Angling Report – 7 November 2014

Adverse weather combined with rough seas and dirty water to make fishing difficult again last week. The north easterly winds were really strong and on most days these winds began to push just after first light and blew late into the night. Many anglers did not bother to visit the beaches because of the conditions and those who did made sure that they were at the water’s edge before first light and returned home after only spending a short time with lines in the water.
I called in at Beachwood on Wednesday morning and the few locals fishing reported that there was not much happening and they were waiting for the beach at Virginia to be re-opened to the public. Apparently the roads and parking areas are being re-vamped and they said that anglers will be allowed to use the pier that has been built over the pipeline that extends out to sea. If this is true anglers will be able to fish in deeper water which makes fish like garrick and snoek much easier to target and even species such as queenfish and bonito will not be out of reach.
I met a ‘regular’ in the Durban View area last week and he said that grey sharks made up most of the fish caught recently in that neck of the woods. Alhough bad conditions also hampered fishing there, he said that a couple of nice bronze bream had been caught in the Peace Cottage area, just north of the Umhlanga river mouth.
Although the Tugela area has produced a few decent fish recently, the weather and dirty water coming down the river means that it is not really worth a visit at the moment. Areas such as Amatikulu are probably experiencing the same problems which is a pity because anglers usually have great fun with the early season rays at this time of the year. Although the weather looks like moderating, I think I will wait until there is some positive news about the fishing, which excludes the big blue shad that are numerous in local waters during November, before I wet a line again.
The rocky bays could be worth looking at with baits such as crab, squid and crayfish, but it is no fun fishing these areas if the weather or sea is bad.
Westbrook beach is an ideal spot at this time of the year for anglers looking for some sport with grey sharks. Competition anglers used to flock to this area over the weekends when looking for weight points and it has always been known as a good place to fish for the daga salmon in the dark during November.
Dorado normally make an appearance in local waters during November, but rough seas kept the guys off the water last week and surf launching was not for the faint hearted. There will be those flat days this month and I think that this is when the offshore guys will begin to cash in with the dorado and the yellowfin tuna. There have been plenty of yellowfin caught the past couple of years and some of these fish have been real ‘gas bottles’.
Sealice

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