

We should probably have a UA get together in Dec/Jan 

[Mal Hannes]

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.

[WalkersKiller]

No worries bru!

[BigLes]

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!

[WalkersKiller]

Awesome info BigLes, agree with you regarding the mackies!

Goose try get Mackies and take them down, in December they are scarce!

[Goose]

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!         

[WalkersKiller]

Maybe see you on the water Goose   

[BigLes]

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

[Mal Hannes]

Learning big time here.

I have never used Mackerel in the rivers!!!!! No wonder I am always known as the barbel king!

Thanks guys!!!

[WalkersKiller]

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!

[BigLes]

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.

[BigLes]

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!

[WalkersKiller]

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 

[Lofty]

thanks for sharing the great story Big Les,you've certainly got me thinking... some techniques could work here in the Southern Cape(Garden route)...

[Goose]

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.

[WalkersKiller]

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.