Angling Report

Sea and weather conditions were brilliant for fishing at the start of last week, then mid-morning on Wednesday, a gale force north easterly began to blow. Sea conditions remained unsettled for the rest of the week and catches were scarce. At the weekend the sea and surf calmed and Sunday was a beautiful day for the beach.
It is nice to hear that the court ordered that the mouth at St Lucia is not to be opened artificially, thus allowing the estuary to replenish with water flowing into it from inland.
Offshore anglers had a great few days before the weather changed and I saw some big couta that were caught in the Westbrook area and a little south of there. Live bait was the answer for these big fish and although it was apparently a real battle to catch live bait at times, the rewards were well worth the effort. The offshore anglers that fished the deep reefs also managed some decent bottom fish. Catches of slinger, soldiers, rockcod and I believe even one or two daga salmon were recorded. Shoal salmon were found on some reefs along with half kob in the near perfect fishing conditions. Unfortunately, the sea turned bad and the good times were over but I did hear that the offshore anglers found fish on the bite again on Sunday.
A few decent salmon have been caught in the Tugela area along with some inedible fish and plenty of small shad at times. Locally a few fish have been caught among the rocks and in some areas a few small shad came out. I also spoke to a couple of crayfish divers on Monday last week that were diving the outer reefs on the backline in the perfect conditions and they had seen a couple of big brusher in the Tongaat area.
Apparently the Umhlanga beaches have been quiet and the Durban North beaches
have been out of bounds because of the mess. These beaches should start producing soon with reports that some decent sized shad have been on the bite in the Bluff area along with a few shoal salmon at night.
I personally think that the deep water rocky areas that can be found locally could be worth a try with crab, crayfish or even catfish baits and just maybe one will get lucky with a brusher. Another bait that works is a whole mussel complete with the shell – there is nothing more natural than that.
I have been talking to several offshore anglers recently about the proposed marine reserve along the local coastline and while some are a little sceptical, others are welcoming the proposal. Everyone is wondering whether fish stocks will be preserved by the move. The main question arises is how the entire area will be policed. The admiral questioned last week about the Chinese trawlers down in the Cape said that it was not for the navy to sort out the problem but it was a matter for the department of fisheries. No doubt, it will be the recreational angler that will come off second best.
Sealice