Angling Report – 12 September 2014

The sea was still rough at the beginning of last week, but I saw on Monday that the swell was dropping nicely and the surf was moderating. The signs were good as the big seas had scoured out the sand where I was walking just a couple of weeks ago, leaving nice deep water.
Sure enough I received news on Tuesday morning that a couple of the regular anglers pulled limit bags of decent sized shad at first light in the Umhlanga area. These anglers caught fish every morning up until the weekend, but decided not to fish on Saturday and Sunday because it was expected that there would be a large mob on the beach. The news had indeed travelled quickly and I believe it was chaos on the beach just as predicted – “more tangling than angling” as a friend put it. The shad were on the bite, but tempers soon flared when a couple of anglers had their fishing rods broken, lines were cut and the winds eventually chased everyone.The beach was a total mess.
Shad were caught at several of the popular local angling beaches as well, but I believe that at most of these places there were more anglers than fish landed. The best times when fishing for the shad was at first light because every day the north easterly winds began pushing early.
I heard of two brusher caught towards the end of last week. One of these was a nice fish of 7,5kg caught in the lighthouse area whist the other was a little smaller, caught at Salt Rock. Both fish took mussel baits. With some of the rocky gullies scoured out nicely now, there is every chance of more brusher being caught. My favourite bait when trying for these fish is live crab and this bait is excellent for the big stumpies and pompano as well.
I was fishing early last Wednesday morning and I found big blacktail on the bite in the dark. A couple of the local anglers later confirmed that they also caught a few really good sized blacktail amongst the rocks earlier that morning as well as a couple of stone bream. Targeting these fish is excellent sport on light tackle and a good option if there is nothing else around. I have found in the past that using drop shot in the rocky areas can reap rewards, especially if there is little wind.
The crayfish divers will be happy now that the rocky areas have been scoured out. Unfortunately the dirty water will stop the divers from entering the deeper water, but as soon as a westerly wind comes through, the water will clean up and the visibility will be much better.
Sealice

Fishing competition
The Ambassadors for Christ Baptist Church will be holding its annual fishing competition this Saturday, September 13 at the Blythedale 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 information please phone Len Puckree at 071 818 5600.