Fish Eagle: Is there something wrong with the water?

Another long weekend just about over and another full of expectations for anglers, some of whom enjoyed an extended weekend. Sea conditions were not looking all that great but there were hopes that the south westerly wind on Thursday night would straighten the water nicely and flatten the sea.

Down at the beach early on Friday morning I could see that this did not happen and the surf was very unpredictable with a south to north drift. There were several surf ski anglers watching the surf and none looked that keen to launch.

The anglers told me they were disappointed, first of all with the conditions, and also in the game fish season so far.

There have been a few fish caught at times but there have been days when the fishing has been quiet and as the anglers said, the water has been green and also cold at times and according to them this has kept the fish off the bite.

They agreed that the fishing has not been as it used to be a few years ago in the local offshore waters during the game fish season and one must now travel north in order to have decent game fish catches.

Recently there were some decent catches of nice sized couta off Zinkwazi. There seems to be something wrong with the local water.

A fair amount of river water has been entering the sea and distributed over a wide area by the winds, so pollution can be one of the problems.

It is widely known that the local rivers are polluted and once this water enters the sea, the fish disappear.

The offshore fishing was not bad before the onset of the rains with plenty of big tuna and dorado on the bite but at present the guys seem to be targeting snoek with just a few couta being caught.

The season is not yet over and the cold fronts that will move up the coast might just help to improve the fishing.

Local rock and surf anglers have also been battling for fish.

A couple of small salmon and the odd grunter have been caught at river mouths at night but during the day just a few small fish have been caught in the surf.

Again the cry has been, if one wants to catch fish then one has to travel north.

There have been reports of plenty of snapper salmon being caught in at Tugela along with a few nice kob at night.

Many anglers cannot afford to travel so the trick may be to persevere at night at the local river mouths.

There was a time when anglers enjoyed some decent fishing at this time of the year when the big pompano moved into local waters but this has not happened for a couple of seasons now.

I hear that quite a few big pompano plus big shad have been on the bite up north and I find it strange that big shad are being caught at present.

Even my friends who fish the Durban North beaches are considering driving up north to look for some improved fishing.

I am a firm believer that the seasons are changing and this can be seen in the unusual weather.

If this is so, then the fishing seasons will change as well. But the question is, why are the fish feeding up north and not locally?

There has to be something wrong and over the past few years one can see the decline in catches both offshore and from the beach.

Even the sharks that used to be plentiful are now few and far between in the surf. For sure, something is not right.

Sealice

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