Grumpy’s fishing report

Some spectacular fish have been caught and Paaltjies is also doing really well.

Catches up north are great with the likes of Adri se Gat and Bakleigat producing some good sized catches too. There seem to be some monster steenbras around the Canopy area. Torra Bay is also doing well with good catches reported.

Especially galjoen seem to be readily taking the anglers bait. Anglers also enjoyed some nice catches in Swakopmund at the Mile 7 and Mile 8 areas. A lot of big sharks were caught too and every now and then a big kob surprised the shark anglers. Big kob like taking chokka, sardines, horse mackerel and octopus as bait. Sometimes fresh mullet do the trick too.

Norman Campbell, a farmer from Otjiwarongo tried his luck with a plug. A plug is an artificial lure that is made out of hard plastic which one casts out and then pulls back. This lure is heavy which makes it difficult to get distance, yet its very broad so one drags it across the surface of the water. This entices a fish called garrick which is a gamefish. The garrick then attacks the plug and the fun starts.

Norman said he caught his quota of kob and then decided to use this lure for the rest of the day. Cast after cast he tried until he saw the fins of the fish chasing the lure and hitting it hard. After a few nervous minutes he managed to subdue the fish and landed his garrick safely on shore. Garrick are mostly targeted in the summer months and are usually only caught for catch and release. So good chances are from now until end of march to target these gamefish. The fish Norman caught weighed about 3,5 kg.

The kayak anglers are using the calm seas to their advantage and are also catching a lot of species. They reported that horse mackerel make up the majority of their catches with kob and blacktail also readily caught.

Paaltjies has been giving fish especially this past Monday. Some beasts have been caught right up to the 18 kg mark although most fish are in the 4 kg to 8 kg range. Those size fish put up a great fight so fun is had by all.

Reports also came in from Trappies and Popeye about some kob and galjoen being landed with Wlotzkasbaken area also giving the anglers some action.

It seems that with the summer becoming warmer, the fish are also becoming a bit more active. So go and have some fun on the beach and take your fishing rod along. There are a lot of young kids and pets with families enjoying their outing so be sure to keep an eye out. Fisheries is out and about so make sure you have a valid fishing licence. Their offices are open from 8 to 5 during the week and closed over weekends, but for December they will be open on Saturdays and Sundays until 1:00 pm.

The conditions look really great for the week with some excellent catches expected.