Angling Report

It was another week of rough seas and unfavorable weather with the swell at sea reported to be at five metres on Wednesday morning. Fortunately the swell did moderate though while there was still rough surf along most of the angling beaches at the weekend, anglers were able to cast their lines and enjoy their fishing.

There have been a few really nice fish caught by those that have taken on the elements. One of my friends who is a regular angler at Umhlanga bought a new lure during the week and decided to try it out at first light on Saturday morning. On his third cast something smashed the lure and my friend knew that he was onto a big fish that was peeling off braid from his Daiwa reel.

After a battle lasting about 15 minutes my friend managed to reel the fish into the shore dump but it was not giving up and a small crowd had by now gathered, keen to see what species the big fish was. A large shore break brought the fish onto the sand and a fellow angler was at the water’s edge to lend a hand.

The helping angler tried to grab the large fish in the strong backwash but unfortunately the swivel on the lure broke and the fish plus the lure were washed back into the sea. The helper was the only person to actually have a good look at the fish and he said it was a monster shad. My friend was disappointed that the tackle had let him down but glad that it had been a great battle and probably the largest shad that he had ever hooked in his long angling career. He also said he would have returned the fish back to the water alive anyway.

In the rough surf there is always the possibility of catching a large stumpie and one angler persevering in the dark one evening last week did just that. The big stumpies enjoy the rough turbulent surf and the angler who caught the nice fish of 5,5kg was using a mixed grill bait of chokka and sardine fillet.

The angler was fishing at Salt Rock and he had been quite lucky this year, having caught several stumpies mostly weighing around 2kg. Apparently the area at which the angler was fishing is well known for the big fish that move inshore from time to time and there have been a number of pompano caught at this spot over the years but a number of large fish have been lost among the rocks as well.

Anglers fishing the far northern areas are still enjoying fishing for the large rays and sandies and there have been a few stories of tremendous battles after hooking one of these hard fighting fish this past week. Because of the adverse weather and sea conditions, the fishing was a bit quiet but one angler told me that he saw two largish rays and a sizeable sandshark landed during the week. Apparently several large sharks have also provided tremendous sport recently mainly during the late afternoon periods.

A group of anglers are fishing for grunter up in the St. Lucia area at present and they have been mostly restricted to fishing in the estuary because of the rough seas. They have landed a couple of small grunter between them but they say that there have not been any fireworks as yet.

Offshore anglers fishing off Cape Vidal and at Sodwana Bay have found numerous sailfish in the game fish grounds. There have been plenty of strikes with many fish being lost but a few decent sized fish have been subdued as well and released once the hooks have been removed.

It is the billfish season in this area at present and although it is still early days, this year’s season looks really promising. Other species such as tuna, dorado and big couta have also provided some excellent sport in trying sea conditions.

The local offshore anglers are probably wishing that there will be a change in the weather patterns so that they can put to sea and look for the dorado and yellowfin tuna but at present there seems to be no end to the fronts that move up the coast.

Sealice

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