Seasonal fishing

[Goldie]

I am fairly new to fishing and still learning and I have read a lot on bait presentations and other helpfull information.My question:
When is the best time(season) to target or can they be caught during the whole year?
kob
steenbra
musslecracker

My target area mainly from Witsand to Uilenkransmond.

 

[Kenty]

I am not a great believer of seasonal fishing , although I am sure certain species are more abundant in winter as opposed to summer and vice versa...

I am more inclined to follow conditions ...Find out what species like what type of conditions ..ie ..water temp...water colour....barometer pressure ..tides...big sea ..flat sea deep water ..shallow gutters and gulleys...once youve worked this out and at a few chosen spots then you need to keep notes when you catch and even when you blank...Soon...you will see a trend and thgen follow that trend at these chosen spots and you will be on the fish more often than not....

There is a sealine member here , Maasbanker , he has cracked the code , as far as conditions goes , for kob down Cape Town way and Ive seen catches made by him right throughout the year...He also has a website blog under the same name...go look it up and you would be well advised to read his writings....
http://www.maasbanker.com/

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

Yeah but you stay in East London Where you get the summer and winter fish..But what you also say is true, and when you compound something like el nino in the equation the seasons of fish become more blurred. Fish, like gold, is where you find it. But you have to know where to look!

To the OP, I think in the area that you target there will be optimum seasons for those fish but they will be found somewhere there year round too as it is the centre of those species respective ranges, it is the same for kenty but more cob and less steenbras by him because of local water temps although breede and the bay is an epicentre of the dusky cob population so they would always be around somewhere.. You need to work out where they move to depending on conditions and put the big ones back as the witsand breeding cob's larvae is what stocks the rest of the coast south to Cape Town (Read about "basin effect", breede/witsands and gamtoos/jeffreys bay are plug-holes of the basin which is nearly drained out at this point).

 

[Kenty]

All a bit TOO scientific there Hoffman...BUT....to some fishing is a science I spose...to me , over a 12 year period , my note books tell a totally different story as to when and how the fish have presented themselves to me...and its all been weather and sea conditions...BUT...here too , I have fished with a toppie who believes ...kob in summer...shad in winter...piggies in August ...leeries in November and so on and so on.....but hello??...it seems it IS all science...heheheheheeh

 

[Dr halibut hoffman]

It's all science but then when you get understand it it is still up to you to make an art of it like your spinning for kob

There is more to it than seasons and yes 100% you are correct haha that's what I was saying..

 

[Kenty]

Although , I must admit...I wonder sometimes , if these fish are NOT affected at all by all these conditions , seasons etc etc and they come onto the bite coz they hungry and they just happen to be there at your spot at that time????

 

[Goldie]

Thanks for the feedback.I fully understand what you are saying and the reason why asked the question is that I don't want to waste my time trying to catch cob in July when I rather should target steenbra and galjoen.