Fly Fishing

Tartaruga is no more than 10 Km north of the South African saltwater fly fishing mecca, Kosi Bay! And a lot less fished. A vast number of salt water naturals, such as ghost crabs - literally in their thousands, and baby turtles bring King fish (including the Giant king fish -- Ignobilis), Popano, and Queen fish close in to the shore.

An 8/9 weight rod with at least 250 meters of braided backing is needed to give you a fighting chance. All the standard deceivers, and candy - (blue and pink) work exceptionally well. 30 or 40 lb fluorocarbon tippet is better than steel trace. You may loose the odd King fish in a bite-off, however the knock and hook-up rate will be radically improved without steel trace.

Typically the rig should have 30 lb backing, 25 lb fly line / runner, 17 lb break tippet, 25 lb, leader and 30 lb to 40 lb shock tippet.

For the shore based caster, the bays at Ponta Do Ouro, Malongane, Madejanine, and Mimoli are all very productive. Sunrise, regardless of the tide, will show pan shaped fish swimming through the building waves- the sun comes up behind the waves, and therefore the waves almost seem transparent - and full of fish. With the tide coming in, the fish tend to be larger and fussier.

On the open water Yellow fin tuna, King Mackerel (Couta), Pick handle Barracuda, Sailfish, and a host of reef fish including the stunningly beautiful Swallowtail rock cod take just about anything that looks like sprat or baitfish. In and around the reefs within 5 km of Tartaruga, fish in the 7 lb to 20 lb range is common and therefore a rod in the 11/12 class range is required.

Within the last 12 months both an 11 weight (close to shore) and a 12 weight Rod (at Pinnacles reef) were broken by fish heading for deeper waters. Fish in the 50 to 70 lb range do occasionally venture over the reefs and therefore a "break" tippet must always be tied to the leader. Typically the rig should have 400 meters of 50 lb gel spun backing, 40 lb fly line/runner, 25 lb break tippet, 60 lb, 50 lb, 40 lb leader and 80 to 100 lb shock tippet. Again for some reason blue and pink flies seam to do better than the greens or whites.

Nearly any reef offers the boat fly caster an opportunity to see line peel off at 100 km hour (or watch your reel do 20,000 RPM). Behind the back line at Madejanine offers shallow reefs and big fish.

For kids there is great fun to be had casting into a school of Garfish (a 30 cm to 40 cm long, 2 cm cylindrical little rocket assisted missile) with a 6 weight rod. A floating or intermediate line is required with tippet of 6 lb to 8 lb. Almost any small trout fly tied on a #10 or smaller hook is required.

Success with a rainbow trout "sprat", small red woolly bugger, Mrs Simpson, etc have all proved successful.

The bay at Mimoli is rich in Garfish, which can be seen schooling no more than 20 ft from the shore using snorkel gear. If the cast "crashes" this will scatter the school, as they swim no deeper than 10 cm from the surface. The leader should flip into the school very much as one does when casting to rising trout (although Garfish do not rise).

Although not recommended for the purist or experienced, kids want to catch and catch quickly, therefore if they start getting despondent with the lack of hook-ups, pass the fly through a "Sardine" paste. When Garfish hit, there is frenetic activity with jumping, and fast erratic swimming patterns - unfortunately the fight is quick( 30 to 45 seconds), but 20 to 30 takes an hour make this a great introduction to the power of salt.