Angling Report

On Wednesday afternoon, quite by accident, I switched the TV over to the “parliament channel” and managed to catch the minister of fisheries answering questions. Members of parliament wanted to find out more about new legislation regarding fishing in South African waters. What I heard was enough to make a person suspicious of what is to come. He was saying that the small players (whatever that meant) will now be able to catch their basket of fish without being worried about the hassles of the past. When asked about fishing in the marine areas, the Minister evaded the question.
There was no mention about what exactly the new legislation would entail apart from saying that it would be implemented by March 2017. There is a group of anglers who have been lobbying to have the legislation changed to suit themselves and these guys do not believe in conservation or sharing areas in which they are operating.
Weather conditions were quite good throughout the week and the surf was absolutely flat on Thursday. Unfortunately the weather changed on Friday and a south westerly wind began pushing early, but surf conditions remained pretty good throughout the weekend.
A few shad were landed during the week, but the fishing was not all that hectic and the fish did not remain on the bite for long periods of time. The shad were of a good size and I believe that a couple of monster fish came out along the upper South Coast beaches. One angler told me that he saw a big shad caught in the Salt Rock area on Tuesday afternoon. I asked a couple of regular shad anglers during the week what they thought of the season so far. They said it depended on who you asked. The guys up north would tell you that the season has been good so far, while local fisherman have landed a few fish at times. The South Coast anglers would say that the season is producing some nice fish now but there are big crowds to contend with. There are still two weeks left of the season so some big fish can be expected.
The surf being flat on Thursday made for ideal shark angling conditions and I went down to the beach that afternoon to have a look to see what was happening. There was a group of four anglers fishing and just before last light they began to hook small grey sharks throw for throw. I could see that they were enjoying themselves with these hard fighting fish. What was encouraging was that the fish were being returned alive to the water. I left the beach just as it was becoming dark and the sharks were still feeding.
Sealice

Basil Manning is sponsoring a weekly prize of a R200 voucher for the “Catch of the week”.
Send a good quality photo of your catch to sport@nothcoastcourier.co.za.