GARDEN ROUTE LOCKJAW THREESOME

GARDEN ROUTE LOCKJAW THREESOME

Deep in the southern cape’s Garden Route, while fly fishing for tailing spotted grunter, juvenile garrick and daisy-chaining mullet, an unassuming forest estuary held more than it was worth.

Having read countless grunter articles and blogs, studied FOSAF reports and consulted The Mission’s inner circle of fly wizards, I felt ready for my face-off with the fishy residents of the Southern Cape’s Garden Route. Armed with top performing flies, local contacts and map coordinates, I would’ve bet that eight days of fishing would be enough to come right. Wrong was I, and skunked was I, in the face of a grunter maelstrom.

KEURBOOMS LAGOON

In comparison to my local polluted, briny cesspool in Cape Town, the Keurbooms Lagoon is a paradise. A clear water system with healthy beds of eel-grass, structured channels, tidal flats and a strong fish diversity not dissimilar to those estuary ecosystem signboards you see in parking lots. My first morning out featured multiple tailing grunts and schools of big daisy-chaining mullet (striped and/or southern) that I had no trouble spooking.

Flats patrol, buffed up. Photo. Cameron McDermott

A rat sized leervis fooled by Ewan Naude’s Grunter Clouser.

Local fly guy and FOSAF report writer Niel Malan humbly shared his wisdom with me. Which tides to fish, how to spot grunter shadows 40 metres away and many more nuggets of info that he’s honed over hours on Garden Route flats. Niel catches almost exclusively sighted grunter. “Don’t cast if you can’t see the fish” he says.

Stripping a small shrimp imitation, labeled as “Die Spookvlieg”, most of his hookups happen within the last few metres of line. This was a stark contradiction to the techniques I’d been studying, such as when fishing a static Shawn or Iron-Man (both LeRoy Botha inventions). I saw many shadows and flashes during my sessions with Niel – both mullet and grunter shaped but as soon as the sun’s angle shifted away from the vertical, sighting became near impossible.

THE PALUDARIUM

After a few days of non-stop fishing, grunter spooking and sun burning, the guilt was setting in. This wasn’t just my holiday, it was *our* holiday; which sadly can’t just be back-to-back hours on the flats (although I’ll admit at this point I needed a break too). An emersion into the forest would likely be a remedy for my fish-less blues; so equipped with only cameras and lunch, we set off on an immersive forest hike, during which I wasn’t allowed to utter the “f” word.

The ultimate fisherman.

This particular hike crossed a few small estuaries, one of which I decided to investigate further upstream. As the fish eagles and kingfishers looked down from their indigenous perches, the odd school of small mullet would bolt as we came into view. It felt as though we might’ve stumbled upon El Dorado itself; I was expecting to see Helmut Zaderer hooked into a peacock bass or something.

As I turned the corner to the next bend, my eyes caught the flash of what could’ve either been an arapaima (unlikely) or an arapaima-sized carp (also unlikely). From a vantage point, my polaroids quickly revealed the truth. We had stumbled into a Garden Route aquarium.

The aquarium: a shoal of river-locked grunter, kob and a single white steenbras.

MURPHY’S LAW

I lost count after 63 grunter, five dusky kob and one white steenbras. I estimate the largest kob and steenbras to have been +-70cm. “The guys are going to lose their minds!” I whispered to my girlfriend. Murphy’s Law, I’d left my fishing gear in the car. With only a camera on hand I recorded as much as I could for the team to advise me on how to approach this grunter maelstrom.

Long casts with long leaders. Photo. Cameron McDermott.

Apparently sea going fish have been found in small estuaries like this before. The fish seek refuge from uncommon cold sea temperatures and upwelling, and would rather be in a warm river – at least that’s the best explanation for this freak phenomenon.

THE FEATHERS

Conrad Botes, my world’s kob guru, recommended a throw net. According to Jazz Kuschke, when grunter cruise around with their pectoral fins out like this, they’re in something of an auto-pilot stasis mode, and very difficult to entice. Fred Davis reckoned a small white fly (like the Spookvlieg) could be dead-drifted from upstream into the shoal. All sound logic.

Dusky kob taking a warm lagoon bath.
The grunter maelstrom, dotted with kob and a curious white steenbras (right).

The next day we headed back to the forest sanctuary. Prepared with small white flies, thin tippet and a smuggler 8-piece 5 weight, I felt ready. I could instantly see that the curious white steenbras was absent. Cast after cast into the aquarium yielded no results. I was stealthy at first, and had piqued the interest of one smaller kob, but overall I think the grunts recognised me from the day before, and gave a stiff middle fin in reply. Don’t worry grunts, I’ll be back.

6 thoughts on “GARDEN ROUTE LOCKJAW THREESOME”

  1. Amazing and well written article Matt. It was good to meet you and am sure we will have more luck next time (got a grunt today).

    I think I know that spot, but seeing that you have already tried I will let them rest so they can return to the ocean in peace. I am sure they will head straight to the Keurbooms Estuary ๐Ÿคž

    Reply
  2. Note, Alan Whitfield, leading estuaries expert says: “I have had reports of marine fish species such as large dusky kob hovering in the upper reaches of estuaries where salinities are very low. These fish may be shedding external marine parasites, especially parasitic copepods, that may attach to their gill filaments. The parasites may not tolerate these low salinities and die or drop off the fish (which can tolerate these low salinities). However, we have no scientific proof that what I have described is true! Next time, please measure the salinity as well as taking photos.”

    Reply
  3. Yo, Matt. Interesting stuff, hey! We’ve been seeing kob doing this uncatchable nonsense quite a bit lately. One fish I did manage to catch, had a huge copepod on one of its fins. Also, to be fair on the record, I recommend using patterns other than Ironman or Shawn for static grunter fishing. ๐Ÿ˜ My patterns are both meant to be fished actively.

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