Muffin Man
Senior Member
Well as promised here is the begining of the sightcasting to Yellowtail from the boat post. One of my main reasons for doing this post is to try show you guys how effective this form of fishing is.
I will share my experiences over the past 22months only targetting Yellowtail in False Bay and outside of the point. In this time my crew and I have caught 359 tail with only a handful being caught on the troll. Most were caught by sightcasting with plugs and spinners.
Had the fishing inside the bay been better in the pasts two summers I reckon you could add more than 100 fish to that total. The problem that we have had in my opinion is that we had SE and within 24hrs the wind has been out the west or NW within 24hrs of that it would be back to gale force SE or E winds.
We saw the fish where they were supposed to be but we also saw the temp dropping 3 degrees in a matter of hours when the Westerlys blew. The days when fish are moving with thier heads at a slight angle downwards and are travelling fast you will also find them to be very skitish. Very difficult to catch them I have seen fish get spooked when my braid touches the water after a cast well ahead of them.
When I decided to stop fishing with bait a few years ago I concentrated on Elf then Leervis then I started Tail and let me tell you I couldn't go back to catching Elf at Blakes other than to say hi to the regulars there. Tail are awesome fish to catch I have been pulled to my knees in the boat with my hands pinned to the gunnel with a 7 to 8kg foul hooked fish in 8m of water.
My boat:
I have a 510 centre consol Seacat with two 50 4stroke yamahas. This and the 520 supercat now Supreme craft are excellent boats for this kind of fishing. I prefer a centre consol as you can cast and retrieve out of all angles. You can never have enough rod holders on your boat even if you don't take that many rods we fish with 2 each. It becomes handy when you have landed a fish, there is a place to put the rod. Alan Stewart put on extra holders for me and put a holder close to the wheel for the skipper I think he was tired of me moaning that he always gets first cast even though that doesn't help him. LOL Thanks Alan.
A cat offers a wider beam and is more stable to cast from.
Tackle: Rods and Reels
I have changed to spinning rods and reels. I rate myself as a pretty good caster with multipliers but spinning reels are the answer. You can cast the whole day in any position and out of any angle. I have seen guys get so exited when they see fish myself included that it sometimes gets the better of you. An overwind is the last thing you need when you have found fish as there are days when you see fish and its the last fish you see that day. Oh by the way everyone gets an overwind from time to time its not impossible.
I have converted quite a few guys to this kind of tackle and they have converted others. There are people who say its to easy now everyone can cast at fish, well I agree that is one of the positives on spinning reels.
I use Sustain 6000's on 8ft Exages, you get 2 spools with the Sustains so I have 4 filled with 20Lb, 30Lb and 50Lb powerpro.
Lures: Spinners (spoons)
My favourite spinners from the boat are, Small roundbacks 70g(WM90) and 45g(WM90), Small flatback 60g(WM90), Couta 70g (tin), WB snake 70g(WM90), Ashley Read small snake(tin) and Alan Stewarts Whally Whecks (tin) if you lucky. I am sure my future ones will be made with sinkers.
Plugs:
I have loads of plugs, this is my prefered way to catch yellowtail. There are blue, black, green, yellow and white plugs. These are made for me by a mate. Tail prefer a plug that tracks straight and doesn't make a massive comotion on the surface. They are therefore long slender chisel nose plugs. I will post a pic of all the different lures during the week. The plugs vary in weight from 40g to 80g.
The few tests I have done with the plugs and colours to see if it makes a difference or not is still under investigation. I have experienced days when only people with blue have caught and the same with green far outfishing white. Days when the fish ate green that you could not wind fast enough to get the plug away from the fish, then later with the sun being at 10 o clock they ate blue, black and white. So I am still trying to work that one out.
As a general rule use green or yellow in green water, Blue or white in blue water. Early morning or in overcast conditions use a darker coloured plug. A very thin plug (slim shady) works well when the sea is very calm.
Which Lure to use and some of my thoughts on it:
One of the great things about sightcasting is once you have found fish and you fish the shoal correctly you can use your time to see what the fish want. This is especially true when you are fishing inside of the bay when shoals of fish can be seen swimming close to the surface.
