(Sarpa salpa)
Image obtained from www.ori.org.za
These beautiful little fish (10 – 20 cm in length), with their characteristic horizontal golden stripes are found in summer almost everywhere in calm water where plenty of marine vegetation occurs. They are found in gullies.
TACKLE
Light rod and reel may be used. Strepies are nibblers and therefore very small hooks should be used. (see sketch of rig).
BAIT
Small to medium size musselworms are the most effective bait. Strepies don’t like the musselworm’s rather hard head, so don’t use it. Thread a piece of worm on to fill the hook. Because the bait is firm, several strepies may be caught before it is necessary to rebait. Thin strips of redbait, white mussel, sardine or the flesh of sharks may also be used.
HOW TO CATCH THE STREPIE
You need to do some pre-baiting by dropping small bits of bait into the water. A tin of sardine mince (from old bait) may be used successfully. Fine bits of redbait, mussels or the flesh of sharks may also be used. You can actually see how the shoal of fish rises to the surface to greedily pick up the bait.
When the slight tugs start, allow the strepie to pull the tip of the rod somewhat down before striking lightly. If you miss, just wait a moment, for the tugs will start almost immediately and continue till the hook is empty or the fish hooked. Strepies are lively fighters, so don’t use force when playing them. The best time is when the gully gets foamy with the pushing tide.
The Southern Mullet:
Image obtained from www.south-african-game-reserves.com
The Southern Mullet is a fairly common salt water fish species and often occurs in dense shoals in estuaries, along sandy beaches and near or around rocky areas. The Southern Mullet can tolerate low salinities which is why they are often found in estuaries and up rivers. They use these places as nursery grounds for the younger Southern Mullet which can attain about 45 to 50 centimetres. Southern Mullet are often found in shallow water and casting your bait at them is very tempting. Southern Mullet usually feed on microscopic plant organisms. The Harder (Southern Mullet) is the most common Mullet species within its distribution, which is from East London, all around the coast, up until and into Namibia.
How to catch the The South African Southern Mullet
It is a difficult challenge to catch any of the Mullet species of South Africa with rod and reel in hand. The best and easiest way to catch the Southern Mullet is with any type of throw net. This is the best option of catching a Southern Mullet (Harder) for bait.
However; many anglers do not possess throw net and are not familiar of how is to be used. If you are a salt water angler looking to catch a Southern Mullet with rod and reel, and use it as live bait, there are a few key aspects you need to take into account.
First of all you need to locate the Mullet species.
After you locate the Mullet, you need to do some pre-baiting (chumming) by dropping small bits of bait into the water. A tin of sardine mince (from old bait) may be used successfully. Many anglers will also pre-bait with thinly chopped sardine mince, anchovy oil, good measure of sand, all compacted into a sand balls, which are thrown in the intended fishing area.
Float, field with bait is strongly recommended.
The container is filled with small cuts of sardine and some anchovy oil is socked onto the float placed inside the container. In this way constant, slaw release of bits of sardine and scent from the anchovy oil, is assured trough the holes in the container.
On the hooks (use the smallest hooks possible) you may place some small pieces of sardine or you can try different fleshy baits. It is important to make sure that you float is floating right in front of the fish.
If you can't manage to get the Mullet to bite, wait a while and then try fishing for them at dusk or dawn.
Chumming when fishing for mullet definitely helps and in my opinion is a must.
How to keep you live bait alive on the sandy beach:
There is many different ways to keep your live bait alive and some involve purchase of specialised equipment and use of oxygen pumps.
The most simple and effective method is to use an ordinary black plastic bag and create your own small pool on the beach.
It is important to mention that you need to change the water in the pool frequently and if you are fishing during the day and under the shining sun, it is advisable to place a beach umbrella over the pool in order to protect the fish from the shining sun.
Some anglers make use of cooler boxes equipped with air pumps, run on 12volt batteries.
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