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SEALINE - South African Angling and Boating Community > Boating > Offshore Angling Discussion > Dummies Guide Part4 - Bottom Fishing in False Bay | |||||
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SEALINE - South African Angling and Boating Community > Boating > Offshore Angling Discussion > Dummies Guide Part4 - Bottom Fishing in False Bay | |||||
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| Dummies Guide Part4 - Bottom Fishing in False Bay | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 01:43 pm |
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1st Post |
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miles Sealine Expert 
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This post will attempt to cover bottom (demersal) fishing in False Bay. I'll split it up between Red Fish, Kob and Geelbek, which are our most popular target species. Lets start. The Art of Handline Fishing For years, the commercial fisherman have perfected the techique of using a handline to catch fish. This technique is devastatingly effective, for all our inshore fish. Its an art that needs to be learnt and its not something that you can grasp very quickly. Only hours of fishing will make you succeed at handline fishing. I've often heard recreational anglers talk about how they've outfished a commercial handline fisherman. In reality, this RARELY happens, as the commercial handline fisherman will really shame most recreational anglers. BADLY!!. What are the advantages of fishing with a handline: - you can pull alot harder on a handline - you can set your line at a pre-determined depth and continuosly stay at the same depth - there is no mechanical advantage, like a reel gives an angler, so you get a more direct and enjoyable fight - handlines are MUCH, MUCH faster to work and fish with. The more time your bait is in the water, the more fish you will catch. - its realatively in-expensive - you can carry enough gear to catch anyhing from 1/2kg hottie to 30kg+ cob, in a small basket, with-out cluttering up your boat. What to buy You nee to get a few yo-yo/haspers. These are round plastic type objects, which cost about R10 each. They're used to store your handlines on. Lines: these are the approximate breaking strains you need. A couple of kilo's heavier or lighter doesn't matter. They're sold in coiled rolls of 100m each and generally cost anything from R15.00 to R30.00 per 100m coil - 2 x 10kg lines - 2 x 23kg lines - 2 x 35kg lines - 2 x 45kg lines - 2 x 52kg lines - 2 x 60kg lines - 2 x 80kg lines Hooks: - packet of BROWN mustad long shank, size no.1 - Box of 25's Mustad long shank 2/0's - 10 x 9/0's (snoek hook type, just with-out the swivel) - 10 x 10/0's (snoek hook type, just with-out the swivel) - 20 x 11/0's (snoek hook type, just with-out the swivel) - 10 x 12/0's (snoek hook type, just with-out the swivel) - 10 x 13/0's (snoek hook type, just with-out the swivel) Throw in a knife, a chokka hammer and a sharpening stone and you're set!! The only other terminal equipment needed is a few boat sinkers. These are the ones with two loops of line sticking out either end. Get a variety from 1oz to 8oz, but the majority should be 2-3oz. The ones with the swivels on are a bit more expensive, but well worth the extra $$. Throw in a couple of chokka jigs, YAMASHITA's are the best!! As well as some Sabiki rigs and you're done! This whole set-up should cost you less than R500!! You now have the tackle to catch pretty much anything that swims inside Falsebay!! (edibles of course!!) If you're fishing rod and reel, use this information above and simply adjust to your requirements!!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 02:07 pm |
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2nd Post |
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miles Sealine Expert
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Red Fish Your target species here is Red Roman. False Bay does still hold good Red Stumpnose as well as young Red Steenbras (4-8kg's), but they're considered to be a by-catch, whilst targetting roman, UNLESS you know where to find them!!   Any area that holds reef will have Red Roman. Get out your charts and start looking for spots that's worth exploring. Try and stay clear of the well known area's, as Roman, as most demersal species, are rather resident and the spots closest to the harbours tend to be fished out. I've caught roman in water as shallow as 5m and in as deep as 50m. How-ever, my prefered water depth is -15 to -25m. You have PLENTY of spots inside False Bay that offers that specific water depth and has AWESOME reef structure.  Roman fishing is generally best in the winter months. Wind doesn't matter, as long as it is not too strong. Similarly, the swell shouldn't be too large either. When you have a large swell, the boat moves up and down as the swell passes under you, LIFTING your bait off the bottom, away from the fish, as well as scarying them off. Its rare for us to have good success if the swell in big! Warm, 15-18 degrees and blue in colour seems to be the best water conditions.  Ok, assuming you've found a likely area you wish to fish, you launch and run to that area. You now need to look for reef structure on your echo-sounder/fish-finder. Generally, the better the structure, the better your fishing will be!! So, you've found a nice reef, have anchored over it and now you're ready to fish. I use 2 lines, as roman fishing can be slow at times. A 23kg line, rigged with a 2-3oz boat sinker. The main line is tied directly to the swivel and then a simple double hook trace is attached to the bottom of the swivel. (check picture below) I prefer fishing with 2/0 longshank's, as you'll often get a variety of fish on the same reef. You can catch roman, red stumps, red steenbras, dassie, wildeperd, witvis, galjoen, hottie, steentjie, silvervis, panga and a host of smaller species off the same reef. The 2/0 sized hook seems to work best in terms of being able to catch anything that bites!!   Bait. Prawn is THE best bait, but the smaller class fish simply eat it up so quickly, that its not viable. We use pilchard and chokka/squid or Octopus combinations. White mussel, various worms and red-bait also works. The pilchard and squid combo is how-ever easy to buy and store and catch's a wider variety of fish. Check the photo below on how we cut the pilchard into strips. No cotton is used to tie the bait on!!  The trick with catching roman is to drop your sinker to the bottom and then pull it a few centimetre's above the sea bed. You should occationally feel the sinker bumping the reef as the boat moves up and down in relation to the swell.  When a roman bites, it can be anything from a 'skelm' nibble to simply grabbing the bait and rushing off. All depends on the day. A good solid hook set is required!!  Armed with this basic knowledge, catching roman in False Bay should be easy!! 
