Angling Report

Fishing conditions were unfavourable at the start of last week but generally became better and better throughout the week. The weekend anglers were able to cast their lines for a change, although there was a bit of a swell running. More bad weather is predicted for the beginning of the week so hopefully the conditions will be favourable for anglers this weekend.
There is still a crowd fishing for grunter at the Amatikulu mouth but one angler told me that he had travelled up that way last week only to find that the mouth was closed and the fishing was quiet. The Tugela mouth is also closed but anglers are catching their fish in the surf and apparently the shad have been biting freely at times depending on the tide. I have always believed that the best fishing times have been two hours before and two hours after full tide.
The shad seem to be biting along the South Coast as well and anglers have recorded some decent catches last week. Garrick anglers have also caught fish on live baits with river mouth areas producing some really nice salmon and grunter, especially after dark. Unfortunately, the better areas are crowded with fishermen and angling has been uncomfortable at times. I also heard that anglers fishing the rocky zones have pulled some decent copper bream, so it seems as if the fishing down south has really improved.
Fishing locally is still a bit patchy with some of the popular fishing spots yielding a few fish whilst others remain quiet. There have been a few salmon plus some shad in the Shaka’s Rock area and I heard that a nice daga salmon was caught at Salmon Bay. One angler said that he had caught a couple of nice sized shad in the Tongaat area on Wednesday afternoon but that things went quiet by Thursday morning.
It is past the middle of June now and I have yet to see dolphins or flocks of birds heading south in search of the sardines. I still have my doubts that there will actually be a sardine run based on what has happened the past couple of years. If the three trawlers that were apprehended in the East London area with their freezers full of local chokka is anything to go by, then we should not expect too much with the sardines.
I had a word with an offshore game fishing friend during the week and he told me that catches of gamefish have tapered off now and even decent sized yellowfin tuna are hard to find. He said that the bottom anglers are still catching a few fish but even then they have to battle against currents that are created by the cold fronts that move up the coast at this time of the year. Last week the water was a greenish color inshore for most of the week and it was mostly small snoek that were caught. A groundswell also hampered the anglers fishing out deep and by Sunday, the swell had moved inshore and the surf launch was tricky with the big surf.
Sealice

Weekly competition
Basil Manning has just opened their exciting new store in Ballito and to celebrate they are sponsoring a weekly prize of a R200 voucher for the “Catch of the week”. With a specific focus on sustainable use of our ocean resources, preference will be given to fish that have been released – although fish caught and kept will not be disqualified.
Send a good quality photo of your catch to sport@nothcoastcourier.co.za. Include the angler’s name and surname, species, weight (estimated or actual), where and when it was caught, bait used and whether it was released. This competition is not all about the size of the fish but celebrating the sport of fishing, so feel free to enter any fish landed.