Struisbaai Harbor Wall – Fishing for All

The Struisbaai harbor wall has always been a special place for fishermen of all ages who come to this charming seaside town from all over South Africa. During summer weekends and the holiday season, the wall is usually packed with anglers of all ages who enjoy a wide variety of fishing techniques. The harbor wall is a safe place (most of the time) where a lot of angling wisdom is shared, experience is gained, and a love of the sport of fishing is passed from one angler to another.

The Struisbaai harbor wall is an interesting spot for angling, offering a wide variety of fish species to target. It is a place where young children first feel a rod and reel, and touch a puffer fish for the first time. It is also a place where big fish with big tackle come to hunt giant manta rays and huge raggies. Among all you can expect to find goblin, garrick, cob, mussel, smaller sharks, grunters and kolsterte.

family fun

Many moms, dads or grandparents have taken the young angler to this safe place to fish and introduced them to the sport of rock and surf fishing. I wonder how many children have caught their first fish off the harbor wall. Taking a light rod and reel or hand line and using sardine or chokka as bait, these youngsters hone their fishing skills on blowfish, strepies, kolsterte, tjor-tjor and maasbankers.

Elf on the wall!!

Many summer evenings, when the tide is out, the wall resembles a porcupine with quills erect as fishermen, young and old, gather for the goblin race, and also in the hope of landing a fast-swimming garrick. The favorite bait is a whole sardine that is slowly dragged through the interior of the port. With the elf around, it usually doesn’t take long for a fisherman to reach his bag limit.

Garrick/Leervis

From January to March, you’ll see quite a few anglers launching spinners and top water poppers from the rocks in front of the harbor wall in hopes of a massive hit and hard fight. The 5-20kg Garrick is usually nearby in the early morning or late afternoon, feasting on the elf in the harbor’s sheltered water. Some anglers prefer to lead a live elf down the right side into the bay, hoping to find a garrick or a cob.

other groceries

Cob, kolsterte and spotted grunts are the other main target species during the months of November to March, but the rare white, galjoen and belman mussels are also landed. Spotted Grunts are normally caught in the shallows at the second and third lampposts with very light tackle using shrimp or sardine tail as bait.

Average cob size ranges from 2 to 5 kg, but quite a few large ones over 20 kg are landed on a regular basis. The best time to kob is at night wearing chokka and/or sardine or running some live mullet or maasbanker. Once a cob is hooked, it is best to take the fish towards the sandy beach between the harbor wall and Die Las, as the rocks facing the harbor have ended many a fight with a line snapping.

sharks and rays

We all know that the port of Struisbaai is home to a few huge black stingrays weighing over 120kg, but it is the area just in front of the harbor wall and to the right where the huge black stingrays are found, as well as the blue stingrays. smaller and duckbill rays. caught regularly. Many anglers have overestimated their own rigging prowess and capabilities only to have a knot come undone, a line snap, a rod snap, or a royal bust while trying to take on these sea diggers.

Manta rays are caught during the day and night, and chokkas or fishheads work best for these bottom feeders. The smaller stripes are insanely fun on the light tackle but for the big black stripes you would need a rod with a strong backbone, at least .45 line, a decent reel and plenty of power as most fights last up to 4 hours.

The best time to fish for sharks is at night. Some anglers target smaller shark species such as smooth hounds and spotted gully sharks, or even South Africa’s own pajama cat shark, while other anglers slip big baits for ragged-toothed spotted sharks over 150kg that frequent this area, or wait for a big bronzie or top shark to land.

The preferred bait for smaller sharks is live mullet or maasbanker, or fish fillets and chokka, but with the latter the small fry normally feast and the bait needs to be replaced regularly. For the larger sharks, most anglers slip heads of yellowtail salmon or cape or half skipjack. You can also swipe a large maasbanker or a smaller elf with success.

Some rules

1) Remember, you are not allowed to use a shot net inside the harbor at any time. Instead, use small baited hooks to catch mullet or maasbankers.

2) Keep the port wall clean. There is a large drum for all your rubbish.

3) Be careful around children and other anglers when casting bait. Nobody likes a hook in the ear or worse.

4) Be considerate of other anglers. Don’t push or throw over your lines.

5) Respect size and bag limits. If you’re not going to eat it or use it as bait, throw it back.

6) The rocks are slippery and dangerous when it comes to catching a fish. I don’t think you want to be in the water with a 200kg raggie!

7) Watch out for the water!! Look at the waves.

8) You are not allowed to drive up to the harbor wall with your car, bakkie or scooter.

The Struisbaai harbor wall will give you endless hours of pure fishing joy, even at times when the fish don’t want to bite. The idea for Overberg Angling was born on that wall one night while he was waiting for some action, and the harbor wall holds many other great memories for me, my family and friends. We hope that you too will soon enjoy this special place for angling in the southern tip of Africa.