Fishing in the Western Cape Weekend of 17/18 October 2009

8.5kg Cob caught at Marine Rd.

(www.rockandsurf.co.za)

So summer is on its way and our best fishing time and weather of the year is here, not in full force yet, but here. Guys have been slagging (catching/killing) the kob the last couple of weeks already, and catching sizer bronzies already and in Northwesterly winds, something which is unheard of. But like the saying goes "anything can happen when you have a line in the water!"

6.2kg Cob caught by Andre at Maccasser

(www.rockandsurf.co.za)

So this past weekend, 17 & 18 October 2009 produced quite a couple of fish, with numerous cob and bronzies being landed along the beaches on the False Bay Coast, after Noth Westerly winds had been blowing all week, weird and strange.

I for one went along the mountains for a throw, the water was looking awesome, nice colour and temp, thought i might go for a throw before heading off to a friends wedding. Through a couple of chokka and mackerel baits, and had no takers. A kid next to me had caught a couple of baby smooth hounds, so i decided to swim one, thought maybe i could get picked up my something fairly large, but had no takers. My swim bait was in for about  1 h 30min. and then i had to leave, i was pretty bummed about that, if i could have stuck around for a bit longer i am sure i would have been picked up. Anyway i chucked that small smoothie into my bait box and is now in my freezer at home, ready to be cut up and slid out this coming weekend for a bigass bronzie!!

Bronzie at Maccasser caught by Deon

Maccasser Bronze Whaler caught by Deon

In the picture below of Nikolay and his 2m (precaudel length) bronze whaler, if you take a closer look at the sea in the background, you'll notice that it is a greeny-brown colour and the sea is quite rough. That is the type of sea conditions that you are looking for when targeting these beasts, just find yourself a nice hole with some good colour, and put a bloody bait out, and you should be vas(stuck) into a bronzie in no time at all.

Nikolay with a 2m Bronze Whaler

(www.rockandsurf.co.za)

Cow Sharks - Part 1

Ray with a 60+kg cowshark at Ganzekraal

(www.rockandsurf.co.za)

Cow sharks are one of the ugliest looking types of shark that we get in our waters. These are pap (pap = weak/no fight in them) sharks, with fights no last longer than 10/15min at most. They don't grow very big either, the biggest that i have seen is around 80/90 kgs.

They have very distinctive razor sharp teeth, and are known to pick baits up and swim in, and thus are often lost because of hooks not setting, so if you think you might have one of these at the end of your line, strike the sh*t out of the fish.

Areas where one would find these hondt (hondt = dog) ugly sharks are places like Ganzekraal, and certain other spots along the west coast, they are also found around the back of Gordons Bay mountains, and strand beach area.

Ruan with a cowshark also at Ganzekraal
(www.rockandsurf.co.za)

 These sharks prefer cold water, this is why one will find them in spots along the West Coast. Just make a good mackeral bait and chuck it in, and see what happens....

Fish Length to Weight Conversion - Part 1

Precaudal length, from the tip of the nose to the notch in the tail

In South Africa we use the method of measuring fish and then using a conversion table (, which can be found on the Ocean Research Institute's website http://www.ori.org.za/fishcalc.php) to calculate the weight of the fish according to its length, or disc width for rays. This is the only method of weight calculation in competitive angling in South Africa, therefore enforcing conservation.

This method of calculating a fishes weight is a means to help conservation of our sharks and rays and other big fish, to ensure that they'll be around in the future for our kids to catch and marvel at their beauty and size. It is a more conservation friendly method, as sharks and rays dont have to be killed and taken to a scale to find out its weight, or be weighed on beach which was/is a long painstaking process, which was/is impractical.

Me with a Diamond Ray, disc width/wing span is measured underneath the fish.

There are various ways in which to measure different fish, some fork length, some total length and others precaudal, all of this can be found out on http://www.ori.org.za/ , make sure you know which one is the correct one for your fish. You don't want to measure a fish wrong be telling everyone that you caught a 300kg shark, when in fact it was only 130kg, and end up looking like a fool.

So if you are new  or old to the sport of shark angling, and are targeting rays and sharks, even big Kob, make sure you have a tape measure at hand for when you land your fish, so it can be measured, pose for a quick couple of photos (for the none believers) and  quickly returned to the ocean to be able to fight another day.

Black Stingray (Pylie, Black Pylie, Pylstert, Swart Pylstert) - Part 1

Jacques De Plooy with a monster 261kg Black Pylie

(http://www.sealine.co.za/view_topic.php?id=25088&forum_id=1&highlight=pylie)

The Black Stingray, these are the prehistoric looking beasts of the ocean floor. If i was any fish, i'd want to be one of these guys, super strong mean machines, probably the most dangerous fish to land and handle once landed. This is because of its large stinger that it whips around once out of the water, one klap (klap = hit) with that thing and you're in the hospital,  or 6 feet under, or the hospital and then 6 feet under, ask Steve Irwin.

When you hook into one of these big boys, you'll know, then you better hope and pray that your tackle is in good shape and ready for a serious battle because you are in for a long hard slow fight. These black stingrays are more often than none, the winners of the battle leaving you with a broken ego and maybe even broken tackle just to make you feel that much worse.

Fights with these fish can last anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours +, so you better be ready for a fight and bring your camping gear with cause you are gonna be there for a while. When targeting these fish only the best and the strongest tackle, nothing short of that will do, otherwise you are just wasting your time, the fishes and the possible crowd you'd draw while fighting these beasts.

Areas where guys usually get stuffed up by these beasts are along the Gordons Bay mountain area, and around Strandfontein & Maccasser beaches.

Renier with a 210kg Black Pylie

(http://capetownfishing.co.za/index.php?topic=1438.0)