5 South African Fishing Spots to try this Summer

South Africa really does have a world of fishing excellence waiting around every corner. With such an abundance of nature, rivers and mysterious oceans this really is no surprise. No matter what province or city you find yourself in. You are never far from world-class fishing spots, but don’t just take our word for it. Ask the people who are out there year in and year, fishing the best spots in South Africa. If you plan on making a trip out of it, why not get the right car rental for the adventure?

Groenvlei

Jacob Dirsuwei

Family travel blogger – Chasing the Rainbow  Twitter: @therainbowSA Instagram: @therainbowsa http://www.chasingtherainbow.net/ One of my best fishing spots is Groenvlei, between Knysna and Sedgefield on the Garden Route. It is a freshwater lake, full of large-mouth bass. There are lots of small and medium sized fish and quite a few big ones over 2kg. I enjoy targeting the huge ones on fly, which takes a bit of skill. Ideally, you need to fish from a boat. You can take your own or rent one from Lake Pleasant resort. Only electric motors are allowed. The lake itself is beautiful, unpolluted and full of bird species. It’s also in very close proximity to some of the country’s top saltwater fishing locations in Sedgefield and Wilderness if you feel like mixing things up a bit.

A lovely day to cast out on this wonderful piece of fishing paradise in Groenvlei photo by – Jacob Dirsuwei

North Coast KwaZulu-Natal

Ian Lewis

Fishing enthusiast and head of art department at Durban High School The North Coast has always been a favourite fishing destination for me. The mouth of the mighty Tugela has two points to offer – the southern bank, well known for great catches of Pompano, Garrick, and smaller Shad (Elf) – ideal live bait sizes, and the northern bank (adjacent to Tugela River Mouth Lodge – a great fishing venue that has something for the whole family). This area has always been more productive for me than the usual destinations further north like St Lucia and Cape Vidal.

The sardine run can be found in various parts of KZN including the North Coast photo by ; John Lamberti - http://www.sapeople.com/

Durban, North Coast and the Eastern Cape

Glenn Adendorff

Fishing nut and jewellery designer Instagram: Glennadenorffjewellery St Lucia is one of the best spots on the North coast where one can catch a large variety of fish from the annual run of shad, to Grunter, 3 spot pompano, Kingfish, Kob, Garrick and a variety of rays and Sharks. In the other direction on the South Coast, one can fish off the bricks (which is a term pertaining to fishing in between the rocks). One would target Rock Cod, mussel cracker, and Bronze bream in these areas. Some of the prized spots on the South Coast are Margate Pier (some of the locals are rather unfriendly), take it from an oke that got so bullied. Orange Rocks are renowned for fishing live bait, targeting large Garrick and Sharks. Back to Margate Pier, it’s gnarly, high up, and difficult to land big fish. Splash Rock is also a prize place to fish and called Splash rock for a reason. Mazeppa Bay is also a killer spot. Fishing drop shot is also extremely fun on a light tackle if the fish are on the bite. Now into town in Durban CBD say Snake Park, is super dodge, and people fish there for a living and aren’t very friendly, and always bag undersize fish, battery pier is cool. I dig fishing there and always feel accepted. If you want to have a fat jol (party) fish Vetches at night with light tackle,  there are a lot of small ones, black tail, and a variety of bream, also super safe to fish there. Travelling to the Transkei (Eastern Cape) is a mission, but there are busses in those waters, but fishing from cliffs I find is difficult and risky. There are some inland streams that are teeming with large fish, that’s all I can tell you. For some helpful leads, check out the kingfisher blog, or google fishing. Glenn just before a big fish in his hometown of Durban harbour photo supplied.

Cape Vidal

Haydn Evans

Adventurer with Wild Coolers Twitter: @wildcoolers Instagram: wildcoolers http://wildcoolers.com/ Cape Vidal is a great place in which to fish as it always is tranquil and rugged in its own way and is away from the hustle and bustle of everyday city life. I remember this area fondly from the days of when I was younger and its beauty and abundance of fish and wildlife have always kept me coming back, either with family or friends usually just before the holiday rush for the obvious reasons of avoiding crowds to get the most out of the various fishing spots in Cape Vidal. 

Tugela Mouth

Bradley Vause

Musician and fishing enthusiast Twitter: @RoachyRockCoach Instagram: roachyrockcoach https: www.reverbnation.com/roachyandtherockcoaches   This is by far one of the favourite fishing spots in KZN for many reasons and one being its untouched rugged beauty. It’s also less than 100km from Durban making it an easy weekend getaway coupled with various accommodation establishments nearby a certain Zululand charm it really is a hard place to beat when it comes to fishing spots near to my hometown of Durban. Many a great weekend has been spent fishing for a wide variety beautiful Aquarian creatures in an even more beautiful setting. 

The mighty Tugela Mouth photo taken from;English Wikipedia [GFDL (httpwww.gnu.orgcopyleftfdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (httpcreativecommons.orglicensesby-sa3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

All of these are great locations to drop a line and pull out a big one, but first, you have to get there. Check out car hire options and make sure you don’t miss the adventure of a lifetime.