1. When is the best time of the year to
- Thread starter Gatiepie2
- Start date
Hi Fisher
right where to start....I think I could go on for pages but the executive summary is as follows. I fish for steenies mostly at Nature's valley and the whole of keurbooms area so this would be more applicable to this area but I am sure quite similar for the southern cape. our steenies are around the whole year but are really thick in October November sometimes September and again march april and sometimes May.
Nice sandy stretches obviously being their favorite hunting ground. My best places are on the beach where you get a type of gutter effect and have sandbank hole sandbank hole running parallel to the beach. this creates good working water for a good stretch and is quite forgiving as you can land your bait on a bank, short or long and it does not make too much difference as they move in and out of these gutters while feeding. My favorite time to fish for steenies is from dusk till dawn but have caught many in the middle of the day. At night I find one can fish successfully in the holes off the beach and they come in very shallow but in the day white working water is the only option. I normally cast onto the banks and use a light sinker that gets slowly washed off into deeper water or I help it along and this produces my best results.
In the day, if I am only looking for a steenie, I will use a sand crab on a 5/0 to 6/0 hook (bigger than some guys like but the fish are mostly upwards of 8kgs), and if it is not a competition, I sometimes like to put a little...get this... mecuricrome in the water and put the crab in the water. it makes him turn a little red and seems that they klap this before the natural colour. I think they just notice it better. another favorite is a crab chokka cobo where I remove the top shell and hammer the inside aa bit but will have to take some pics to demonstrate. I have caught just about anything with that bait. My next bait would be chokka and pink prawn combo which is also lekker at night but I also make a pure chokka bait that works well in the day and night. Crab, on its own, at night, is a pretty dismal bait, also if the water is very murky, I would not use the crab on its own. with the chokka prawn and pure chokka bait, I use a trailer or skelm hook and this would be a 1/0 or a 2/0 but make sure it is a strong hook. I had a diachi 2/0 snap on a beautiful steenie a few weeks ago. also with these baits, I very often catch white musselcracker and Kob so use quality hooks or you will cry. unless I have to reach a bank that is very far out, I use a hook trace that is substantially longer than my sinker line and I prefer to use a cone sinker instead of grapnells. I like to keep the bait moving around a bit so I dont let it sit in the sand too long and very often get smashed after moving the sinker or moving the bait by pulling the rod up and down (like sliding) which does not dislodge the sinker but moves the bait. (I only use a sliding sinker) My hook snoot is florocarbon anywhere from .5 to.7 max. hope this is of some help.
right where to start....I think I could go on for pages but the executive summary is as follows. I fish for steenies mostly at Nature's valley and the whole of keurbooms area so this would be more applicable to this area but I am sure quite similar for the southern cape. our steenies are around the whole year but are really thick in October November sometimes September and again march april and sometimes May.
Nice sandy stretches obviously being their favorite hunting ground. My best places are on the beach where you get a type of gutter effect and have sandbank hole sandbank hole running parallel to the beach. this creates good working water for a good stretch and is quite forgiving as you can land your bait on a bank, short or long and it does not make too much difference as they move in and out of these gutters while feeding. My favorite time to fish for steenies is from dusk till dawn but have caught many in the middle of the day. At night I find one can fish successfully in the holes off the beach and they come in very shallow but in the day white working water is the only option. I normally cast onto the banks and use a light sinker that gets slowly washed off into deeper water or I help it along and this produces my best results.
In the day, if I am only looking for a steenie, I will use a sand crab on a 5/0 to 6/0 hook (bigger than some guys like but the fish are mostly upwards of 8kgs), and if it is not a competition, I sometimes like to put a little...get this... mecuricrome in the water and put the crab in the water. it makes him turn a little red and seems that they klap this before the natural colour. I think they just notice it better. another favorite is a crab chokka cobo where I remove the top shell and hammer the inside aa bit but will have to take some pics to demonstrate. I have caught just about anything with that bait. My next bait would be chokka and pink prawn combo which is also lekker at night but I also make a pure chokka bait that works well in the day and night. Crab, on its own, at night, is a pretty dismal bait, also if the water is very murky, I would not use the crab on its own. with the chokka prawn and pure chokka bait, I use a trailer or skelm hook and this would be a 1/0 or a 2/0 but make sure it is a strong hook. I had a diachi 2/0 snap on a beautiful steenie a few weeks ago. also with these baits, I very often catch white musselcracker and Kob so use quality hooks or you will cry. unless I have to reach a bank that is very far out, I use a hook trace that is substantially longer than my sinker line and I prefer to use a cone sinker instead of grapnells. I like to keep the bait moving around a bit so I dont let it sit in the sand too long and very often get smashed after moving the sinker or moving the bait by pulling the rod up and down (like sliding) which does not dislodge the sinker but moves the bait. (I only use a sliding sinker) My hook snoot is florocarbon anywhere from .5 to.7 max. hope this is of some help.
