Hoping to catch my first saltwater fish...

[SteelRoots]

I am going to Umthombe Kei River Lodge this December (about two weeks) and hope to catch my FIRST saltwater fish. The lodge is situated on the banks of the Kei River.
From the info I could gather it sounds like I would be able to target Kob and grunter at the lodge and when I move down to the coast I will be able to target garrick, kob, steenbras, shad, kingfish, galjoen and hottentot. I have no idea if I will be able to target these species over December.
I still need to sort out my tackle for bait etc. but for now I have tried to focus on getting my artlure setup right. Some of my tackle I bought before I started to read the info on sealine but there is nothing I can do about that now.
I have a 12ft Silstar ballistic rod paired with a Penn Powerspin V8000 reel which will be used for spinning and can cast up to 3 ounces.
Then I have an 8ft Shimano Vengeance rod paired with a Shimano FX4000 reel with 25pound braid for dropshotting. I also have some 6-7 feet bass rods which I will also take along just for the fun.
Remember I might go to the sea once a year and this will be the first time I will really try to catch something so I don’t want to blow my budget on too expensive equipment at this stage.
So far I have bought some lures and plastics and also got some from friends who doesn’t have the time to use it anymore.
I would appreciate some help on what more do I need.
Here are some pictures of what I have so far:

A selection of some of the plastics I have (I do have the lead heads, hooks etc that goes with it).

And with all the hype around the original Maria Onde Onda lures I were able to get two from one of the smaller fishing shops in Pretoria (the 3rd and 4th ones on the photo above). You can see and feel that these are in a league of their own.

From what I could read on the forum is that I need some more bucktails.
I have also started to remove the treble hooks and replacing them with proper single Gamakatsu hooks.

Any more info or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance

 

[Katot]

If you do not manage to catch something on these lures, well then I do not know. Awesome collection

 

[Bushbuck]

you sorted bud. Maybe a few 1/4 oz bucktails. White, olive/white, black, black/white.

and a gym membership so that you can carry it all around with you

 

 

[PatrickC]

A word of advise for someone with a similar lure fetish ... Take a handful of lures fishing with you on the day and leave the rest at home.
Pack light so you are mobile to cover more water and fish your lures with confidence instead of changing every few casts.

I normally take 2 spoons, 3 or 4 lipped lures for different depths, a plug and a popper or two and fill the rest of the space with bucktails and soft plastics.


Good luck! Don't forget to post the pics!

 

[Astrix]

I agree with PatrickC, if you have too much lure you end up changing it the whole time and stop concetrating on what you are supposed to do eg. the action of retrievel etc.  Take a look at the water, determine your target species, choose your lure accordingly and stick with it for a while before changing.

 

[Avi m]

SteelRoots,

I think you are sorted with your collection. I am at the sea every week and what I have is a drop in the ocean compared to you.

 

[SteelRoots]

This is great news as it was getting expensive.
Now for the long wait till December to go and catch that first one...

 

[drkobus]

Jy kan ñ winkel oopmaak met al daardie aas. Jy het baie goie raad gekry. Besluit op wat jy wil vang. neem op die meeste 5 ase en hou by hulle. Anders ruil jy die heel dag ase en vergeet om op die vangs te konsenteer.

 

[Oelof2014]

Feedback on your trip, how did those Onde Onda's go?

 

[Naami]

its been 3 years since

i wonder if he caught