Angling Report – 12 June 2015

Calm seas and a small surf prevailed until the barometer dropped and the weather changed on Wednesday morning last week. A fresh north easterly wind was blowing at first light and the surf turned mushy by the afternoon. The gale force wind that followed turned the sea on its head and resulted in the huge surf conditions that lasted until Sunday.

On Sunday morning I could see that a lot of sand had been deposited onto the beach but it was still too rough to see whether the sand banks had been broken up. Once the surf settles, there could be some exciting times for anglers as just prior to the cold front, there were reports of some nice fish being caught.

A few decent sized salmon had been caught on the north bank of the Tugela with plenty of small shad also in the area. Nearer to home there were reports of a couple of big stumpies and some shad in the early mornings, with anglers saying that Salt Rock was the place to be.

The big news of last week was the sardines that made an appearance at Margate, with several crates being netted. They caught everyone by surprise, even the Sharks Board who were busy removing the nets before the cold front arrived. This must have been just a small breakaway shoal because there were no birds or dolphins in the area that would have given away the presence of these small fish. As the sea settles this week we will find out whether there are more sardines around, but I remain skeptical. So much for the guys telling me that we have probably seen the last of the sardines, because they continue to surprise as they have always done. I was told last week that the fishing had definitely improved with garrick, a couple of daga salmon and plenty of shad being caught.

I was saying a couple of weeks back how nicely the beach at Virginia had been renovated with the roads being tarred and a boom erected to control the movement in the area. At the time I took a drive to have a look for myself and was surprised on how inviting this fishing spot looked. Unfortunately I have since heard that the new boom has already been smashed down, thus allowing access at all hours. This is vandalism and shows the lack of appreciation that some people have. The boom was erected for the safety of the anglers themselves.

I expect the shad to be feeding during the early mornings this week and the water is a nice colour for salmon as well. Anglers fishing with sealice or crab could also find themselves catching some nice brusher, especially in the rocky areas. No doubt the garrick anglers will be trying their luck with live baits, especially in the river mouth areas.

Anglers were telling me that there has been a shortage of bait, so stocking-up before the shad season really gets underway might be a good idea. Anglers catching shad in the Durban North area apparently found that Japanese mackerel resulted in more pulls than sardine fillets so that could be the way to go. Another bait to consider is baby squid used in conjunction with sardine fillet as this stops the peckers from stripping hooks.

Sealice

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