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Wilderness Fishing & Solunar Times

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84 /100 ★★★★☆ good

Inside the major bite window; 3 km/h offshore — clean water; falling fast (-2.4 hPa/6h) — front coming.

Why the bite reads good right now
🌙Solunar+14
inside the major bite window
💨Wind+11
3 km/h offshore — clean water
🔻Pressure+10
falling fast (-2.4 hPa/6h) — front coming
🌅Light+10
dawn/dusk edge — prime feeding light
🌘Moon phase-2
neap tides — smallest movement
〰️Swell+1
1.8m — big, fish the sheltered corners
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 neap tides — smallest movement -2
Wind 3 km/h offshore — clean water +11
Swell 1.8m — big, fish the sheltered corners +1
Pressure falling fast (-2.4 hPa/6h) — front coming +10
Light dawn/dusk edge — prime feeding light +10
Water temp 15.2°C 0
Total 84

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 3 km/h offshore is holding the water clean. 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 05:27.
📉 Barometric trigger
101010141018now12h ago+12h
Falling fast — a front is coming, prime feeding trigger, climbing next 6h.
Last 6h -2.4 hPa · next 6h +2.9 hPa · live from Open-Meteo.
Wilderness bite mission card
Save or screenshot, then send it to your crew on WhatsApp.

Moon: Last Quarter (64% lit)

Major bite: 04:27–06:27 · 16:52–18:52

Minor bite: 22:29–23:59 · 10:55–12:25

Strongest near dawn/dusk or a tide change. Nearest tides →

🐟 Best fishing times today

🎣 Reading today’s bite…
00:00 — Quiet (0/100)01:00 — Quiet (0/100)02:00 — Quiet (0/100)03:00 — Quiet (1/100)04:00 — Fair — worth a cast (29/100)05:00 — Good — bite building (54/100)06:00 — Good — low-light window (55/100)07:00 — Quiet (15/100)08:00 — Quiet (0/100)09:00 — Quiet (0/100)10:00 — Quiet (2/100)11:00 — Fair — worth a cast (26/100)12:00 — Fair — worth a cast (25/100)13:00 — Quiet (9/100)14:00 — Quiet (0/100)15:00 — Quiet (0/100)16:00 — Quiet (17/100)17:00 — Good — low-light window (48/100)18:00 — Good — low-light window (61/100)19:00 — Fair — worth a cast (28/100)20:00 — Quiet (2/100)21:00 — Quiet (0/100)22:00 — Quiet (12/100)23:00 — Fair — worth a cast (24/100)HLHnow00:0006:0012:0018:0024:00
prime   good   fair   quiet   dawn/dusk   H/L = tide · tap an hour for detail

🌊 Today's tide

00:0006:0012:0018:0024:00H 07:06L 12:50H 19:23now

⚖️ What you may legally keep here

Species Min size Bag limit Closed season
Blacktail (dassie) 20 cm 5/day none
Cape stumpnose 20 cm 5/day none
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
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 Wilderness 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 Wilderness

SpeciesJFMAMJJASOND
Kob
Garrick

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 Wilderness

The marks our local knowledge describes for this spot — what the structure is, what holds there and how it is fished.

🏞️ Kaaimans — river mouth

💡 Top tip

“Anglers have the long open beach for surf fishing plus the Touw and Kaaimans river mouths and the nearby Swartvlei estuary for sheltered, structure-based angling.”

🏞️ Swartvlei — estuary

⛰️ Gullies

Holds: Kob, Garrick

Fish it: on the pushing tide

Bait / lure: chokka, prawn, sardine

💡 Top tip

“Fish the surf gullies and backline holes with sardine, chokka and prawn, working the incoming tide and the low-light hours for kob and garrick.”

🌊 Backline

Holds: Kob, Garrick

Fish it: on the pushing tide

Bait / lure: chokka, prawn, sardine

Across the whole spot

Tide: pushing tide

Baits that work here: chokka, 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 06:43 · Sunset 18:14 · Peak UV 1

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 Thu, 03 Sep 2026 06:13 SAST.

Aerial map — Wilderness

Crayonised aerial map of Wilderness
Touw 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 Wilderness — Fishing Local Knowledge

Anglers have the long open beach for surf fishing plus the Touw and Kaaimans river mouths and the nearby Swartvlei estuary for sheltered, structure-based angling.

The surf produces kob, white steenbras, shad, blacktail and garrick, while the estuaries hold spotted grunter, Cape stumpnose and small kob. Fish the surf gullies and backline holes with sardine, chokka and prawn, working the incoming tide and the low-light hours for kob and garrick. Estuary anglers do well on prawn for grunter around the tide changes. Some of these waters fall within protected areas with permit and bag-limit rules, so check current regulations before fishing or keeping fish.

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