Hi all,

I am off to South Africa in November and have a house boat booked for 4 days in the Knysna Lagoon, found out last night my 9# salt water fly rod fits my case so I am taking it no matter what the powers that be say!

Anyone on here fished there? If so what flies would you recommend for the brackish water in the lagoon and what species of fish might I expect to catch?

Cheers

Bod

Hi Bob,

You can expect lots of grunter, some steenbras, kob and garrick in the knysna lagoon. there are of course plenty other species also, but in terms of fly-fishing these would probably be your main target.

There's a fairly deep channel that runs from the "heads" (where the lagoon meets the sea) throught the length of the lagoon to where it meets the knysna river (at an area called "witbrug". as you come into knysna you'll cross a bridge, that's it).

The main areas i would concentrate on would be at the train bridge that crosses the lagoon (you can't miss it), if you walk along the bridge you will get to a section almost in the middle of the lagoon where there's a very big mud flat. This flat lies almost completely exposed during low tide, which gives you the oppurtunity to wade and cast to the edge of the channel for kob, garrick, shad and skipjack. Flies to use would be dahlberg divers and poppers for garrick, skipjack and shad, as well as tarpon style flies for kob, fished slow close to the bottom.
Be warned, the garrick in this area are HUGE, so don't go out with a light rod, you will get smashed!

You can also try crazy charlies and other prawn imitations fished close to the bottom for grunter and steenbras. If you are lucky you might find schools of grunter feeding onto the deeper parts of the flats, they can often be seen tailing. These fish are very difficult to catch, but not impossible. Try fairly bouyant prawn imitations that can be fished just below the surface and cast ahead of the fish so your fly reaches them on a dead drift with the current...careful stalking and super accurate casting is the order of the day, these fish spook easily!

Please be very careful when wading though, the channel is very deep and the currents are very strong, so please take care and watch the tide closely, if you don't watch out you can get trapped in some very deep water!

Secondly you can try Leisure Isle, this area is much safer for wading as you'll be on a sandy bottom and the water gets deeper very gradually. You can wade almost all the way to the heads and it's quite safe. I'd follow the same tactics as above, mostly trying for steenbras and grunter, especially the areas close to the channel.

Wouldn't mind joining you!!!!

Tight lines!
Johan

Hi Johan,

Well what can I say but WOW! Thank you for all that information, will look up the flies in my salt water fly tying book and get the vice out, I am getting excited about it now! Whish we had booked for 8 days now!

You must know the area, our next stop is Jeffries bay, again staying for 4 days on a beach bungalow, do you know of any boats thats do deep sea fishing from there and supply the fishing gear, can manage one day out when my wife goes to visit the elephant sanctuary.

Again thank you for that fab info.

Cheers,

Bod

Not sure about deep sea charters at J-bay (worth while googling jbay charters as there is some good game fishing out there), but again some nice fly fishing in nearby Kromme river at St Francis bay area!

Best surfing round at supertubes J-bay!!!!

Thanks for the info and will check out the river when I am there.

Dont fancy getting caught up in the washing machine surfing there!

Cheers,

Bod

I was going to reply but Babilon has covered everything I was going to suggest and some more!
I'd recommend you get on the poppers for the garrick as Babilon suggests, unbelievable!

Bw

Hi all,

Thank you for the information, just one last question will I need to use wire traces on my leader? Want to make sure I am fully prepaired before I leave the UK.

Tight lines,

Bod.

Hi there,

No, when fishing for garrick, skipjack, kob and shad a 40lb mono bite tippet will be fine. (shad/bluefish have sharp teeth so mind your fingers as I have been bitten a few times and going for tetanus jabs after a days fishing sucks,
plus it takes at least half an hour or so to stop the blood and that is valuable fishing time when you hit a shoal)

For targetting the grunter and steenbras on the mud flats a 12 lb tippet will be fine with crazy charlies (brown) and prawn patterns.

Good luck!

If you have long-shanked hook then you not as likely to get bitten off by the shad.

Defo watch out for teh teeth and they will lock their jaws when they bite.


Only once bitten and many, many times shy



Fantastic eating though



Ben

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Really? I don't remember them being regarded as a great eating fish downunder. The flesh is brown rather than white, and they were always "bled" to improve flavour (slit throat and drain all blood).
Cheers