Trophy Tails

15/10/2025

Hi Artlure Anglers,

After shop duties on Saturday were completed, I made the daily 150km round trip from Port Elizabeth back home to the banks of the Gamtoos River. I had picked up my new Lowrance fish finder and was eagerly keen to start the process of fitting it to my boat. This is never an quick job, but after a few hours of slog I managed to complete the fittings, transom transducer and wiring harness before I finally ran out of daylight! With only the final connection and testing to complete I decided to call it a night with the full intention of an early start on Sunday to complete the installation and get onto the water as early as possible!

With the alarm set for 5am I was out of bed with the sparrows, after a quick cup of coffee I managed to finish the connections and had the fish finder functioning. By 06h30 I was at the slipway and after a quick 30min cruise I was already at the top of my drift in the "Gamtoos Nursery". I was able, for the first time, to accuratley measure the max speed of my 5hp 4-stroke after the additions. With all the additions I have added another 10kg to the overall weight of the boat, but I was more than happy to see the GPS clocking my travelling speed at between 20-25 km p/h!

I got to the area in perfect timing as the tide had just turned and with an opposing wind the drift was a little disappointing at first, but def improved as the dropping tide gained momentum. It only took two casts using a SureStrike Bone White Topwater to hook into my first juvenile Garrick. There was plenty of baitfish pushed up against the reeds on both banks and I had seen a good few Garrick chases while venturing up to the spot. Switching over to a Trophy Tails Golden Bucktail I foul hooked another Garrick. Things were looking promising! I found a fallen tree along the drift and on my first cast, almost immediatley, picked up a small Dusky Kob. The second cast over the same structure picked up another Garrick which was promptly chased down, and right next to the boat it was taken by a Dusky Kob...what a morning this was shaping out to be!

A little while later, still rocking the bucktail, I picked up another fish right at the boat! This turned out to be the catch of the day when I netted and lovely Dusky Kob that was just under legal size and would have measured 50 -55cm. Stoked with the mornings fishing and the boats performance I headed back home where I had some DIY duties to attend to. The weather turned with some strong winds persisting well into the later afternoon. I made a call for a quick afternoon session down to the mouth and lagoon area in search of a topwater Spotted Grunter. The windy conditions made this attempt all but impossible and I opted to drift the incoming tide in search of another Dusky Kob...sadly there were no takers!

I managed two stunning Dusky Kob and four Garrick for the day. All were Juvenile fish that were handled safely and quickly and returned to grow and fight another day! There is no doubt whatsoever that our once abundant fish stocks are under threat from overfishing and negative environmental impacts. As you improve in your success and your catch rate improves...give a little back as credit for the next BIG ONE! Limit your catch, don't catch your limit...catch n release! :-)

If you enjoy my content and have any questions, comment or suggestions to add...I would greatly appreciate your input. Also, a SUBSCRIBE would be greatly appreciated!! :-)

Tight Lines
Brett Harris
[email protected]
+27(0)834125316

Hi Artlure Anglers,After shop duties on Saturday were completed, I made the daily 150km round trip from Port Elizabeth back home to the banks of the Gamtoos ...

12/10/2025

Well my little boat project is now 80% complete and if I must say so myself...she is looking sweet!

Finished installing my fish finder this morning at 6am and then ventured up river to the 'Nursey' where I speculated on an early season Skippy.

Sadly the Skippies were not around, but I managed to bang a handful of young Garrick and Kob before a decent chappie fell for a Trophy Tails Bucktail.

Tuff times on Gamtoos!

07/10/2025

Double-up Dusky Kob - Mermaid Tail Soft Plastics Fishing Gamtoos River With Gale West Wind!

Here we go...Got my little boat back with it's few changes and spray job. I spent Sat afternoon and Sunday morning setting it up for a late afternoon session...

