Fishing EC Magazine September 2015

1FEC | September 2015

EC BAIT DEMO CATCH COMPETITION TIDES

FISHINGKAYAKCORNERBrett Armstrong

DEEP SEAJuniors AtNationals

FISHOn Our

Doorstep

RASSPL Border Blacktips

Kidds BeachResults

ISSUE: 21

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FEC | September 20152


RASSPL Border Blacktips 04

Bait Demo 24Chokka tentacle base bait.

Catch Competition 26Send us your photos and youcould win.

Tides 28Check the tide tables tomake sure you fishing theright times.

Kayak Corner with Brett Armstrong

18

FEATURES

CONTENT

08

Fish On OurDoorstep

Deep Sea Juniors

15



MAGAZINEEDITOR

Nigel Louw

CONTRIBUTORSShane Smit

Timothy Du PlessisPhyliesa ClarkeBrett Armstrong

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Nigel LouwEditor

LETTEREDITORS

No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Fishing The Eastern Cape. The magazine

is published monthly and cannot be held responsible for inaccuracies in articles. The

views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the editor. Fishing The Eastern Cape does not accept responsibility

for advertising content.

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ON THE COVERNigel Louw with a young Kob caught on small 3” paddletail in Nahoon River.

Spring is here, the grass is looking greener and the fishing is looking good. The mornings are lighter and the evenings are lighter longer.

Looks like the upper river summer fun could be good this year and starting early. I had some fun the other day with small lures and managed to land 12 Kob in two outings. My friends Daron and Craig also fished and Craig lost a Baracuda and also this months comp winner caught a GT in Nahoon at the beginning of August so it looks like it is going to be a hot fishing season ahead.

Don’t forget to send in your catch photos for our Catch & Win page. You could be the next winner.


RASSPL BORDER BLACKTIPS


RASSPL BORDER BLACKTIPS

Kidds Beach Results

The Border Blacktips anglers descended on the picturesque seaside village of Kidds Beach once again for the start of

our 2015/2016 season. The morning was a chilli 5 degrees and the sea swell running at a height of 5m BUT there was not a breath of wind predicted which in itself was a huge sigh of relief as the wind gods seem to know when its rasspl and we usually get blown off the beach. The water was quite dirty close in in the morning with the clean water sitting a few hundred metres out but that changed throughout the morning with the clean water moving in as the tide dropped. The one thing that was certainly not on our side besides the huge swell was the bites especially on the low tide, in fact probably

Words/pics: Shane Smit

thee worst in terms of fish numbers we’ve experienced in a long time! To give you an example of just how slow going it was there were only 2 barbles landed the entire day!15h30 eventually rolled around and we made our way back to the Kidds Beach tea-room where prize giving would take place. Scoring was a breeze with close to 40 an-glers handing in empty cards out of the 94 that attended so you can imagine how pain-ful and long the day actually was. Some of the fish that were landed were 2 very lost kob, one by “Daffy” Matthew Grindley of 3.6kg a little later in the day and a smaller specimen of 1kg by Anet Rheeder in the morning, both ended up being top winning fish by the way. There was however a late


bluefish smash consisting of 10 blues on the palm springs side on the pushing tide just before lines up, the biggest being 2.5kg caught by Craig Deaval. A total of 108 fish were caught and released for the day, far less than our previous worst day out but all safely released back into sea to hope-fully grace us all another day. Many of our fantastic prizes were not won on the day due to the bad fish turnout but anglers will all have a 2nd go at winning them at our next league competition on the 29th of August at Gonubie. This will be the 1st rasspl event in this area so join the Border Blacktips for a fun day out, ANYONE can en-ter! Anglers wanting to enter can drop me a mail at [email protected] anytime.We would just like to send out a huge thank you to Kidds Beach tearoom as-well as all our Sponsors for the awe-some prizes received for this comp, without prizes of this calibre we would certainly not achieve the turnout we did.




FISHON OURDOORSTEPWords/pics: Timothy Du Plessis

My friends Kyle Schmidt, Dylan Booth and I decided to fish in our backgarden. Living three minutes

away from Nahoon Beach we ventured out into the Surf, in the evenings after school and on Saturday (when we had time). Nahoon Beach is well known for its surfing and not very well known for fishing.