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 02:34 pm |
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3rd Post |
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miles Sealine Expert
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Cob Cob fishing is VERY weather dependant!! They're PRIMARILY a summer species, but the do occationally have good runs in winter. GordonsBay area seems to hold cob through-out the year, but the fishing is still better in summer. I spent two years catching cob and geelbek commercially and have found certain weather patterns that work very well for kob. When the SE is HOWLING, 20-30knts+ for a few consecutive days, all the warm water is pushed up against Kalk Bay harbour. The water will be brown, discoloured and the cob will be biting like crazy!! Unfortunately, you'll need a big boat and have PLENTY of bravado to fish in that sea!! Only for the commercials or VERY experienced skippers!! When the NW'erly blows, it flattens out Falsebay and pushes the warm water to Strandfontein pool. The water here will be very warm, normally 16-23 degrees and discoloured. It will also hold plenty of baitfish, like maasbankers and elf. We fish VERY, VERY shallow here, with 1.5 to 2 fathoms being the norm. You need a decent echo-sounder as you need to be able to distinguish between bait schools and schools of kob. If you can't distinguish them, anchor anyways and wait for the fish. If their is baitfish around, the cob will make an appearance. The second and third day of the NW'erly, the fish starts moving from Strandfontein to Gordonsbay side. On the second day of NW, i'll start looking for fish at Strandfontein pool and work my way up to Kapteinsklip. Once again, if in doubt, WATCH THE COMMERCIALS!! Tackle. In the shallows behind Strandfontein pool, i use 23kg and 30kg class line. Because the area is very foul, you often get stuck and the thinner lines are easier to break. If the cob are small, i'd start off with a 9/0 hook. Even a undersized 1kg cob can easily fit a 9/0 hook down its mouth!! If the cob are up to 10kg's, then i'd switch to 10/0 or 11/0 hooks. Anything over that, 12/0 hooks. Your hook is simply tied to the end of your line with a loop type knot. No sinker is used. You're fishing DRIFT lines. This is THE prefered way of catching cob, but is not practicle in deeper waters. If the water is deeper than 5-7 fathom, a small sinker should be used. However, always keep a drift line in the water, as when kob go on the feed, they'll often rise up to just under your boat in deep water. When fishing for kob, in deep or shallow water, keep the noise on the boat to a minimum. Drop your anchor as quitely as possible and try not to hammer your chokka too loudly!! Also, when fishing at night, keep ALL lights OFF the water!! Bait. This is where most anglers go wrong. You MUST have chokka!! Combine chokka with pilchard. The trick how-ever is to make a BIG bait!! I've caught small 10kg class cob on a WHOLE chokka, a WHOLE sardine AND a WHOLE small elf on a 12/0 hook. Many times!! You'll find that the bigger baits tend to catch the larger fish. The kob's bite also varies from day to day. Sometimes he nibbles like a small fish, at other times he just bolts!! When there is lots of small elf or maasbanker in the water, check your baits REGULARLY. Don't be shy to use a whole elf as dead bait. For some reason, live-bait hasn't proved that successfull for me. I've fished many nights with a live maasbanker on one line and AFTER catching well over 1000kg's of cob, the maasbanker still remained untouched. Same with live elf! Yet from shore, a live elf is DEADLY for cob. The best time to target these fish is late afternoon into the night, through-out the night as well as early morning. If its overcast or raining, the cob will often bite well into the morning. My wife with a nice kob caught in GordonsBay:  A couple of nice kob caught JUST outside GordonsBay harbour:  Ok, you've noticed that i've included some HEAVY lines in your tackle selection above. These are for when the cob are on the bite!! 60-80kg class line is used. This thicker diameter lines are simply easier to pull, allowing you to quickly pull large fish to the boat. 15-20kg class cob on a 80kg handline, will be in the boat in under 1 minute!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 02:45 pm |
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4th Post |
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HEIHACHI Sealiner 
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miles do these guidelines apply to bottom fishing in general or is it area specific? also i see your wife wearing things on her finger how are they used? sorry for the questions? just a topic i am very interested in since i have never been deep sea before. so your words are pearls of wisdom pls keep them coming!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 02:56 pm |
