Bait and Tackle in Jeffreys Bay: It’s not just about surfing in this town!
Bait and Tackle in Jeffreys Bay run by Tinus, is easily found up at Fountains Mall. Tinus carries an all round range of tackle for rock and surf anglers who target the kob and big steenbras that Jeffreys Bay is favoured for. The estuaries in the area are great fun and Cape St. Frances is known for yellowtail and big sharks.
Jos Jantjies with a tasty kob caught down at Kabeljauw’s, down the point, in Jeffreys Bay (c) artsurfer.nl
Pop into Bait and Tackle and catch up on the fishing news and conditions for the area.
Check out https://thesardine.co.za/mydo/ if you are into catching kob like this featured fish. MYDO Lures make drops shots, spoons and bucktails, designed and produced locally – just for these fish.
Our first panorama of the trip was taken by Johnny van Biljon, very early, at Mdumbi, in the Transkei. The shad never materialised this morning, but the evening before, 47 in total were pulled out.
The Wild Coast to Port Alfred by Panorama
Having Johnny van Biljon along on this trip (distributing Mydo’s and gathering news), with his iPhone 5, has opened up a whole new way of capturing the moment. Johnny, who has had many years experience in the film and tv industries, has an eye for a great scene a good shot.
Our Mdumbi friends Warren and Noli enjoy the view down to Umtata Mouth and beyond, from their stoep.
Johnny is currently dabbling in panoramic photography such as what has made the iPhone (Ok and Android) smartphones so nifty.
As we drove through the Transkei, we stopped for a few more spectacular vistas.
The bridge over the Umtata River as shot by Johnny van Biljon and his handy iPhone 5, in panorama mode.
And then finally into the spectacular scene that was Port Alfred on an upcoming moon and an outgoing tide.
The Royal Alfred Marina as viewed from Willows Camping on the south bank. Millionaire’s view for a song (R130 per night). And garrick (leeries around here) swimming up and down out front, in the crystal clear water.
Although the fish were easily seen, they were very shy in the crystal clear water. The visibility must have been 10 metres or more. We threw all sorts at them, and were not alone as local spinning mad anglers lined the jetties and hot spots. Very nice fishing. One guy got a strong pull on a live mullet right in front of us, but garrick are highly suspicious and this one must have felt something because he let go after a good 10 meter screaming run.
The office set up, the lines out, and the braai on the go. All we need now are some garrick to get hungry as us.
Local veteran of these waters, and our fishing host Peter, gave us the rundown on what fish are here right now and its Silver Steenbras / Pignose Grunter / Steenies / White Steenbras that are causing the scene. The biggest so far this season, in the canals, was 14kg’s.
Kelly’s Beach is a Blue Flag spot a few kms south of the Port Alfred piers. Safe looking.
Kelly’s Beach offers much safer bathing and even surfing (on the right tides and swells), and half way between Port Alfred and Kelly’s, is Halfway – another ominous resemblance to a surf spot.
More panoramas to follow, as we tour back to KZN. And here, our parting shot…saying good bye to the attractive coastal town, of Port Alfred. Thanks Johhny van Biljon for stepping up as photographer/DOP.
Good night and good bye Port Alfred…panoramas by Johnny van Biljon
Newsflash: Sports n All in Port Alfred, officially stock Mydo Lures.
Fishing for bait with a conventional sinker is fine, but replace that with a juiced up MYDO Luck Shot and you have a double functioning killer rig. You can merrily hunt around for bait all the while knowing that any self respecting rockcod cannot leave these “special sinkers” alone!
Bait jig rigs are actually really strong, they use 0.40mm diameter line for the mainline and 0.35 to the beefy little hooks. As you know, hooking up on the bottom with a bait trace always makes for a tug of war to get it off – you really got to pull to break the trace.
So if you hook a really big yellowbelly rockcod or something, you are well in with a chance, and when fished on light tackle – its’ just so much fun!
We have caught and released a bunch of smaller catface and yellowbelly rock cod so far fishing like this and I don’t think it will be long when an unsuspecting tuna or couta bangs that shiny looking thing chasing those yozuris all over the place!
Israel features no less than four seas – The Red, The Dead, The Med…and the Sea of Galilee. But it’s the Med that has the fish!
David Kosta,living and fishing in Israel – has been catching amazing fish in the Mediterranean Sea for ages now?! David lived and spearfished South African waters for many years – and is now back in Israel and is the Rob Allen and Mydo Lures distributor for the country. What is really amazing though, is that he is catching some of the very same species we get back here in Southern Africa. (Jules Verne’s subterranean channel maybe?)
David Kosta and his 43kg Amberjack pulled up from the deep blue Med.
Featuring ‘couta and monster amberjack in this insert, David has perfected the art of big baits fished deep down. He has used Mydo lures for many years and has perfected the art of deep dropping big baits for big fish.
Scomberomerous Commersoni – ‘couta, king mackeral, tanguiguie, spanish, narrow barred…but this one was caught in the Mediterranean!
Below is a picture of the rig these guys use to fish deep. The number 4.5 Mydo – get’s the bait down deep yet it still has an action – especially on the drift in current – in waters up to 40m or more.
A rigged bonito on the Mydo # 4.5. Serious tackle for fishing in Israeli waters
Dean Sinclair with more Daga Salmon taken on MYDO’s
Well it’s great to have Dean Sinclair and his mates testing the MYDO Luck Shot Mini out – I don’t even have to go fishing?!
Once again, here he is with not one, but TWO Daga Salmon, taken at a not so secret fishing spot, night before last.
Night time is the right time – at any of the south coast’s longer beaches – with that bountiful channel running along the shoreline. Casting just over the channel is too easy…the daga salmon / kob like to hang out in the white water that flows off the sandbank at lower tides.
Dean Sinclair has consistently been catching goos sized daga salmon / kob, with the MYDO Luck Shot Mini # 2 Green Mamba colour. Very good Dean!
Dean uses various paddletails and jerkbaits, and the same as Simon Fish in East London, has been getting all his fish on the lime green # 2 MYDO Luck Shot Mini, with a clear / white / silver plastic paddletail or jerk bait. 6″ to 7″ and even bigger paddletails are the go – the fish the team have been catching have all been in the 6 to 10kg range. But it’s chilled again here on the Kwazulu Natal South Coast, and the front that has dominated the weather the last few days, has left us with a sterling ocean with stars lined up all over the place. So we can expect a few bigger fish by the hardcore blokes who weather the freezing cold offshore as it belts down the river valleys, all the way down from the Drakensberg ice and snow!
Watch a video of the MYDO Luck Shot Mini in action on the surface and under water. Note how the action changes at different speeds, and how versatile you can be, with the weedless hook configuration and roll over action upon hitting an underwater obstacle. You can throw the Luck Shots for miles, in any wind conditions that we encounter.
The smaller # 1 sized lure, is just great to have with you all the time…to target estuarine gamefish, bonito swimming by, bass in a dam or shad in the surf. Replacing the jerkbait or paddletail is very simple, and some plastics have been coming out at more reasonable prices.
The MYDO range of dropshot lures are available at Lucky’s, Gremlins and The Tackle Box, on the south coast, or right here online…
Proven to be reliable, versatile and effective lures – the MYDO Luck Shot Mini(surf) and Luck Shot (boat) are almost in a tackle store near you. Dealer inquiries to Sean on +27 79 326 9671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com
