Angling Report

2019. A brand new year and compliments of the season to everyone.

The beaches were crowded as expected with the weather mostly hot and humid and for a change, the wind did not spoil the beach and sea conditions on most days. Unfortunately because of all the development during the past few years and crowds that frequent the beaches during the festive season, anglers were limited as to when and where they could enjoy their sport.

Fortunately on most days during the holidays, the period at first light was mainly free of any wind and the sea conditions were mostly favourable for angling. It was at this time that I saw most anglers on the beach and although the fishing was not all that great, I did see a few small edible fish caught. Small shad made up most catches plus a few nice sized mullet and there were two prized stumpies caught as well. The stumpies weighed over 4kg and were caught just before first light by one angler using whole ghost crab for bait. The angler told me that when he arrived at the beach he began fishing with sardine bait but found that there were plenty of peekers in the water that stripped his hook in no time at all. The result was that he switched to using crab and it proved to be the correct decision.

One of the local regular anglers that fishes the Umhlanga Rocks area contacted me and said there had been a few small pompano caught by anglers that persevered during the day and these fish were found at Eastmore. Other catches in this area included a couple of decent sized sandsharks and two big skates that really revved the anglers that had hooked them. Anglers had to be careful because of bluebottles becoming entangled on their lines and there were those that experienced painful stings. Apparently a few small shad were caught as well with one lucky angler landing a shad of 3,5kg that was caught on a whole sardine. Other species caught in this area during the holidays were a few mullet and some decent sized sharks.

It is known that fishing from the beach or rocks is mostly seasonal along the local coastline. It is now the middle of summer and the anglers can now concentrate on their fishing with the festive season now over and the beaches will not be as crowded with most of the visitors having left the coastline. Inedible fish will be the target of some anglers but there are those that are patient and target the few edible species that can be found in local waters at this time of the year. These include kingfish from the deep water points, the possibility of early season pompano and of course the big stumpies that frequent these waters for most of the year.

The offshore anglers will now be able to fish in earnest now the various launch sites will be a lot quieter and they will be targeting the game fish. During the week a surf ski angler fishing close inshore from Selection to the big bricks at Umdloti said he had caught a couple of decent fish but found the fishing to be quiet. On one outing he caught a kingfish on live bait in the vicinity of the big bricks and on another occasion he managed to bag a queenfish of 6kg while fishing with a lure. He did say he had lost several live baits to sharks while targeting the yellowfin tuna and this was probably because the water was not all that clean at the time.

If the weather and sea conditions allow anglers to travel to the deeper water, dorado and billfish are a possibility. The couta could arrive at any time now but the recent couple of seasons have been a bit disappointing. Then there is the bottom fishing that could produce some nice fish at this time of the year but there will be the problem of the ever present sharks that will frustrate some anglers when their tackle is mangled and decent sized fish are chopped.

A friend phoned me just before completing this column and he said he and his friends had found nice sized grunter feeding at their favorite angling spot and they had landed four decent sized fish. They caught these grunter this time on fresh shell bait.

Sealice

Catch of the week

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Include the angler’s name and surname, species, weight (estimated or actual), where and when it was caught and what bait was used.

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Rudi de Villiers caught his first dorado off Zimbali on Sunday, December 30th. It weighed 5.58kg and took a Halco Lure.