Angling Report

There were a couple of hot days last week but Sunday morning’s weather could mean that the long hot summer is now behind us and cooler temperatures could be with us for a few months.

Sea and surf conditions became better and better and on Friday morning everything was looking perfect for the start of the weekend.

A mild cold front moved through during the early hours of Sunday morning but the accompanying south westerly wind was not strong at all and the sea was looking pretty good, although a little bumpy. The moderate wind was almost gone later in the morning. The temperature was just right for some early morning fishing.

A friend told me that he and three other friends had spent time on the beach on Friday night at their favorite spot in the Durban North area. Because the area is pretty lonely at night the four usually fish together and bring along another two guys to look after their possessions.

They managed to catch one nice grunter and a stumpie weighing 6kg. The grunter weighed in at 3,5kg. and both fish were caught on sealice baits. During the day not much is happening in the surf but among the rocks, anglers are finding stone bream and one angler told me that he had lost a nice fish on Friday morning that he believed to be a pompano. Unfortunately he was fishing for smaller fish using mussel bait. I believe the odd decent copper bream has been caught recently and a few big blacktail have been landed.

Conditions for offshore anglers were pretty good with the water nice and warm and the game fish back on the bite. A big marlin was caught off Richards Bay but several other species of game fish were back too. Anglers had some excellent sport with yellowfin tuna and a few couta. Some snoek were found near the backline in some areas.

Other species caught were skipjack, kawa kawa and quite a few bonito at Durban. The game fish seem to be arriving later than normal and this could be proof that the seasons are changing. A surf ski angler fishing in the selection area of Umdloti hooked into a big kingfish that he fought for half an hour before the hook pulled out.

He said the fish was really big and ate a live bait he had set for couta. Apparently surf ski anglers on the backline along Durban North beaches have caught several nice sized queenfish.

Some have complained that they have been harassed by big springer that have attacked their lures. Areas up north seem to be still the places to visit for big game fish. Vidal has been fishing well with couta, sailies, big snoek and tuna all being caught and anglers catching on every outing that the weather allowed. Apparently some nice couta have been caught off Zinkwazi as well.

As the weather settles and becomes calmer, offshore anglers can expect some decent catches. The trick is to find out where the fish are pulling and persevere in these areas.

Sealice

Catch of the week

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