Spotted Grunter on surface lures

[WalkersKiller]

  Bushbuck...

[vismal]

Hey Bushbuck.......nee wat broer,die weer so sleg oor paasnaweek ons het nie veel in die rivier gevang nie,paar mooi Vaalhaaie en elwe by die punt gevang aan Infanta se kant,stywe lyne.

[Unkredible]

Tommo, I really enjoyed the show.  What rods are you using for this?  The poppers tend to be really light and difficult to cast far...

[Tommo]

Hi Unkredible, I use the Shimano Cumara 7'2" MH rod and a Sustain 2500 with 8lb power pro braid for this type of fishing. That is my main estuary outfit for the light tackle and it is excellent in that application!

[Tommo]

It is amazing how many e-mails I have received since the show on catching grunter on topwater lures was on air, from guys who have tried it out and come right. I got a mail from a guy yesterday who has been in Stillbay for the last week and he has caught grunter on surface lures every day, getting 9 on his last evening.
 
The follow up show on the Swartkops with some more info and more grunter on surface lure will be shown this monday evening at 7pm. There are also Garrick and springer caught on the show.

[Willie]

   for informing us 

[Mrzipo]

Great post Tommo has anyone tried this in durban harbour and been successful

[Lenny]

Awesome stuff Tommo , I still have a Stywe lyne from waaay back with articles about Grunter on surfuce lures .
Have taken the odd couple in the Western cape , Bitou , Breede , Gourits . We have had great success  on baby Flukes too , [Zoom Bass worm for the guys that dont know ]  Gold , oranges also hand down took most fish , We fished them weightless , with a bass hook , slowly twitching pausing .


The Grunters seemed to be just to keen to suck the flukes up .I really loved stalking them , on the banks of rivers , with light sticks . We have been amazed just how close to the banks some fish fed , keeping a low profile is very important .


have some great Tommo 

[petercoetzee]

Very interesting Craig.


I spent a lot of time chasing them on fly in the Western Cape and now have finally caught them on the long rod in the Breede, De Mond, Swartvlei and Little Brak.  i spent this last season trying to catch cruising fish.  All my fly caught ones have been actively feeding at the time of hook up.


Mid decemeber I found a group milling around on a sand flat, pretty relaxed and i thought this would be the perfect time for some experimentation.  if you got a prawn fly close enough they would have a look and would often follow a clouser closely but would not commit.  Then I changed to a deerhair prawn (floating).  That changed thing a bit.  They would charge the fly from far out and would dart under the fly.  Sometimes with the top fin completely out the water.  An awesome sight in clear water.  But they wouldnt commit.  They would roll so close that sometimes the fly would actually be pulled under in the hydraulic left by the fish.


I did this for some time and then eventually moved on.  That night I returned thinking about Mr Shoultz' exploits.  This time with a Charlies Pole Dancer (a fly that mimics the action of the spook).  Harder to present carefully but on three occasions I had fish grab the tail feathers and pull the fly down.  With a trailing hook I would have been ON.  I did try this but it destroyed the action.


Now my theory was this- Divers have told me they are extremely inquisitive and acquarium keepers will tell you that they are highly aggressive.  If you go to EL aquarium have a look at the little spotties chasing the kob and steenies away.  Now I think surface lures prey on these two characteristics of the fish.  What was happening with the Pole Dancer was that the fish would follow right on (as they did the deerhair).  the difference was that the side by side action made it hard for the fish to follow and on the turn towards the fish they would strike.  Possible defensive?


I stopped pursuing this method as I found the ulitmate code crack.  But still no cruising grunts on fly.  Here are some of the flies I developed and tried:


Pole Dancer:



Deer hair prawn:



Gurglers (note trailing hook)



Jam Fly

[Tommo]

Nice Peter, its great fun figuring something out and I am sure you will crack those grunter on the top if you stay at it. That Pole Dancer fly looks awesome, I would love to see what it can do in the estuaries for perch and river snapper.

[deezynking]

 :shre:
Beautiful Grunters tommo
 
 

[Mrzipo]

Great post Tommo has anyone tried this in durban harbour and been successful

Anyone? Also what are crackers- mud or sand prawn? Thanks

[Tommo]

Hi Mrzipo, I haven'e heard of anyone trying for grunter on surface lures in Durban Harbour, I haven't fished there myself for years. It would be interesting to hear if anyone has given it a go. It does seem to be the case that the grunter are more likely to feed on surface lures over mudprawn beds, than over cracker (sandprawn)beds. Durban harbour has mainly sandprawn as far as I remember, though there may be some mud prawn in the mangroves.
 
Crackers are the pinkinsh, yellowish prawns that live in burrows in the sand on the banks. Guys pump them out of their burows using a hand pump. Mudprawn are a greenish, grey colour and live in burrows in dense mud, such as that found near mangrove trees. They are also pumped using the same method.

[Lenny]

yoh , some serious Flies !!

[Mrzipo]

Thanks for the reply Tommo