Weekly Fishing Report (5 May to 9 May) – Western Cape, South Africa 

Discover what’s biting where with this week’s detailed Western Cape Weekly Fishing Report.

Improve your catch deep-sea and shore fishing prospects across the top fishing spots along the Western Cape coast!

There’s a riddle whose solution could land you several large tunny this week – especially if you have a deep-sea-worthy boat, a solid crew and the somewhat fickle weather is on your side.

The riddle is this: what do ‘The Canyon’ and ‘The Ammo Dumps’ have in common? Unless you’re a seasoned salty dog or are close friends with one, you might remain clueless – and fishless. (The Canyon is a deep rift on the ocean floor some forty miles off Cape Point, while the Big and Small Ammo dumps lie about twelve miles off Cape Point and Smits Winkel Bay. That’s where the SADF dumped tons of ‘expired’ ammunition during the apartheid years to form what are now fish-abundant reefs (not the SADF’s intention, but hey, thanks – we keep more people alive, and catch more fish!)

Two angling competitions over the last weekend in April point to the tunny, (big-eye, longfin, and yellowfin) being around both these locations. Last Friday (2nd May) was still fishable in spite of a swell of 2,9m at 11 secs. York Shoal and East Shoal near Seal Island have produced and still could yield some yellowtail (Rocky Bank and Cape Point are not as promising). The sea was settling by Monday, 5th May, but the wind plays all points of the compass this week, with the sea picking up again towards this coming May 9th weekend – though not much higher than when the competition tunny was being snaffled.

The Canyon, for those with endurance and diesel to burn, produced good Yellowfin and Big Eye during the WP Deep Sea Angling Association’s International and SA Provincials fished out of Hout Bay from 21-26 April. (one precise catch location; thirty-four degrees 09 and 18 degrees 39, some 37 miles north). The sea was bumpy, and its colour was not great, with the temp at 17 degrees. The biggest scoring fish was Chris Pike’s 84kg yellowfin, helping the Proteas win the international comp (two Egyptian teams, one SA Sport Anglers and Casting Confederation, SASACC, and two Protea teams). The winning boat was Sean Todd’s Extravagance, which landed several fish ranging from 70kg to 80kg. The top provincial team was Western Province aboard Dylan Thomas’s Gallus, with Michael Baines boating the top fish there at 79kgs.

The Oceana Power Boat Cub (Granger Bay) reports good Hottentot, (or Cape Bream, (some of over 2kgs) off the Milnerton Banks and around Robben Island in 12 to 25 fathoms of water of 13,7 to 14,2 degrees C during their Cape Bream Challenge on 10th April. Then last Friday (25th April), the boat ‘AJ ‘docked with 12 Yellowfin of between 40kgs and 60kgs while another (unnamed) boat boasted three longfin and one yellowfin of similar size– all caught at or near Dassengat, west of Robben Island. 

On the False Bay side, water temperatures around Seal Island hover between 16 and 21 degrees C, with Cape Point down to 11 degrees at one point. However, some ten miles off Cape Point (beyond the current line), it rises to eighteen degrees, climbing as you venture further out. 

Rock and surf angling prospects are best at Macassar and nearby Broken Road where nice kob and galjoen are being caught on mixed grill and mussel baits. There are plentiful tjokka on purple, pink or white jigs around Simon’s Town Harbor and nearby Lover’s Cove. In the Overberg, juvenile (undersize) Steenbras tend to find their bait first, with the odd decent-sized keeper, while some sizable cobs are being beached at Pearly Beach, Die Dam and off the Gans Baai ‘Plaat.’

Fresh water-wise, I’d pay a visit to the Hillcrest quarry dams (R130 entrance) outside Durbanville. The top dam has plenty of carp with bass in the larger, deeper, quarry dam. If you live in the South, try Sandvlei in Muizenberg for carp, leervis (some of them large), mullet and even tilapia. Please return any juvenile white steenbras as the vlei serves as a nursery (hence the leeries!). Stay tuned for next week’s Fishing Report to maximise your fishing catch potential next week too.

Compiled by Chris Bateman with thanks to Warwick Forde, Arnold Swart, Richard Bewick, and Sean Mills – in that order.