Some light tackle fishing in the Southern Cape area (Klein Brak River).
This past weekend we had the wonderful privilege of heading down to the Southern Cape Coast for some light tackle dropshot, popping and scratching.
Friday afternoon I was counting down the seconds at work and the whistle had barely sounded when I was on the road heading out of PE. First stop Palmietvlei to pick up Harry, a good friend of mine who was joining us for his first weekend with Rush of Blue. Although Harry is an experienced Bass and bait angler he hasn’t had much success with saltwater artificial lures in the past. It was our job to ensure Harry managed to get his first fish on dropshot.
Next stop was Kareedouw to pick up Dad who was visiting family. We finally arrived at our accommodation in Mossel Bay just after 8pm, making good time on the road.
It wasn’t long before the fire was burning and we were swapping fishing stories with a proper “karoo skaap tjoppie” on the braai. Harry mentioned his goal for the weekend was to land a garrick on a top water lure; so my mind was set on helping him achieve that goal. After discussing our plans for the following morning, we decided to wake up at first light and head down to the Klein Brak River.
The next morning at 05:30 we awoke as Dad put the kettle on. The usual “good morning” grumbles sounded as we were still trying to shake the rust from the night’s sleep and get the eyes open. After some coffee and rusks we were off. Klein Brak is situated roughly 10km East of Mossel Bay. We parked at the beach and made our way up the river from the mouth; the tide was still rising. I noticed that the clean ocean water was pushing up over a bank into the darker water of the river.
I immediately felt excited as I knew Garrick would be hunting here, waiting for mullet to be pushed of the bank into the deeper water. I was still unaccustomed to the river and decided to start with a lighter setup. I casted a quarter ounce jig head with a 4 inch Pearl/Olive minnow. I darted a retrieve down the side of the bank trying to see if I couldn’t entice one of the garrick into an early morning snack. On about my 3rd cast I thought I felt a knock, but wrote it off to reeling into a mullet or perhaps hitting a snag.
On my next cast my line stopped and that oh so familiar feeling crept up my spine… as my reel went screaming of in the other direction. After a quick bolt, taking about 10 meters of braid off my reel it came off, although I was sad about losing the fish it was ok because after inspection of my minnow I could see that THE GARRICK ARE HERE! (Notable bite-mark identification) In a very army like movement I tried to beckon my father and Harry over who were fishing about 50m from me, trying to tell them that the Garrick were active.
Harry and my Father came over and for the next few minutes we were treated with good fun as the garrick went crazy with the minnows snatching at them from every possible direction in the river; we had about 7 or 8 on/offs in 10 casts but didn’t manage to land one.
I decided to try a top water lure and cast out a strike pro, I had barely given it a twitch and I was on; the garrick smashing the lure out the water. After a few seconds and some give and take I managed to land a small 25cm garrick (rat) which gave me an answer to why we were struggling to land them. The rats were going ballistic.
My Father landed a couple and Harry also managed to land one on a paddle-tail. His first fish on artificial lures and I was happy to take the photo for him of this unforgettable moment.
The tide changed and as the ocean pulled the water back towards the mouth, the garrick also disappeared for the day. Although Harry didn’t land his fish on top water he did manage to get his first leerie on artificial and it was still a very exciting morning for the Rush of Blue boys. We decided to call it a morning, packed up the rods and headed back to Mossel Bay for a well-deserved breakfast at Mug and Bean.
After breakfast HP joined us from Somerset West. He had left early Saturday morning and was now ready for some fishing with the rest of us. We headed over to Reebok to do some scratching around the rocks on low tide. The last time we managed to land some decent blacktail and I was blessed enough to land a lovely Belman on sandworm.
Unfortunately the swell was quite big and the water was very sandy so we were unable to reach any of our normal spots. We scratched around the available gullies and HP landed 3 Blacktail as Harry and I both managed 1, nothing to write home about.
On our way back to our accommodation we stopped at the Klein Brak River and quickly treated HP to his first leerie of the weekend; a couple of casts as we enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the river.
The following morning we decided to explore the Klein Brak river some more, my Dad dropped us off at the N2 Bridge crossing the River and we worked our way back up to the river mouth, I had another on off and that was all on the way back to our spot from the previous day. Back on the bank I decided to throw into the clear water and retrieve it over the bank into the murky water hoping to hook into a garrick waiting on the edge of the drop off. On my 3rd twitch of the rod I was on! My reel screamed off and this time I could feel it was a more decent fish. I fought it for a couple of minutes and was very chuffed to land a 45cm garrick, caught on a ¼ ounce jig head and a 4 inch pearl/olive minnow.
On my 4th cast I was on again with another decent Garrick. Harry landed one on my right, HP one on my left and the garrick were active.
It died down for about 5 minutes before HP and I both went on simultaneously. With HP fighting another decent sized leerie. I landed mine as HP continued fighting his. He eventually landed a 50cm garrick which was also the biggest of the weekend. A lovely fight on the 9ft Rods sporting 8lbs braid. We had a lovely half an hour of fishing landing 6 Garrick in this short period.
As the sun started getting higher, Harry put on the Strike Pro top-water. He asked about his action and after HP confirmed that his retrieve looked good a garrick absolutely smashed the lure right on the surface. Harry was on, he fought it beautifully manoeuvring the garrick past the buoy so as not to get stuck or cut off on the rope. After a few minutes of playing with it up and down the bank of the river he managed to land it, topping of an awesome experience for him by catching his target species on his target lure.
We went back to Reebok at about 13:00 however due to weather and water conditions we decided to call it a weekend and not attempt to fish in the adverse conditions. I arrived back home in PE at about 19:00 on Sunday evening with a tired body, a tired mind, but a happy heart having completed another incredible weekend with friends family and fishing.
Until next time, always try to find the one that got away…
Jayson
Good report Jays and thank you, HP, Charmaine and Harry for a lovely weekend.
Thanks for the insight into the spot. I hope to fish it in June, maybe not the best time of year but let’s see.
Hi Wynand
Thank you for the feedback. Yes June is not always the most productive time for artificial lure fishing, but not impossible.
The fish tend to be a bit more sluggish (although they are always around). Persistence generally pays off. Fish the right conditions and slow it down a little.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes!
I fish this river often as I live in george and the Leervis are legendary especially around the boom and that drop off…lovely current flowing on the far side where they hunt in packs…the fly guys also enjoy great success in this channel…all in all a great area to hunt for leerie
Hi Dale, thank you for your comment. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Leeries are fantastic fish to target, gentleman-like fighters but sure to give you a good rev on light tackle. We are privileged to be able to target them along most of the South African coastline, but you live in a special area that is always a treat to visit. Take care of those leeries, we will be visiting soon.