The weather was just perfect for most of last week and this resulted in excellent fishing conditions as well. Unfortunately the weather changed on Friday which turned out to be a real grey day and on Saturday the north easterly wind was back.

The sardines seem to be spread along the entire South Coast and into the Transkei but it has been reported that the shoals are scattered and some are mixed with other bait fish moving up the coast.

Some netting did take place last week but the netters did not find it easy to cast their nets around the sardine shoals that they found close inshore. On Wednesday the netters managed to catch some sardines but I believe that it was really hectic at Umgababa where the fish were found.

Small pockets were also netted at Kelso and one or two other South Coast beaches.

Anglers fishing among the sardines have caught some big sharks but the gamefish seem to be a bit scarce and the edible fish caught have included some snoek, shad, garrick and a couple of big kingfish.

Species such as the barracouta do not seem to be with the sardines that are close to the shore and even the yellowfin tuna were scarce last week.

These fish are probably sticking to the deeper water and feeding on the sardine shoals that have been moving a considerable distance from the shore.

No doubt the sardines are going to be around for some while yet but whether we will see them on the North Coast is doubtful because I searched the sea the entire week and never saw any signs of sardines but they would have been a long way out to sea anyway and invisible from the shore.

A fishing friend of mine spent a few days down at Pumula last week and said that on Monday and Tuesday the sea was wild and fishing almost impossible but when the conditions did moderate, he said that just a few shad and other small odds and ends were caught.

Anglers are catching their shad every morning down south but the fishing spots are crowded plus a few nice garrick have been caught at the recognized garrick angling spots.

Anglers fishing at night have managed some decent kob again at times when the surf angling conditions allowed.

Most of the kob were caught on fresh fillet baits but I believe that anglers had to be patient at times before having a pull.

Regular anglers fishing the Eastmore area had some excellent fishing one morning last week when a shoal of shad moved inshore and began feeding.

Some anglers left the beach with several decent sized fish and as expected, a big mob converged on the area the next morning but the fishing proved to be a bit quiet with just a couple of fish being caught.

It is unfortunate that big crowds converge on an area that has produced a few fish because many of these anglers are relatively new to surf angling and they tend to cause problems on the beach.

At the weekend a few shad were caught in this area but I believe that many of the anglers moved to fish the Glenashley area that produced a couple of shad on Thursday morning.

Not much has changed on the local beaches and many of the anglers are still fishing the rocky areas where a couple of decent fish have been caught at times.

The copper bream remain the most sought after species but it is mainly the experienced anglers that are targeting these fish. Some decent sized blacktail have been caught plus one or two small stumpies and rock cod but there has not been any fireworks as yet.

Some anglers are persevering at the river mouths for garrick but I heard that it was slow going with little happening.

The small surf has produced a few sharks though which is expected in a flat sea.

Offshore anglers that fished last week returned to the shore with some nice reds and rockcod and the odd musselcracker.

Daga and geelbek salmon are keeping anglers interested and the availability of fresh bait has made fishing a bit easier.

Nice weather and sea conditions definitely helped the anglers last week and one wonders just how long the favorable fishing weather will last.

Normally at this time of the year we have rough seas that cause much damage to the shore but so far this year we have been lucky.

Sealice