Angling report

The long weekend was a huge disappointment caused by a cold front that moved up the coast bringing strong winds and bad weather.

The bad weather lasted right up until Wednesday morning when dawn broke with clear skies and no wind but still a bit cold.

The sea on Wednesday morning was looking quite good and although there was still a bit of a big surf running, the water was okay for fishing but I think that anglers were still feeling a bit battered from the cold front because I saw that there were just one or two anglers fishing from the couple of beaches that I visited early.

Unfortunately the rain arrived on Wednesday night and continued throughout the day on Thursday then on Friday morning I saw that the wind was already blowing at first light and the barometer was dropping plus the weather forecast for the weekend was bleak. Saturday was the last day of the open shad season and as expected, many anglers arrived early at the beaches for a last fling before a two month closure.

The surf was rough at first light but the weather was ideal, overcast with little wind and although a few decent sized shad were caught in some areas, anglers found that fishing was difficult and at the crowded beaches, there were tangles aplenty.

With the shad season now closed anglers will have to concentrate on catching other edible species of fish.

Normally many anglers pack away their fishing gear when the season closes and this is the time of the year that the regular anglers relish.

There will still be plenty of garrick around so live baits will be the way to go and in the dark there is always the chance of picking up a nice kob or stumpie. Some will concentrate on fishing the rocky areas but unfortunately there will be those anglers that will try and continue to fish for the larger shad.

This is not recommended because being apprehended is no joke these days and one could lose valuable equipment and receive a criminal record after paying a hefty fine.

There has been good rain recently and soon the rivers could flood into the sea if the rains continue and this is not always bad news for those that fish the beaches on a regular basis. One morning I went down to the beach for a spot of angling and I saw that the water was a chocolate brown colour but I decided to have a cast anyway.

I was using fresh sardine fillet as bait and after about five minutes of waiting, I received a nice pull and hooked into a fish that put up a tremendous battle. To my surprise I landed a kingfish that weighed 9kg. and this was something that I had never expected. It was at this time of the year that I caught this fish and it was not too far in the past so one never knows when fishing.

There were some guys fishing from a ski boat along the backline at the Tongaat river mouth during the week but unfortunately the sea conditions were rough and I did see one angler boat a nice garrick on Wednesday morning.

The anglers did not persevere for too long because the wind began to push and sea conditions began to deteriorate rapidly.

It became too dangerous to hang around the backline that was unpredictable but the guys were back the next morning. This time I did not see any garrick being caught. I believe that the boat anglers have been catching some nice garrick recently even though the elements have been against them and the anglers that have persevered are the one’s that have caught fish.

Sea and weather conditions have been factors against the bottom anglers but off Durban a few good sized yellowfin tuna have been caught on lures and live baits recently. Unfortunately it has been a case of launching early and beaching early because of unpredictable weather conditions.

I have spoken to several boat owners recently and all have commented on the rather unusual weather of the last few weeks. One skipper said that he did launch recently but found strong currents running at sea that made fishing impossible so he just returned to the beach from where he had launched.

A couple of the skippers said that they will wait until the summer gamefish season begins before considering launching again because it is just not worth the cost of a day’s fishing at present.

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”, Basil Manning. 

Hercules Dhundu caught this 2.5kg shad at Christmas Bay with a crayfish bait on Saturday, September 30 – the last day of the shad season.

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