natal snoek

[gazzarowan]

hey guys...

i was just wondering if anyone had ever attempted the natal snoek on fly?

every year i see very large shoals along the natal coastline and seeing as i only started flyfishing after i moved to jhb, i never had the opportunity to give it a go...

next time i'm down during snoek season, i want to give it a try (should be soon)

any info would be great for us all.

thanks guys

[MCC]

Howzit

Natal Snoek must be one of the prettiest fish in the ocean. They can also be one of the easiest and hardest fish to take on fly.

We used to fish steel shock tippets when targeting them but this invariably led to many hard chases with last second refusals. A switch to 40lbs fluoro was a big revelation. We still landed over ninety percent of hooked fish but the number of hookups more than doubled.

The retrieve is also critical. Initially we relied on sheer speed to get aggressive takes but this slowly evolved into erratic retrieves and from there the fly size was simply reduced. Chartreuse Clousers are probably the best all round pattern for Natal Snoek because of the erratic movement. Don't hesitate to throw very sparse #2 chartreuse Clousers at them. This would certainly be my first choice pattern in Mozambique. The Bonnies also love these small sparse flies........

Cheers
MC

[Flashback Rob]

Hey Gary
I cant offer any advice as far as tactics are concerned - only morral support. Ive seen that salt water fly box (or boxes rather)of yours and I recon you ll do just fine.

Count me in when you decide to give the snoek a go - Im there!

[gazzarowan]

thanks MCC

thank you for the quick and great advice...

will definitely give it a go...bonus as i've started tying small chartreuse clousers as of last night!!!

what kinds of materials do you use for yours? i have made some with SF, polar fibre, and bucktail...

have some with rabbit strips as well. which has te best action in the water from your perspective?

also, are you using intermediate line? i'd think it would decrease the chances of spooking the fish.

can't wait!!!

Mr Rob - invite is always out there

[MCC]

For that kind of offshore stuff I always use a Di7. It casts further and faster than most other lines.....

Those small Clousers are very fast to churn out, so durability isn't an issue. I tie all my small to medium Clousers in bucktail only. Chartreuse over white (20/80%) with minimal flash - say four strands of pearl flashabou. Built in movement from materials isn't a major thing for me with a Claouser because the eyes will add sufficient movement. Also, even a "slow" strip is quite fast.....

[Kevin James]

MCC makes a very good point here in that the flies mustn't be too flashy.

I think that was some of the earliest mistakes I most certainly made initially.

We used to catch Natal snoek off the crocker ski in days gone by.
Usually it was spooning for them, but then it evolved into a fly rod as we looked for a bigger challenge.

I remember an article that John Costello wrote about a thousand years ago now when he still stayed in Port St Johns about catching shad and how they could sometimes be put off by too much flash.

Took this new found knowledge into backline and we started getting snoek like this. The clouser was most definitely one of the flies we used, as this well known in the day, as was the Deceiver.
An interesting observation was that the more tattered and chewed the deceiver became, the more effective it was.

The teeth were sometimes a problem, but the trick we used was a small little piece of nylon coated wire in very light gauge albrighted to leader. It was an awful thing and the fly didn't always track straight, but we still got our share.
In all honesty, in those days I don't think we had the insight to go straight mono, as it was impossible to convince anyone you could get 'couta or snoek on straight mono. It was meat hunting at its best.

Small baitfish patterns will work.

I used to tie up glassy patterns that seemed to work on nearly everything.
They measured about 6cm and these were considered quite big.
How times have changed.

I must have a scratch and see what I have lying around and post up some very old flies.

[gazzarowan]

MCC makes a very good point here in that the flies mustn't be too flashy.

I think that was some of the earliest mistakes I most certainly made initially.

We used to catch Natal snoek off the crocker ski in days gone by.
Usually it was spooning for them, but then it evolved into a fly rod as we looked for a bigger challenge.

I remember an article that John Costello wrote about a thousand years ago now when he still stayed in Port St Johns about catching shad and how they could sometimes be put off by too much flash.

Took this new found knowledge into backline and we started getting snoek like this. The clouser was most definitely one of the flies we used, as this well known in the day, as was the Deceiver.
An interesting observation was that the more tattered and chewed the deceiver became, the more effective it was.

The teeth were sometimes a problem, but the trick we used was a small little piece of nylon coated wire in very light gauge albrighted to leader. It was an awful thing and the fly didn't always track straight, but we still got our share.
In all honesty, in those days I don't think we had the insight to go straight mono, as it was impossible to convince anyone you could get 'couta or snoek on straight mono. It was meat hunting at its best.

Small baitfish patterns will work.

I used to tie up glassy patterns that seemed to work on nearly everything.
They measured about 6cm and these were considered quite big.
How times have changed.

I must have a scratch and see what I have lying around and post up some very old flies.

thanks a mil guys!!! i have aslo been spooning for them for ages...light sticks and line but i'd like the added challenge and reward for getting one on fly...i have caught tuna on fly and the sparser flies alsways did better than the bulkier flies, they also had no flash in them...so i'll give that a go...

i would love to see the glassy patterns...they must be the business in the harbour when the skippies are herding the glassies into the shallow waters...

will post some of my flies when i get a chance...would like some comments from the experienced folk

thanks again guys

[Korrie]

You mentioned DBN harbour, are you allowed to fish there again?
Heard that it was off limits, or is it only certain areas?

Would love to know, as a kid, did a lot of fishing in DBN harbour. have to go up for bussiness in the next month or 3.

[gazzarowan]

You mentioned DBN harbour, are you allowed to fish there again?
Heard that it was off limits, or is it only certain areas?

Would love to know, as a kid, did a lot of fishing in DBN harbour. have to go up for bussiness in the next month or 3.

dbn harbour isn't offlimits...shore-based fishing is limited and the police frequently make a turn along the entire sideline checking licenses and chasing ppl away from certain areas and fining ppl in certain areas...

since i moved up here, i haven't kept fully aware of what's happening anymore, but i'll check it out this wknd i hope.

if you are fishing off a boat, you can go pretty much anywhere...so long as you have the correct licenses, you're good to go.

[Korrie]

dbn harbour isn't offlimits...shore-based fishing is limited and the police frequently make a turn along the entire sideline checking licenses and chasing ppl away from certain areas and fining ppl in certain areas...

since i moved up here, i haven't kept fully aware of what's happening anymore, but i'll check it out this wknd i hope.

if you are fishing off a boat, you can go pretty much anywhere...so long as you have the correct licenses, you're good to go.

Thanks for the update.