Where are the fisherman here.

[PaarlBok]

I went up the Berg river this weekend past off a farm in an area called Hopefield. Its about 10 clicks from the coast , and the breeding ground for your typical esturine fish. We went in a canoe because the river banks are very shallow , and to get your bait into the channel you need a good cast to get into the channel.Thats pretty tricky with light tackle and you got a better chance of fighting a good fish off a canoe than off a river bank , because of obstructions. Larger fish were about , as I lost one that snapped me off ( I was using 5 pound line , pinky stick and a coffee grinder ) , but the majority of the takes were from juvenile fish.I havent checked , but this could be the time that the juveniles move down river to the mouth.
There was also a lot of fine grass type sea weed in the water which would discourage the bigger fish because of the gills.Didnt take photos because my catches were too small , but this is the fish I was targetting and hooked.Two Steenbras and one elf.

I had targetted thosse two species , and used mud prawns , which I pumped the weekend before for the Steenbras , and Sardine for the elf.Caught all my fish on the high tide .

Sardyntjie I know a farmer right at the mouth of the Berg at Velddrif. Their kids played hockey with my oldest boy and we had a spirit builder for interschools with the kids at their place. You can hire rondawels exct. The kids went with canoes and caught some unbelieve big harders in the river mouth using nets. They come in with high tide and then stuck in the river with low tide. I never saw such big harders. The sea ones always have a blueish back colour. Do you get geelvis and this ugly barbers in the Berg? I dont know river fishing seems dull to me. The sea is the place to fish and the river ones taste like mud.

 

[Sardyntjie]

Sardyntjie I know a farmer right at the mouth of the Berg at Velddrif. Their kids played hockey with my oldest boy and we had a spirit builder for interschools with the kids at their place. You can hire rondawels exct. The kids went with canoes and caught some unbelieve big harders in the river mouth using nets. They come in with high tide and then stuck in the river with low tide. I never saw such big harders. The sea ones always have a blueish back colour. Do you get geelvis and this ugly barbers in the Berg? I dont know river fishing seems dull to me. The sea is the place to fish and the river ones taste like mud.

No PB , some great fish in the Estuaries...


Steenbras
elf
Garrik ( Leervis )
Spotted Grunter
Shark


Best part is its light tackle and you can also fly-fish offf the banks.

You must get me the details on those rondavels.......

 

[PaarlBok]

You must get me the details on those rondavels.......

Will get them for you, Kotze is their surname and I do see them from time to time. I'll try my fisherman skills with the kids at Struisbaai over Dec holiday.

 

[PaarlBok]

Sardyntjie you can phone her, Mariette Kotze at 0227830822. She is waiting for your call. They have 7 chalets on the farm and it cost R750 per chalet for 2 persons from friday to sunday. Trust me its a nice place. Unfortunately their website has been scrapped for some other reason.

 

[Sardyntjie]

Sardyntjie you can phone her, Mariette Kotze at 0227830822. She is waiting for your call. They have 7 chalets on the farm and it cost R750 per chalet for 2 persons from friday to sunday. Trust me its a nice place. Unfortunately their website has been scrapped for some other reason.

thanks boet

 

[Sardyntjie]

Rivers are floodded and full of dirt so no chance of fishing at them this weekend.

For Google earth followers 32 47'40.86"S 18 10'35.774"E

Bought an inflatible for rivers last night , 3 layers of skin.Pretty handy and light to cart around.Better than the canoe as it is too wobbly with two fishermen on board.

 

[PaarlBok]

Sardyntjie you can phone her, Mariette Kotze at 0227830822. She is waiting for your call. They have 7 chalets on the farm and it cost R750 per chalet for 2 persons from friday to sunday. Trust me its a nice place. Unfortunately their website has been scrapped for some other reason.

thanks boet

OK they fix their website after I spoke to Mariette. Go to http://www.kliphoek.com/

to get a climpse of the place. There you'll get regte egte Boerekos.

Edit: The photo in the second row right with the laaities with the harders was taken at the weekend we had. All those kids played with my son for Gims first hockey team. The two on the right is the Kotze's sons. Sard have you ever saw such big harders?

 

[Sardyntjie]

Sounds good man.When the rivers clear , the missus and I will be there like a shot.

PS. arent I lucky to have a fishwife.....

 

[PaarlBok]

Sounds good man.When the rivers clear , the missus and I will be there like a shot.

PS. arent I lucky to have a fishwife.....

Sard the Bergrivier is clean Boet, it is on the otherside of the Drakenstein and Helderberg mountains where the flouds are at the moment.

