Angling Report – 7 August 2015

The fishing conditions were not all that great last week because of the strong southerly winds that have been coming through. Friday brought with it another strong southerly that created large swells and large rough surf over the weekend.

Although the fishing for edibles has not been all that great at the local beaches, there were a few fish around to keep the regulars interested. Unfortunately the shad have not begun to feed along all the popular spots as yet, but there are a couple of areas that have produced a few small fish. One of these areas is Chaka’s Rock, but it seems that as soon as the shad begin to bite, the grey sharks move inshore and the shad disappear. It is great fun catching these greys but not all anglers are keen to catch sharks so many guys soon pack up and leave the beach.

The Durban North beaches fished quite well last week with especially Virginia being alive with shad. The shad love the rough water and were on the bite at first light just about every morning with some anglers recording limit bags on every outing. The fish are still on the small side but are just over the legal size limit with the odd blue shad of up to 1,5kg being landed.

Anglers were telling me last week that plenty of mullet can be seen swimming in the shorebreak, but the anglers that have cast out live baits did not have any pulls. This could have been because of the rough surf, but ski boat anglers have caught a couple of garrick recently along the backline which shows that these much sought after gamefish are in the area. As more and more shoals of shad move into the area, anglers could be in for some excellent fishing. What tends to happen is that a shoal of fish will move inshore to feed but do not stay for long and the fishing becomes quiet. Then another shoal will move inshore and the fishing becomes hectic again and this could carry on all day long weather permitting.

I was at La Mercy beach last week and the locals there told me that shad have been on the bite at times but fishing has been eratic. I was told of an angler who braved the early morning cold and caught a nice daga salmon of 18kg on a fresh shad fillet before first light in this area.

The Kingfisher largest shad of the month competition is now open and I am sure that a few big shad will be weighed in this month. I have heard that a couple of big fish have been caught from the South Coast beaches. Who knows, a lucky local angler fishing for garrick with a live bait might just find himself amongst the prizes with a large shad caught from a local beach. These large shad tend to feed later than the smaller fish and I have seen big fish caught mid-morning as well as mid-afternoon so a bit of patience could pay off.

The offshore anglers have struggled with rough seas and strong currents but have still managed to catch a few decent bottom fish. There have been reports of a few daga salmon, some big reds and rockcod, plus some shoal kob.

Sealice

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