Early season like now this is what I think happens wether it is so or not I can't say all I do know is that this is the story my records show. When the SE starts to blow it causes upwelling West of the point this upwelling causes the phytoplankton to bloom. The anchovy spawn which I think travels from the aghulas(spelling) banks now hatches and feeds on this plankton. The tail then feed on the anchovy.
Last year this time we caught tail in the triangle SW reef, Bellows and Anvil. This past weekend we caught them in this area with spinners same as last year. The difference is that this weekends fish were small, these are normally the first fish to enter the bay at the beginning of a season. So it is a good sign.
Two things should happen with this strong SE we are getting for the next few days either the fish will come into the bay or will go to Rocky bank. I have been proven wrong plenty times when it comes to trying to work out tail but thats what should happen. The fish that was caught South of Rocky bank in the winter we found fish in that area at the end of January I think in the months prior to winter we got fish there 7 times out of 10 boat alone.
I have found quite a few different temp lines South of the bank thats why we went looking there when the water was cold elsewhere. When the water is cold you can catch fish, a fish can acclimitize(spelling) to cooler water but if the temp is 15 then within a few hours or a day its 12 your chances are slim.
For this time of the year if the fish move into the bay as soon as there is a drop in pressure the fish will exit the bay. I believe that tail can pick up a drop in the pressure before you can see the drop on your barometer at home. Early season I have noticed that fish will follow a spinner but as soon as the spinners breaks surface the fish will turn off. If this happens use a round back as it holds deeper in the water.
Early season with the fish in the triangle feeding on tiny anchovies use small spinners this is also when a spinning reel is great. If you still don't come right try position your boat so that when the fish follow the spinner they follow into the sun. This tactic has worked for us on a few occasions.
My records show that most of the fish we caught in the past 12months has been in water from 14C to 15.6C which is possibly on the cooler side. I am hoping this season with the El Nino effect we will have more temps between 15C and 17C then I reckon it will be a killer season.
I must get to bed I will continue this tomorrow night. If there is anything that you guys would like to know or ask please do and I will see if I can give you the answers. And I would like to reiterate that these are my experiences and views, they are by no means law and I don't know everything and feel free to add anything. Cheers Paul (MM)
I will share my experiences over the past 22months only targetting Yellowtail in False Bay and outside of the point. In this time my crew and I have caught 359 tail with only a handful being caught on the troll. Most were caught by sightcasting with plugs and spinners.
Had the fishing inside the bay been better in the pasts two summers I reckon you could add more than 100 fish to that total. The problem that we have had in my opinion is that we had SE and within 24hrs the wind has been out the west or NW within 24hrs of that it would be back to gale force SE or E winds.
We saw the fish where they were supposed to be but we also saw the temp dropping 3 degrees in a matter of hours when the Westerlys blew. The days when fish are moving with thier heads at a slight angle downwards and are travelling fast you will also find them to be very skitish. Very difficult to catch them I have seen fish get spooked when my braid touches the water after a cast well ahead of them.
When I decided to stop fishing with bait a few years ago I concentrated on Elf then Leervis then I started Tail and let me tell you I couldn't go back to catching Elf at Blakes other than to say hi to the regulars there. Tail are awesome fish to catch I have been pulled to my knees in the boat with my hands pinned to the gunnel with a 7 to 8kg foul hooked fish in 8m of water.
My boat:
I have a 510 centre consol Seacat with two 50 4stroke yamahas. This and the 520 supercat now Supreme craft are excellent boats for this kind of fishing. I prefer a centre consol as you can cast and retrieve out of all angles. You can never have enough rod holders on your boat even if you don't take that many rods we fish with 2 each. It becomes handy when you have landed a fish, there is a place to put the rod. Alan Stewart put on extra holders for me and put a holder close to the wheel for the skipper I think he was tired of me moaning that he always gets first cast even though that doesn't help him. LOL Thanks Alan.
A cat offers a wider beam and is more stable to cast from.
Tackle: Rods and Reels
I have changed to spinning rods and reels. I rate myself as a pretty good caster with multipliers but spinning reels are the answer. You can cast the whole day in any position and out of any angle. I have seen guys get so exited when they see fish myself included that it sometimes gets the better of you. An overwind is the last thing you need when you have found fish as there are days when you see fish and its the last fish you see that day. Oh by the way everyone gets an overwind from time to time its not impossible.