 

[Sardyntjie]

George got 250mm of rain in 24hours..........they are fishing from their beds..... :-\

 

[PaarlBok]

George got 250mm of rain in 24hours..........they are fishing from their beds..... :-\

When the swart suidooster hit the south coast this time of year, it mean floods. Happen a year back also.

Explanatory edit for non-Capies; swart suidooster = black south-easter. Monster wind in the Cape, with not just howling winds that ripped the roof of a building in down-town CPT this week, but also brings horrendous amounts of rain that hits the Hottentots Holland mountains and the mountains shielding the Karoo and dumps the lot in torrents. Half the Garden Route's underwater at the moment. Tvd78

Sorry about this. Its the wind direction , from the south east and it bring a non stop rain for days when we get this in the south coast, normally we get rain from the north west wind direction and cold fronts.

Namaqualanders like me , which is near desert area always look for the wind direction for the rain. If it go NW ,its Pan Cakes (pannekoek) time.

 

[Sardyntjie]

Gave it a full bash at Sandvlei lagoon this sunday.Took out the fishing duck.It was hell. The wind just blows you off your spot and to try paddle against the wind is maddness.I am getting a trolling motor , 1.5 kw now.Learnt my lesson.Otherwise its a beaut of a duck for fishing on. :thumb
I tried everything.Freshly pumped prawns , bloodworm , fillets of sea pike.No touches.The water was very muddy.I then tried artificial lure.Drop shot shad in different shades.I flicked those buggers until I was sore in the arms.No touches.Another fisherman was picking up good showings of fish on his fishfinder , but no takes and he was trolling lures.I then tried the fly rod.I tried deceivers until I couldnt anymore , and then tried some poppers. No touches.There were a few boils , but the fish were not feeding.At least I can say I gave it a full go.

 

[Red Bull]

neybra, that's a pretty staggering variety of baits/lures to chuck at the fish in one session Too right that you can say you've given it a full go! That's fishing for you though, isn't it.....sometimes they are feeding, and sometimes they are not. In my case, I'm normally very good at picking when they are not feeding! :-[ That prawn you use for bait, we get them in Australia too, but they are called a 'yabby', and they are excellent bait for most estuary fish here too (not surprising really)

I found the below pic of the Trevally I was talking about, and I suspect it's what you call 'jacks'.....

In Australia, the term 'jack' refers to Mangrove Jacks, an extremely aggressive snag-dwelling member of the Lutjanid (sea perch) family. See the dark red/brown fish below....

 

[Sardyntjie]

Hi RB , yep , I tried.Those Jack I got looked very sim ilar to the GT the fly fishermen get off the islands , a silver colour and a fiish that swims in shoals

 

[Red Bull]

for some reason I can only view the little thumbnail image you've attached to your post neybra, and when I click on it, it takes me to some Image shack site, but once there, no large image shows up. ??? Am I doing something wrong?

Anyway yeah, the thumbnail image looks to be a trevally of some sort, dunno what exact species but definitely from the family Carangidae.

 

[Sardyntjie]

http://www.zandvleitrust.org.za/art-ZIMP biotic - fish.html

This is where I tried this weekend.Dont know abouut next weekend.Tweaked my right elbow with all that flicking and spinning.Those Leerie are a decent size and that angler trawling next to me saw some beauts on his fishfinder. :
Next time.

 

[PaarlBok]

Sardine that place is to close to Muizenberg and Newlands Boet. Your changes is very good at catching Bras , Panties and maybe a used FFie or two., Go to the Kotze's place at Kliphoek.

 

[Sardyntjie]

We are going boet , definitely on the cards.Got to make some time mind.Next weekend its off to George , the Week after its a week in Knysna , then home for Christmas ( the MIL s roast is worth interrupting your holidays ) , and then its a week in Nooordhoek.So cant see any time clear till Jan .

 

[Red Bull]

Hey Paarl or neybra, do you guys catch any crabs over in SA? Are they a legitimate target for the average fisherperson?

Here in Australia, we catch 2 major species of swimming crabs, both of which are delightful to eat. As a result, both types of crabs have a large recreational and commercial following in this country. Last weekend I caught 15 sand crabs (which are also known as Blue Swimmers for obvious reasons). See below for a pic of a crate of them.

The other species is the famous mud crab, which grows much bigger than sand crabs and attracts more attention from the fishing fraternity here, particularly in the tropics where they are more numerous.

 

[Virgil]

jaysus with those bottom crabs its a matter of who's catching whom!