With pre-winter rains looming, you realise that the end of the lure fishing season is inevitable. Once the heavens open and the Breede River flows chocolate milk littered with peppermint crisp and some floating aero bubbles, it is too late.
Winter in the Western Cape spells a slow time for any lure fisherman intending to target game fish from the side, especially using light tackle and practicing some finesse techniques. I was fortunate enough to be able sneak a weekend away to Witsand before any real Milky Lane deliveries. The weekend coincided with the full moon, which other than looks spectacular as it rises over the ocean, doesn’t have a very good effect on the fishing in the river from the side. The high tends to push up over the banks and flush quite a bit of old grass and sticks up and down the river, currents are exaggerated and fishing is just… well… challenging.
I had been extensively mocked and felt public shame wearing my mombakkie. No more! I will not go silently into the night… I was considering consulting one of the ancient fishing shaman, or if one could not be found, willing to settle for a local sangoma. It was time this curse was broken; I mean how could I have lure-blanked since December while my companions were all catching fish. Yes, sure, I knew how to identify a spot and can put guys into fish, but why couldn’t I help myself… don’t you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby.
With no fishing-specific sangoma around (only the ones that advertise on those little pink papers you find in your post box or sometimes handed out at the robot, who specialise in uhm… let’s call it relationship stuff) I had to settle for a bit of my own mojo…. also known as perseverance.
I was at the river early… ok it was already 8.00 am… ooh and it was 8 degrees outside… perhaps I will catch 8 fish this morning… or one that weighs 8 kg’s. At this point I would settle for one fish on lure weighing 8 grams…
There were a couple of boats on the water already, but no one fishing from the side. That is one thing about the Breede, you have kilometers upon kilometers of river to explore on foot. I discovered that my 8-foot medium rod had a broken guide. That left me with a choice between either using the 9-foot heavy or the 6.6-foot light.
I rigged up the 2500 reel onto the 9 foot… not quite a finesse setup; a quarter ounce jighead and 4inch minnow.
Here we go…
I worked the rocky ledges, casting over the deeper channel onto the shallower bank, hoping that there might be a kobbie ready to ambush an unsuspecting mullet swimming off the bank. No luck… this started feeling all too familiar… Suddenly I remembered what Willem told me a few days ago, the kobbies seem to be hugging the sides… With the 9-foot rod I was lifting the lure out the water at least a couple of meters before reaching the side. I now made a conscious effort to keep the rod tip down and slow my retrieve the closer the lure got to the side. I also started making casts along the banks…
Not even 2 casts in I had my first bump of the day, probably about 2 meters from the side, close to the bottom. The little 2500 grinder fizzed as the juvenile kobbie helped himself to some free braid from my very loose drag setting. I know the fish wasn’t huge, but oh man did I miss the excitement of the bite and that first run.
The fish didn’t put up much of a fight on the heavier rod and was soon on the side. I took a photo or two of the kobbie just before releasing it. Proof was very important in this instance as a blank streak of nearly 6 months would definitely question a proof-less catch and release.
I switched to my slightly heavier reel to throw paddle-tails and get the lure a bit deeper, hoping for a bigger fish. I kept my retrieve very slow and the rod tip down to try get the lure as close to the bottom as possible. The smaller fish were abundant and climbed all over the bigger lure as well.
Bump, bump, zzz…
Even smaller than the first one, it didn’t put up too much of a fight and was quickly on the side for another photo.
Another fish or two later I concluded that the bigger fellas were not around and that I should make the most of the opportunity with little fellas biting. I rigged up my 6.6-foot with the 2500 reel and loaded a smaller jighead and minnow. It turned into a great morning, the kobbies were very aggressive and served for hours of fun hunting them on the lighter tackle.
I struck up a conversation with a gentleman busy hunting grunters on fly. He mentioned that today they were very quiet and that the spring tide was making it difficult for him as well. He had some better luck the day before at Groenpunt and managed to land a couple. I have tried Groenpunt on quite a few occasions before, but find the that boat activity makes it a difficult place to fish. The river narrows there and obviously the boats come speeding through, not the mention that this is a favorite stop for pulling mud prawn. Perhaps on weekdays when the river is quieter it will be better suited…
I watched him a bit, patiently casting, over and over into the same spot, being so quiet and stealthy that the grunters were totally unaware of his presence. That is what I love about the sport of angling, it is an art, you research, you practice, you perfect. More and more people are participating in the sport and doing their bit to create a sustainable fishing mindset in others, looking after our resources while they are still available.
I continued fishing for the rest of the morning and lost count of the amount of kobbies I landed.
With my mombakkie long forgotten, I had probably enough fuel in the reserve tank to last me the couple months of winter, definitely not satisfied, but acceptable… September is around the corner and I cannot wait to get back…
Breede river you beauty, what an amazing place!
Hi There
I am planning to go breede river Malgas/Witsand the 1st and 2nd of Septemeber , what type of fish can i expect to try and catch and what can you reccomend for it please, i will be fishing from my boat but i am not familiar with this area as i normally catch at Yzerfontein , looking forward to your reply
Stywe lyne
Rick
Hi Rick, sounds good. There is a theory that the kob start moving into that river at the first spring tide in September. I think they move up river to get rid of all the parasites etc. before heading back to the surf to spawn. There are always some grunter around and maybe the odd steenie still. I know the river had been fishing really badly due to the lack of rains, it required a good wash. I hope things have changed since. Either way, as mentioned you should get some good size kob further up river and grunter will always be there. We are lure fishermen so we target kob on bucktails and soft plastics. For grunter, a good old mud prawn drift will work the best. There might be some small leeries around as well, so don’t be shy to retrieve your lures a little faster at times. Hope you are very successful and have loads of fun. Let us know how it went! And please remember to release those big kob, they are the breeders!