Angling Report – 19 June 2015

Sea and surf conditions remained unfavorable for anglers during the first half of last week, but turned for the better by Thursday.

The heavy seas scoured out some of the popular angling beaches nicely and one can now find deep water again.

Hopefully the north easterly winds will die down a bit, as they are usually the culprits that bring the sand.

Small pockets of sardines kept anglers busy along the South Coast, reaching as far as Umgababa towards the end of the week.

Some netting did take place but the netters had difficulty as the fish were moving rapidly.

Apparently the anglers that followed the sardines had some hectic fishing and several big fish and sharks were landed.

There is a chance that some sardines may reach the Durban area this week and by the time that this column is published, there may even be a few sardines in the local waters.

No bird or dolphin activity has been seen in KZN as yet which could mean that the main shoals are still to come – if they do at all of course.

The sea water is still on the warm side along the local beaches so there is a chance that the sardines may move out deep as they move up the coast.

Anglers will have to watch the sea closely to see if there is any activity.

The Tugela north bank fished well again last week with anglers catching some nice 3kg to 10 kg salmon or kob on every outing.

There were also a few shad in the area and although the fish were on the small side, fresh shad fillet apparently produced a pull every throw.

A couple of the popular shad angling spots produced a few fish in the dark but others were dead with anglers having to put up with peekers that cleaned up baits.

The word is that there are some small garrick around which means that deep water spots or river mouths could be worth a visit with live baits.

One has to be really patient when fishing for garrick.

They show a definite preference to feed during the low water periods or when the tide is running out.

Popular fishing spots in Umhlanga and Durban North saw very few anglers trying their luck during the first half of the week and although this changed by mid-week, fishing remained quiet.

The locals told me that prior to the heavy seas, there was some snoek activity in the Glenashley area, but the snoek were on the small side.

If sardines do appear in local waters, there will be edible fish such as shad, kob, garrick, kingfish and other species with them.

Salmon have been on the bite at some of the South Coast beaches for a couple of weeks now and there is no reason why these fish will not be in local waters at present.

A couple of the ski boat and surf ski anglers I talked to reported that not much was happening beyond the waves.

The surf ski guys were telling me that there are plenty of sharks about and a lot of expensive tackle has been lost to these pests.

Apparently on the closer reefs, anglers are finding that there are plenty of barbell and these fish are also pests.

Sealice