Fish Eagle / Angling Report

Anglers could not have expected much better than they had last week with fishing conditions almost perfect for the entire week. This week the tides will be ideal for the early morning and late afternoon surf anglers.
I heard last week that some big barracouta have been taken on live bait in the Zinkwazi area and closer to home, there seems to be an excellent run of wahoo. I heard reports of wahoo being caught amongst the ships off Durban and on Friday some of the local divers managed to boat nine nice sized wahoo. There were plenty of surf ski anglers fishing on Friday as well but these guys caught very little and all I saw was one small tunny. The reason for the scarcity of fish was probably the cleanness of the water which can make the fish skittish. Two offshore anglers who launched on Thursday told me that the water was so clean that the wreck of the trawler that lies in 18 metres of water off Ballito was perfectly visible and every detail could be seen. These anglers were trying to catch live bait but there was nothing at all wherever they tried. It is frustrating to be fishing in these conditions as one knows that there will be a scarcity of fish inshore because there is no place for them to hide so they move out to deeper waters. In the perfect diving conditions on Friday, the crayfish divers caught some really big bugs on the reefs just behind the backline. It has been a while since I have seen crays of this size and on talking to the divers, I learnt that they had seen little or no fish inshore. People picking mussels also had a field day as the low tide period was just right in the morning and the surf was calm. It was also nice to see the conservation people checking licenses and catches and making sure that everyone kept to their limits.
Rock and surf anglers also had a bit of a tough time because of the crystal clear water. A couple of anglers did find some wave garrick on the bite in the Tongaat mouth area and these fish gave some excellent sport on light tackle. A few big stumpnose were caught at night plus some snapper salmon in the river mouth areas. Anglers are currently fishing the rocky outcrops where the fishing seems to be more productive than the open beaches and a pompano weighing 7kg  was caught in the Sheffield area.
News from the Umhlanga and Durban North areas is that the fishing was a bit quiet with just a few small fish caught in the shoredump and a couple of small stumpies landed amongst the rocks in the area of the lighthouse. Word is that most of the anglers were targeting pompano, but none were caught which seems to be a little strange because the conditions were ideal for these species that should be quite numerous at this time of the year.
Not so good news is that two young divers entered the water at Westbrook at first light on Wednesday morning and whilst still swimming out, they heard the alarm of the bakkie that one of them owned. On looking back, they saw the bakkie driving out of the parking area at Westbrook but they were powerless because they were in the surf. Ironically, when the divers were back on the beach, a phone call was made to the bakkie owner’s cell phone and it was answered by one of the thieves who said that if he wanted his vehicle back, he should bring five grand to a spot at Sibaya Casino. Apparently when the divers arrived at the beach, there was a Nissan with dark windows parked in the area, but the car drove off before they entered the water. These were probably the guys that were watching and it just goes to show that thieves are waiting for any opportunity no matter how small.
Sealice