Angling Report – 27 January 2017

The winds blowing from the north east one day, south west the next made fishing difficult last week. Fortunately, the conditions were good on Saturday morning and the weekend offshore anglers managed some prime sea time. During the week anglers targeting game fish had to be on the water early to do some fishing, before being chased home by the wind.
Those that managed to put in some fishing time found dorado on the bite and a few nice couta as well and in some areas, some decent catches of snoek were recorded. The water was murky in places and this was where the snoek were found feeding on the fringes of the discoloured water. Out in the deeper water anglers found big yellowfin tuna and I hear that a couple of anglers were “smashed up” by outsize tunny.
It was a pity that because of the windy weather recreational anglers were not able to spend a lot of time on the deeper reefs fishing on the bottom, as some decent fish have been caught in the recent past. Big soldiers, slinger, rock cod and Englishman have been on the bite plus a few geelbek salmon. Further north, deep sea anglers are still managing to boat shoal salmon when the conditions have allowed.
Another body was retrieved from the surf just beyond the pier at Virginia beach late on Wednesday afternoon and this pier now has a reputation of being dangerous. The entrance to the pier is closed off but this does not stop anglers fishing from this structure. I was at Virginia the other day and asked some of the locals why people persisted in fishing from the pier as the surf to the south looked a better proposition. The guys said that it was because the anglers thought that they were casting into deeper water and trying to get away from the peckers that have infested the surf. Every bait that is cast into the water is stripped in seconds.
One of my friends that fishes the Durban north area on a regular basis was telling me that some nice grunter have been caught in the Umgeni river and not just at the mouth but further upstream as well. Apparently, anglers are fishing from the road bridge and dropping their lines into the channel in the river. Most of the grunter have been caught on sea lice baits. Anglers used to fish from the M4 bridge years ago but were stopped and it seems as if there are a few anglers trying their luck again. I am sure that they will be stopped shortly because of the danger to themselves and to the traffic. Apparently several anglers fishing in the river from the bank have been attacked and stabbed, so now they think that fishing from the bridge is safer.
Local beaches were quiet last week and I saw very few anglers on the beaches or the rocks.
On some days the surf was really rough but I hear that there are plenty of peckers in local waters as well. A decent bait cast out does not last long even in the dark and a couple of the locals that I did speak to said that fishing was not worthwhile. The small shad seem to have all but disappeared and these fish are usually the target for some of the locals. There are some big flatfish around and when the weather settles again, I am sure that decent fish will be on the bite again. Usually at this time of the year, the hours of darkness produce the best results.
There is a lot of work being put into rehabilitating the St. Lucia estuary at present and the results are looking pretty good. Hopefully areas such as Fanie’s Island will become productive again.
Sealice

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