Angling Report

After a weekend of excellent weather and sea conditions, this past week began with very fishable conditions again. The calm seas remained until Thursday when a front moved up the coast and, although this front moved by out at sea, it was not long before swells could be seen moving inshore and this resulted in a bit of strong surf. Although the surf was strong, anglers were able to carry on fishing but as there were few guys trying their luck, there were few reports of catches from the locals though some decent fish were caught up north and down south.
On Saturday morning local angler Bruce Long was fishing in the Sheffield Beach area. The surf was a bit strong and ideal for fishing for brusher, which was the species that Bruce was targeting. Unfortunately Bruce did not manage to catch any brusher but he did catch a very nice stumpie of just over 6kg. I said a couple of weeks ago, if one is looking for a big stumpie, try in the rough surf in which these big fish lurk. Bruce caught this nice fish on a sardine bait.
Local anglers fishing the rocky areas seem to be catching most of the edible fish. A couple of nice copper bream have been reported along with one or two smaller stumpies and a few big blacktail have been caught as well. A local angler fishing the lower La Mercy area near the hotel managed a spotted rockcod of 2,5kg while trying for copper bream and this angler told me that he has been quite lucky recently while fishing this area, catching copper bream, some nice zebras and about a week ago he caught a spade fish, which is quite a rare catch from the beach.
It just goes to show that if one is patient and willing to put in the time, there are fish around but sometimes it takes a bit of willpower to persevere and carry on fishing when things seem to be quiet. One has to read the water and know where to fish to have a chance of having some decent catches and this includes knowing what can be caught at the time of year. It is no good just going to the nearest beach and casting a line hoping to catch a fish. A long time ago a very good rock and surf angler told me to keep a log book and in the book I should record the date, the state of the water and tides, the time I was fishing and what I had caught and on which bait.
One will be surprised just how much one’s catches will improve when looking at the log book at a certain time and returning to the place where previous catches were recorded. This log book does not only help the rock and surf anglers but also the offshore anglers as well. There was a friend of mine that used to catch plenty of fish when fishing offshore and there were times when one would not see him for some time. He would suddenly appear to launch his boat and return to shore with a good catch. I asked him one day how he knew that he would have a decent catch and I was surprised when he told me that he also kept a log book and referred to it always.
I was watching an angler fishing at Umhloti during the week and he was fishing the drop shot method with light tackle near the big rocks. This guy was having great fun catching a variety of small fish and returning them to the water and when I went to talk to him, he told me that the drop shot method was the only method he used and showed me a few photos that he had on his phone of fish that he had caught. He had two stumpies of around 2kg that he had caught one morning, a salmon of just over a kilo that he said was returned to the water and a pompano of 4kg. This method of fishing is sometimes more entertaining than just throwing a bait into the water and waiting for a bite.
It looks as though there will be more favorable fishing conditions again this week so anglers will be able to spend time at the beach.
Sealice

Send a photo of your catch to sport@nothcoastcourier.co.za and share your success with all the ardent fishermen on the North Coast. Include the angler’s name and surname, species, weight (estimated or actual), where and when it was caught and what bait was used. Who knows, you could win a R200 voucher from our sponsor for “Catch of the week”.