Angling Report – 29 May 2015

The surf was almost unfishable for the first half of last week because of the large swell running out at sea that created big waves and walls of white water rolling in across the sand banks. The low tides at first light did not help much either, but fortunately the conditions and weather moderated nicely as the weekend approached.
There were very few anglers fishing during the week due to the rough water and those that I spoke to said that there were some small fish biting but many peekers as well and it really was worth the effort to wet a line. The tides were just right at the weekend and the anglers that made the effort found some fish on the bite. My brother fished in the Virginia area during the weekend and caught some nice shad and a pompano.
It is strange how some anglers react when they see a fish caught. My brother mentioned that he landed a shad just after first light and when he turned around after re-baiting his hook, he saw that the small crowd that had been fishing north of where he was had all moved and were now all trying to fish where he had caught his fish. His only option was to walk to where these guys had been fishing and after about five minutes he was on with another shad. The result was that some of the other anglers quickly reeled in their lines to move back to where they originally were.
I was told during the week that the light tackle boat anglers are catching some really decent fish in the bay. Apparently there have been some big grunter, weighing up to 6kg being landed plus a variety of other decent edibles. Fishing from a boat in the bay can be really rewarding and relaxing, especially if the weather is good. There are a number of charter operations around and these guys know the best spots and baits – a fishing trip on the bay could be a good idea at present.
Some of my deep sea angling friends told me that some very nice fish have been caught out deep, but the inshore angling has been poor. One guy launched on Thursday morning early and drove to a deep reef between Umdloti and La Mercy. On this reef they caught some big soldiers, an Englishman of 5kg and a rare Scotsman of 9kg (it does almost sound like the beginning of a bar joke). They also managed to catch a few trawl soldiers and my friend said that the fish were all in beautiful condition.
Apparently some big ‘crocodile couta’ are being caught in the Richards Bay area. The water is still nice and warm so there could still be a chance of big couta moving onto the local reefs.
It looks as if the shad are now moving up the coast and soon anglers will be removing their rods and tackle from the mothballs and congregating at their favourite fishing spots. Please guys, just spend a little time to clean up the mess when you have finished fishing. It just takes a couple of minutes. On too many occasions in the past have the regular local anglers shouldered the blame for the mess left by the part timers that only fish when the shad are around. Virginia beach is already a mess after just a couple of days that the shad have been on the bite.

Sealice
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