Shore Angling Tips

Catching a Musselcracker

The Musselcracker is probably the fish with the most names varying from musselcrusher, biskop, black biskop,stompkop, blouer, bank blouer, witbek, steenbras, stembras, black steenbras, Saqomolo and a myriad of other suchnames. The Musselcracker is a stocky fish with a heavy head and powerful jaws lined with rows of crushing teeth.There are two types of Musselcracker, being the White, and the Black, with the Black being the larger and bettertasting of the two species.

The method for catching both species are very similar. Musselcracker are found along most of our Eastern coastlinefrom False Bay up to Mozambique. The one consistent rule with the Musselcracker is that they love clean, clearwater, even if it is turbulent. White foamy water is always a good target area. They hate silty, sand water. If there isa ground swell that is churning the sand up in to a “mud bath”, don’t waste your time.

Although found in the shallow surf areas, Musselcracker are also found in deep water and in rocky gullies. They canbe caught throughout the year along much of the coast. Along the Cape coasts they are caught mostly in summerand in Transkei and Natal they are generally caught in spring. When fishing a new area check with the local tackleshops to find out firstly if they are there and secondly where to look for them.
The best times to catch Musselcracker are in the early mornings and late afternoons, like most other fish. If thewater is deep, tides do not appear to be important.
The Musselcracker is very temperature sensitive, and big drops can put the Musselcracker off the bite quickly. Theywill head for warmer water as soon as temperatures drop.

Tackle

The Rod should be 12 feet plus, with plenty of backbone. You are going to be in for a lengthy fight so a rod that islight, long and strong is going to be your best bet. Graphite rods are able to handle these fish, and will be morecomfortable for you.

The Reel has to have a big line capacity, and suit you and your rod. The Multiplier types are good and probably themost preferred but it depends on you and what you are comfortable with. At the end of the day that’s what counts.It is not casting distance that you need (50 meters or so is ample) but line on the spool for the runs.

Line, and plenty of it, should be 14kg plus , even up to 25kg or more if the BIG ones are around. Remember it has tosuit your rod and reel. In as much as you could be taken on to the rocks I would suggest you go for a high abrasivetype line.

The Trace

In as much as the Musselcracker is a big and strong fish you are going to need some hard working gear. There isbasically one trace that is used, being a 3 way swivel on your main line, one leg (the shorter) of which goes to yoursinker, on a piece of ± 8 kg line. The second leg must by made up of much stronger line, 12 kg plus, depending onthe size of Musselcracker normally found in your area. At the end of this line you tie your hook (number 6/0 to 8/0size – 3/0 if smaller fish are around). This hook needs to be sharp, strong and durable, and must be able to stand upto a long hard fight. The thin wire type is no good for these fish with their hard strong teeth and jaws. Although the“molar type” teeth are not sharp like that of a shark or shad, they can ‘rasp’ their way through your line, causingmany people to use a wire trace to firstly protect the line from the “teeth” , and secondly from the sharp rocks thatthe Musselcracker darts for once they are hooked.

The use of sinker type depends on the conditions, and the lighter line (detailed above) is particularly used whenfishing a rocky area. If you get tangled up when you have a fish on the line you stand a better chance of still landingyour fish using this method. I suggest you use a pyramid type for sandy bottom, and spoon type for rocky areas, orif rocks are nearby.

Bait

The Musselcracker is extremely partial to baits such as Chokka, Perlemoen, Crab, Mussels (obviously), Redbait,Prawn, Cray-tail etc. They also take fish baits, with live bait being more preferred over dead bait. The hook isthreaded through the bait and tied on with fine cotton.

Other 'Baits'

Although not commonly used Musselcracker have been known to take artificial baits (Rapala etc), and obviously givea good account of themselves. I have not see or heard of Musselcracker taking spoons, but I can see no reason whythey shouldn’t. Just remember to have strong hooks and a strong leader.

The Bite

The bite is normally (although not always) a long hard pull on your line (they sometimes mess around with the bait before running off with it), …leave it … don’t strike yet …let the fish swim off with your bait, so as tomake sure it has taken it properly, taking a few meters of line with it ( orplenty of line if it’s one of the Big ones), and then STRIKE! This is the trickybit, not too hard or you’ll get broken off, but then it has to be hard enoughto set the hook in that hard bony jaw. A hard strike is usually unnecessaryas the fish will make a sudden dash as soon as it feels resistance on theline and will thus hook itself.

The fight is great, with long hard runs back and forth. Remember you haveto get them through the surf, so take your time and play them out. Youmay get the fish close a number of times, only to have all that line takenagain. Just be patient, it could be that 30 kg fish you’ve been hearingabout. Remember to use the breakers to your advantage and, if fishing from or near rocks, to have a gaff handy.

Bag Limits

The restrictions to what and how many you can catch may vary from area to area, for example the “poenskop” - (Black Musselcracker) as it is called in Natal has a limit of 2 per day of no less than 50 cm in length, and is on theNatal Parks Boards “Critical list”, while the White Musselcracker is classed as a “recreational” fish has a limit of 5 perday and a length limit of 60 cm. I suggest you check with the Authorities in the area you are fishing and make sureyou abide by the rules. Please don’t forget that in different areas different bait collecting rules (and licenses doapply), make sure you know your rules, you don’t want to get caught out by not knowing the rules and getting a fine(or worse – having your tackle confiscated).

By Richard Wood