Angling Report – 13 November 2015

What a monster of a southerly wind that blew at the beginning of last week. I was up and about at 3am last Monday morning and the wind was already blowing strongly and as the day progressed it just grew in velocity. I went to have a look at the beach and the sea was looking wild with waves breaking beyond the shark nets and there were huge walls of white water rolling shore-ward.
On Wednesday morning the wind had died down to little more than a breeze but the surf was still strong and there was a big swell running at sea and the horizon looked really bumpy.
I heard that there were a few die-hard anglers fishing at first light on Wednesday morning but on Thursday a howling north easterly wind began pushing from early in the morning. Things moderated from Friday onwards with sea conditions becoming better and better as the weekend wore on.
I was at Westbrook beach on Sunday morning at around 4.30am just as the sun was coming up and I saw several anglers fishing this area. These guys were obviously targeting shad and I probably saw a dozen fish caught amongst the different groups of anglers. The fish were not all that large and were in the one to one and a half kilo range but I never saw one fish returned to the water alive. I thought to myself that it was not worth the risk of being caught with fish of this size by the wildlife people but obviously some people just cannot help themselves. I believe that a few big shad have been caught in the Chaka’s Rock and Salt Rock areas, with some anglers being apprehended by the conservation people.
My fishing friends told me last week that quite a few anglers have been caught in possession of shad in the Umhlanga Rocks and Durban North beaches but the guys still persist in fishing for this species in the closed season. I believe that certain members of the public have been offering big bucks to anglers that can provide them with a decent sized shad and this is probably the reason why some guys are being willing to take a chance. One angler was arrested last week at the wreck at La Lucia when he was found to be in possession of a couple of shad and two undersized grunter – to me it is really stupid to take such a chance.
On Friday I met an angler who was leaving the beach near the La Mercy hotel and he had a brusher of about 4kg in his bag. He told me that he had been fishing for several hours and had just the one bite of note which was the brusher. His friends apparently recently caught some big blacktail in the same area but no copper bream, which is interesting as they have been plentiful of late. The brusher was caught on crayfish bait. By the way, the crayfish season is also closed until the beginning of March next year so do not be tempted by those that offer crays for sale because it could turn out to be a really expensive delicacy.
The offshore anglers were kept shore bound for much of last week but the anglers have said that the dorado are full-up out in the deep blue water. Unfortunately the inshore water was dirty so there was not much chance of catching any gamefish from the shallower reefs. Apparently there are plenty of bluebottles in the water so it is a case of being careful when reeling in lines. A bluebottle sting can really ruin a gamefish angler’s day.
When I was growing up I was constantly reminded by my mentors to not treat the sea with contempt and be really careful when fishing because accidents happen quickly. It was the same through all the years that I fished aboard ski boats and I have the utmost respect for the sea. We are quickly approaching the silly season so be very careful at the seaside.
Sealice