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Knysna Fishing & Solunar Times
60 /100 ★★★☆☆ fair
1.4h off the turn — strongest push; 1.7m — working the gullies nicely; building toward springs.
Why the bite reads fair right now
🌊Tide flow+12
1.4h off the turn — strongest push
〰️Swell+8
1.7m — working the gullies nicely
🌘Moon phase+4
building toward springs
🔻Pressure-4
rising (+0.7 hPa/6h)
🌅Light-4
bright midday sun — fish sitting deep
🌡️Water temp+3
17.6°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 | between bite windows | 0 |
| Moon phase | building toward springs | +4 |
| Tide flow | 1.4h off the turn — strongest push | +12 |
| Tide direction | pushing in | +2 |
| Wind | 9 km/h onshore, light | -1 |
| Swell | 1.7m — working the gullies nicely | +8 |
| Pressure | rising (+0.7 hPa/6h) | -4 |
| Light | bright midday sun — fish sitting deep | -4 |
| Water temp | 17.6°C — in the productive band | +3 |
| Total | 60 | |
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
Fishable, pick your window. A strong pushing tide is moving food around. A 1.7m swell is working the gullies. Today’s pick: Blacktail on redbait, prawn or worm. Best window today around 14:07.
📉 Barometric trigger
Rising — bite easing off, dropping further next 6h.
Last 6h +0.7 hPa · next 6h -1.6 hPa · live from Open-Meteo.
Tide: rising, 1.4h from the turn (next high 17:17)
Moon: Waxing Crescent (5% lit)
Major bite: 13:07–15:07 · 01:32–03:32
Minor bite: 07:09–08:39 · 19:35–21:05
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black musselcracker / poenskop | 50 cm | 1/day | none |
| Blacktail (dassie) | 20 cm | 5/day | none |
| Cape stumpnose | 20 cm | 5/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 |
| Spotted grunter (tiger) | 40 cm | 5/day | none |
| 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 Knysna now (October)
In season: Blacktail
Blacktail
Today’s pick: Blacktail — Blacktail are in season. Try redbait, prawn or worm.
🎣 Target now — tap a species
📅 When each fish runs at Knysna
| Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galjoen | × | |||||||||||
| Blacktail | ||||||||||||
| 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 Knysna
The marks our local knowledge describes for this spot — what the structure is, what holds there and how it is fished.
🪨 Rocks
Holds: Galjoen, Blacktail, Musselcracker
Bait / lure: mussel
💡 Top tip
“Off the rocks at the Heads and Noetzie you can add blacktail, galjoen and musselcracker.”
Across the whole spot
Baits that work here: live bait, mussel, prawn
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 05:47 · Sunset 18:40 · Peak UV 2
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 12:13 SAST.
Aerial map — Knysna
The Heads channel
Eastern Head
Estuary flats
Deep hole / gullyRock 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 Knysna — Fishing Local Knowledge
Knysna is first and foremost a lagoon and estuary fishery, one of the best-known on the Garden Route, with rock-and-surf options out at the Heads, Coney Glen and Noetzie for those after bigger fish.
The lagoon holds spotted grunter, kob (kabeljou), leervis (garrick), white steenbras and Cape stumpnose, best worked with prawn, sand prawn and live bait around the tide changes, with the end of the high into the early ebb a local favourite. Off the rocks at the Heads and Noetzie you can add blacktail, galjoen and musselcracker. Much of the estuary and the adjoining Goukamma MPA is regulated, with bait-collection, catch and no-take zones, so check the current rules, permits and bag limits before fishing.