Angling Report – 4 March 2016

Last week kicked off with a light southerly wind and strong, strong surf. The rest of the working week the north easterly winds were on the water early every day. These winds caused unpredictable and mushy surf conditions which were not ideal for rock and surf angling. The surf was washing almost the length of the beach during the high spring tide period. It was also hot and humid during the day and being on the beach was really uncomfortable and, as a result, I didn’t see many anglers on the beach during the week.
Relief came on Friday night when the south westerly buster came through and brought some rain to cool the air down. My brother went fishing early on Saturday morning, spinning off the end of the pier at Virginia beach. He said that the surf was a little rough but not too bad and there were just a handful of the regular anglers fishing off the beach. After spinning for a while, he had a pull on his spoon and hooked what he felt was a good sized fish. At first he thought he hooked into a snoek because some of these fish had been caught in the area recently. The fish fought much harder than a snoek, however, and as he managed to bring it closer to the pier he saw that he had hooked a nice kingfish. There was no way that he could lift the kingie up onto the pier because the fish was too heavy so my brother slowly made his way back onto the beach where there was a better chance of landing the fish. Once on the beach the task began to reel the hard fighting fish into the shoredump and then use the waves to land what is every light tackle angler’s dream – a GT. My brother eventually managed to manoeuvre it into the shoredump but, disaster – the hook pulled and disappointment. But that’s fishing and the kingfish lived to fight another day.
Once my brother had lost the fish he tried a few more casts but there were no more pulls and he decided it was time for home. Before leaving the beach he spoke to the handful of regulars fishing and they told him that just a couple of shad had been caught earlier on, but on Thursday evening some very nice grunter and a big skate were landed. I also heard that there was some good fishing on Thursday evening further up the coast at Durban View near the Umhlanga lighthouse. Here the anglers caught a few sharks and one big sandie was landed after a fight lasting nearly an hour. All these fish were returned alive to the water.
I was down at the beach on Friday morning and saw that a couple of boats had launched but the easterly wind was already pushing a bit, the sea  was looking bumpy with a few white horses. I thought back, remembering what it was like at sea when the easterly was pushing and one was at anchor trying to catch a few fish. The north easterly winds generally create what fishermen call ‘holes’ in the sea. These holes are the valleys between the swells that become somewhat unpredictable after an easterly blow. If fishing aboard a small craft the ride out to the reef can be really bone jarring but once at anchor, although one does get bounced around a bit, it is normally not too bad but one can become distracted from the wind velocity increasing. A pointer to this is when the waves begin to break over the bow of the boat. On a small boat this is normally a pointer to say that it is time to pull the anchor and call it a day.
Any experienced angler knows that they will become soaking wet from the spray so the smart move is to strip off shirts and shorts and keep them dry in the cupboards and then begin the rough ride home. Normally there is a following sea to contend with so skippers have to be careful and the ride back to the launch site always seems to be never ending. Once at the backline, there is always a sigh of relief and then the clothes are recovered and everyone readies themselves for the final run onto the beach. Once on dry land, there is a sense of relief and thoughts turn to some refreshment.
Sealice