Angling Report – 27 December 2013

The weather was almost perfect last week for anglers and those just wanting to spend time on the beach. Fortunately the rain that fell was mostly during the night, cooling the air down in the early mornings. I was on the beach early every morning last week because of the favourable conditions and it was really pleasant, even though the fishing was not all that good. I managed to catch three small shad that just made the size limit plus a small skate of about 4kg.
There were still some decent shad caught at the various angling spots, but the season seems to be nearly at an end now and a clear indication of this is that the undersized fish are beginning to move inshore to feed. At the moment a couple of shad would be caught one morning at first light and then the next morning anglers will find the fishing has gone dead. Holidaymakers looking for some good fishing should try the deep-water spots such as Boulder bay at Ballito and Sheffield during the early mornings.  Live bait could also be put out for the larger fish such as the kingfish or sharks.
During the mid-week period, I saw a lot of snoek activity along the backline, so spinning with a decent spoon could produce some exciting angling. The snoek that I saw were sizeable fish and because the sea was flat that morning, the fish did move into casting range. A word of advice to any angler that manages to hook a snoek is not to force the fish too much because these spotted mackeral have very soft jaws from which the hook can easily get dislodged.  Also be careful when handling the fish as they have razor sharp teeth. The snoek like a fast moving lure and they feed on the surface of the water.
Several small sand sharks were caught last week from the local beaches and I am sure that there must be some larger specimens around. These sandies and skates are harmless creatures so there is an unwritten rule amongst anglers to return these fish unharmed and in the case of the skates, not to turn them onto their backs. When targeting these summer flatfish, you must generally be prepared for a good, long battle, so make sure that the tackle that you are using is not too light.
Local anglers are still catching some very nice blacktail amongst the rocks and these fish really put up a great fight on light tackle. One local angler told me that he has been catching some really nice fish in the Tinley Manor area whilst fishing from the rocks – among which was a shad of 3,5kg.
The surf ski anglers are having some excellent sport at present with the big yellowfin tunny that are around in numbers. Unfortunately due to the off-colour water, other gamefish were scarce at the weekend, although I heard through the grapevine, a couple of barracouta were caught off Umdhloti during the early part of last week. Offshore anglers fishing this area have also managed to land a few decent snoek of up to 10kg and a couple of kingfish up to 12kg have been caught as well. The sea is settling down nicely now and with the warmer water there is every chance of a billfish hookup for those lucky enough to be able to travel out into the deeper water.
I would just like to urge everyone going to the beach this festive season to be extra vigilant in this time. I arrived at Westbrook beach at around 3.45am on Monday morning and found that I was the only person at the carpark. Just a few minutes after arriving, I saw two other vehicles driving slowly into carpark. There was plenty of parking but these people chose to park their vehicles one on either side of me. Three guys climbed out of the one car and two out of the other. They were all inebriated and I could hear that they started to direct their conversation at me. I did not want to get into a confrontation and just started my car and drove away home. I later heard from another angler that a guy was hijacked in the same area early the evening before.
I would like to wish everyone that read this column a very happy Christmas and a safe New Year. Special thanks also all those that helped with fishing news throughout the year. Cheers.
Sealice.