Gamtoos Dusky Kob - Trolling Rapala Super Shad Raps

Winter is in FULL swing in the Gamtoos River Valley, temperatures have been literally freezing. Its out first proper Winter since the long standing drought conditions broke. Fishing has been slow and steady throughout the Winter season. I tend to keep detailed fishing notes and measure my catches of Dusky Kob per season in linier meters...its been my lowest measurement in five years, however i believe this may be due to fewer fishing hours and possibly the late arrival of Dusky Kob into the estuary?

Rumors were running that some good catches had been made by 'brave' night time live bait anglers during the school holidays. I joined my good fishing mate Floyd Morrison (Formally of Triton Lures) for an opportunistic Monday afternoon session. On the water I soon found a sand cove filled with Mullet and it did not take long before I had Dusky Kob smashing baitfish on the surface all around my boat! Floyd passed me several times on the troll while I flogged the water for three hours using every likely lure I owned this without a touch!

As the sun set I decided to troll towards home and no sooner had I started when I noticed Floyd was onto a good fish. I parked up beside him to witness a stunning 30kg+ Kob landed and safely released. Tuesday I found myself at Trophy Tackle Den for a days graft and eagerly awaited news from Gamtoos. That afternoon my phone received a message and the photos were of another 20kg+ Kob taken that afternoon. Wednesday could not come soon enough and I was looking forward for some more time on the water!

I found myself on the water at sun rise, dressed for the artic in what must have been somewhere between zero to five degrees. Conditions were magical with the water being like a plate of glass with thirteen degree water temperature and a mystical mist rising off the water surface. On my fist troll all hell broke lose for a few minutes, but sadly I dropped what would have been a VERY large fish. The only evidence of that strike are several deep tooth holes in my Rapala Super Shad Rap...first of many more to come. The rest of the morning produced no takes and I planned to have another session in the late afternoon.

That afternoon I repeated the same trolling lines from my morning session and it did not take to long before a stunning Dusky Kob made a meal of the lure. The fish gave a very good account of itself and in the process fouled up my second trolling line on-route to the landing net. Luck was in my favor and I managed to land the Kob, but it resulted in a total mess of my terminal gear. After a quick photo session, and some confused hesitation, the Kob was safely released and swam away strongly. I had another much lighter Kob hit the lure, but still getting to know the 'lay of the land' on my much smaller boat and then fumbling with the camera, I managed to drop the fish! With that I called it a day and headed off home while witnessing another stunning winters sunset over the majestic Gamtoos River, Eastern Cape, South Africa!

Mine was the only catch and it seems the shoal has since move back out to sea or sneaked away to a yet to be discovered section of the river!!

If you enjoy my content and have any questions, comment or suggestions to add...I would greatly appreciate your input or suggestions. Also, a SUBSCRIBE would be greatly appreciated!! :-)

Tight Lines
Brett Harris
[email protected]
+27(0)834125316