Angling Report – 09 December 2016

Shad season began last Thursday with just a couple of small shad landed early in the morning. There were quite a few enthusiastic anglers on the beaches but unfortunately most returned home empty handed. This is the end of the shad run and although a few decent sized fish could be caught in the coming days, most will probably be on the small side. The small, almost flat, surf did not help anglers either because these fish prefer fairly rough water. The north easterly wind was pushing very early in the morning on Saturday and many anglers decided that it was not worth a throw. Sunday morning was again good for rock and surf angling. The summer flatfish season is getting off to a great start with anglers having some excellent sport up north, hooking into big skates and landing some fish after tremendous battles. The local waters are also producing a few skates and some smaller sandies. I saw one nice sandie landed last week and it was encouraging to see that the angler released the fish unharmed. This did not always happen in the past and it is good to see that things changed for the better these days. The rays and sandsharks are harmless creatures but provide excellent sport for anglers and are much sought after by the competition anglers. The hot humid days that we are experiencing at present are ideal conditions for these flatfish. A fresh fish fillet is the perfect bait for the angler looking for a hard fight. Light tackle anglers can also expect some productive fishing from now on, with the abundance of small shad, wave garrick or spotted pompano are now starting to put in an appearance. I saw a couple of nice sized mullet caught in the Umhlanga area last week and small stumpies seem to be feeding on the sandy banks.I must continue to tell early morning or evening anglers to be wary and be on the lookout for vagrants looking for any opportunity to rob the unwary. Do not fish alone. I learned this week that vagrants are living in the bush south of the lifesaver’s building at Westbrook beach again. There used to be vagrants living in the same area before and several people were robbed whilst walking on the beach in broad daylight.I heard through the grapevine that anglers fishing along the South Coast had some good fishing last week with a variety of fish being caught. Apparently, the shad are thick and have become a pest for anglers looking for larger species. Some nice grunter were caught in the Umkomaas area along with plenty of snapper salmon and one or two big stumpies. The anglers down south have also begun to catch a couple of big skates from the deep water points and I heard that one angler fought a big kingfish before losing the fish in the rocks at Kelso station. Amongst the rocks anglers are catching copper bream in some areas along with small rockcod and blacktail.With the onset of the holiday season, visitors will be looking for some productive fishing spots. In Ballito, spots to try will be Boulder Bay, off the tidal pool and Salmon Bay whilst the Salt Rock area has produced some nice fish recently. For some reason, the normally productive Tinley Manor area has been quiet in the recent past with just a few fish being caught. Chaka’s Rock has also fished well at times but one has to know this area well because it can be dangerous. Another area that has been fishing really well is Durban View, which is the first car park on the south side of the town. There is security at this spot and the boom for the parking area is now being opened at 4am in the morning. As I was compiling this column, I was watching bad weather moving in again and it looked as if rain was on the way. This could mean more dirty water but there have been a lot of sharks about recently so visiting anglers could fish the river mouth areas where some action can be found. Hopefully the bad weather moves away rapidly.
Sealice