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5th Post |
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miles Sealine Expert
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Geelbek This is one of my favourite fish to catch!! The feed voraciously and are INCREDABLY strong for the size!! Just like snoek or yellowtail fishing, you need to FIND the fish first. Call around, speak to the tackle shop guys, other anglers, etc and find out where the fish are. They can be found in water as shallow as 2m to 50m+ water depths. Here, in the Cape how-ever, they're rarely targetted in the very deep waters, whilst further up the east coast, they're PRIMARILY targetted in the deeper water. Lets assume you've found out where they are and off you go. Once again, you need to find the schools of fish on your echo sounder. This will indicate at what depth they're feeding. Drift line, ie. lines with no sinkers on them, is the prefered method. How-ever, if the fish are on the bottom, attach a sinker to your main line and then attach a meter long trace, of the same breaking strain as your mainline and tie a 11/0 hook. This is THE smallest hook you'll use for geelbek. They have very large soft mouth, so you need a big hook. If the fish are over 5kg's, switch over to 12/0 or preferably 13/0's!! These fish are VERY, VERY strong and 50-90kg handlines are whats required. A trick when bottom fishing for them. Drop your sinker to the bottom. When it hits the bottom, pull the sinker about 1.5m away from the bottom and secure your line to the boat. This will keep your bait away from the bottom, as well as away from the catsharks and other smaller skaamhaaie. The geelbek will then come off the bottom and readily feed away from the bottom. Bait. This is one fish that is not fussy. A whole pilchard hooked through both eyes. Thats it! No need to cut or fillet or anything. Just hook through the eyes and you're ready. Maasbanker is also DEADLY for them. Just like kob, when geelbek is fussy, tempt them with a big bait! 2 whole pilchards, both hooked through the eyes on a 13/0 hook!! When fishing in deeper water, ALWAYS keep a drift line in the water. Once the fish start feeding, they'll often rise closer to the surface, where the drift lines will work better. If you're using a rod and reel, use the heaviest tackle you have. Geelbek is stronger than yellowtail, in my opinion!! They will give you a SPECTACULAR account of themselves!! Pictured below: part of 2200kg's of geelbek and 200kg's of cob caught off my old commercial boat, with 4 of us fishing with handline, one friday morning at Seal Island. 
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 03:12 pm |
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6th Post |
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miles Sealine Expert
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HEIHACHI Thats what we call 'vinger lappies'. Because we predominantly fish with handlines, these peices of cloth or neoprene or rubber peices, protects our fingers from being cut by the line. Your hands get wet and the skin gets soft, making it very easy for the line to cut through your skin!! Not fun!! This guide is SPECIFICALLY for the Cape Town boat anglers. Fishing differs from area to area. A mere 200km's away is Struisbaai, where we use COMPLETELY different tackle and techniques. In False Bay, you're generally fishing shallow waters that don't have any currents, where-as Struisbaai, you fish deeper water with RAGING currents. Your terminal tackle and set-up is very different. Thus, fishing in YOUR area might be VERY different to our conditions....... Regards miles
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 04:04 pm |
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7th Post |
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johnnybravo Senior Member 
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thanks miles, very informative post!! mana to you
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 04:14 pm |
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8th Post |
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HEIHACHI Sealiner
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awesome so when i come to ct will you take me fishin?
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 07:43 pm |
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9th Post |
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Hammertime Senior Member 
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The great thing about a hand line is the fact you can feel the bite so much better. We all talk braid etc but it does not get more direct than a line in your hand and a quick bumbell curl for a strike. Miles bro you're a gem and the lads on this site are lucky to have your readily shared knowledge. You've given out some big secrets on the weather and feeding areas that not a lot of guys know about, it took me many years to work it out. 
