Angling Report – 29 August 2014

A large swell built up from Thursday and I could hear the surf pounding throughout the weekend. All of the regular anglers I spoke to and confirmed they had not been fishing at all because of the rough seas. The surf was okay at the beginning of the week, but as the low tide was early in the morning, there was not much water and I saw the waves were mixed with sand which is not ideal for fishing.
Word was that anglers were catching some fish in the Chaka’s Rock area. Unfortunately a local fisherman had his car stolen from this parking area last week. Chaka’s Rock is not the only local area where anglers have had problems and places like Salmon Bay in Ballito and even Westbrook beach have seen thieves at work. It is something to be aware of and it is best to avoid fishing alone (especially early in the mornings or late at night).
I was talking to a regular angler last week and he said he has been fishing the rocky outcrops in the Tongaat area. It was apparently a bit of a struggle with long hours on the beach, but he had caught a few edible fish. The best of these was a kingfish of around 8kg and other species included a few decent sized blacktail, stone bream and some silver bream. He said he had caught the kingie whilst trying for shad and the other species were all caught on red bait cut from the rocks. Apparently this angler has one of his family drop him off at the Tongaat river mouth and then he slowly works his way back to Westbrook.
One of my Durban friends told me they have been catching some smaller shad at the Umgeni mouth with some of these fish just making the legal size. All the other beaches up to Umhlanga have been quiet with just the odd fish or shark being caught.
Another angler said to me that he had just spent a week up in Richards Bay and they had a great time, catching a variety of fish including good sized garrick. This guy said they seldom returned home empty-handed from a week at Richards Bay.
I met with a deep sea angling friend of mine during the week and he said he had not launched his boat for a while now because of the winds and adverse sea conditions. Bumpy seas, strong current and cold water were some of the challenges facing the offshore anglers of late. The odd daga salmon and a few reds and rockcod have been caught at times but things have generally been quiet.
On Friday morning I saw that the sea had become dirty with patches of foam floating around in the Ballito area. Apparently the river mouth had been opened at Umhlanga so maybe this is where the problem stemmed from. Last week we had both northerly and southerly winds so it is a possibility. I was at the La Mercy mouth on Thursday where contractors are working at present but that mouth remains closed and there is no water entering the sea from the Tongaat river.
Tides are better for the early morning anglers this week but they may have to wait a day or two because the sea was pounding at the time of writing this column.
Sealice

Fishing competition
The Ambassadors for Christ baptist church will be holding its annual fishing competition on Saturday, September 13 at the Blythdale beach entrance to Umvoti mouth. The entry fee is R50 per person and registration opens at 4.30am on the day. There are lots of prizes to be won including Diawa reels and top brand fishing jackets. For more informaion please phone Len Puckree 071 818 5600.

Send your name, photo and the details of your catch to sport@northcoastcourier.co.za. Our “Catch of the week” winner receives a R300 voucher from our sponsor. Catches must be submitted within two weeks from being caught.