Choosing our spotWhen we arrived at the beach we would walk on to a sand dune and scout for the best looking water. We would look for waves that were dumping near by show-ing a drop off. The fish are usually in the drop off waiting for the mullet in the white water to drift towards them or they are in the flats searching for them. When the water was flat and we couldn’t find a de-cent spot we would target the river mouth.

Our ApproachWe started our days fishing with small Sardine baits as they are versatile. These small sardine baits considered of sardine heads with cutlets on the side or a sar-dine belly. On most occasions we waded out close to the drop off and threw our baits out over the back. When putting a bait out for sharks we would put it out at low tide and would normally get picked up at High tide when it starts getting dark.



The resultWe were surprised by the amount of fish that you can catch in your local wa-ters. Over 5 outings we caught 1 kob of 62cms, a Shad of 38cms, 4 Eagle Rays of +-7kgs, a small Duck Bill Ray, a 10kg Marble Ray, Grey Sharks, a 20kg Smooth Hound Shark, a Raggie Pup and lots of big Sandies ranging from 3kgs to 6kgs.

The Appropriate tackleYou would need a medium outfit with about 10kg line or 30-40lb braid. I Used my Blue Marlin Super Slim 60/50 and my Saragosa 10000 loaded with 40lb braid which can catch anything from Black Tails to Raggie pups. Dylan used the Po-seidon Medium and Penn Fathom 40 loaded with Techni-Perlon 0.50 and Kyle used his Blue Marlin C3 and Daiwa SLH 50 with 0.45 Kingfisher Giant Abrasion.


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Excel at nationals

BORDER DEEP SEAJUNIORS

Determination was the word of the week at this year’s game fish nation-als. It’s amazing to see children from

all over South Africa come together for one common goal, To get the BIG ONE. It was well attended with over 21 teams and the battlefield would be Shelly Beach Natal, the most beautiful setting. A big thank you has to go out to Anton Getz, Mark Brewitt and their team that handled everything from feeding to launching boats for the

children, add in bad weather and you got a recipe for a nightmare, which they handled in style. I will tell you deep sea fishing is not for the feint of heart. These little guys and ladies proved what strong stuff they are made of. Braving early morning surf launching, sharks, rough seas and the skip-pers. The Border juniors were sent in with well wishes and a word or two from the old boys at the clubs in East London. They were told not to expect much as this was not the

Words/pics: Phyliesa Clarke


fishing they were used to. If anyone knows a Border junior as I know my juniors this just added fuel, for them to prove everyone wrong. Armed with 10kg line, a tackle box that had all the colours of the rainbow in it and dressed in their Border best, off to sea my juniors went. The first day the tax man helped himself to more than his fair share and not much was caught. The U16 Keagan Brunsden (12 years) was the only one to weigh a small Bonny, day two went pretty much the same with little Keagan reeling in two nice Yellowfin Tuna and team mate Ross Lindhorst getting a few Bonny’s. Our U19 captain Cylie Clarke got a nice Yel-lowfin Tuna of 16.7kg. Weather was turn-ing and launching was running late on day 3 due to big swells. U16 Nicholas Clarke (14 years) captain put three nice Yellowfin Tuna on board, Ross a nice 22kg and the lit-tle guy Keagan weighed in again. This put them on top of the other teams. The U19’s started to get a game plan going and Jus-tin Staude getting a Yellowfin and Ross Lu-cas getting a Sada Sada and Cylie getting a Bonny. Day four was called up at 11:30 due


to bad weather. At the end of Day 4 Border U16 were in the lead by a small margin and the U19’s were lying 4th. At this stage the U19 SADSAA team had run away with the points and were in the lead by over 1000 points. The fifth day brought with it beauti-ful weather. The call was to fish, fishing for 3 days is killing, for 5 is murder. For the love of fishing the children were back and on the go. This is when the U16 showed the others what they are made of with Captain Nicholas Clarke catching a Yellowfin Tuna of 29.3kg which he reeled in in 7 minutes and was the biggest of the tournament. Teammates Ross and Keagan were working together and getting a few more species to put the U16 on top. Nicholas ended with biggest fish and top angler and Keagan ended sec-ond. Ross Lindhorst placing 10th. The U19’s managed to battle it out to the end for 3rd place, with Cylie Clarke and Justin Staude getting nice Yellowfin. These youngsters are setting new standards in deep sea fish-ing and it is so refreshing to see such enthu-siasm amongst a bunch of young men that are the future of the sport.


