Angling Report – 23 January 2015

Last week I mentioned that anglers would have to watch the weather reports carefully before planning any fishing trips and that was exactly how it turned out. The north easterly winds during the first half of the week began pushing early in the mornings and it was the same with the southerly that blew during the latter half of the week. Sunday was not too bad and anglers could at least get some fishing time in.
The cyclone season has now begun and there could be times in the near future that big swells will move down the coast as a result of these big storms. This might not necessarily be a bad thing because divers recently indicated that some of the inshore reefs are sanded up and could do with some scouring out. This is also the case at some of the popular local angling beaches because the summer sandbanks are back with a vengeance in some areas.
Because of the low tide currently in the early morning and evening periods, anglers found that the water was really shallow and it was a problem to try and cast beyond these banks. I could see that guys were reluctant to wade out onto the banks because of the strong currents created by the winds. When the tide did turn and the water was deep enough, the problem was that the winds were already pushing hard and being on the beach was uncomfortable. The tides will be much better this week but rough seas are again predicted. I think that what is needed to improve the fishing is a bit of fresh water flowing into the sea just to add a bit of colour.
Usually during the month of December, I receive reports of labotes being on the bite in the Tugela area, but as yet I have heard nothing of the sort. I have however heard of snapper salmon and perch being caught in the river. In the surf there have been a few big sandies, skates and sharks but the there have also been times when the area went completely dead.
The popular Tongaat mouth area has also been quiet with very few anglers even fishing in the area. During the last couple of years at this time, salt water fly anglers had some excellent fishing at the Tongaat mouth catching snappers on light tackle but I have not yet seen anyone fly fishing in this area.
It seems as if the only place that a few decent fish were caught last week was in the bay where some nice grunter were landed and a couple of good sized springer were caught. Light tackle boat anglers in the bay have also had their arms stretched with small sandies and skates with the odd shark.
Because of the windy conditions, offshore anglers fishing out of Durban have opted to fish close to home and there have been some excellent results. Guys found plenty of dorado about in the number one area which is the outer anchorage and one or two nice couta have been boated as well. Most of the fish were caught in the early morning before the wind was up. With more rough conditions predicted for the next couple of weeks, deep sea fishing time could again be restricted.
How about that westerly buster that came through on Friday night! I saw big branches torn from trees and I believe that a lot of damage was done in some areas. Talking to some seasoned anglers at the weekend they were commenting on how the seasons have changed. Different species seem to be arriving later than normal the past couple of years and the gamefish season seems to be better during the early part of spring rather than the summer months.
Sealice

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. Tight lines!