Angling Report

The weather and sea conditions of last week were favorable for angling, especially during the second half of the week. It was very hot and humid all week but a south westerly wind that began pushing around lunchtime on Sunday helped to cool the air down. Although it is hot and humid during the day, one can feel that winter is not far off because it is quite cool around 4am.
There was a bit of strong surf during the first half of the week and the sea was still dirty in patches. But when the light Southerly winds began to come through the strong surf calmed down and the sea cleaned up, although at the end of the week a mixed water line could still be seen at sea.
A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a diver who had just come out of the water and he told me that they had speared no fish but had seen several big pompano in the vicinity of Beach Bums bar and restaurant. I must admit that I was a bit skeptical at the time because I felt that it was a bit early in the year but this week several pompano were caught by local rock and surf anglers. There were some fish that weighed between two and four kilos. Some outsized fish weighing between 10 and 15 kilos were caught as well. A couple of the big fish were caught in front of the Fairmont hotel in Zimbali but big fish have been on the bite in other areas as well. The smaller pompano are worth fishing for because there is nothing wrong with catching a pompano weighing between two to four kilos.
Most of the pompano were caught on sealice baits but one of the larger fish took a live ghost crab. Another bait that these fish will not leave alone is crayfish. When anglers are fishing for pompano they must be patient because they tend to not feed too early in the day and the best tactic is to fish with the tide – but pompano can be unpredictable. I have heard in the past that anglers have caught pompano during the low water periods. These fish also prefer the calmer surf conditions and do not like dirty water.
The Durban North area has been quiet recently with just a few “rats and mice” being caught in the surf, but the water has been dirty and the surf was pounding a bit. There is plenty of weed in the water in this area that becomes entangled in anglers lines within seconds of casting. The southerly wind has cleaned the water up so the fishing could improve from now onwards.
Offshore anglers caught some nice couta last week and one of my contacts told me that they caught four nice fish weighing between 10 and 19 kilo’s in the Umdloti area. Apparently the fish were caught while they were at anchor and in the old terms, ten winds off the bottom and working spoons near the live bait. When the couta went off the bite the anglers decided to move out deeper to catch a couple of “hamba khaya” fish, the first reef they stopped at was in 36 fathoms of water where they took a drift over the reef. On the first drift the anglers boated two good sized rockcod, a spotted rockcod of 4kg and a captain fine of 6kg. After a couple of drifts and not catching anything of note, the anglers decided to head to another reef that they passed on their way home.
When the anglers arrived at the reef, this time in 30 fathoms of water, a decent showing of fish was picked up on the finder and again they decided to drift over. On the first drift one of the anglers boated an Englishman of 4kg and a soldier of 3,5kg. The other angler pulled in one soldier of 3kg. On the second drift both anglers boated two soldiers each and then the fishing went quiet. The anglers decided to head back to the beach very satisfied with the morning’s fishing.
I think that the southerly wind on Sunday will do more good than harm and anglers should expect some decent fishing during the week.
Sealice