Ski-Boat November 2020

Page 48

TACTICS By Donavan Cole

F

ALSE Bay offers some really good reef fishing that many overlook as most boat anglers are usually chasing after the larger inshore and offshore pelagic species. The best part about targeting the smaller reef species is that you usually don’t have to travel very far from the launch site so these spots are accessible for most craft, and you will rarely return empty handed when reef fishing inshore.

TARGET SPECIES False Bay reefs offer a wide range of species and it is not uncommon to catch more than ten different species of fish and small sharks in a day. The variety of species will, however, reduce as you go deeper, with more variety being found in water shallower than 30m. This is also the case as you move westwards out of the bay, because the water gets colder up the west coast. When you’re fishing west of the SW reefs outside the bay you will mostly only catch hottentot. The cold Atlantic Ocean is believed to meet the warm Indian Ocean at Cape Agulhas (southernmost tip of Africa) you will, however, find far more evidence of these two currents actually meeting at Cape Point if you look at the fish species caught in False Bay.We have many species that are commonly caught in False Bay and up the east coast into KZN, and most of these species will very rarely be caught west of Cape Point. The most common species caught in False Bay is hottentot, also known as Cape- or black bream. You will find them close inshore between the kelp and out as deep as 100m outside the bay. You will generally find that the deeper you go the bigger the fish get, but large specimens can be caught in the shallows if your bait isn’t devoured too quickly by the small fish. Hottentot can also be like chameleons that change colour slightly according to their habitats.The fish you catch close to or in the kelp will most often be a dark brown colour, and as you move into deeper water they get lighter in colour. When catching them down off the sandy areas between Strandfontein and Macassar you’ll find they are a silver colour. I personally prefer to eat hottentot caught away from the kelp beds, as I think they taste better; those caught around the kelp beds apparently have a stronger taste due to the iodine in the kelp that they often feed on. Red roman are probably the most heavily targeted reef fish inside the bay. These beautiful, slow-growing red fish are the most aggressive feeders on reefs around the bay and you will quite often

find that when you drop a bait they will are one of the first fish to grab your bait, rushing in and chasing away other smaller fish. I try to release most of the roman I catch around the bay and have tagged and released more than 300 in the last couple of years. A few of the tagged fish have been recaptured a year or two after being released while fishing on the very same reefs where they were originally tagged and released. This proves that these fish do not move around much, staying on a specific reef for great lengths of time. These fish are very aggressive feeders, so you will quite often hook them in their throats or deeper. If this happens it’s usually best to cut the line as close to the hook as possible and leave it to rust out rather than trying to pull or rip it out as the fish will most probably die after release in that case. Be very careful when handling a red roman as they have razor sharp gill

48 • SKI-BOAT November/December 2020

plates; I have received a few nasty cuts while handling them. When considering whether to release or keep a nice big roman, please remember that a specimen of 45cm and upwards is 20 or more years of age. Red steenbras were once very common in the bay and some massive fish were landed in the early 1900s. They were, however, fished to near extinction and for many years you would rarely see any caught in the bay. Over the last few years there has, however, been a massive increase in juveniles caught all over the bay. Most are around 30- to 40cm in length, with the odd larger one coming out. I would like to appeal to all anglers to please handle these fish with care when landing them and try to return them to the water as quickly as possible. With

Blue hottentot (bloukop) vs common hottentot.


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