Hiya
On the subject of distance casting....... When i was a ardent rock and surf angler, the emphasis was always to TRY and cast your bait out as far as humanely possible. When i started boat fishing here, we always tried to get as CLOSE to the shore as we could!! Often you'd hear complaints, from the shore anglers, that the fish is simply too far out or from the boat anglers, that the fish are too close to the surf zone!!!
When i started spearing, i was limited to the shallow thick kelp beds, due to me being scared to death of bumping into a shark!! We all know that the area i dive in is reknown for GWS, so i was extremely cuatious. How-ever, it was amazing how much fish life was found very close in-shore!! Especially diving in kelp or very rocky area's.
I decided to try some experimenting. When the viz. was too poor for fishing, i'd take a 7' fresh water bass rod (Shimano Crucial) with a Calcutta 400. Using a 1oz ball sinker, i had HUGE fun catching small fish in the gulleys. Getting broken up by larger fish was quite common, but every once in a while i'd manage to land 5/6kg sized fish in the foul area's. My wife used to fish with a 10' carp rod and a fixed spool reel with the same success. How-ever, she demanded equality and i ended up getting her a 7' Shimano Beastmaster Special Tiger and a 200 Calcutta. Immense FUN catching a multitude of species in one session, even though most of them rarely exceeded 1kg's!!
Only problem we now have is this: when the weather is too bad for spearing fish, what do we do? Rock and surf fishing? Light tackle Rock and surf fishing? Light tackle boat fishing? Estuary fishing? Freshwater dam fishing? Freshwater river fishing?.............yes, its DIFFICULT living in CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA!!
Regards
miles