KAYAK CORNERFISHING

Words/pics: Brett Armstrong

Hi there fellow “fish-yakers”. The last month was pretty awe-some, with some great days on

the water, some very fruitful and oth-ers, just great to me out with mates.

Why Kayak FishingA couple weeks back I bumped into some friends who were serious Rock & Surf fisherman, who had basically lost inter-est in fishing because they felt that they were just getting bored with the “same old same old” and lost their oomph! After a while chatting about how nice it is to fish off a kayak and being in nature with some

mates in ever changing conditions, I em-phasized, kayak fishing offers us access to waters previously unreachable com-pared to where they would normally fish. This definitely sparked some interest with both of them going out and buying a used kayak for R4 000 and both coming home with huge smiles and lunch after having released a good few other species. How nice was this to hear. This could be you…..

Having said that, kayak fishing is not for the faint hearted, it does have it’s moments of “heavy breathing and adrenaline pump-ing”, whether it be negotiating large swells


when launching or when being “privileged” enough to witness a lovely shark swim past your kayak. I have definitely had my fair share of both. Always remember, we are merely visitors in the big blue ocean, and we have to respect its power and inhabitants.

Essentially kayak fishing is a cost effective way to fish and experience area you may never have had the opportunity to explore, weather it be offshore or up your favorite river or dam. For me, this is what it is about. Sharing good times with family or friends in nature. Exploring the unexplored and cre-ating memories and a few fishing stories.

What’s NewHerewith the latest news from the kayak world, which may be of interest, Stealth, which I believe are the best ocean going kayak manufactures around, have just an-nounced the launch of their new Fisha 460. This craft, is based on a combination of the old Evolution range and combines some advancements from the Pro Fisha range. Essentially Stealth have renamed their line of awesome kayaks as follows, the Supalite range is now the Surf Fisha range, the Evolution range the Fisha range and the Pro Fisha remains unchanged.

Another great opportunity for kayakers are the amazing specials currently on off from Wild Coast Kayaks in East London on Fluid Kayaks. This range of kayaks is fantastic and offers novices to advanced kayakers, an amazing range of products. Contact Nigel for more details on both Stealth and Fluid kayak specials and demo units available.

Great first attemptRecently my very experienced, and all round great guy and fishing buddy, Mark Kimble and I, ventured out to our favorite fishing grounds and invited newbie to the sport, Tony, for his first outing in the big blue ocean. Now although Tony had spent quite a few hours on the river, he had never had the confidence to go out and fish in the ocean. It was a great day in the ocean, the current and the wind were working perfectly together, which allowed us to stay in close contact to our selected reef of choice for the day without anchor-ing. I have never experienced so many reef fish being caught on one day. All different kinds of species, from Blacks to yellow bel-lies to red fish. We just kept catching and releasing. Tony could not believe his luck, the perfect day out there. Eventually Tony kept a really nice size Black and a Soldier.



He was completely hooked, kept screaming and laughing in complete disbelief about the experience. To top it off, we were privi-leged to be visited by a large school of dol-phins that felt it opportune to swim around our kayaks and say hi. Well-done Tony.

Tech Comments and AdviceAs you know many kayakers decide to make use of electronic Fish Finders to assist them locate reefs and structures to make fishing a bit more exciting, while exercis-ing good catch and release ethics. Under-standing this, and my own experience and that of those around me, herewith some basic advice. Firstly, establish the main purpose for wanting a fish finder and sec-ondly whether you wish to track waypoints or create routes. Most kayakers use stand along fish finders for merely locating reefs, but some use hand held GPS devices, like Garmin eTrax or GPS72H units to actually navigate their way to historically recording waypoints and to record new waypoints. The main reason for two separate units is essentially battery life. Single combo units of both fish finder and GPS are more expen-sive, but eat battery life. This is essentially the downside. However, for me, I have re-cently opted for a combo unit and done a major battery upgrade on my Stealth Supal-ite. Although there are quite a few brands out there, essentially two are leading the way, Garmin and Lowrance. Which is better, well, it essentially boils down to personal choice. But remember, when buying a com-bo unit, you can also purchase a map SD card, which, although expensive, is amazing to have and changes your outlook on the ocean and even lakes and rivers. I now run a Lowrance Elite 4-Chirp combo unit and uti-lize an automated gate motor battery and have setup a plastic, water-tight battery box (much cheaper than purchasing the real thing) and I get almost 10 hours of battery life, more than enough. I generally charge my battery after every outing anyway, so I am very happy with this. This unit is unreal and filled with really advanced features; hopefully I will get the hang of them soon.


