What gear to bring along??
If its your first trip to sea, you MIGHT get sea-sick. I've been fortunate in not ever experiencing it, but have seen many succumb to it!! Not a pretty sight. If you're in doubt, take some motion sickness tablets, like Avomine, Stugeron, etc. Your local phamacy will be able to advise you on any other generic motion sickness pills. Also, try to get to bed early the night before and try not to party too hard the night before either!! Have a SMALL breakfast and you'll be OK.
Most important thing to bring along is FOOD!! Pack a lunch box, as you tend to get hungry at sea. Bring at least 1ltr of water with for drinking too. Its surprising how quickly you get dehydrated from sitting in the sun. Another essencial item is sunblock and a peak cap. The sun not only burns you from the top, but also reflects off the water, buring you from the bottom!! A warm jersey or two and an old pair of jeans and tackies will work. If you have gum boots, or even cut-off boots like the ones we use for rock fishing, use them!! Oilskins are nice, as it allows you to keep your clothes clean, but not a neccessaty. NO WADERS ALLOWED!! They're a danger on a boat!!
Tackle wise, i fish mainly with handlines, but have quite a bit of rod and reels available. If anyone wants to use a outfit, just pm me and i'll arrange it. If you have, dropshot type of tackle works very well. Short soft 6-7' rod with a small multiplier or spinning reel is perfect. I have some 3kg line drop shot type outfits, which i use for grunters at Breede River that works very well for bank fish. Otherwise, a Daiwa 30 type reel on a 5-7' boat rod with 6-10kg line is more than ample. Hooks, 1/0-2/0 is the ideal size. Remember, the fish we're targetting is 500grams to about 4-5kg's. So, generally, the lighter your tackle, the better you'll do.
Bait. Pilchard's and chokka/squid/octopus work very well. So does, white mussel. BEST bait how-ever is prawn!! But seeimg as how difficult it is to get prawn these days, i stick with pilchard's and chokka.
Safety wise: my boats a butt-cat. These vessels are used extensively on the East coast by commercial fisherman. Their sea-worthiness is legendary!! The entire boat, under the deck is foam filled. What this means is that the boats UNSINKABLE!! You need to put a weight of well over 5000kg's (5ton) on board, just to be able to push the boat under water. So, you're PERFECTLY safe afloat!!
Regards
miles
If its your first trip to sea, you MIGHT get sea-sick. I've been fortunate in not ever experiencing it, but have seen many succumb to it!! Not a pretty sight. If you're in doubt, take some motion sickness tablets, like Avomine, Stugeron, etc. Your local phamacy will be able to advise you on any other generic motion sickness pills. Also, try to get to bed early the night before and try not to party too hard the night before either!! Have a SMALL breakfast and you'll be OK.
Most important thing to bring along is FOOD!! Pack a lunch box, as you tend to get hungry at sea. Bring at least 1ltr of water with for drinking too. Its surprising how quickly you get dehydrated from sitting in the sun. Another essencial item is sunblock and a peak cap. The sun not only burns you from the top, but also reflects off the water, buring you from the bottom!! A warm jersey or two and an old pair of jeans and tackies will work. If you have gum boots, or even cut-off boots like the ones we use for rock fishing, use them!! Oilskins are nice, as it allows you to keep your clothes clean, but not a neccessaty. NO WADERS ALLOWED!! They're a danger on a boat!!
Tackle wise, i fish mainly with handlines, but have quite a bit of rod and reels available. If anyone wants to use a outfit, just pm me and i'll arrange it. If you have, dropshot type of tackle works very well. Short soft 6-7' rod with a small multiplier or spinning reel is perfect. I have some 3kg line drop shot type outfits, which i use for grunters at Breede River that works very well for bank fish. Otherwise, a Daiwa 30 type reel on a 5-7' boat rod with 6-10kg line is more than ample. Hooks, 1/0-2/0 is the ideal size. Remember, the fish we're targetting is 500grams to about 4-5kg's. So, generally, the lighter your tackle, the better you'll do.
Bait. Pilchard's and chokka/squid/octopus work very well. So does, white mussel. BEST bait how-ever is prawn!! But seeimg as how difficult it is to get prawn these days, i stick with pilchard's and chokka.
Safety wise: my boats a butt-cat. These vessels are used extensively on the East coast by commercial fisherman. Their sea-worthiness is legendary!! The entire boat, under the deck is foam filled. What this means is that the boats UNSINKABLE!! You need to put a weight of well over 5000kg's (5ton) on board, just to be able to push the boat under water. So, you're PERFECTLY safe afloat!!
Regards
miles