News From the Garden Route

[anton]

Hello Folks

I see from a number of the threads that members come up from Cape Town to do a little fishing in the rivers and estuaries of the Garden Route.

I thought that i would post some information on what has been happening in this part of the world. A number of our river systems are closed at the moment. I know that both Goukama and the Touw River (Wilderness) are closed at the moment as is the mouth of the Sedgefield Lagoon. The Great Brak river was opened yesterday which is good news as it was in need of a good flushing.

The opening of Goukama looks iminent. I was there last night and it is really full with much water flooding the banks of the river. The good news with this is that when it does open it will do so for a while as the volume of water that is likely to move through the mouth is substantial enough to deposit the sand well away from the mouth keeping it open longer. The time is right for this as it coincides well with the arrival of kob and leeries. 10 October is generally the time that you can expect the leeries to arrive on their migration. There are always a few resident fish in the estuaries but they tend to be less than 35cm fork length. The sea run fish will normally exceed 55cm fork length. Their arrival generally coincides with the start of a regular south east wind.

The Knysna lagoon produces any number of leeries over 10kg each year. The largest that I have witnessed was caught 8 years ago and weighed 27kg admittedley caught on live bait. This estuary has big fish but due to its size they can be difficult to find especially of fly as water is covered slowly when compared to plugging. The key here is to locate the fish and then target with fly. Belvidere or the Ashmead Channel being the two best starting points. Access to a boat makes a difference. My advice is to fish here if one is not necessarily looking for action but more for a trophy fish, hopefully released. One of my friends will generally tag at least 60 fish a season in this lagoon, caught on plug. The fish are there and one just needs to find them

Goukama in general will produce far smaller fish but I have had a few days there landing 3 or 4 fish in the 4 - 6 kg range. This river would be my first choice in this area to target grunter on fly. The water colour is generally good when the mouth is open. Fish just above the point where the colour of the water changes from clear sea water to river water. This is where you will generally find the kob, grunter and leeries. For grunter any prawn or shrimp imitation gently disturbing the bottom will have a chance. This river generally has quite a few grunter in it and a lot between 2.5 and 3 kg.Grunter can often be seen when wading on the banks near the mouth but i would target them on the edge of the drop offs slightly higher up the river. Shad do enter the river when the mouth is deep ie. Spring Tides. The great thing about this river is that one can cover most of the water in an afternoon.

Groot Brak, Klein Brak and Hartenbos tend to hold smaller leeires and i cannot comment on either kob or grunter here as I have not fished for then. The next river that can produce good size kob and leeries is the Gouritz. I have not fished it much but have heard reports of good fish being landed there. This river has great drop offs and also little tributiries that branch off the main channel. Ideal places to start looking for a leerie.

Plett lagoon has a lot of fish in it but it takes some getting to know. Fishing spots here are very dependent on the state of the tide and the water temperature. Good places to use as a starting point are where the N2 crosses the Bitou river, the mouth of the Bitou and the main channel and an area just below the Plett boat club. This river has a few resident fish but there will be reports of better fish beng caught in the next 3 weeks. Kob can also be targeted in this lagoon. I have not caught any here but I have friends who have landed some nice fish there on dropshot. Shad will enter the lagoon after a few days east wind when the water temp drops suddenly. Normally found in the first few hundred yards of the bitou on a good pushing tide.

The info that I have supplied here is very generic as is based on my angling experiences in these rivers or estuaries. I know that quite a few guys travel to these parts so this is somehting that some may be able to use as a very basic guide.

Good Luck
Anton

[Herman Jooste]

Thamk you Anton!!!! A very good post, informative and helpfull.
Hope to hear more from you on the forums,

[anton]

Good Morning Herman

I was at the Goukama river mouth on Saturday afternoon. News is that it has yet to open. While I was there the seas washed over the bank in front of the mouth and into the river. This is probably due to the Equinox tide and a very rough sea. I had a few follows from very small fish and only connected with one. No bigger than 30cm leerie. Could not even tag it.

There was a bit more activity after 530 where you could see small leeries chasing finger mullet in water a foot or less deep. It was very difficult to locate the fish as all the water resembles strong tea and there is no flow. I tried to concentrate on the deeper pockets of water but have to say that there was no pattern for the follows that I got. One really just needed to cover a lot of water in order to find the fish.

