Angling Report

Monday and Tuesday last week were washed out because of the almost continuous rain that was heavy at times and the fresh south westerly winds that created a big swell at sea. Because of all the rain, the rivers began pouring dirty water into the sea that quickly spread in the wind. By Wednesday, sea conditions were moderating nicely and the swell dropped surprisingly quickly and as the weekend approached, fishing conditions were looking pretty tempting. On Friday things were looking great plus there was a weather report of good weather throughout the weekend. So it was the KZN coastline at it’s best with excellent fishing conditions and the only downside was that the sea water was not all that clean.
From mid-week onwards, the offshore anglers were back on the water again searching for the crocodile couta that had been feeding before the bad weather set in. There were a few fish caught, a couple of crocs, a few medium sized fish and a couple of smaller couta but anglers had to search to find the fish. The area near the barge at Umhlanga, between Stud Rock and Beach Bums in Tongaat and the grounds at Blythedale seemed to be the most productive areas. The green water was not ideal for the couta and some of the fish were caught right on the edge of the color line further out to sea. A couple of nice couta were also caught on the shallow reefs at Ballito by anglers fishing just
off the bottom.
The snoek seem to have disappeared but they could return to feed along the color line and the big tuna are still around if anglers try for them. Recently, the larger tuna have been caught on live baits but anglers have boated tuna while fishing with lures. I believe that a surf ski angler hooked a large sailfish while fishing with a live shad but the fish was lost when the trace parted after a fight lasting twenty minutes. There was no news of any garrick being caught even though there were several anglers fishing along the back-line in the stretch between Glenashley and Umhlanga Rocks.
The rock and surf angling is still a bit patchy along the local coastline and there are still no small shad being caught although the offshore anglers have managed a few for live bait. Anglers looking for the shad would be wise to try the upper South Coast beaches where the fishing improved over the weekend. One or two stumpies and copper bream remain the edibles that are being caught at present but a number of sharks have been caught in the murky water during the late afternoon periods. A couple of big skates were also landed at Glenashley.
The most productive surf angling still seems to be up north where a few nice salmon have been caught plus a few big grunter in some areas. News is that fish have been caught off the south bank of the Tugela River as the water was cleaner there. Big stumpies have been feeding at times at Seola on live crab baits. Other news was of two nice sized salmon weighing around 15kg that were caught at the mouth at Blythedale beach on Friday night.
Before the cold front arrived, it was reported that a number of garrick were caught at the recognized garrick angling spots on the South Coast. Most of the fish were caught on small live shad that are becoming more plentiful as the days pass by. Most of the shad are undersized and already anglers have been caught in possession of undersized fish and fishing without a licence. Some guys never seem to learn.
Anglers that are regulars at various angling spots tell me that the heavy seas have opened up some nice channels and if these channels remain as they are, they expect some decent edible fish to move inshore in the near future and they are already persevering in these deep channels. One angler that I had a word with on his cell phone was actually fishing at the time and he said that he had just missed out on a nice pull on chokka bait.
Sealice

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