Angling Report – 29 April 2016

The weather and sea conditions were excellent again last week but unfortunately this all changed when a south westerly buster arrived early on Saturday morning. It was not long before the sea was on it’s head and there was no chance of any fishing being done. The wind did blow itself out by late Saturday afternoon and by Sunday morning anglers were again able to cast their lines.
Inedible fish were on the bite throughout the week in the favorable conditions and quite a few sharks, skates and lesser sandsharks were caught along our coastline. Anglers had some excellent sport with these fish and one angler told me that he fished most afternoons after work and relieved the stress of the working day on every outing. His catches included mostly small grey sharks but he did manage to catch one brown skate and three lesser sandsharks as well.
Edible fish were also caught in some areas among them a few stumpies were landed and a couple of these fish were of a nice size. Very interestingly there were also two garrick caught. One of these garrick was speared in the Tongaat area and another was caught by an angler spinning with a spoon a little further south. Both of these fish were small specimens, weighing around 4kg each, but I am surprised that they made an appearance so early in the year.
Bonito moved close inshore again in the flat surf conditions and anglers on the beach had some hectic action throwing spoons, trying to catch these hard fighting gamefish. It is not every day that surf anglers have a chance of fishing for bonito as they always remain beyond the waves so the flat seas did help, as did dolphins in some areas.
The shad were a little quiet during the week but a few were landed on Sunday morning after the big west. Many of the fish caught were undersized with just a few keepers coming out. The signs are there that this year’s winter shad season could be a good one so anglers should prepare themselves and make sure that their tackle is correct and in order. The shad being caught at present are ideal for slide baits and although several anglers have tried this method recently with disappointing results, one should persevere.
During the week I spoke to a couple of anglers that fish amongst the rocks and they informed me that there are plenty of small blacktail around at present. These fish immediately latch onto any bait cast into the water and one angler told me that these fish were even attacking the sealice baits that he was using to try and catch stumpies or pompano. In the La Mercy area, anglers fishing the rocky outcrops have recently caught a couple of big spadefish which is a bit unusual but it has happened in this area in the past.
Offshore anglers that were lucky enough to be able to put to sea during the week found perfect conditions at sea and some said that maybe it was too perfect because fish seemed to be off the bite at times. At other times when a few fish were being caught on the deeper reefs, the sharks soon moved in. We have found in the past that when there is no movement on the water and the anchor rope just lies slack, one catches very little and some movement is needed. Anglers that did catch a few fish reported that they had caught a couple of nice salmon, a few good sized reds and slinger and a few really nice rockcod of several varieties.
I heard that there are still a few wahoo around plus yellowfin tuna and some big couta with some real crocs caught in the Zinkwazi area recently. Some of these fish weighing well over 20kg.
Sealice