South African Fish: Pinky; Olive Grunter (Pomadsys olivaceum)

Information And Pictures On The Olive Grunter

This South African Grunter species is one of the smallest. It has many different names. The Olive Grunter is often called the Olive Grunt, Pinky and occasionally Piggy. The Pinky has a silvery olive-grey coloured body with a spot black spot on the gills. The Olive Grunt can grow up to 30 cm long but you are more likely to catch or see these fish species when they are between 10 and 20 cm.

The Piggy is a very small fish and has no significance to commercial anglers and other saltwater fishermen. It occupies a very important position in the ocean food chain. Many pelagic fish species and Dolphins feed upon the Olive Grunter. Young and juvenile Olive Grunt's occur in massive shoals that are often referred to as a cloud. It is almost impossible to see anything else when one of these schools are in the area. You will often catch Piggies on live bait and light tackle in estuaries, shallow coastal waters, reefs and inshore saline rivers close to the sea. The Pinky is not considered a sport fish although they are fun to catch. I once caught an 8 cm specimen and used it as live bait in an estuary... Shortly after I rigged the Olive Grunt onto my hook and line I 'threw' the line into a patch of water where there was some other fish activity. About 10 seconds after this a Kob came and ripped the fish off my hook. I was so amazed that I witnessed such an event I forgot to strike.

The Piggy is a good bait fish and is used to catch Kob (If only I struck...), Garrick (Leervis) and Shad (Elf). South Africa's record for this Grunter species is around about 300 grams. If you would like to see how I caught this fish please visit my salt water fishing records page...

How To Catch The South African Pinky

The Pinky (Olive Grunter) is a prolific fish and is caught quite easily on light tackle and small hooks. Bait fishing is the best way to catch Pinky, although using beach, seine and throw nets also catch good numbers of them. Dropshot is also another good and challenging fishing method of catching these small fish. I recommend the Camo Worm and any other type of plastic worms or crabs.

All sorts of baits can be used when fishing for the Pinky. The Pinky will take almost any type of fleshy bait but with all my experiences with the Olive Grunter I have found that Chokka (Squid) is the most effective bait! Pink Prawn, Mud Prawn, oceanic worms, Shrimp and small crustaceans also produce good results. But if I were you I would fish for Pinky using only squid bait!

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