Angling Report

Fishing conditions were okay for the rock and surf anglers for the first half of last week, but the north easterly winds did a “mushy surf” as it normally does. On Wednesday I saw the barometer dropping which always means that bad weather is on the way. On Thursday morning the surf was still looking fishable but there was a bit of a swell running out at sea. By Friday morning, however, the swell had moved inshore and had created a big surf that made the water almost unfishable.
A couple of friends did climb out of bed early on Saturday morning and were rewarded by catching some very nice shad, a few weighing well over a kilo. They told me that the surf was a bit rough with a south-to-north drift but as the tide dropped, the surf just became better and better and this was when the shad came on the bite. There was not much of a crowd where they were fishing and although most of the fish were caught on bait, a couple were taken on spoon as well. Apparently the previous day anglers caught their limit bags of shad fishing with drift bait.
I didn’t see too many anglers fishing from the beach last week even as I visited several of the popular angling spots. The anglers that I did have a word with said that they had caught the odd shad plus small stumpies but fishing had been hard work. Word is that there had been a few small salmon caught at the local river mouths but the action is still up north where there seems to be plenty of garrick and shad around. The problem is that traveling has become expensive and anglers are reluctant to spend their hard earned cash these days.
Although I have spent a considerable amount of time at the seaside, I have yet to see dolphins or birds moving south – which is always an indication that there are sardines around somewhere. I still believe that there will be no sardine run this year because the trawlers caught them all in the East-London area illegally. The fines that were imposed on the foreign trawlers that were caught with their freezers full of squid were ridiculous. Just a few short months ago, two foreign trawlers were apprehended off the coast of Brazil and these craft were sunk by the authorities. The trawlers in East-London water were basically fined pocket money. I really hope that I am wrong and that there will be a sardine run even though later than normal.
A photograph of two ski boat anglers with their catch of numerous large dead musselcracker that was posted on the internet has caused a huge outcry recently. These fish are protected and there is a catch limit of one per angler. I don’t know what they were thinking when they allowed their photo to be taken holding up two big cracker with several lying on the ground because surely they must have realised that the photograph would cause huge controversy. I wonder if this will become more common when the “war veterans” begin to police the beaches and the marine environment as is set to happen when Ezemvelo’s contract ends. It will be interesting to see when the shad season closes at the end of September and the big shad arrive during October and November plus when the crayfish season closes at the beginning of November.
Rain plus very cold weather is predicted for the first part of this week and I expect that the sea will be rough for a few days. If it rains enough, fresh water from the rivers will enter the sea and this could shake up the fishing locally, especially at the river mouths. A bit of dirty water could turn on the garrick, snoek and even the salmon and grunter. Quite a few of the local anglers have told me lately that they have been praying for a bit of dirty water.
Sealice

Basil Manning 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 has 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 and what bait was used.