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Now that fishing from boats has become so expensive many anglers are returning to reef and shore angling - this despite the fact that the fish seem to be more scarce. This was exactly the opposite a number of years ago when many anglers changed to fishing from small boats and skiboats.

I believe that these anglers who have gone back to shore angling will really enjoy it and find that it remains a fascinating pass time for there is always something to discuss and learn such as knots, new fishing tackle, venues, best baits etc.

I also think that most anglers are decent and interesting characters and always devising or concocting some new device or strategy to become more successful.

With all the modern tackle available these days the trend is to fish with lighter and thinner high abrasive lines which give better casts and better results.

While on the topic of tackle, anglers should remember that the modern reels are becoming very sophisticated and much more care should be taken with cleaning and lubrication for bearings such as ball bearings and positive anti-reverse roller bearings are very expensive and need lubrication and also need to be cleaned more often.

It is also advisable to stick to the better brands of reels such as Shimano, Daiwa, Penn and ABU to name a few.

Cheap immitations
There are a lot of cheap imitations on the market and in the end the cheapies have to be discarded and another one bought because they cannot be repaired due to parts being either made of plastic or are unobtainable.

Rather try and save up and buy the better known brands even if they are more expensive.

Although locally there have been no real fireworks on the fishing front there have been a couple of large White Steen-bras of up to 13,5 kg caught from the Gant's pipe area and at Harmony Park and from the Gordon's Bay harbour wall.

Anglers using worms and prawn as bait have had the most success in catching these magnificent fish.

The Elf scene has been rather disappointing and only a few size and slightly larger Elf have been caught from Plat-bank and Blake's Beach.

The top shore anglers that fish from Shark Rock, Middel-bank and Die Eiland area off Melk Bay had the odd Kob and medium sized Geelbek (slightly larger than Morocco).

Further afield at Betty's Bay Steenbras, Kob and Geelbek were landed from a number of venues such as Die Bos and Verwoerd's Beach and it appears that the good Kob run at Die Dam is continuing and the Elf run around Arniston is still also still rife.

Smaller boats in and around our area are still catching Kob, Elf and Geelbek and the Snoek have once again been located up the West Coast while the last Tunny catches were reported on Thursday last week, the weather has also not really been conducive for deep-sea fishing.

The chokka are still present at Buffels Bay, but the weather has not really been great for catching chokka or Yellowtail, although one boat did report catching five Yellowtail during the weekend.

The WP Inshore Boat Angling Competition will once again be held at Struisbaai (south league) this weekend. During a recent discussion with a top WP boat angler he mentioned that most of the large Kob and big red stumpnose caught during the last competition at Struisbaai were caught using whole small pilchards.

More and more anglers and beach goers have asked me what is to become of our Strand jetty which has always been a popular tourist attraction.

Strand jetty
The Strand jetty is essential for small boats launching from the well made Strand concrete slipway.

The idea is that once the boat is launched, with the skipper aboard, the rest of the crew then park the vehicle and trailer then get onto the jetty and walk along it to be picked up by the fishing boat without any of the crew members having to get their feet wet.

It has been almost three years since the decision to break down and upgrade the jetty and still nothing has happened and it seems that the situation is once again a moot point.

Many Strand residents and businessmen as well as holiday makers to the Strand and Helderberg area would like to see this issue resolved.

Many people are of the opinion that a simple well made concrete breakwater structure, which will be much cheaper to build and have no real maintenance, is all that is needed.

All these fancy ideas of trying to copy the old jetty should be scrapped and the concrete jetty should be built and it is guaranteed to stand the test of time.

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