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NOW that we're in the middle of winter, there is really only one thing that shore anglers can do and that is to target bank fish (Galjoen, Dassies, Zebra etc) all along our beaches and reefs.

Prawn, mussel and red bait are the best baits to use for this type of fishing, but all have to be collected by the angler himself. Another good bait to use is wonder worm that can be scratched out of the rocks at Hangklip and a few other local areas, but this is hard work.

The trick is to use lighter tackle and fishing at the correct places at the right times.

Although sand prawn can only be pumped from certain places and it is a lot of PT to extract the prawns from the sand with a pump, it is still well worth the effort because prawn is such a good bait. In fact, I would go as far as to say that prawn is the most fruitful and versatile of all baits.

This past weekend a number of regular fishermen caught a few fish from the Strand beaches and reefs. These hard working old salts told me that they had some good catches of big Wildeperd and White Stumpnose as the water became a bit cooler.

Steve Reynolds told me that he had a brace of fat White Stumpnose from Blake?s Beach and Harmony Park, while another angler said he caught some big Wildeperd from the wall of the small tidal pool in the Strand.

There are also still a few White Steenbras and Galjoen as well as the odd Dassie being caught from the Gant's Pipe next to the Lourens River.

This excellent spot, which is at the end of Melk Bay Beach, sometimes referred to as the fence, is always a prime spot in winter for Galjoen and Dassie when the water is rising.

I received a few calls from anglers who heard of the excellent recent run of Belman from the Strand beaches, but unfortunately due to the cooler waters and northerly wind, these fish have now moved on. Anglers should remember that Belman prefer slightly warmer water which Kob and Geelbek also prefer and which is around after a south and south west wind which is prevalent during spring time.

An old ploy used by some experienced local anglers is to go out onto the fishing reefs around Shark Rock or the Harmony Park rocks and remove a few fresh heads of red bait. While out on the reefs doing this they then cut open one or two of the larger red bait pods without opening them up completely. Then if there are fish around, the Wildeperd, Dassie and Galjoen as well as other reef fish will pick-up the scent of the red bait and home in on that area. Then, using the same fresh red bait from these reefs, the angler baits up with this and usually has good results.

These shoals of bank fish swim up and down these gullies in front of the reefs, constantly looking for food and are fairly easy to target if one knows how.

The trick is to use very light sinkers and a 1.0 hook baited with this fresh red bait without cotton or elastic. Fresh red bait

When fishing in this manner and the nice big, fat Wildeperd, Dassie and Galjoen and even White Stumpnose home in on the smell and take the bait - then fishing is great fun and extremely rewarding and well worth all the effort, even if one is fishing in cold, wet, windy weather.

During the past weekend small boats did not have much success and had to settle for a few red fish and Hottentot. The Snoek fishing also changed drastically on the weekend. On Friday the big commercial boats were catching up to 100 fish a boat, but by Saturday the top boats in the same areas could only eke out nine to 10 fish per boat. These meagre catches were sold from up to R50 a fish from hawkers, which was a big change from R12 to R16 which the fish were selling for from the boats during the Snoek dik. The reason for the Snoek going off the bite so suddenly was due to the sudden drop in temperature which was caused by the South Easter which picked up on Saturday. The water temperature went from 17 degrees on Friday to 13 degrees on Saturday, which stopped the fish biting.

Many of the ou manne who have been Snoek fishing for many years believe that when the water turns cold so quickly, the Snoek lie with their heads downwards and don't feed.

Then when they become used to the colder water, they move off in search of warmer water and food. Fact of fallacy - I don't know!

This is also the time of the year for anglers to check on their fishing tackle.

For starters they can check on the condition of the eyes on their rods and for chips or cracks on their expensive carbon rods - this is something not many anglers do, but something which should be done fairly regularly.

Minute cracks in the eyes of a rod cannot be detected visually, but may be detected by rotating a sharp stainless steel knife gentle around the eyes. By doing this one will be able to feel all the cracks and get them repaired.

Unfortunately the only way to do this is to take the rod to a tackle shop or rod maker and ask them to replace the damaged eyes.

Stripping and cleaning reels and replacing bearings and repairing bushes and realigning spools and also replacing line in preparation for the next outing, are also all good practices. Another good tip for all careful and caring anglers is that once one has finished fishing for the day is to have a good cast using only a sinker and then walk out another 20 or 30 metres and then wind up in a very even and level manner with the correct tension on the spool. This will ensure a good even cast without any overwinds on your next fishing trip.

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