Should anyone like any info on what is happening in these parts, just PM and I should reply the same day. It is early in the season but my experience is that if you find fish now you are likely to have the best fishing of the season as the fish have yet to be spooked by heavy fishing pressure and increased activity on our waters.

Kind regards
Anton

[Pierre]

Hi Anton

Welcome to the site and thanks for the report. Really helpfull , i am one of those guys making my way up there soon. I want to do a road trip. Start at Infanta and then the Garden route. A 4 day trip of solid fishing. When things are finalized then i'll let you know. Please join us, if not at Infanta, then at these venues. Will be great to have someone with some local knowledge to join us. And more inportant to meet and fish together.

Cheers

[anton]

I do not know that i will be of any help at Infanta. I have only really been there a few times before. I do generally know what has been happening in and around the Knysna area though. The key here is to make sure you miss the people. We get very busy over the holidays with some very inconsiderate people in boats and on jetskis.

I am a Golf Pro so as much as I would like to be able to join you when you are here my hours are quite demanding especially going into summer. I will definitely join you if am able to even if it is only for a few sessions.

One thing that you may want to consider if coming up this way is bringing a small boat. The bonito are already in the bay at Mossel Bay and can easily be target on fly. You only need one engine in the bay which makes it perfect for a small boat like a rubberduck or estuary boat. I caught huge numbers of fish on a baitcaster and surface plug last year always casting at fish that were working below birds. Great action as some fish pushing 3 kg mark. They make their appearance very early in the morning and then feed again an hour or so before dark. Perfect scenario to get fish on surface lures which makes it that much better.

October can be a great month or it can be horrible. The best thing is that you have a chance at fish that have not yet seen a lure or been harassed by boats. The down side is that the concentrations of fish are not here. The result is that when you get fish it is normally huge action and if not there is very little.

Look forward to hearing your plans.

Anton

[KevinC]

Hi there Anton

Welcome to the site- are you one of the SCFF guys?

I will be staying in Plett from Friday to Monday at Castleton (just above Plett Golf course). Any updated info as to the state of the Bitou and Keurbooms would be massively appreciated as I plan to go and flog the water for a while whilst there for a leerie/ grunter/ mullet or two.

Thanks mate

Kevin

[FishWhisperer]

I am a Golf Pro

Really, which course??

[anton]

Hello Kevin and Fish Whisperer

Kevin i cannot give you 100% accurate info on Plett but I know that on Monday a friend of mine got his first 2 sea run leeires in Knysna lagoon. Fork Length 66 and 72 cm respectively. This would tell me that there must be fish in that river already. There will also always be some small resident fish. Dropping tide and the entrance to the Bitou is a good starting place. This weekend you should have a good afternoon session there. I think you will have a low tide early morning. Fish main channels then. High tide move into the bitou river and give it a try. Getting away from the weed can be a problem.

Me not a member of a fly fishing club as my time is limited and I also belong to a rock and surf one. Would not be able to give it my full committment.

Fish Whisperer i have the privilege of being the Director of Golf at The Links at Fancourt.

[anton]

Good Morning All

A quick update on the happenings of the last week or so here. Sunday last week saw Knysna have over 100mm of rain. The result is that there is much fresh water about. Not ideal for targeting leeries but the water colour gives one a chance for grunter. These conditions should not last very long with the spring tides as much water will now leave the lagoon with every dropping tide. With the light east wind yesterday the lagoon dropped very low removing plenty of the water. The result is that fishing nearer the heads is likely to be better than upriver. The Ashmead Channel and the bank off Thesen Island that runs below the Parks Board should work the best. As the water cleans up one can move up to the normal spots around Belvidere. Fishing the very clear water generally produces good follows but very spooky fish with the result that Belvidere and the slightly off colour water produces the most fish.

The Goukama river mouth opened on Monday and opened well. It is about waist deep at low tide and much deeper on the high. The mouth has also opened further from the road than normal with the result that the river flows straighter than normal allowing a better exchange of water from the river to the sea. This will hopefully mean that the mouth may stay open longer than normal and allow more fish to enter. I have yet to fish the river so i cannot give too much comment on fishing activity except that there have been good size leeries around the mouth of the Knysna lagoon and a fish of 850mm fork length was caught on live bait in the bay at Canon yesterday. Proof that the sea run fish have begun moving down the coast from the eastern cape.

Hope that the above helps any members making a trip to these parts in the near future.

Anton

[rols]

thanks a mil for the informed info anton. don't worry, your information is being sent to all people concerned. thanks again.
roland