Angling Report

Fishing conditions were pretty good throughout the week although there was a bit of a swell at sea last week. I saw the barometer dropping and there was a warning for a big wind that was moving up the coast. The wind arrived during the early hours of Saturday morning and all thoughts of fishing were dashed. Fortunately, the front was not as bad as first predicted but a strong southerly wind almost always creates bad sea and surf conditions.
Surf anglers found the fishing a bit disappointing last week with few decent sized fish being landed. I saw very few anglers on the local beaches last week and this is always a sign that there is not much happening. Most of the locals fish for the edible species and these guys tend to stay away from the beach if edible fish are not biting too well. Some may even be travelling down south where there is more chance of catching a couple of quality fish at the present time.
I checked the Tongaat river mouth on a couple of occasions last week to see whether the garrick were feeding. I found out that a couple of fish had been caught near the Fairmont hotel, but at the mouth itself it was pretty sanded up and the couple of anglers that I saw fishing, were just sitting on the beach. There have also been a few shad caught close to the hotel. This area that was known as Matchaortwa has always been a good fishing ground at this time of the year and I have caught plenty of decent fish there.
I visited the Durban North and Umhlanga beaches last week but I found that the fishing was quiet as well. Usually at this time of the year one would hear that there are a few garrick around and the odd daga salmon being caught at night but not so this year.
The South Coast is the place to be if anglers are looking for shad and I hear that some decent fish have been caught in the mornings at several of the popular fishing spots. Umkomaas is still fishing fairly but it is further down the coast that the action seems to be hotting up. At Margate and Port Edward anglers caught full bags of really nice sized shad and I believe that there have been a couple of three to four kilo fish caught as well amongst the smaller fish averaging l kg. Other edible fish reported to have been caught were shoal salmon, a couple of nice cock grunter and a few big garrick. Apparently copper bream have been feeding on crayfish baits amongst the stones as well.
Ski anglers launching in the La Mercy area last week caught some medium sized snoek plus the odd big couta but not everyone that launched beached with fish. A couple of the anglers told me that the couta were not feeding well and just chopping baits in half plus inshore currents made angling difficult. The swell that moved inshore from out deep during the week also made launching and fishing difficult.
Whilst I was at Umhlanga during the week, I met an offshore angler that fishes the backline between Umhlanga and Glenashley on his surf ski. He said that as yet, he has not pulled a garrick although a couple have been caught in the area.
Sealice