Angling Report

After a week of some wind, the surf was not looking all that great on Friday morning.

There was a sizable back-line but after that the water turned to foam and there was a south to north current that was running like a river.

There were a few early morning anglers struggling in the bad surf conditions but they did not last long with most packing up their gear after just a couple of casts. Unfortunately these conditions persisted throughout the weekend. The shad have now made an appearance and anglers caught several fish over the legal limit size.

From now onward the early morning anglers should be able to target these fish with some confidence, as anglers in Umhlanga also managed to land a few shad last week. Many will be dusting down their tackle and before long one can expect fair crowds wherever the shad are feeding.

The late afternoon periods are also productive times to fish for the shad, weather permitting, and this is when the larger fish seem to be more plentiful. Anglers fishing for garrick found the conditions difficult for much of last week so once the surf settles after the front has moved on, these guys could be back in business again.

So far this year a number of garrick have been caught from some of the popular angling spots but as always, fishing for this species takes a lot of patience plus skill and the last thing that these anglers need is a crowd fishing where they have their live baits.

Anglers still learning the art of fishing should refrain from casting their lines where these guys are fishing because it could cause problems and sizeable hooked fish lost.

There have been reports of kob on the bite at night and the best places for this species are the river mouths.

A variety of baits can be used – a live bait will entice the larger fish but fresh fillets or chokka do produce pulls as well. These fish normally move inshore in the dark and it is best to watch the tides when planning a night fishing trip. I have always found that two hours before and after the high tide period can produce the best results but I have seen daga salmon caught just after first light by anglers fishing for shad.

At present there have been a number of kob landed at the Tugela mouth but anglers have also returned home emptyhanded.

Amongst the rocks, anglers have been catching mostly small fish such as blacktail and karranteen, with the odd nice stone bream and lantern bream. Anglers were saying last week that fishing among the rocks was hard work because of the rough conditions but the sea should calm down this week and the north easterly winds have already begun to blow.

This means that spring is nearly here and the weather should begin to warm up soon. Once the north easterly winds become more consistent, species such as shad will be caught from the rocky outcrops. Anglers fishing the backline between Umhlanga and the Umgeni mouth have caught a few garrick recently but they seem to be few and far between.

Most of the fish caught have been of a decent size but the unpredictable surf has hampered anglers. Not much else seems to be happening and most of the action remains down south where some decent fish have been reported to have been caught. Daga salmon, geelbek and decent sized soldiers and rockcod have all been reported along with a few big cracker.

Sealice

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