Angling Report – 8 April 2016

The proposal by government not to renew Ezemvelo Wildlife’s contract is, I think, a great concern not only to the marine scientists that have worked hard for decades to preserve the coast’s marine life, but to many conservation-minded anglers as well. A government official recently visited the coast and expressed shock about the strict restrictions in place. He said that he would have these laws relaxed so that “subsistence fishermen” would be given a chance to ply their trade – which to me will be everything that is illegal today.
Everybody knows there has always been a certain amount of poaching along the coast. Undersized crayfish are harvested, mussels and other creatures found on the rocks in numbers that exceed permits, undersized fish are caught and kept either in season or out of season while catch limits are ignored. I have been at Durban’s piers on several occasions and it is the so called subsistence fisherman that leave the piers in a dirty stinking state. They keep whatever they pull from the sea, be it undersized, out of season or far over the catch limits. I have even seen conservation people being intimidated and threatened when wanting to check anglers on the pier. I, like many other anglers along the coastline, have been brought up to understand the reasons for fishing restrictions. You just have to think back to the collapse of species such as shad and seventy-four to realise that without any sort of control, the marine life would be severely threatened. The recent fiasco of the opening of the Tsitsikama marine reserve that was stopped in court is still fresh in the mind. Time will tell whether the laws will be relaxed and I can only see mayhem and plundering on a huge scale should this come to pass. Hopefully the whole scheme will be shelved.
Surf fishing conditions were not too bad last week although the weekend weather was pretty gloomy. Unfortunately some of the popular local angling spots are still pretty sanded up but anglers did find a few fish about in some areas. A few small to medium stumpnose were landed as well as some decent sized blacktail by anglers fishing the rocky outcrops. Shad have also been on the bite but most of these fish have been undersized and not worth trying for. The odd big skate has been hooked as well but mostly lost because of anglers using light tackle and not being able to handle these big fish.
A couple of the Durban North beaches continue to produce grunter and a few small stumpies, plus undersized shad at first light. One area that has been fishing quite well is between Virginia and Beachwood where some nice grunter have been pulled recently. There have been a few summer flatfish landed as well but these fish seem to be less plentiful than a few weeks ago. Another area that has produced a fair amount of grunter is the north bank at Blue Lagoon, with the best time being just after last light in the afternoons.
Talking about Blue Lagoon, it is quite shocking to see just how much pollution has washed down the river. The banks of the lagoon are really a sight to see and it certainly looks as if the Umgeni river is being used as a dump site. And it’s not only the Umgeni river as you can see pollution at most of the lagoons and river mouths.
There have been one or two decent sized couta caught recently but when I had a look at the water at the weekend, I saw that the discoloured green water stretched a long way out to sea and this water is not ideal for game fishing close inshore. A couple of anglers that I had a word with on Sunday morning told me that the fishing was dead plus the sea was very bumpy.
Sealice

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