Angling report – 16 January

A report of a big surf moving up the coast came to me last Monday via a friend who was spending a few days down at Kelso on the South Coast.

I was at the beach early on Tuesday morning and saw that the expected surf had arrived and although the sea beyond the breakers had a calm glassy look, the pair of surf ski anglers on the beach decided it was not worth taking a chance by launching.

I was talking to these guys about fishing in general and the conversation turned to the new generation tackle that they were using.

Many of the anglers are switching to fixed spool type reels (coffee grinders) and on closely examining one of these Diawa reels, I saw that they were a far cry from the original coffee grinder reels as we used to call them.

In those days anglers were losing some big fish when the drag systems seized, causing a smash-up.

I actually saw a couple of reels completely destroyed and for this reason anglers tended to shy away from the fixed spool reels choosing the more dependable penn (centre pin) type or scarbourer.

The new reels have a remarkably smooth and dependable drag system however and the two anglers were telling me that they were ideal for offshore angling.

Friends of theirs had hooked large tuna and billfish with these reels and had landed the fish with no problem.

The new variations of fishing lines and braid that are thinner but much stronger also allow anglers to fill the spools of these reels with much more line than the older versions.

The fishing rods that the anglers were using seemed to be on the light side, but I was assured that they were really strong and ideal for casting various lures long distances.

Fishing conditions improved by Thursday, but there were still very few of the local regular anglers fishing from the beaches and the guys that I had a word with said that edible fish were scarce.

As I watched a lone angler fishing opposite the La Mercy hotel, I saw him land three very nice zebras before things again went quiet.

At La Mercy mouth I met up with three anglers who told me that the fishing was very quiet with just two sharks being caught earlier.

I phoned a couple of my friends who are regular fishermen in the Durban North areas and they said that a few small shad were biting in the early mornings along with a few blacktail.

Other catches were mainly small greys and a few skates, but not much else.

One of my friends told me that a woman had been held up at gunpoint and robbed at Glenashley during the week.

A deep sea angling friend told me that a few dorado had been caught in the Durban area during the week but apparently the anglers who did launch did not venture too far because of the winds that were predicted during the early part of the week.

He also said that the yellowfin tuna had gone a little quiet in the Durban area but there were a few skipjacks and bonito about.

The couta have not arrived in numbers as yet with just the odd fish being caught at first light but the sharks are back in the Umdloti area again.

With unpredictable weather still threatening, anglers will have to watch the weather reports carefully before making any plans to go fishing.

Sealice