Angling Report

The weather was absolutely brilliant last week and the only hiccup was on Tuesday when there was a moderate north easterly wind. For the rest of the week there were mainly light to moderate southerly winds that flattened the sea with the result that there was a very low swell reading.
But because the beaches have been scoured out and there is deeper water inshore, the surf was pretty strong. I saw several surf ski anglers deciding not to launch during the week because the shore dump looked a bit menacing.
The offshore anglers scored most of all last week with some big couta and tunny being caught. The area stretching from south of Stud Rock to Umhloti seemed to be where the game fish anglers were congregating.
On Thursday morning I saw three nice sized couta boated by anglers fishing fairly close inshore at Tongaat. I heard that one crew fishing out fairly deep in the Umhloti area boated several big couta whilst fishing near the bottom on one of the reefs.
The good weather and sea conditions allowed anglers to travel to the deep reefs and fish on the bottom with some excellent results at times. A variety of quality bottom fish have been caught including musselcracker, big reds and rockcod. I was told by at least three skippers last week that they have become very wary about what they catch and return with because of the fishery inspectors that have been very active, especially in the Durban area.
The inspectors have been checking the various permits that are required by offshore sport anglers, catch limits which are ten fish per angler and the limit size of the various species that have been caught. Several anglers have been apprehended for exceeding catch limits and undersized fish and in some instances fishing craft have been confiscated.
I believe several surf anglers in the Durban area have also been arrested for being in possession of undersized fish and their tackle confiscated so everyone is on their toes at present. I wonder what will happen when the small shad start being caught and the guys that regularly flaunt the rules are back in action again.
Speaking to the regular anglers – being rock and surf or offshore anglers – they welcome the news of anglers being apprehended when being caught with undersized fish or catches exceeding the limit but the rules must be for all.
Surf angling remains relatively quiet with few fish being caught from the local or Durban North and Umhlanga beaches.
At most of the popular angling spots, one will see just a couple or no anglers fishing and even the guys that do have lines in the water are mainly just sitting on the sand with their rods in the holders hoping that they will have a bite. Most are waiting for the shad to arrive.
When asking about fishing at night, the answer that I have been receiving is that it is not safe on the beach during the hours of darkness.
Durban North anglers said that several of their friends have had their vehicles broken into or stolen while they have been on the beach fishing. On Saturday morning, a family from up country arrived at Westbrook and while they were on the beach, their vehicle was broken into and valuables stolen.
Rock and surf angling continues to be quite good further north with kob or salmon making up most of the edibles caught. The best fishing time has been at night and I hear that some nice sized salmon have been caught. Apparently catches of grunter have eased off a bit but it was reported that a few big shad were caught at the Tugela mouth.
There are a lot of big sharks around again and deep sea anglers told me these sharks wait for a fish to be hooked then they move in and eat the hooked fish. I believe that some big fish have been lost in this way.
Sealice