ISO 24444 / ISO 24443 EU COLIPA and SANS 1557 Verified Broadspectrum Sunscreens
Cintsa Fishing & Solunar Times
← All fishing spots · Cintsa surf report →
80 /100 ★★★★☆ good
Falling fast (-5.8 hPa/6h) — front coming; dawn/dusk edge — prime feeding light; 1.6m — working the gullies nicely.
Why the bite reads good right now
🔻Pressure+10
falling fast (-5.8 hPa/6h) — front coming
🌅Light+10
dawn/dusk edge — prime feeding light
〰️Swell+8
1.6m — working the gullies nicely
🌙Solunar+7
major window within the hour
💨Wind+4
19 km/h cross-shore
🌡️Water temp+3
18.8°C — in the productive band
Bars are the live points each factor added to (green) or took off (red) today’s score. Full breakdown below.
Show how this score is worked out
| Baseline | an average day on an average tide | +40 |
| Solunar | major window within the hour | +7 |
| Moon phase | neap tides — smallest movement | -2 |
| Wind | 19 km/h cross-shore | +4 |
| Swell | 1.6m — working the gullies nicely | +8 |
| Pressure | falling fast (-5.8 hPa/6h) — front coming | +10 |
| Light | dawn/dusk edge — prime feeding light | +10 |
| Water temp | 18.8°C — in the productive band | +3 |
| Total | 80 | |
Every factor above is live data for this spot. Solunar and the weightings are an informed guide, not a guarantee — the sea gets a vote.
📖 Today’s story
Worth the trip. The dawn light change is right here — the prime feeding window. A 1.6m swell is working the gullies. A falling glass ahead of a change is a classic trigger. Today’s pick: Kob on live bait, chokka or fresh sardine. Best window today around 05:05.
📉 Barometric trigger
Falling fast — a front is coming, prime feeding trigger.
Last 6h -5.8 hPa · next 6h +0.2 hPa · live from Open-Meteo.
Moon: Last Quarter (64% lit)
Major bite: 04:05–06:05 · 16:30–18:30
Minor bite: 22:07–23:37 · 10:33–12:03
Strongest near dawn/dusk or a tide change. Nearest tides →
🐟 Best fishing times today
🎣 Reading today’s bite…
■ prime ■ good ■ fair ■ quiet ■ dawn/dusk H/L = tide · tap an hour for detail
🌊 Today's tide
⚖️ What you may legally keep here
| Species | Min size | Bag limit | Closed season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacktail (dassie) | 20 cm | 5/day | none |
| Bronze bream (bluefish) | 30 cm | 2/day | none |
| Galjoen | 35 cm | 2/day | 15 Oct - last day of February |
| Garrick / Leervis | 70 cm | 2/day | none |
| Kob / Kabeljou (dusky kob) — shore & estuary, east of Cape Agulhas | 60 cm | 1/day | none |
| Shad / Elf | 30 cm | 4/day | 01 Oct - 30 Nov |
| Spotted grunter (tiger) | 40 cm | 5/day | none |
A recreational fishing permit is required (available at the Post Office). Over and above the per-species limits above, Reg. 22(7)(f) prohibits keeping more than ten fish in total per day irrespective of species (except species with no bag limit, or a bag limit above ten). Sizes are measured snout to tail tip.
Source: Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998 — Regulations (GN R1111), Annexure 7 (Regulation 22). Limits shown only for species named in this spot's notes; where a common name covers more than one species (stumpnose, musselcracker) every applicable limit is listed. Regulations change — verify with DFFE before keeping any fish.
🐟 What’s biting at Cintsa now (September)
In season: Kob, Garrick
Kob
Garrick
Today’s pick: Kob — Falling pressure + the low-light window favour kob. Try live bait, chokka or fresh sardine.
🎣 Target now — tap a species
📅 When each fish runs at Cintsa
| Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kob | ||||||||||||
| Garrick | ||||||||||||
| Grunter |
peak run off-season closed (protected) • ring = this month. General SA run seasons.
Run seasons are a general SA guide; the sea gets a vote. Always check current bag & size limits.
🎣 Where to fish Cintsa
The marks our local knowledge describes for this spot — what the structure is, what holds there and how it is fished.
🏞️ River mouth
Fish it: on the pushing tide
💡 Top tip
“It is a relaxed, largely uncrowded spot to fish, with the river mouth and its banks especially popular on a rising tide.”
⛰️ Gullies
Holds: Kob, Garrick, Grunter
Fish it: at dawn
Bait / lure: live bait, prawn, sardine
💡 Top tip
“Grunter take prawn and mud-prawn worked over the sand banks, kob prefer live bait or fresh sardine fished into the gullies and deeper channel at dawn and dusk, and garrick (leervis) may follow baitfish along the backline in the warmer months.”
🌊 Backline
Holds: Kob, Garrick, Grunter
Fish it: at dawn
Bait / lure: live bait, prawn, sardine
🌊 Channel
Holds: Kob, Garrick, Grunter
Fish it: at dawn
Bait / lure: live bait, prawn, sardine
Across the whole spot
Tide: pushing tide
Best light: dawn, dusk
Baits that work here: live bait, prawn, sardine, shad
Marks are drawn from our own local knowledge for this spot — each one shows the sentence it came from. They are descriptions, not survey positions: we do not publish a cast coordinate we cannot stand behind. Rock and ledge angling is dangerous in big swell — check the conditions above and never fish a ledge alone.
☀️ Sun & skin — out on the water all day
Sunrise 06:21 · Sunset 17:52 · Peak UV 6
Surfers & anglers get the highest UV dose of anyone. Recommended: SPF 50, reapply every 2 hours and after every session.
Shop SPF 50 sunscreen →Surf/wave: Open-Meteo Marine. Sun/UV/pressure: Open-Meteo. Tides: Stormglass model. Solunar is an approximate guide. Generated Thu, 03 Sep 2026 06:13 SAST.
Aerial map — Cintsa
River mouth
Beach
Casting spot
Hand-styled from NGI 0.25 m national aerial. Markers show productive marks & casting spots — indicative local knowledge, not live conditions or navigation advice; tides, banks, rips & hazards change, so use your own eyes on the day.
About Cintsa — Fishing Local Knowledge
Cintsa offers a genuine mix of surf, rock and estuary fishing in one small area, with the beaches, the rocky points and the tidal lagoon all productive. It is a relaxed, largely uncrowded spot to fish, with the river mouth and its banks especially popular on a rising tide.
Surf and rock anglers target kob (kabeljou), shad (elf), bronze bream, blacktail and seasonal galjoen, while the estuary holds spotted grunter and smaller kob. Grunter take prawn and mud-prawn worked over the sand banks, kob prefer live bait or fresh sardine fished into the gullies and deeper channel at dawn and dusk, and garrick (leervis) may follow baitfish along the backline in the warmer months. Kei Mouth and Morgan Bay lie a short way up the coast for more surf and rock options. Check current bag and size limits, and remember galjoen is protected.