06/10/2025

Here we go...
Got my little boat back with it's few changes and spray job. I spent Sat afternoon and Sunday morning setting it up for a late afternoon session! :-)

The Gam1000 had just ended and there were quite a few nice catches during the competition with at least 10 Dusky Kob over 1m, a few 1.3m and even a 1.5m caught!! :-)

The wind was still howling West, making it almost impossible to fish in open water. With this I moved up to the Kraansies area and tucked right up close to the rock ledges which got me completely out of the gale! :-)

The plan was to fish my three favorite spots, Fig Tree, Gearbox and the Bay of Plenty! Anchored on the drop off I decided to put long casts parallel to the bank! :-)

It did not take to many casts before my pink Mermaid Tail did the business with a good sized Dusky Kob. Safely released I then caught quite a few tackle busting 'Rock Fish' before teasing another nice sized Dusky Kob onto a solid hookup on a Chart/Pink Mermaid Tail! :-)

I tried to follow the tide up the Old Buss and planned to fishnthat area on the drop tide. But with a strong tide and wind the 'road' was very bumpy and by the time I passed Kingsway I was already sopping wet from the boat spray and decided to call it a day!

23/09/2025

Dusky Kobbie stolen while trolling!

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22/09/2025

3 x Epic Dusky Kob Battles - Screaming Reels & Bent rods - Gamtoos River, Eastern Cape, South Africa

So I have had some upgrades and repairs being carried out to both my boats...leaving me high n dry! Throw in some gale East and West winds and my options for...

03/09/2025

It was Monday the 1st September and officially..."Spring Day"! Mondays being my day off from Trophy Tackle Den, I had full intentions of spending the morning on the water! Having looked at the weather forecast the night before, I knew that there was a stiff Easternly wind predicted to kick off around 10 am. Setting off at sunrise, I quickly got the boat and tackle sorted and headed off to our local slipway. Conditions were perfect with the water flat like a plain of glass!

I had some new Mad Catch 3 inch Jerk Minnows / Shad to test and could not wait to get started. The first stop was at the "Kraansies," where I was eager to see if a little Dusky Kob would pounce on this little gem of a soft plastic. The tide was on the last of an outgoing Neap Tide, and I slowly drifted down from the Kraansis, all along the "Blue Drums" and on past the "Old Mouth." This drift took well over an hour, and I covered as much ground as I could, but did not raise a single bump. Never mind the Dusky Kob....the Garrick were also clearly MIA!!

I decided to push on and motored down to the river mouth where I decided to drift through "Flathead Corner" in search of a Bartail Flathead. Surely, these fellas would be around, especially on Spring Day! It was my daughters birthday, and while on a call to her, I managed to snag a nice Flathead on a SureStrike Shiver Stick. After much confusion and having to end our call, I forgot to record the catch, but I did manage to get a quick photo before a safe release!

Switching back to the Mad Catch Jerk Shad, I quickly got another Bartail, quite a good size one, but as with all fisherman's stories, I managed to drop the fish right at the boat. On my second drift, I picked up another flathead on the Mad Catch plastic. The tide had turned and I was expecting the catch rate to really increase when the first puffs of wind stated pushing me off my perfect drift lines and making it harder and harder to maintain those perfect casts and retrieves along the 'honeyholes'!

On my third drift, I noticed a large shoal of Spotted Grunter. I opted to continue with the plastic as I have been trying to perfect the art of catching Grunter this way. After about 30 minutes of trying, without any success, I was concerned that the shoal could spook and move away. In defeat, I turned to my favorite top water lure and clipped on my Bone White SureStrike. First cast over the shoal, I got a fish to rise and have three stabs at the lure. I could tell it was a small Grunter and decided to retrieve the lure and make another cast up tide from the shoal. This tactic played off well, and a much larger Grunter came off the bottom and smashed the lure, immediately setting the hooks! Then, took off in true Grunter style!

With all the turmoil of landing the Grunter, the rest of the shoal had spooked and moved off. The wind had now picked up so much that I could no longer drift a good line and would have to resort to anchoring the boat. Knowing that the wind was only going to get stronger, I called it quits and headed home. Although the catches were far and few between and by no means large, it was a great morning on the water doing some great fishing...def getting back into some basics for the coming summer!

