Introduction

South Africa is blessed with climate that is conducive to angling and the South African coast line is one of the most scenic and relatively well preserved in the World.

The sunny weather, the beautiful relatively unspoiled beaches, the blue waters of the ocean and value for money accommodation provided by the variety of guest houses and hotels, are the reasons for many people from South Africa, or abroad to visit the coast and more and more of these people get introduced to rock & surf angling. All the above, combined with the growing pressures of the day to day life, contributes to the fact that rock and surf angling is becoming one of the most popular recreational activities for many people in South Africa who do not necessarily reside at the cost.

Once a member of a family is introduced to rock and surf angling, in many cases, the same families start planning their next holiday trip in accordance with prevailing weather conditions and specific species being targeted, very often for the horror and dismay of some of the family’s members. Great efforts and resources are put into the planning, organizing and preparation for this fishing/holiday expeditions by the families of the anglers and very often they return from this precious trips with no fish being caught. Some garages in Johannesburg; Bloemfontein and many other land locked cities boast rock & surf tackle arsenal, which in many cases may compete and even beat the once owned by the costal rock and surf anglers.

This blog is an attempt to point one to the suitable tackle, bait and traces that can be used successfully for targeting of some of the prevailing shore angling fishes in the coastal areas in RSA.