The Ultimate Challenge part 4 -Spotted Grunter (Pomadasys Commersonni) - The Bushmans River

The Bushmans River, Eastern Cape, South Africa

-part one can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2009/12/spotted-grunter-pomadasys-commersonni.html

-part two can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/11/understanding-enemy-spotted-grunter.html

-part three can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/ultimate-challenge-part-2-spotted.html

-part four can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/ultimate-challenge-part-4-spotted.html

-part five can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/ultimate-challenge-part-spotted-grunter.html
-part six can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/experimenting-with-silicone.html  
-part seven can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/ultimate-challenge-part-7-spotted.html
-part eight can be read here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/12/ultimate-challenge-final-chapter-i-did.html

The Bushmans River is home to the tagging program thats results are out now.  You can see it here: http://borntoflyfish.blogspot.com/2010/11/understanding-enemy-spotted-grunter.html

So my thinking is that there must be a few fish here.  I fished the Bushmans and the sister river to the east of it.

Day 1:  From the road the sister river looked best.  So I waiting for low tide and headed up stream.  I tied an indicator on with two jams truck and trailer and did drifts for kilometers upstream.  No luck.  At my furthest point I spotted a tiny Leerie (Lichia Amia) terrorizing some baitfish.  I tied on a small clouser and got a few chases.  He was too small to hold on though.  Not one grunter spotted.

Day 2:  Access to the Bushmans is extremely difficult.  I tried from the yacht club but eventually drove upstream to floating restaurant and began to hike the fringes looking for activity.  I spotted a few fish, none tailing, only spooked.  Much more activity here.  No luck drifting or blind casting.