Angling Report

The mornings are nice and cool at present and the days are definitely shorter but what has not changed are the windy conditions during the day which went on for much of last week.

On Friday morning there was a southerly wind blowing, a big swell out at sea that was reported to be running at four and a half meters and this resulted in a big strong surf and prospects were not too encouraging for the weekend.

Weather conditions were quite good on Saturday but the sea was still very bumpy and the surf still big and strong, but on Sunday the weather was even better and the sea had settled nicely.

The water was nice and clean and the offshore anglers were back on the water again searching for the game fish.

A couple of big crocodile couta weighing over 30kg were caught but anglers found that the fishing was still hard work with some not having even a touch during their time on the game fish grounds.

The tuna seem to have gone a bit quiet at present and I heard that a nice big wahoo was caught in the outer anchorage in Durban.

Anglers fishing out in the deep have had to look around a bit to find fish and the conditions for bottom fishing have been difficult at times with the reasons given that there were strong currents in some areas plus cold water but a few decent fish have been brought ashore.

Anglers were saying that the Seventy Four can be found in numbers in some areas – but of course this species is still on the banned list – but there have been some big rockcod, soldiers and slinger caught by the guys who searched the reefs properly.

A couple of nice musselcracker have also been boated so there is something to keep the guys interested. Normally at this time of the year venues such as Cape Vidal and Sodwana Bay attract many anglers and good catches are recorded.

At Vidal, big snoek, couta and billfish will be found and at Sodwana, the big couta begin feeding along with the billfish. I have been to both these venues at this time of the year and have had excellent results but I think that my preference would be Sodwana Bay as it was in the old days before the diving facilities were organized and it was just anglers that used to visit this area.

I have seen some big billfish caught and on one visit an angler caught a huge sailfish weighing 95 pounds that could have been wrongly regarded as a marlin whilst hanging on the gantry.

The water level in the Tugela River has dropped and the Mandeni guys tell me that the sea at the Tugela mouth is a lot cleaner. Some decent kob are still feeding in this area and there were reports of an angler catching a really big pompano north of the river mouth.

The fishing has been productive in the surrounding areas as well when the sea is right and although most of the action has been in the dark, there have been reports of some bomber shad feeding at first and last light.

There have been plenty of shad caught in this area in the recent past and one now wonders if these fish are remaining after spawning and not heading south as normal. During the weekend an angler caught an outsized 5kg rockcod in the Seola area using fresh squid bait.

Fishing has been quiet locally with just the odd fish being caught. On Sunday morning an angler just north of Tongaat told me he had caught only one fish that he thought was a stumpie.

But when I had a look at the fish I told him that he had in fact caught a small brusher weighing around three kilos.

The angler seemed surprised and said that it was the first of this species that he had caught. There is another cold front moving up the coast this week as is normal for this time of the year and hopefully the front is a mild one and the sea remains relatively calm.

Sealice

Catch of the week

Send a photo of your catch to sport@northcoastcourier.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.