Very little has been documented on the Snapper prawn. During my bait fishing endeavours the snapper prawn has been outstanding bait, the flesh is much firmer than the mud prawn and sand prawn, which makes it last longer on the hook. Getting Snappers is backbreaking work, definitely worth the effort.
Also known as the "Kabeljou kapper"(Kob prawn) in Knysna, the Snapper prawn can be heard "snapping"? on soft mud banks covered by grass, apparently living in a simbiotic relationship with mud gobies.
The Snapper prawn has a dark olive colour along the top and a white/cream colour along the bottom of the abdomen, the tail ends in an orange "stripe"?. The "snapping" nipper is much larger than the secondary "grabbing"? nipper. Stay clear of the "snapping nipper", this will be self explanatory once you see the prawn snapping.
These prawns, like the other species swims in a forward direction and scatters rather quickly backwards when threatened. Snapper prawns seem to be the better swimmers, compared to mud and sand prawns.
Up to 7cm total body length. I have encountered Snapper prawn as far east as the Kromme River estuary near Cape St. Francis in the Eastern Cape. I am sure they are more widely distributed along the South African coast.
It would be nice to see some new flies evolving in SA this season.
Some more sandprawn pics. In the process of trying to crack the code here at Stilbaai with the sand dwellers. Have seen some very interesting stuff and hopefully have a strategy
The birth of the Kiai crab. Wikipedia - is a Japanese term used in martial arts for the short shout uttered when performing an attacking move.
I had a request for some crab flies, targeting grunter. For some time now I have had an idea for a crab pattern and this was the ideal opportunity to make it happen. Most of the local estuaries in the Western Cape and probably elsewhere are home to Shore, Marsh and Crown crabs. I have had some good succes in my local estuary targeting grunter with the Marsh crabs (real ones that is :-)) during the past few months. As the grunter move onto the marshes again in numbers I will be ready with the fly version. The olive crab imitates the Crown crab and the brown one the Marsh crab.
The stomach contents of one of the grunter I took on the edge of the marshes, gorged with Marsh crabs.
Probably my top, top colour in Fishient's Sculpting Fiber range is "Glass minnow". This colour together with "Sand" are the colours I use the most when tying prawns and some natural coloured baitfish patterns, either as a topping or blended inbetween. I was amazed when I searched online fly shops and saw none of these sites stock "Glass Minnow" in their Sculpting Fiber range. It can be best described as a dirty, washed-out olivey tan, with a tinge of natural fishiness hue. It is spot on when imitating most of the mudprawn hues found in the Cape province, the bottom colour can either be changed to "Sand" or "Shrimp".
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