Cape Town Winter Fishing: Evening Bites in False Bay and Atlantic Reef Action

This is Artificial Lure with your Cape Town fishing report. A light winter north‑westerly pushed through the Cape this evening with a passing front off to the south, leaving cool, partly cloudy conditions and a moderate chop on the Atlantic side and slightly more shelter on False Bay. Air temps sat in the mid‑teens, dropping off quickly after dark under clear patches. Barometer has been edging up behind the front – not perfect, but fishable and improving. Around the peninsula, sunrise was just after 7:45 this morning and sunset just before 5:45 this evening, giving us a short winter window. The evening push into dark has been the prime bite, especially around the tide changes. Local tide tables from the NSRI and Cape Town harbour show a modest high late afternoon with a decent outgoing into the evening – good movement for surf anglers and the reefs. On the Atlantic side, anglers working the rocks at Mouille Point and Sea Point reported a slow but steady pick of hottentot, small galjoen and a few Roman off the deeper ledges. Best results came on fresh red bait and chokka baits pinned on 2/0 circles, with a bit of float to keep them just off the kelp. A couple of chaps throwing small spoons and 1/2‑oz jigheads with paddletails in the low‑light window picked up the odd snoek and small tail further out off the trawler lanes earlier this week, but that action has been patchy and very weather‑dependent. False Bay has been the more consistent option. From Macassar through to Strandfontein, surf anglers reported decent winter steenbras activity on the deeper banks, with a few fish in the 3–6 kg class landed on bloodworm and cracker baits. There’ve also been plenty of smaller smooth‑hound and the odd bronzie pup keeping rods busy after dark. Anglers soaking sardine and mackerel cocktails at Broken Road and 5 Pipes found some solid kob, mostly schoolies in the 4–8 kg range, with one or two better fish pushing teens coming out over the last few nights. Boat and kayak anglers out of Simon’s Town and Miller’s Point found scattered chokka on the reefs using standard chokka jigs worked slowly near the bottom. A few yellowtail showed at the Point earlier in the week when the water cleaned up and the wind eased, mostly taken on metal spoons and small plugs worked fast on the surface. It hasn’t been a wide‑open tail bite, but if the water temp bumps up a touch and we get a calm spell, it could switch on again. Best lures right now: small to medium spoons in silver and chartreuse for tail and snoek, 4–5 inch white and olive paddletails on 1/2 to 1 oz jigheads for kob along the False Bay reefs, and slow‑jigged knife jigs for deeper reef species if you’re on a boat. For bait, you can’t beat fresh chokka, sardine, and bloodworm, with red bait doing work on the reefs for hottentot and galjoen. A couple of hotspots to focus on over the next day or two: - Strandfontein Pavilion through to 5 Pipes on the evening and early‑morning tides for kob, steenbras and in‑edibles. - The reefs off Miller’s Point and Smitswinkel for chokka, reef fish, and the chance of a passing yellowtail if the water cleans up. Work the tide changes, fish that twilight window hard, and keep an eye on the wind – if the north‑wester backs off, expect the bite to pick up. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for more local fishing intel. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn