Angling Report – 6 January 2017

The festive season is over for another year and on talking to some of the holiday makers I got the impression that they really enjoyed themselves at the coast. There was a bit of everything – some good hot and humid weather, some not so good weather, which actually helped to cool the air down and surf conditions good for the bathers.
Unfortunately the winds that blew from both the north and the south did spoil things a bit for those wanting to get amongst the game fish because these winds tended to begin blowing early in the day. Local beaches become crowded at this time of the year so the local rock and surf anglers prefer to throw a line during the hours of darkness but even this is not possible at some of the popular beaches because of the all-night party goers.
Last year I went down to Westbrook beach early one morning just before Christmas to catch a couple of shad for breakfast. It was still dark when I arrived at the beach and I saw that the parties were in full swing. I placed my tackle and bait box on the wall of the car park and proceeded to rig up my trace and wait for first light. A few people gathered on the concrete seats to watch me as I was fishing and at first light I caught my first shad of about 400mm. Another two throws and I caught another two-similar shad. Because it was still early, I decided to have one more throw before packing up to go home and prepare a fresh shad breakfast. I rigged a nice fresh mackeral fillet and proceeded to the water’s edge to cast out my line. By this time the fish had gone off the bite a bit and I kept my line in the water for around 15 minutes before reeling in and returning to where my tackle was placed.
To my dismay I found my tackle and bait box had been thrown onto the beach and that the three shad that I had caught were missing. So much for a fresh shad breakfast and of course, the people that were watching me had disappeared. This year I did not bother to go anywhere near the beach.
Bruce Long told me a story at the weekend about a holiday maker and his young son that arrived at the beach for a spot of fishing just before Christmas. Bruce was fishing off the rocks at Palm Beach when the two holiday makers arrived and began to prepare their tackle.
He said that he could see that the up-country people had some experience of fishing in the surf and the young angler cast in his bait right next to where Bruce was fishing. It was not long before the kid had a pick up that began to strip line from his reel. Bruce said to the “lightie” that it looked as if he had hooked a sandie and immediately began to give advice on how to fight the fish along with the kid’s dad.
After a long struggle the fish began to tire and rose to the surface but it did not look like a big sandshark. The water was a bit murky and when the fish was near the rocks, Bruce and the kid’s dad saw that the fish was a large daga salmon. After some advice, the big fish was lifted onto the rocks by swell and it could be seen that the young angler had landed a daga of 25kg.
Unfortunately the young angler in his excitement forgot to reel in his slack line so the next swell that broke onto the rocks picked up the dead -tired fish and dragged it back into the water where the line parted and the fish was lost. Such heartbreak for a young angler to watch his fish floating away on the waves but I can guarantee that he will be back next year.
It was a bit of a tough time for the offshore game fish anglers because, although there were a couple of days that they managed a few hours of sea time, it was mainly get into the water at first light then fish as hard as possible before beaching early because of the windy conditions.
There are plenty of dorado about and these fish can be found close inshore as well especially around the drum lines set for the sharks. A few barracouta have been caught in the Zinkwazi area but sharks are a problem again this year.
Yellowfin tuna are plentiful as are big bonnies and the anglers lucky enough to fish on the bottom have caught some big rockcod along with some nice reds.
Apparently a few big Englishman have been found on some reefs. Anglers fishing further north have had some nice catches of shoal salmon.
Sealice
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