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Wilderness Fishing & Solunar Times
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68 /100 ★★★☆☆ fair
Inside the major bite window; 1.4h off the turn — strongest push; 1.1m — working the gullies nicely.
Why the bite reads fair right now
🌙Solunar+14
inside the major bite window
🌊Tide flow+12
1.4h off the turn — strongest push
〰️Swell+8
1.1m — working the gullies nicely
🔻Pressure-8
rising fast (+4.9 hPa/6h) — post-front
↕️Tide direction+2
pushing in
🌘Moon phase+1
mid-cycle
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 | 1.4h off the turn — strongest push | +12 |
| Tide direction | pushing in | +2 |
| Wind | 5 km/h onshore, light | -1 |
| Swell | 1.1m — working the gullies nicely | +8 |
| Pressure | rising fast (+4.9 hPa/6h) — post-front | -8 |
| Water temp | 15.3°C | 0 |
| Total | 68 | |
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 1.1m swell is working the gullies. The barometer’s climbing hard after a front, which can shut them down. Today’s pick: Garrick on live bait or spinning spoons. Best window today around 21:48.
📉 Barometric trigger
Rising hard after a front — can shut them down, climbing next 6h.
Last 6h +4.9 hPa · next 6h +1.6 hPa · live from Open-Meteo.
Tide: rising, 1.4h from the turn (next high 13:58)
Moon: Waxing Gibbous (88% lit)
Major bite: 20:48–22:48 · 09:13–11:13
Minor bite: 14:50–16:20 · 03:16–04:46
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 |
| 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: 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 Wilderness
| Species | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 06:16 · Sunset 18:27 · Peak UV 5
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 Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:13 SAST.
Aerial map — 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.