Kariega River Mouth- Eastern Cape Fishing Locations
The Home Of The Ragged Tooth Shark: The Kariega River
General Information
The Kariega River Mouth is one of 2 closely situated rivers (The other being the Bushman's) that surround the small coastal town of Kenton-on-sea which is located almost in between Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The Kariega River Mouth is my personal favourite fishing spot, and I have never seen fishing action here like I did in December 2008. A few of us at the website were doing some research and trying to catch some bigger fish on a cool summers night. There were four of us and we were fishing in and around the Kariega River Mouth, we were there for 2 nights. In these 2 nights of fishing we managed (Between us) to catch 1 Sea Barbel (1,1 kilograms), 4 Blue Rays (Biggest 25 kilograms), 9 Lesser Sandsharks (Biggest 6 kilograms) and 8 Ragged Tooth Sharks (Biggest 60 kilograms). All this in 2 nights of fishing, to this day I still can't believe how good the fishing was. So that's the story why the Kariega River Mouth is my favourite South African fishing location! A year later we proceeded to get over 60 Lesser Sandsharks, 6 Ragged Tooth Sharks, 3 Spotted Gully Sharks, 4 Blue Sting Rays and a few White Seacatfish. The biggest Ragged Tooth Shark to come out of the Kariega River Mouth was 170kgs, caught in 2007. There are also a few Poenskop around and if you are lucky you might get one, but if you do please release this beautiful rare fish!
The Kariega River is not only good for non-edibles. There are
some big
White Steenbras that swim in and out of river mouth on a daily
basis and at night the Garrick and
Kob go absolutely crazy! The Kariega River Mouth has some
interesting structure in and around it. There is a big sand bank
right in the middle of the mouth, there are steep drop offs and
there are deep rocky pools. All in all this makes for good fishing.
The lagoon close to the river mouth is a breeding ground for
Mullet and there's always a lot of fish around in this area...
The rocky and muddy banks of the river are also great areas to throw
your lures or baits.
Fish Species Of The Kariega River and River Mouth
Edibles; Galjoen, White Steenbras, Garrick, Kob, Shad, Sea Barbel, Cape Stumpnose, Sand Steenbras, Strepie, Black Musselcracker...
Flatfish; Diamond Ray, Blue Stingray, Lesser Sandshark...
Sharks;
Ragged Tooth Shark, Spinner Shark, Bronze Whaler,
Spotted Gully Shark...
Remember to fish a full night or two between the boat launching area and the Kariega River Mouth, it's worth it!