Trophy Tails 1/4oz Leadhead
Mad Catch 3" Jerk Minnow
SureStrike 20g Shiver Stick
SureStrike 100F 3D Bone White Top Water
Okuma Ceymar HD 3000
Okuma RAW 7ft 1oz Rod
15lb HMP Braid
Awas 0.45mm Leader
Fishing Buddy Quick CLip

There is no doubt whatsoever our once abundant fish stocks are under threat from overfishing and negative environmental impacts. As you improve in your success and your catch rate improves...give a little back as credit for the next BIG ONE! Limit your catch, don't catch your limit...catch n release! :-)

If you enjoy my content and have any questions, comments, or suggestions to add... I would greatly appreciate your input. Also, a SUBSCRIBE would be greatly appreciated!! :-)

Tight Lines
Brett Harris
[email protected]
+27(0)834125316

It was Monday the 1st September and officially..."Spring Day"! Mondays being my day off from Trophy Tackle Den, I had full intentions of spending the morning...

13/08/2025

Its early August and Winter is starting to lose its grip on the Gamtoos valley, its almost time for the annual Kobtober..aka October Dusky Kob fishing. As the waters start warming up we find fish entering the estuaries and heading up-river in search of warmer waters. The upper reaches of the Gamtooos River are MUCH shallower that the mouth and lagoon areas and fish seem to take full advantage of this and venture up into the most unlikely spots.

There is a long standing belief that these big kob venture into the shallows of the intertidal river zones to breed, however this has long since been proven as incorrect. Although juvenile Dusky Kob are found in estuary systems they use the area mostly as a nursery before venturing out to sea where they will spend the vast majority of their time. The thinking these days is that mature Kob will use the variances between fresh and salt water to rid themselves of parasites and then also taking advantage of the warmer waters to predate on other juvenile fish species!

On this day I spend the morning casting Bucktail jig heads, at 10am my daughter was getting married in the Netherlands. Her actual big day is later in November when they return to South Africa for their 'formal' wedding and celebrations. After watching the proceedings on a live we**am link i was fully charged and ready for a afternoon spent in nature. I made the decision to venture up river as in previous seasons these hunting grounds had provided some memorable catches. I arrived late at the 'Old Buss', greeting two bank anglers fishing off the Wacky Woods Slip, I was greeted with the news that the small Garrick were on the bite.

Picking up a Trophy Tails Bucktail I was only a few casts in when I went tight with my first Garrick! Minutes later I landed a small Dusky Kob and again a few casts later another Garrick. When I was well past the Buss and almost at my turn around point when I decided to make a few more casts before heading up to the crook and starting another drift. Literally on the last cast my rod gave a quick flick, snatched a click...click of drag and I set the hook into what I though was going to be another young Garrick!

Immediately I felt a good amount of weight and though I had foul hooked a larger Garrick. It took off with a slow steady head shaking run and I immediately recognized the tell tale signs of a Dusky Kob on the run. Now with the outgoing tide and a large fish on the rod my little boat (Only 2.8m) it was cutting through the water at a rate of nots, this with line still coming off the reel. I was towed over 200m down river before the Kob seemed to run out of puff and settled into the usual pattern of HUGE headshakes and short powerful runs.

Fishing alone, and with shot nerves of how to go about landing this Kob single handed, the decision was made to push up to the side and land the Kob from the bank. This was a the right thing to do as a fish of this size would only get hurt while trying to haul him over the side of the boat. Then I was also very mindful that I could end up spilling buckets of water into a very small vessel. After some determined effort I managed to 'surf' a stunning 148cm, 35kg (34.78KG) up onto the bank. Keeping him well in the water between his photo shoots this brute kicked off like a steam train leaving a huge dust cloud in it's wake...by far once of my best releases. The entire fight from strike to release was 21min. Another incredible catch on light spinning tackle.

Trophy Tails 1/2oz Bucktail
Okuma Ceymar HD 3000
Okuma RAW 7ft 1oz Rod
15lb HMP Braid
Awas 0.50mm Leader

There is no doubt whatsoever that our once abundant fish stocks are under threat from overfishing and negative environmental impacts. As you improve in your success and your catch rate improves...give a little back as credit for the next BIG ONE! Limit your catch, don't catch your limit...catch n release! :-)

If you enjoy my content and have any questions, comment or suggestions to add...I would greatly appreciate your input. Also, a SUBSCRIBE would be greatly appreciated!! :-)

Tight Lines
Brett Harris
[email protected]
+27(0)834125316

Its early August and Winter is starting to lose its grip on the Gamtoos valley, its almost time for the annual Kobtober..aka October Dusky Kob fishing. As th...

