General fishing

For edibles like cob, spotted grunter, white steenbra’s and shad a nylon line with a diameter of around 0.40mm will be sufficient. That’s for fishing from the beach on sandy areas. Of course for shad you will want to add a small piece of steel cable/piano wire just above the hook to stop them from biting off your hook with their razor like teeth.

Going for galjoen, white musselcracker or blacktail around rocky areas you will have to use a thicker line that is also more abrasion resistant. Musselcracker is a very strong and dirty fighter so a strong reel will be a good idea.

For most sharks around here it will be best to use a line of 0.55mm. And a reel with a big line capacity. I use a custom build 14ft 400/3 graphite fishing rod with a Daiwa Saltist reel. On the reel I have 300m braided line as backing with about 400m of 0.55mm on top off that. That’s in most cases enough to stop and turn a beast from the shore.

To get a big bait (1-5kg) out deep I use a non return sliding clip. I attach a 1mm leader of about 8meters to my main line by means of a bemini twist knot and then a cat’s paw or figure 8 knot. Then you tie on a stop ring with power swivel and a short sinker/lead trace. For sliding you must use a big grapnel sinker to make sure you your sinker stays firmly stuck while you slide your bait out.

Next step is to cast out the sinker alone as deep as possible. On rocky areas is normally easier but from the beach/sand you will have to wade/swim out to cast out behind the drop-off.

When you are sure your sinker is not going to move you can clip on your slide with two hooks and at least a 150pound breaking strain stainless steel cable. Now you just pull your line tight and rock your rod forwards and backwards. That causes your slide to slide out into the water. Doing that for at least 5 minutes and your slide will be at or very near to the stop ring and sinker.

Now use patience till your line goes tight and the fight begins. Remember your fighting buckle otherwise your back won’t be lasting to long.

Happy fishing till next time

Galjoen

Galjoen being mostly a cold water fish it would be best to target them in the winter. Galjoen are mostly found around rocks feeding of the worms and red bait that the waves break loose from the rocks. They wont say no to prawns or mussels too.

Going fishing for them of rocks you will need high abrassion line to keep you're line from breaking of after a few scratches over the rocks. Always check you're line for marks/cuts after every cast. Line always breaks while you are hooked into something decend. Not a good feeling.

Galjoen are found close to the waters edge so distance casting wont be needed. For that same reasons it is good fun to try for them on light tackle or dropshotting.

Try casting into the foamy part off the water next to rocks. That's where the galjoen normally feeds. If the galjoen bites but does not swallow the hook I normally just put a longer hook trace on which gives me a better hook up rate.

My best success with Galjoen is with a 2/0 hook, fixed trace(sinker 60cm-hook 40cm) and a long strip of redbait(sun dried a bit). I make the bait about twice the length of my hook and lightly tie it on the hook, leaving the rest to move around freely in the water. Tying the bait up to look like small red golfball won't be as effective

Sharks

For shark fishing I would recommend using the bait sliding method to get a big bait out deep into the ocean. Thick steel traces are a must for sharks. A strong multiplier reel loaded with 0.55mm high abresion line and a powerful rod will make things easier

Musselcracker

Cob

Shad

Shad have some very sharp teeth so a fine steel trace or piano wire will be used. Shad are strong fighters for their size and good fun to target on lighter tackle and artificial lures.