I left out white mussel which is also an awesome bait. the other thing with the strike and playing a steenie is that sometimes he just picks you up and runs hence the name steamtrain but othertimes he just fiddles and fiddles and this can feel like nibblers to some but once you get to know these fish a bit better you can feel that these little pulls are not small bites but you can feel there is substance behind they short little pulls. when he starts doing this I normally give him as much free line as possible so he can hardly feel anything, then wait for him or his greedy buddy to pick up the slack and move off. NB NB NB, remember that your real drama only begins when the steenie hits the shallows and it is worth lossening your drag when he gets close because those runs are increadibly powerful and I have seen countless guys losing fish after seeing him in the shallow water. I have personally seen them break rods, reels and once took a guys rod and reel from his pension pipe to the deep. They are getting very endagered now so nowdays I try and release everyone and encourage it amounst guys that I fish with.
Mana for Uncle Bob! I don't see you mentioning bloodworm at all... I've caught most of my fish on prawn, but have not had much success at night. I've heard bloodworm works better than prawn at night, but have not had the opportunity to try it.
How/where do you collect sand crabs? Would you mind showing us how you rig the crab?
How/where do you collect sand crabs? Would you mind showing us how you rig the crab?
thanks guys, I will go for a gooi today or tomorrow and will do some bait demos. Blood worm is also excellent bait as is pencil bait but one must a few pencils on. The sand crab one gets in the surf and I either put a bag or line with some bait in it right on the shore line and the crabs appear en-mass quite quickly, other wise just walk around in the shallows and grab them....but those little buggers can bite and bite hard so I normally just grab them with scissors that I have on my belt or very quickly from the back but they still seem to nab me most of the time! some times they bite us when we wade to gooi. very funny to see big tough boys prancing around shreeking when going to cast because of these tiny critters.
Blackpylie
Senior Member
I would like to what wind you prefer targettinng them in? at keurbooms
@Blackpylie, just about every fish is influenced by winds etc and depending on the wind normally determines what fish I target on a particular day...except for steenies, if the surf looks good, and the banks I like are in place, then I gooi for them. I have also found them quite resilliant to reasonably fast temp changes and sometimes is the only fish we catch when the water has gone cold quite quickly.
Uncle Bob
The info you have given us has been awesome. I have learnt so much. KZN is not really the place for Steenies, however I will be in Cape Town in June/July and I am still waiting for someone down there to advise re if it is the right time to fish for them and where to target them.
I can't wait to see your bait presentations as well.
The one picture showing the piggie with surf in the background. Would one throw into the white water on the otherside of the gutter?
Gatiepie2
The info you have given us has been awesome. I have learnt so much. KZN is not really the place for Steenies, however I will be in Cape Town in June/July and I am still waiting for someone down there to advise re if it is the right time to fish for them and where to target them.
I can't wait to see your bait presentations as well.
The one picture showing the piggie with surf in the background. Would one throw into the white water on the otherside of the gutter?
Gatiepie2
[color="#006600"]jaccil[/color] wrote:
What rod are you using there with the coasters on it? Looks interesting.
Jaccil,Good spot:
Good rig:
Good result:
Good times:
What rod are you using there with the coasters on it? Looks interesting.
Blackpylie
Senior Member
You probably mean the banks should not kick up too much sand!
This is a great post!!
It would be nice if someone could tell me where to target them a bit closer, for instance in Betties bay, Ive tried for it in hangklip with wonderworm and white crab,
Ive seen many come out there, every time i try i always end up with something at my line feeling like a sucking action, with no mvement on my rod, i usually try and strike at that time, do you have any advice for me if i experience a sucking at the bait without a proper take again, people have told me that its steenbras how do you tell
This is a great post!!
It would be nice if someone could tell me where to target them a bit closer, for instance in Betties bay, Ive tried for it in hangklip with wonderworm and white crab,
Ive seen many come out there, every time i try i always end up with something at my line feeling like a sucking action, with no mvement on my rod, i usually try and strike at that time, do you have any advice for me if i experience a sucking at the bait without a proper take again, people have told me that its steenbras how do you tell