Winter is an exciting time for those of us who love spinning in the salt. Not only are the conditions generally good, but the fish seem to be on the move and are keen to feed as well.  Something else that is making this time of year special is the new range of lures and colours that have been introduced to the South African market by Rapala VMC. The designers and developers at companies like […]

As I wait for the sardines to make their appearance this year, I started thinking more about the sardine run and what it is all about. Each year during July, we generally get a migration of these tasty baitfish making their way up the KZN South Coast, accompanied by masses of sharks, gannets, dolphins, whales and game fish. The sardines themselves are in fact Southern African pilchards, Sardinops sagax, which form dense shoals and often […]

Winter is officially here, with cold spells having been upon us since mid April already, the fishing in the estuaries has changed from the summer species and techniques to those we traditionally expect during the […]

I was very fortunate to visit Alphonse Island in the Seychelles last week.  Alphonse has to be one of the top five fishing destinations on earth, with the fantastic variety and numbers of fish on and around the atoll.   The thing that always strikes me when I visit this amazing area is that it is so much more than a fishing trip. Every day spent on the flats is like doing a wilderness walking […]

The Breede river has to be one of the few fully functioning estuaries in South Africa. It is permanently open, with a deep mouth and channel, allowing a massive amount of water to move in and out of it on each tide. There is an abundance of mud prawn, as well as small crabs, shrimp and a variety of baitfish living in the system. This makes it very attractive for fish to use it as […]

In the Trachinotus genus there are 20 species worldwide, which make up the group of fish known as pompano, permit and darts. Of those, some feed by tailing, which means that they tilt their heads down and feed on the bottom, in shallow water, where their tails break the surface. Those ones are generally referred to as Permit. Only 4 of these species have been regularly caught on fly or artificial lure, being sight cast […]

In the fishing world, possibly the highest achievement that anybody can reach, is to genuinely ‘decode’ a species. Basically this is to take a species that has not been caught before on fly or lure and figure out […]

We were recently invited by Brandon King, of Arabian fly to come and join him in Salalah, Southern Oman for some fishing. Not one to pass up an opportunity to fish new waters, I started packing my tackle […]

One of the most exciting things about summer arriving, is the arrival of dorado off the east coast of South Africa. These amazing fish are a firm favourite with many ski boat anglers. They look exotic with their […]

DORADO
 
Coryphaena hippurus
 
OTHER NAMES: Dolphin fish, Mahi Mahi.
 
WHERE FOUND:
Dorado can be found offshore anywhere along our coast where there are warm currents.
 
SEASONS:
In the Cape and Southern KZN […]

Dogtooth tuna are one of the toughest species to catch on artificial lures. They are restricted to specific areas, they can be moody and disinterested in lures and baits at times, they fight very hard when hooked […]

DOGTOOTH TUNA Gymnosarda unicolor OTHER NAMES: Pegtooth Tuna (USA), Scaleless Tuna (USA, Australia) The Dogtooth Tuna is in fact more closely related to the Bonito’s than the true Tuna family. It falls under its own genus, Gymnosarda. It looks somewhat like a deeper bodied, very heavily built King Mackerel and is a powerful fighter of the tropical Indian Ocean. This species has become more popular with anglers in recent years due to the popularity of […]

 
 
7-12 October 2016, Tutwa Lodge and  Kalahari Outventures
 
Rods: Shimano Exage Telescopic rod, Shimano Sellus 2pce 7’2”
Reels: Stradic 3000, Sustain 3000
Line: Stradic: 14lb Sufix Pro 8, Sustain 10lb Sufix 8 […]

Yellowfin tuna smash bait on the surface in a spectacular fashion and feeding shoals can be seen from some distance away. There are often birds diving in amongst the frenzy, picking up baitfish off the surface, […]

I went down to PE last week, to fish for grunter on surface lure with my mate Chris Schoulz. I was keen to try the new Rapala Skitter-V lures for grunter and see for myself how they fared. I rigged them with single assist hooks on the back, as Chris swears by this method of getting a better hook up, especially when the fish sip at the lure on the surface.  I used VMC 7102BN […]

YELLOWFIN TUNA   Latin Name: Thunnus albacares   OTHER NAMES: Tunny, Johadiri (Swahili), Jodari (Kenya) Ahi (Hawaii)   A true pelagic migrant, Yellowfin tuna are one of the world’s most widespread species. These incredibly hard fighting fish can be found in warm offshore currents right around Africa. Tuna are one of the only fish that have a warmer body temperature than the water they swim in, Yellowfin have an extremely high metabolism, which accounts for […]

Yellowfish are one of the finest indigenous freshwater fish that we can target with artificial lures. There are six true yellowfish species in South Africa, the largest of which is the largemouth yellowfish, found […]

I have been fortunate to fish a number of areas which are unspoilt, undisturbed, and where the fishing remains as good today as it must have been at any stage in history. Last week I returned from another one of […]

We recently returned from a trip to northern Madagascar, where we spent five days on a liveaboard yacht, exploring some of the areas around the Mitsio islands and Cap San Sebastian. Dr Paul Cowley accompanied us […]

Storm has come out with a couple of new ranges of smaller jigs for use offshore. I have been testing the Gomoku Slim Micro Jig recently, and have had a lot of fun with it. These jigs are designed for relatively […]