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East London Fishing & Solunar Times
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80 /100 ★★★★☆ good
Inside the major bite window; 1.2h off the turn — strongest push; 8 km/h offshore — clean water.
Why the bite reads good right now
🌙Solunar+14
inside the major bite window
🌊Tide flow+12
1.2h off the turn — strongest push
💨Wind+11
8 km/h offshore — clean water
〰️Swell+8
1.3m — working the gullies nicely
🔻Pressure-8
rising fast (+3.2 hPa/6h) — post-front
↕️Tide direction+2
pushing in
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 | inside the major bite window | +14 |
| Moon phase | mid-cycle | +1 |
| Tide flow | 1.2h off the turn — strongest push | +12 |
| Tide direction | pushing in | +2 |
| Wind | 8 km/h offshore — clean water | +11 |
| Swell | 1.3m — working the gullies nicely | +8 |
| Pressure | rising fast (+3.2 hPa/6h) — post-front | -8 |
| Water temp | 15.9°C | 0 |
| 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. A strong pushing tide is moving food around. A 8 km/h offshore is holding the water clean. A 1.3m swell is working the gullies. Today’s pick: Garrick on live bait or spinning spoons. Best window today around 21:26.
📉 Barometric trigger
Rising hard after a front — can shut them down.
Last 6h +3.2 hPa · next 6h -0.6 hPa · live from Open-Meteo.
Tide: rising, 1.2h from the turn (next high 14:18)
Moon: Waxing Gibbous (88% lit)
Major bite: 20:26–22:26 · 08:51–10:51
Minor bite: 14:28–15:58 · 02:54–04:24
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 East London now (September)
In season: Kob, Garrick, Galjoen, Blacktail, Bronze Bream
Kob
Garrick
Galjoen
Blacktail
Bronze Bream
Today’s pick: Garrick — Garrick are running — work spoons or live bait along the backline. Try live bait or spinning spoons.
🎣 Target now — tap a species
📅 When each fish runs at East London
| Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shad | × | × | ||||||||||
| Kob | ||||||||||||
| Garrick | ||||||||||||
| Galjoen | × | |||||||||||
| Blacktail | ||||||||||||
| Bronze Bream |
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 East London
The marks our local knowledge describes for this spot — what the structure is, what holds there and how it is fished.
🐠 Nahoon — reef
💡 Top tip
“The beaches, the harbour breakwaters and the reefs around Nahoon and Gonubie are all fished, while ski-boats head offshore from the port for deeper reefs and gamefish.”
🎣 Nahoon — breakwater
⚓ Nahoon — harbour
🌊 Backline
Holds: Shad, Kob, Garrick, Galjoen, Blacktail, Bronze Bream
Bait / lure: shad
💡 Top tip
“Off the surf and rocks, expect kob (kabeljou), shad (elf), bronze bream, blacktail and seasonal galjoen, with garrick (leervis) hunting the backline in cooler months.”
🪨 Rocks
Holds: Shad, Kob, Garrick, Galjoen, Blacktail, Bronze Bream
Bait / lure: shad
⛰️ Gullies
Holds: Kob, Bronze Bream
Fish it: at dawn
Bait / lure: chokka, crab, live bait, sardine
💡 Top tip
“Kob take live bait, chokka and fresh sardine fished into the gullies at dawn, dusk and the tide change, while bronze bream favour redbait and crab off the ledges.”
Across the whole spot
Best light: dawn, dusk
Baits that work here: chokka, crab, 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 05:55 · Sunset 18:06 · Peak UV 7
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 Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:13 SAST.
Aerial map — East London
Harbour wall
Buffalo River mouth
Orient 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 East London — Fishing Local Knowledge
East London and the Buffalo River give anglers surf, rock, pier, estuary and offshore options. The beaches, the harbour breakwaters and the reefs around Nahoon and Gonubie are all fished, while ski-boats head offshore from the port for deeper reefs and gamefish.
Off the surf and rocks, expect kob (kabeljou), shad (elf), bronze bream, blacktail and seasonal galjoen, with garrick (leervis) hunting the backline in cooler months. Kob take live bait, chokka and fresh sardine fished into the gullies at dawn, dusk and the tide change, while bronze bream favour redbait and crab off the ledges. Estuary and river-mouth spots hold spotted grunter on prawn baits. Offshore boats add reef fish and gamefish through the warmer season. Galjoen is protected with a closed season, so always check current regulations, bag and size limits before keeping fish.