Angling Report

It is that time of the year that everyone begins to look south in the hope that the big shoals of sardines will appear along the coastline bringing with them a lot of action for the anglers and the public, what used to be known as “sardine fever.”

The Sharks Board made a flight down the coast last week and reported that there were shoals of sardines building in the Mazeppa Bay area in the Eastern Cape and they saw dolphins and gannets operating in the vicinity of the sardine shoals. Hopefully these fish will be allowed to move up the coast this year if the conditions are suitable and there could be a sardine run again.

There are a lot of baitfish in the water at present with rumours that sardines were netted in the Addington area but I doubt whether they were actual sardines that had moved up the coast. Early last week a pod of dolphins harassed a shoal of shad in the Umhlanga area and these fish moved inshore and the anglers lucky to be on the beach at the time had some hectic fishing. Some of the fish caught were the legal size but there were undersized fish landed as well. The shad were not interested in the spoons that were cast into the water and attacked the fillet baits and whole sardines only.

I have seen and experienced this often in the past when shoals of shad move inshore and feed on the baited lines only. Offshore anglers have reported for some time now that there are plenty of small shad beyond the breakers and it took the dolphins to chase a shoal of fish inshore.

There was a swell at sea averaging between two to three meters for much of the week and this resulted in adverse fishing conditions at the weekend. One angler that fished on Saturday morning said the waves were pounding on the sandbanks and there was also a strong south to north current that made it difficult to keep one’s bait in the water. He said that he had a couple of casts in the dark but packed up his gear early and set off for home as there was nothing doing anyway.

Other anglers that fished in other venues more or less told me the same story about the fishing conditions. Many anglers have said the beaches are sanded up which normally happens during the summer months when the north easterly winds blow almost daily and at this time of the year the southerly winds are needed to break up these sandbanks thus allowing the fish to move inshore. Some of the local anglers have said the shad are late again this year but I believe that it is still a bit early. History suggests the month of July is the time that these fish move up the coastline, sometimes with the sardines.

Last year the shad began biting later in the month of August but there were no sardines and when the fish came on the bite, anglers took more than limit catches of sometimes undersized fish and in some areas it was virtually impossible to cast a line into the water because of the unruly behavior of the large crowds. There were times that I saw some of the regular anglers just standing and watching, saying they did not want to get involved in the bun fight on the beach as the fish were really small anyway.

Because of the rough seas last week, it was expected that there would be little fishing news and even the anglers that fish among the rocks battled for results. The weather is also a bit chilly before first light so not many arrive at the beach early and they wait for the sun to rise before leaving for the beach. I heard that local angler Bruce Long was into the fish again when he landed a skate of forty kilos plus while fishing in a competition at Peace Cottage. Bruce is a master when it comes to fishing for these big fish and well done.

The offshore anglers were quiet last week because of adverse sea conditions but once the sea settles they will no doubt be back on the water again looking for the big game fish. Some of these guys are hoping for the sardines to move up the coast bringing with them the daga salmon and garrick plus the big couta that feed on the sards.

Sealice

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