Fly Fishing for Spotted Grunter

[FlyCraft]

Hi guys,

Kevin, how was Breede? Or any other past weekend grunter hunters? From what I hear there are more fish at De Mond than some moths back, hope to head out by mid April.

[Bullie]

Hi guys my name is Dustin kemp and i tied the SOB.In the eastern cape grunter will readily take flies off the surface. From all the time and research ive done on the water i dont believe its the look of the fly entirly but how the fly is worked.i used to catch all my grunter and all my other spiecies on 3 main flies i tied. They were the SOB a prawn imatation dont know its name but i called it the wool fly. And my gillcrestela imatation in size number 2 hook. I have immergrted to new zealand but will be happy to answer any questons i can. I found normally its the unorthodox methods that catch the fish.

[FlyCraft]

Thank you Dustin,

What is your experience on the below:

- Best tides, receding versus pushing, springs and neaps?

- Retrieve?

- Grunter on sandbanks versus grunter on mudbanks?

- Catching grunter in the water column and on the bottom?

[Bullie]

I had most of my luck on mud banks and on the surface. For me neap tides was the worst time to fish for them they seemed lazy to feed.when i was fishing from my boat i found the first push of the tide and the last hour on the push. where great fishing near the drop offs. But the best fishing was the dropping tide the bites where more visious and they seemed to feed with more determination. Most of the time it was very slow retrieves. Strip strip strip and a pause of 5 to 10 seconds. The strips were short steady strips.Alot of the time you will feel the strike on the pause. But if you getting knocked on the strip only pause for a second and add more strips. Sometimes stripping a bit faster can make a few fish fight to get you fly almost like leerie strikes. I hope i helped answer your questions a bit better. Spring tides are the best to fish for them but you can loose sight of them quicker in spring tides because of the amount of water movement.

[KevinC]

Hi guys,

Kevin, how was Breede? Or any other past weekend grunter hunters? From what I hear there are more fish at De Mond than some moths back, hope to head out by mid April.

Grunts were few and far between. Hardly any action and min swimming around mudlark side. I only managed one hit but missed the fish. Fario got two kob on paddletails and I lost two (one proper proper fish). Quite a few elf around. De Mond is chockablock with juvvie leeries. Got 8 in a quick 1.5hr session on the way back up to 45cm. The wind was blowing so we avoided the sand flats but there were a few grunts working the car park side mud flats.

[FlyCraft]

Thanks guys for the replies.

[Korrie]

Reading thru this thread, it seems that there are a lot more fly fishers with regular success, than what we know off.

[Niel Malan]

Hi,
I have not caught too many grunter, but one was a bus! so far on brown gotcha, small shrimp fly (orange/pink), small white baitfish pattern (read Gilchristella), white clouser. Had knocks on deer hair floating prawns. I really need to put in some more time, but believe that they will take small fish patterns.
regards
Niel

PS The one on my profile photo was a smallish one from Swartkops that took a white clouser in shallow water

[briansflyfishing]

I had success a while ago. After trying many different patterns I landed 2 on a pink Charlie. The fish would follow it on each cast and either veer away after following it for a while or pick and drop.

I recently acquired 2 articulated sand/ mud prawn flies from Winelands So it would be interesting to see how it does., but I am hopeful as it looks fantastic in the water.pink gotcha sh.jpg

[smallstreams.co.za]

Just curious (and with ZERO saltwater knowledge and experience) ... if they behave like that, would it not perhaps be worth a try to trail something else behind the 1st pattern (like we do for trout) ... a dropper of sorts?