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 09:11 pm |
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10th Post |
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trade 5 Member 
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Miles , Awesome post , guys these pointers do work , give them a try and you will catch fish , took Miles advice a couple of weeks ago and fished a few spots he let me in on and came back with full hatches of red fish. Great post Miles Mana to you
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| Posted: Thu Sep 18th, 2008 09:18 pm |
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11th Post |
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trade 5 Member
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attatched a photo of one of my mates onboard with an undersize we put back , this is the day after Miles gave me a few pointers. These fish are great fighters on the lighter tackle , especially the 3-3kg class Attachment: DSC00062.JPG (Downloaded 1805 times)
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| Posted: Sat Sep 20th, 2008 12:36 pm |
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12th Post |
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Catch 22 Senior Member 
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Hey Miles, Thanks for a awesome post. Judging from your posts on this site you've certainly been there, done that and took over the t-shirt factory! I agree with HT that this free advise comes from years and years of figuring it out for yourself without a website to click on and "whaoala" all the info you can dream of getting. When I was 5years old I had my first trip with my dad on the "Belinda-k" (commercial handline vessel-Mossel Bay) and that day is one I'd never forget! Thats not the day the gogga bit me, as I was fishing the tidal pools with a handline for "klipvis" next to my dad when I was probbably 3 years old and was hooked then already, but I'll never forget that day on 'Belinda-k" because that was the first day I climbed on a boat, checked everybody prepare for the days fishing, the old diesel engine starting up, My uncle steering us out the harbour with his pipe in his mouth, everybody making jokes and the excitement of what was about to happen bubbled out of everybody. We had a awesome days fishing and since then this sport has made life so much more worth while for me. What I'm getting at is that after plenty years of fishing, I learn something new every day and posts like yours, well, it certainly is much appretiated. Thanks for the time and effort you put into these posts, people like you is what keeps this sport alive. Salute!
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24th, 2008 07:09 pm |
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13th Post |
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On_Dad Senior Member 
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Thanks Miles, Went out with one of the boats owned by George- Kalkies on Kalk Bay harbour. Gained alot of experience and knowledge with regards to handline fishing. The catches were mostly Roman and Panga with the occasional octopus.
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| Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 07:33 pm |
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14th Post |
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will101 Senior Member 
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haha I've also been out with him - told a story the other day about an experience there off Kalk bay. We found a shoal of snoek, and were busy having fun when this guy next to me starts groaning and moaning like he swallowed an off pilchard or something. His line was very tight though, so much so that he was about to give up. So over walks the skipper and takes over the line, proceeding to pull out of the water a 10kg geelbek!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 07:56 pm |
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15th Post |
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Catch 22 Senior Member
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will, when are you guys going out again, i'm thinking sunday afternoon
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26th, 2008 10:11 am |
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16th Post |
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benniejordaan Sealiner 
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Miles, I have to ask the question... Is hand lining really an art? or is it a cheep method of yanking plenty fish from the sea? I noticed you use heavy line, so I have to asume the point is to grab line and pull "hard". Because I do it for enjoyment (not commercially), I would generally go as light as possible and have a fight on my hands. B
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26th, 2008 10:31 am |
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17th Post |
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Catch 22 Senior Member
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Go handlining for the bigger/stronger fish with a thin little line and you'll have more than a fight on your hands-a couple of cuts too............... I've had plenty guys on the boat who are very good with rod/reel and if they fish with h-line and the fish is on, they watch TV and we catch the fish, I would say handlining is a art- sorry I know the q was not put to me.
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27th, 2008 11:33 pm |
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18th Post |
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benniejordaan Sealiner
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I must admit, I haven't tried it. I will deffinately give it a bash. Is it about the direct feel of the line or the fact that you have no aid such a a drag system that draws you to this kind of fishing? Have you tried bare hand fishing like the hillbillys in USA?
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29th, 2008 06:43 pm |
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19th Post |
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will101 Senior Member
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Catch 22 wrote: will, when are you guys going out again, i'm thinking sunday afternoon man I wish i could be on the water on the WE. looks like you had a blast. At the moment Im still bumming sites on other people's boats cus I'm still working on my own boat but if you ever run short of crew give me a shout. must say I really like the layout of catch 22 - so much so I am looking at incorporating something similar on the boat I'm designing. It just makes so much sense. cheers
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29th, 2008 07:33 pm |
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20th Post |
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Kabbelelf Member 
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HEIHACHI wrote: miles do these guidelines apply to bottom fishing in general or is it area specific? I recently discover a pair of cloves at a hardware store. I have small hands therefore vingerlappies don't work to well for me. These gloves are made of a white thin strechy material and it looks like somebody put their hands in it and dipped it halfway in blue rubber. No snoek line ever cut through them and it is very comfortable. My skipper (Catch 22) use it as well and almost everyone that goes fishing with us never say nou to a pair. It cost about R10.00 a pair and it looks like it could be to thin but its not. It comes in sizes 8, 9 and 10. Use it don't use it.
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| SEALINE - South African Angling and Boating Community > Boating > Offshore Angling Discussion > Dummies Guide Part4 - Bottom Fishing in False Bay | Top |
