Angling Report – 5 February 2016

Although the weather was not all that great the first half of last week the fishing conditions were not bad. From Thursday onwards the sea became unsettled and bumpy plus the surf turned rough with weekend anglers not having much going for them as fishing became hard work.
The hot, humid conditions of last week had the few anglers that I saw running for cover by the mid-morning. All the anglers that I spoke to said that they were scratching and all they had caught was a few “rats and mice” amongst the rocks. I went down myself a couple of times in the early mornings and tried drop shot fishing, hoping for a stumpie, but unfortunately I didn’t even get a nibble. At that time of the morning the conditions were quite pleasant for fishing so it did not bother me at all that there was nothing doing.
Anglers fishing the afternoon sessions for the summer flatfish and sharks had some great sport again in some areas. I hear that some big sandsharks and skates were biting and spectators watched some titanic battles in the Umhlanga area again. A good friend of mine landed a sandie of 45kg and a honeycomb ray of 60kg last week. The latter took over two hours to land and my friend (being an ‘elder’ like me) said that he felt that he needed emergency medical attention after the battle. It is good to hear that all these flatfish are being returned alive to the water as there was a time that some anglers let these harmless fish die on the beach.
Last week I had a look at several of the popular angling beaches from Durban North to Tongaat during the low tide periods. It was quite amazing to see just how much sand that the north easterly winds deposit in the surf. About three weeks ago I was at Virginia beach and there was a beautiful deep channel on the south side and this was where the anglers were catching some decent fish on spoon. Looking at this same area towards the end of last week, I saw nothing but sandbanks where the channel had been. La Mercy mouth and Westbrook beach are also badly sanded up at present.
A few of the local anglers have been asking me when is the best time to fish the local fishing spots. Historically mid March and April are productive fishing times in the local area. The weather is more settled and in the past others and I have done well with pompano and stumpnose. Patience and the right bait is still the key however. I prefer ghost crab baits but fresh squid, sealice and especially crayfish do produce some decent pulls. Many fish also prefer mussel or rock crab baits. I once showed a visiting angler the best way to fish the drop shot method and a day later he phoned me to say that he had caught a nice pompano of 5kg on drop shot in front of the La Montagne hotel.
Offshore anglers have battled to find decent weather and sea conditions last week and the weekend gamefish anglers found that the inshore water was a horrible dirty green color. When the water is dirty it is basically a waste of time launching through the surf to try for the gamefish. Even the bottom anglers have hesitated to launch because of the windy weather forecasts. It is a pity because the offshore anglers have been catching some nice fish recently, but I am not convinced that the shoals of barracouta have arrived in numbers yet. I believe that March, April and May are going to be prime couta fishing months.
Sealice