05/08/2025

Morning Artlure Anglers,
Some Trophy Tails 3/4 Tadpole Bucktails into stock at Trophy Tackle Den - Newton Park (Stefs) today!

04/08/2025

Might just go give Swartkops Mouth a visit soon....will put these Trophy Tails to the test? :-)

01/08/2025

Its slap bang winter in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Generally, it's has been a cold winter with cold front after cold front, which amazingly, always hit the worst just in time for the weekends! :-)

My fishing has been much slower than usual, I still believe it's the combination of fewer fish in the estuary along with less hour's fishing. An uneasy doubt keeps creeping into thought that...perhaps conditions have changed so much that I need to devise new tactics and discover new 'Hot Spots' to ply my fishing! The Old adage says, "Hold the line", but as a fisherman confidence is key. Nothing tests your confidence quite like a quiet spell! LoL

A question I get asked allot in conversation is always about lure actions. Now, I believe certain lures catch more fish than fisherman and once you have weeded through all the masses of 'gimmick' lures you will whittle lures down and classify them down to action only. Very loosely this will boil down to the following: Top Water, Flutter/Slow Pitch Jigs, Sinking Stick Baits, Soft Plastics and Bucktail Jigs. Within that broad classification of lures you will find hundreds of variations and then naturally thousands of patterns or colours!

The trick here is to discover a lure that meets the basic quality in build, finish and action that will suite your fishing style and preferences. This, while still being suitable for the species found in your local waters. Buying lures for any passionate angler is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE and we have to avoid the consumer traps which are intentionally placed in our minds eye through social media feeds. The best lures are not always the most expensive brands and the most expensive brands are not always the best actioned lures...never minding the intended actions and results!

A simple way to wade through all the lure clutter is to pick a lure classification and use variations until you find a setup with which you feel comfortable and confident. Confidence in fishing plays a major part in your success. If you are doubting every cast made...well, it's going to become a long old day spent at the water while you hope for some 'luck' to swing the momentum! Once you have selected a good all-round lure type you can experiment with two or three lure variations and colours. The trick is now to zone in onto these lures, fishing them constantly until you have mastered several actions. Once you can consistently and confidently target various species, then it's time to expand your choices moving onto the next lure classification and repeating the learning process!

In this video I have picked up from where I started my journey, using the humble Bucktail Jig as the first line of gaining knowledge. Within the simple Bucktail Jig there are countless options in lead head, material, builds, colours, weights...to consider. Then the ongoing question of colour always crops up and adds confusion! Here, we have not even considered where to cast, depths to fish and action to be applied. If you have access to a swimming pool you can practice visually and perfect a number of lifts, twitches and pokes to make that bucktail jig literally come alive under the water! Best practice now is to apply these live in the theatre, remember or record your experiences as these will be the tools you will recall when trying to 'Think Like a Fish'!

In this tutorial I will take you through the three typical retrieves I have used to produce some stunning catches. Its the retrieves I'm most confident with and seldom doubt the processes I'm going through while the score card still reamains ZERO! If you take the time to gather experience, then these three simple retrieves will produce your catches. Within these three retrieves you also need to consider your speed, cast weight and colour. A good topic for another video! LoL

Fishing was a bit slow on this day, but conditions were perfect for the purpose of the video. I enjoy making these tutorials and hope that they make a slight difference to the success of other anglers. Remember that a confident angler is always a consistent angler, try to do repetitive actions, but don't shy away from doing a few different things in your retrieve here and there. There is no doubt whatsoever that our once abundant fish stocks are under threat from overfishing and negative environmental impacts. As you improve in your success and your catch rate improves...give a little back as credit for the next BIG ONE! Limit your catch, don't catch your limit...catch n release! :-)

If you enjoy my content and have any questions, comment or suggestions to add...I would greatly appreciate your input. Also, a SUBSCRIBE would be greatly appreciated!! :-)

Tight Lines
Brett Harris
[email protected]
083 412 5316

Its slap bang winter in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Generally, it's has been a cold winter with cold front after cold front, which amazingly, always hit ...