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Mossel Bay | Garden Route

Sea Fishing Trips & Tips – All About Kob

Mossel Bay’s Kob aka Kabeljou

A stunning silver kob caught by on of our clients on one of our deep sea fishing trips in May. It was his dream catch.
A stunning kob caught by on of our clients on one of our deep sea fishing trips in May

We’ve caught a few surprise silver kob (known locally as kabeljou) on our deep sea fishing trips this winter, so we wanted to share some interesting facts about the species.

Dusky or Silver kob?

First off, one of the easiest ways to tell whether or not you’ve caught a silver or dusky kob is to give it a sniff. Duskies are pretty pungent! Silver kob also have a more elongated caudal peduncle (the bit before the tail fin).

A silver kob or kabaljou caught in June by a local client on a Salt Life Fishing Deep Sea Fishing trip.
A silver kob, identified by its elongated caudal peduncle

Where do you find kob on sea fishing trip?

The juveniles prefer to shelter in very shallow coastal recesses, whereas adults spend most of their time on reefs 20-120m deep. In winter, although we don’t target them, they are around offshore, so we have hooked a couple while fishing the deeper reefs.

Are they good fish to target?

They are certainly a dream catch for many anglers, reaching a whopping 145cm and almost 37kgs! And they love to give us a good workout, so prepare for tired arms when you catch the larger ones.

A beautiful juvenile silver kob caught by one of our sea fishing trip clients from the USA while Mossel Bay fishing
A beautiful silver juvenile kob caught by one of our sea fishing trip clients from the USA

Read more about Silver Kob on Oceanographic Research Institute’s Fish Fact Sheets, through the SAAMBR (South African Marine Biological Research) website.

Want to try your hand at catching a kob?

You can read more about the best time to catch kob on a sea fishing trip in our Why We Love Deep Sea Fishing in Mossel Bay blog. You can reach out to us if you’d like to book a trip or a private charter.

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