Angling Report

Fishing conditions were pretty good last week except for Wednesday when the cold front moved through bringing rain with it. By Saturday morning the surf had picked up a bit but fishing conditions still remained good.
There are plenty of shad about at the moment but unfortunately the majority of the fish are very small with just the odd decent fish among them. Anglers looking for decent sized shad should consider travelling south where I hear that nice sized shad are coming out frequently. Umkomaas is fishing well with plenty of legal shad being caught, mainly right at the mouth in the river. The best time for fishing is at first light in the mornings but unfortunately there is a bit of a mob fishing this area which can make it uncomfortable at times.
Friends tell me that some nice garrick have been caught recently down south on live bait and there have also been a few grunter around at night. In some areas a few shoal salmon have come out and I believe that again, Umkomaas is the spot to fish. Among the rocks, anglers are catching some karrenteen and blacktail and I hear that a big brusher was caught off the rocks at Kelso station. The angler caught the brusher while fishing for stumpies and using crayfish bait.
There has been some small shad caught locally and at the Tongaat river mouth and several garrick have been caught but the fishing is still a bit patchy at present. Umhlanga southwards is still a bit quiet with just the odd small shad and a few grey sharks on the bite. I believe that there are a lot of peckers around in this area and fillet baits are being stripped from the hook in no time at all. I had a word with an angler that is a regular in the Umdhloti area and he told me that he has been catching a few small fish near the rocks but that is about all.
The popular fishing spots up north have produced some nice edible fish lately with a few decent shad plus some nice shoal salmon weighing up to 4kg being landed. The Tugela mouth area and Amatikulu mouth seem to be producing some nice catches but unfortunately it is a bit of a way to travel. I haven’t heard anything yet but I am sure that anglers will find garrick in the Tugela area at present but the anglers up there have been concentrating on the salmon.
Gamefish anglers have been fishing the stretch between la Mercy and Stud Rock in the Westbrook area all week long and I have seen a few big couta coming in. Except for Wednesday, sea conditions have been excellent for gamefishing and the weather has been good as well allowing anglers to remain at sea for a considerable amount of time. I have also seen a couple of good sized snoek that the paddle ski anglers have caught near the Sea Belle hotel.
The bottom anglers have also pulled some nice fish with big rockcod and soldiers being boated along with some salmon and the odd daga salmon. I saw a picture of a nice cracker of 25kg that was caught deep off la Mercy. The angler that caught the cracker told me that he had found a small reef at 38 fathoms and this is where he caught the fish, along with a couple of nice sized captain fine rockcod and some soldiers weighing between two and four kilos.
If the weather remains favourable the fishing should continue to improve in the surf . The winter weather seems to have hit the Cape early this year, however and usually the bad weather makes its way up North fairly rapidly. It is already cold on the beach in the mornings but the water remains warm so anglers should make use of any favourable fishing conditions.
Sealice