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Herolds Bay Fishing & Solunar Times
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90 /100 ★★★★★ prime
Inside the major bite window; 1.6h off the turn — strongest push; falling fast (-2.9 hPa/6h) — front coming.
Why the bite reads prime right now
🌙Solunar+14
inside the major bite window
🌊Tide flow+12
1.6h off the turn — strongest push
🔻Pressure+10
falling fast (-2.9 hPa/6h) — front coming
〰️Swell+8
1.5m — working the gullies nicely
🌘Moon phase+4
building toward springs
🌅Light-4
bright midday sun — fish sitting deep
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 | building toward springs | +4 |
| Tide flow | 1.6h off the turn — strongest push | +12 |
| Tide direction | pushing in | +2 |
| Tide range | 1.6m — big spring movement | +2 |
| Wind | 11 km/h onshore, light | -1 |
| Swell | 1.5m — working the gullies nicely | +8 |
| Pressure | falling fast (-2.9 hPa/6h) — front coming | +10 |
| Light | bright midday sun — fish sitting deep | -4 |
| Water temp | 17.3°C — in the productive band | +3 |
| Total | 90 | |
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
It’s on. A strong pushing tide is moving food around. A 1.5m swell is working the gullies. A falling glass ahead of a change is a classic trigger. Today’s pick: Garrick on live bait or spinning spoons. Best window today around 14:16.
📉 Barometric trigger
Falling fast — a front is coming, prime feeding trigger.
Last 6h -2.9 hPa · next 6h -0.1 hPa · live from Open-Meteo.
Tide: rising, 1.6h from the turn (next high 16:52)
Moon: Waxing Crescent (5% lit)
Major bite: 13:16–15:16 · 01:41–03:41
Minor bite: 07:18–08:48 · 19:44–21:14
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
CLOSED SEASON RIGHT NOW — Shad / Elf (01 Oct - 30 Nov). You may not catch or be in possession of these.
| Species | Min size | Bag limit | Closed season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black musselcracker / poenskop | 50 cm | 1/day | none |
| Blacktail (dassie) | 20 cm | 5/day | none |
| Galjoen | 35 cm | 2/day | 15 Oct - last day of February |
| Garrick / Leervis | 70 cm | 2/day | none |
| Hottentot | 22 cm | 10/day | none |
| Kob / Kabeljou (dusky kob) — shore & estuary, east of Cape Agulhas | 60 cm | 1/day | none |
| Shad / Elf | 30 cm | 4/day | CLOSED NOW · 01 Oct - 30 Nov |
| White musselcracker (brusher, cracker) | 60 cm | 2/day | none |
| White steenbras (pignose grunter) | 60 cm | 1/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 Herolds Bay now (October)
In season: Garrick, Blacktail, Hottentot
Garrick
Blacktail
Hottentot
Shad
release only
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
Protected now (release only): Shad
📅 When each fish runs at Herolds Bay
| Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shad | × | × | ||||||||||
| Kob | ||||||||||||
| Garrick | ||||||||||||
| Galjoen | × | |||||||||||
| Blacktail | ||||||||||||
| Hottentot | ||||||||||||
| White Steenbras | ||||||||||||
| Musselcracker |
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 Herolds Bay
The marks our local knowledge describes for this spot — what the structure is, what holds there and how it is fished.
⛰️ Gullies
Holds: Shad, Kob, Garrick, Galjoen, Blacktail, Hottentot, White Steenbras, Musselcracker
Bait / lure: mussel, shad
💡 Top tip
“Typical catches along this coast are blacktail, hottentot, galjoen, shad and musselcracker from the rocks, with kob and white steenbras from the surf gullies and garrick following the baitfish in summer.”
Across the whole spot
Tide: pushing tide
Best light: dusk
Season: summer
Baits that work here: chokka, mussel, 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 05:49 · Sunset 18:43 · Peak UV 4
Surfers & anglers get the highest UV dose of anyone. Recommended: SPF 30+, reapply every 2 hours and after every session.
Shop SPF 30+ sunscreen →Surf/wave: Open-Meteo Marine. Sun/UV/pressure: Open-Meteo. Tides: Stormglass model. Solunar is an approximate guide. Generated Tue, 13 Oct 2026 15:13 SAST.
Aerial map — Herolds Bay
Rocky ledges
The cove
Rock ledgeCasting 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.
🎣 Cast Coach: the dashed arc suggests a cast from the beat toward the nearest deep water / structure — adjust for the tide on the day.
About Herolds Bay — Fishing Local Knowledge
The reefs and rocky points that book-end the little beach give anglers plenty of ledges to fish, with the sandy centre offering a surf option when conditions allow.
Typical catches along this coast are blacktail, hottentot, galjoen, shad and musselcracker from the rocks, with kob and white steenbras from the surf gullies and garrick following the baitfish in summer. Redbait, chokka, prawn and sardine are dependable baits, worked on the incoming tide and into the evening for kob. Mind the rip currents when wading, keep an eye on the swell washing the ledges, and check current bag limits and the galjoen closed season before keeping fish.