TACTICS WHEN FISHING FOR CUTA ON A
                                       FISHING SKI
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To begin with you have to target these fish during the right months of the year which on the KZN coast can be any time between December and August, normally hotting up between March and May with some of the bus fish arriving with the sardine run early June, but these stats all vary from year to year and also from area to area.

There are lots of anglers that use many different techniques to target cuta. It’s pretty simple; you use the method that works for you. If you are new at the game then I’m sure there are many anglers that will gladly give you some guidance, if you are keen to listen.

When heading out to catch your first cuta one can always try using the artificial techniques and trawling varied colored and size lures like Rapalas or Halcas.Rapals that have worked are the new X-Rap SXR14SBM mackerel imitation  and the X- RAP 12S and 14S red eye sardine look. The old metal lipped green and black also mackerel imitation Rapala is another lure that always worked for the old school anglers at Scottburgh when those first big cuta arrived with the sardines. First light is normally the best time to give the Rapala a good pull, but they can be affective throughout the day.

One lure a fisherman must never underestimate is the good old fashion V – Back spoon. Never leave home without it, as you can really do some quick damage to a shoal of cuta with this method, but make sure you use a decent metal mix in order to get the right flash, but make sure the metal is hard enough for the cuta’s teeth to slide, otherwise they tend to bite into the metal and release there grip missing the hooks. It’s also important to have a trap hook hanging halfway down the spoon which often improves your hook up rates.
 
Next on your technique list should be trawling decent dead bait(fresher the better) which can be any thing from a sardine, mackerel, redeye sardine, jap mackerel, shad ,maasbunker,sea pike, bonito,boney,wala wala, wolf herring and others.
The trick with trawling dead baits obviously starts with the right trace, so book to go to one of the Kingfisher clinics where Markham Pollard can give you some insight on the difference between twisting and turning trace wire and using the correct size trebles, swivels and skirt colors. Don’t be shocked to see a significant downgrade in the size of the tackle compared to boat fishing. Remember you do not get to apply as much pressure on a ski as you do on a boat. Once you can put a trace together then you get to decorate it with a huge selection of dusters, rubber skirts, feathers and baits swimmers.Normaly most fisherman will have a variation of colours which are used in different overhead conditions and different water clarity’s, I do prefer my pearls and pinks, otherwise a plain bait without any extra flash.Dont be shy to go without decor as long as the bait is swimming properly.
To get a bait to swim and not spin, firstly make sure your bait is defrosted properly. With wide baits like shad make sure you break the back bone, normaly twice, once midriff and then at the base of the tail, which allows for good tail movement. When inserting hooks make sure your nose hook is dead centre and your trebles are well balanced down each side, which will depend on the amount of trebles you use. Some commercials (no names mentioned) use a single for a nose hook with 2 x no 4 trebles down one side with a 3rd treble between these 2 on the opposite side of the bait. If you are using two rods its always a good idea to have 2 different baits, with 2 different colour skirts or dusters, at different depths. One bait should be fairly close to the surface and the other should be down rigged with an elastic band and a sinker of any weight depending on current and conditions. The weights which are most commonly used are 2 to 4 ounce. If you are battling to get a strike, try vary your trawling speed with some faster intervals and  some slow drifts in between,  once again all depending on the current and wind.

Then there is the live bait technique which to me is the most consistent method of all for cuta. Using live bait, especially shad and mackerel on a slow trawl, drift or better still sitting on anchor is tops, especially if you want to target those big skelem cuta that very seldom eat badly presented baits. The only problem with live bait on a ski is that the lack of space can be a bit awkward; therefore one must make sure you have a decent system in place for keeping live baits alive. Then once you have the bait make sure your traces are up to scratch. If the strikes are slow, then down size on trebles and trace wire, and shorten your leader wire, even go to one treble as a last resort. A lighter fluorocarbon leader can also make a difference. There will be times when you miss pulls or your wire bitten through but at least you are managing to tempt the old crock.

Tight lines.

GREG THOMPSON