Angling Report – 28 August 2015

Sardines made an appearance in the Durban basin at the beginning of last week just when everyone thought that the small fish were long gone. I am not so sure that the sardines were welcome because the beaches were beginning to be quite productive and as expected, there were plenty of anglers on the beaches but not that many fish were caught.

A few shad were caught during the early morning periods at the Umgeni mouth as well as a nice daga salmon of 27kg. The regular local anglers at Umgeni told me that the north bank of the river was producing some decent fish. Apparently a couple of nice salmon and some decent grunter have been caught and the water last week was the right color for these fish. Anglers fishing further north at Virginia were catching a few shad from the pier on drift bait but the guys fishing from the beach were struggling a bit and finding fish hard to come by.

There is still a big crowd at Umhlanga but the fishing was not all that good with just a few small shad and the odd mullet coming out. I did hear that one angler caught a nice garrick on spoon one afternoon and word was that a couple of snoek have been caught at the lighthouse by anglers throwing spoons from the rocks. All in all however the fishing was quiet when one considers the week before when the shad went dilly.

The local beaches are still not producing shad in great numbers and the fish that I have seen caught have all been on the small side. One or two garrick have come out at the Tongaat mouth and I have seen ski boats fishing the backline in this area just about every day last week. From what I hear from the locals, Tinley Manor has been fishing quite well with a variety of fish being caught. Catches have included shad, a couple of garrick, nice daga salmon and a few reef fish amongst the rocks.

Anglers have just over four weeks left of the shad season and then they will have to wait until December before fishing for shad again so hopefully the fishing improves in this time. During the past few years, the shad seem to be arriving later than in the past so some big fish could be around at the beginning of December. At the moment it is hardly worth fishing for the tiny shad, except perhaps if you just want some fun on light tackle.

Ski boat anglers have caught some really nice bottom fish when conditions have allowed. Catches included some nice reds, a few daga salmon and geelbek plus a few big musselcracker. Other species like rockcod and small shoal salmon have also been caught and when conditions have not been right on the bottom, anglers have reverted to fishing for snoek and garrick. A couple of skippers have spent their time stocking up on bait and have been fishing for mackeral which are plentiful at present.

Spring is almost here and it is quite warm already although the sun is still rising quite late in the mornings. Fortunately the north easterly winds have not begun in earnest as yet and this has allowed anglers plenty of time during the day to fish out at sea or from the beaches. What is needed is some rain so that fresh water can enter the sea and this sometimes turns the fish on, especially around the river mouths. The water was sometimes a greenish color last week and I had a word with a couple of divers who told me that the visibility was not good because there was a lot of churn-up on the bottom and they did not see any fish at all.

The tides should be just right for the early morning surf anglers this week so the fishing could be a lot more productive.

Sealice