Another point I wish to raise again is the concept of being organized when kayak fishing, especially in the ocean. There is nothing more frustrating than fighting with your equipment, losing a knife over board, not being able to find your cotton, strug-gling will only make your experience less enjoyable. So why not be organized? Now granted most of my friends, although pret-ty organized, feel I am rather OCD when it comes to this, but hey, why not! It is fun to tinker and add useful modifications to your kayak, keeps me off the couch. I love it and it makes my experience on the water so much more enjoyable knowing that I came up with ideas that have helped make my ex-perience so much more thrilling and func-tional. I recently bought myself the small stainless steel cotton thread holder and fit-ted it to my hatch, so much better, I must have lost 10 cotton rolls this year while fish-ing, but now feel super confident, and don’t need to take spares with me. Such a cheap and effective modification. I also decided to mount my fishing knife in a place that is most functional and safe, the last thing you need is to stab yourself while going out or coming in through the surf. This has proven perfect and freed up my hatch space as well.Project River Kayak – Feel Free Moken 10


As some of you may know I have been work-ing on a major custom river kayak for my-self of the last few months. Well its com-ing on great and I will soon finish a major modification for testing next month for the article. I recently fitted a waterproof fish hatch with dry bag and some cargo nets for additional storage. This makes keeping that valuable fishing license and cell phone safe, not to mention my chocolates and soft drinks. I also fitted a retractable lanyard system and fishing knife docking system, which is perfectly located for ease of use and safety. Next month, I will be adding a foot pedals directional control system and a Watersnake 55 pound electric motor for those long trips, yes, you read that correctly! Watch this space for more details and pics.

Open Demo DayIn the interest of promoting our amazing sport we hope to be organizing an open day on the river to showcase our craft, show some amazing products and just have a great day with mate and those interested in getting into kayak fish-ing. We hope to have the date by our next month’s article, so watch this space.

Anyway, for more information on kayak fishing, how you can get into it, modifications and setup, drop me an email at [email protected] In addition, if you would like to join the kayak fishing Whats app group, please also send your details through to 071 883 8769 and I will link you. A great way to meet guys who share your fishing experience and passion for the sport.


Words/pics: Nigel Louw

THE

BAIT BOXTIPS

BASE TENTACLE BAIT

Cut a nice piece of chokka into very thin strips.

This is what I call a base tentacle bait as it it is the foundation for whatever else you want to build on top of it. The thin tentacles provide lots of movement in the water so fish will smell the bait and sense the movement with their latereal line.

Cotton them over a piece of foam on your hook, one tentacle at a time.

1

2


SPARGS MALLBEACON BAY043 711 7700

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Thats it there you have a tentacle base which you can now dress up anyway you choose. You can slice half a sardine and cotton it over or add a pink prawn or even another flat piece of chokka over it.

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Send us your best catch picture and you could win an awesome prize. (Photo must be of yourself holding the fish and preferably still alive. Photos of gutted fish do not qualify)Email your entry to [email protected] with the followingdetails: - Anglers full name - Species - Location caught- Bait used - Size/Weight

Angler: Paul WarnerSpecies: Bronze BreamLocation: Qolora (Trennerys)Bait: Pink PrawnSize: 53cm

Angler: Ryan PickeringSpecies: TroutLocation: Thrift DamBait: Wooly Bugger FlySize: 2.5kg

Angler: Arnold Du PlessisSpecies: ShadLocation: ChintsaBait: SardineSize: 64cm

CATCH & WIN


August Winner

Angler: Luke SiebertSpecies: BlacktailLocation: ChintsaBait: SardineSize: 28cm

Angler: Ben SteynSpecies: GT KingfishLocation: Nahoon RiverBait: BucktailSize: 55cm

Ben wins himself anassortment of Triton lures/spoons.

Keep sending in your catches and stand a chance of winning an assortment of Triton lures.


TIDE CHARTSeptember 2015Information supplied by the Hydrographer SA Navy

The Hydrographer is not responsible for anytranscription errors.

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Fishing EC Magazine September 2015