Angling report – 28 November

Last week started off less than perfectly with a strong southerly wind blowing all day on Monday, creating rough seas and unfishable surf conditions.

The weather began to moderate nicely on Tuesday however and by Wednesday surf anglers were able to get their lines wet and try their luck once more.

As the week progressed the wave heights also dropped until there was no surf at all on Friday morning. The water was nice and clean as well which is something that hasn’t been seen in a while now.

Most of the anglers I watched throughout the week were trying for shad which was a pity as there is now only one more week to go before the season reopens again.

The shad that I saw caught were all on the small side and the anglers catching these fish certainly did not show any concern that it was illegal to keep them.

Although the fishing conditions were perfect on Friday the fish were scarce.

This could have been because the surf was too flat and the fish had nowhere to hide in the crystal clear conditions.

It was the same on Saturday morning and I went for an early morning drive to Westbrook beach where I found a large crowd of fishermen.

Again no fish were coming out and anglers said that not even sharks (which have been plentiful of late) were showing interest in their baits.

Watching a group of anglers fishing just after first light recently I was reminded of the population explosion of grey sharks in the 1980s.

The anglers I was watching were obviously trying for shad but as their baits entered the water, they went on with a shark.

The greys were thick and every throw produced a pull. I could see that the anglers were becoming increasingly frustrated because bait after bait was nailed and there were no edible fish being caught.

I had a word with Bruce Long on Saturday afternoon after he returned from a day out in the deep sea in almost perfect fishing conditions.

He said that they had found some big slinger on the bite, the type that had lost their pink tinge and were turning a white colour indicating that these were very mature fish.

Although the water was ideal for the gamefish, they never found any dorado.

The guys are catching some very nice yellowfin tuna of over 20kg, with one of these fish weighing 40kg.

Many of these fish are currently found between Westbrook and Ballito, showing a preferance for live bait (which is fortunately also plentiful at present).

Apparently the mackeral are also thick, with mossies, shad and red eye sardines in abundance as well.

It certainly seems as if the offshore anglers are in for another good summer season with the tunny.

Last weekend’s surf launch was the best that I have seen for a long while and the surf ski anglers really took advantage of the conditions.

All the guys said that they were targetting the yellowfin tuna and garrick. One told me that his friend had caught three good sized garrick on the backline in the Glenashley area at the end of last week. The garrick were caught on live pinkies.

Sealice