I have converted quite a few guys to this kind of tackle and they have converted others. There are people who say its to easy now everyone can cast at fish, well I agree that is one of the positives on spinning reels.
I use Sustain 6000's on 8ft Exages, you get 2 spools with the Sustains so I have 4 filled with 20Lb, 30Lb and 50Lb powerpro.
Lures: Spinners (spoons)
My favourite spinners from the boat are, Small roundbacks 70g(WM90) and 45g(WM90), Small flatback 60g(WM90), Couta 70g (tin), WB snake 70g(WM90), Ashley Read small snake(tin) and Alan Stewarts Whally Whecks (tin) if you lucky. I am sure my future ones will be made with sinkers.
Plugs:
I have loads of plugs, this is my prefered way to catch yellowtail. There are blue, black, green, yellow and white plugs. These are made for me by a mate. Tail prefer a plug that tracks straight and doesn't make a massive comotion on the surface. They are therefore long slender chisel nose plugs. I will post a pic of all the different lures during the week. The plugs vary in weight from 40g to 80g.
The few tests I have done with the plugs and colours to see if it makes a difference or not is still under investigation. I have experienced days when only people with blue have caught and the same with green far outfishing white. Days when the fish ate green that you could not wind fast enough to get the plug away from the fish, then later with the sun being at 10 o clock they ate blue, black and white. So I am still trying to work that one out.
As a general rule use green or yellow in green water, Blue or white in blue water. Early morning or in overcast conditions use a darker coloured plug. A very thin plug (slim shady) works well when the sea is very calm.
Which Lure to use and some of my thoughts on it:
One of the great things about sightcasting is once you have found fish and you fish the shoal correctly you can use your time to see what the fish want. This is especially true when you are fishing inside of the bay when shoals of fish can be seen swimming close to the surface.
Early season like now this is what I think happens wether it is so or not I can't say all I do know is that this is the story my records show. When the SE starts to blow it causes upwelling West of the point this upwelling causes the phytoplankton to bloom. The anchovy spawn which I think travels from the aghulas(spelling) banks now hatches and feeds on this plankton. The tail then feed on the anchovy.
Last year this time we caught tail in the triangle SW reef, Bellows and Anvil. This past weekend we caught them in this area with spinners same as last year. The difference is that this weekends fish were small, these are normally the first fish to enter the bay at the beginning of a season. So it is a good sign.
Two things should happen with this strong SE we are getting for the next few days either the fish will come into the bay or will go to Rocky bank. I have been proven wrong plenty times when it comes to trying to work out tail but thats what should happen. The fish that was caught South of Rocky bank in the winter we found fish in that area at the end of January I think in the months prior to winter we got fish there 7 times out of 10 boat alone.
I have found quite a few different temp lines South of the bank thats why we went looking there when the water was cold elsewhere. When the water is cold you can catch fish, a fish can acclimitize(spelling) to cooler water but if the temp is 15 then within a few hours or a day its 12 your chances are slim.
For this time of the year if the fish move into the bay as soon as there is a drop in pressure the fish will exit the bay. I believe that tail can pick up a drop in the pressure before you can see the drop on your barometer at home. Early season I have noticed that fish will follow a spinner but as soon as the spinners breaks surface the fish will turn off. If this happens use a round back as it holds deeper in the water.
Early season with the fish in the triangle feeding on tiny anchovies use small spinners this is also when a spinning reel is great. If you still don't come right try position your boat so that when the fish follow the spinner they follow into the sun. This tactic has worked for us on a few occasions.
My records show that most of the fish we caught in the past 12months has been in water from 14C to 15.6C which is possibly on the cooler side. I am hoping this season with the El Nino effect we will have more temps between 15C and 17C then I reckon it will be a killer season.
I must get to bed I will continue this tomorrow night. If there is anything that you guys would like to know or ask please do and I will see if I can give you the answers. And I would like to reiterate that these are my experiences and views, they are by no means law and I don't know everything and feel free to add anything. Cheers Paul (MM)
Youre making me see chases when I'm supposed to work.