Books - Lure fishing in South Africa

[rocknsurf]

Hi guys , I am an avid reader and have a wide collection of South African fishing books, but 1 thing i have not found is something mainly or specifically focussed on salt water/ Estuary lure fishing. The only one I have is a small yellow/ sepia colour 1 written by Bruce truter back in the early 90's.

Is there anything newer covering the modern equipment, techniques, lures etc?

cheers

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

Rods are nicer..line is nicer..new techniques etc..million new lures..If I was stuck on a desert island though I'd still only pack 3 lures..that have been around for a long time and have a few robust multipliers with, and trusty rods.

The best fish and game doesn't get published and has not changed much from the days and where shore game fishing began. The tips in the books from 60 years back will still teach you a few things. I tried all manner of lures and techniques as I came from freshwater bassing, but it all only really opened up for me when the old timers took me under their wing, and when Grootvis gave me his old saltist40H to spin and cut my teeth on. The 2 spoons that have caught most my best fish of most species, are shapes and designs that are decades old. The wayne stanley white plug and a magic marker has accounted for the rest..

Drop shot has opened up a whole new field of "bassing" for giants in the sea, but guys were doing that with rapalas and weighted hooks and keel spinners yonks ago..ask kenty.
I don't know of any books on the subject? What book have you got, mind to scan in the cover?

 

[Limpopoking]

rocknsurf wrote:

Hi guys , I am an avid reader and have a wide collection of South African fishing books, but 1 thing i have not found is something mainly or specifically focussed on salt water/ Estuary lure fishing. The only one I have is a small yellow/ sepia colour 1 written by Bruce truter back in the early 90's.

Is there anything newer covering the modern equipment, techniques, lures etc?

cheers

I've got it too... It's what got me started, and I've never turned back. Artlure is just so much more rewarding IMO. I suspect Bruce Truter was the guy who owned "Truters" fishing shop in Kowie some years back.

 

[rocknsurf]

Hi Dr,

Your history sounds similar to mine, and i agree with you re info being shared.

i have always had to learn the hard way....walk n throw, rinse and repeat...

Just ichting for a new read more than ""cure in a book"solution.

Just seems there have been are loads of bait books etc over the years and I probably have most of the local ones.... and Like you I have used a lot of my bass experience to help me in the salt.

dang,, guess I need to find something else to pass my winter evenings...

tight lines

 

[Limpopoking]

For me, the greatest innovation in recent times has been braid. The "feel" transmitted through braid to the angler is revolutionary as far as I'm concerned. Monitoring the bite, the headshake language, the decrease in drag through the water... Just adds so much to the fishing experience.

 

[rocknsurf]

Yep he was based in Port Alfred i think and he also was editor of a fishing magazine... The fishing journal i think it was called.

he and his son have written some good stuff over the years

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

Ja had to unlearn my bassing techniques too..reeling a fish vas had to be learned and striking like one would in bass pulled plugs and spoons out of so many lucky fishes mouths haha. Bassing taught me to read the water..then once you learn the sea its the same, the fish are most likely to be at your feet than a 100meters out, it all depends on structure and feeding patterns. The sea is way more dynamic though, it changes all the time, and that will keep me entertained till i cant walk anymore!
The basic techniques don't change much though. Everything we do with drop shot now, was done a century or more ago with a strip of pigskin.

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

Re: braid..when I was shown what was actually available and where one had to be to get them, it then became a loosing battle of loosing those beasts..until I listened to the folks that had been quietly doing it for decades. Then my fishing fortunes changed.
For flicking a light 40g spoon to the horizon and catching clean fighters, 10-20lb braid can't be beaten but for anything heavier in tougher terrain, the odds dramatically go away from your favour.

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

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[Pylstert]

Dr halibut hoffman wrote:

Re: braid..when I was shown what was actually available and where one had to be to get them, it then became a loosing battle of loosing those beasts..until I listened to the folks that had been quietly doing it for decades. Then my fishing fortunes changed.

For flicking a light 40g spoon to the horizon and catching clean fighters, 10-20lb braid can't be beaten but for anything heavier in tougher terrain, the odds dramatically go away from your favour.

You do, however, get the seriously hardcore kingfish/gt plug throwers that use braid and spinning reels in some pretty rough places. Although I agree, a multiplier with thick mono can also achieve what a 15g Saltiga with braid can achieve

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

Hey I do realize that..but when I watch them on the videos, I still see a lot of big fish destroying them on their saltigas, as soon as they get reefed it is over generally, it is always touch and go with the braid..
I've had mates reefed with the fish's head stuck in the reef, he passes me his rod to hold and dives in the water to swim out to the offending rock, grabs his leader waits for a surge in his favour and frees the fish to swim back out, swims back grabs his rod, I cast mine, hook up from the same shoal, lock down and let the fish fight the bungee, we land both, both 20lb plus..now try that with braid..
With the bungee and winch the odds move in your favour. Also I have never caught a GT but my fishing partners have, one even caught one or 2 in the 15kg range at our local eastern cape haunts in a warm summer once, but how many 15kg plus geelstert that get hooked, get landed from the rocks???


What proportion of them are on braid and on mono? Then when you actually get like or 5 of these experienced guys fishing together, with no kooks in the way, all on mono so they dont cut each other off..They can work together to keep the shoal around, one will pull a stripe, the the two guys/gals behind go vas with accurate casts ( I cant even cast accurate enough with a grinder/braid setup to take part), then the first guy throws again and goes vas, keeping his fish in the water till the next guys go vas and so on, now try throw one guy in the mix with braid and that can't be done.

The sport actually goes to a whole new level somewhere of which there is little written or recorded, but it happens every year..You can't get there with braid, and yes they are using it in all the far flung corners of the globe but remember that the sport of shore-game sport fishing began and evolved into what it is now, on the cliffs off cape town. If you go there today, the guys that catch the fish mainly still use mono and winches..and that is without tuna around like there used to be and without much of the large fish that used to swim past, little fish mainly come past. That said guys got cleaned up this year, on bungee and winch by a shoal of 15-20kg+ fish that came past, experienced guys..so yeah but if I was there I would like to think i'd have had a fighting chance!!! hahaha

But try plugging for tuna with mono and I see problems..casting a light lure to the horizon on light rod also..braid has its place..

 

[Pylstert]

I hear you, there's a lot of image involved in some of these youtube GT videos, don't think its part of the image to fish with an old multiplier and mono even though it will be up to the job

 

[Limpopoking]

OK, so this has turned in a bit of a hijack... Apologies to Rocknsurf.

Gimme braid any day... Only reel I have still with mono on it is a trolling reel that hasn't been used in years.

That being said tho, it's been many years since I fished off the rocks. Still think I'd use braid though... Not necessarily on a grinder though, particularly when accuracy of cast is required. I do tend toward high poundage braid though. Hate the idea of bust off line filling the oceans.