Fish Eagle

The Easter long weekend will be with us again at the end of the week and no doubt plenty of visiting fishermen will be wanting to know what is on the bite and where the best spots would be to try their luck.

Hopefully the sea conditions will be a lot better than they were last week. The surf was unpredictable and rough throughout the weekend and I saw very few anglers on the beaches as fishing was made difficult and uncomfortable by the windy conditions.

The less than clean water at the moment could be a good thing for anglers fishing the deep water rocky outcrops because there would always be the chance of some snoek being around. Some of the snoek are on the small side but there are some decent fish of 8kg about as well.

The best time to catch these fish is in the morning. Small shad have been on the bite at dawn but unfortunately most of the fish have been on the small side, under the legal limit of 300mm.

The big stumpies went off the bite for a while but I heard that a couple of decent fish were caught in the Salt Rock area towards the end of last week. One of these fish was caught on a mixed grill of sardine fillet and squid and the other on a whole crab bait.

As expected no pompano were hooked in the rough conditions as these fish prefer calmer waters whereas the stumpies revel in rough surf. I also heard that some decent snapper salmon can still be caught at some of the river mouths.

Big sharks also hang around in these areas and a live fish put out as bait does not remain swimming
around for too long.

 Locally, the most productive fishing areas have been Ballito, Salt Rock and at times, Sheffield Beach. Another area that has been producing fish recently is the lighthouse at Umhlanga Rocks and just south from the sandy beach.

A variety of fish have been feeding in this area including a couple of big skates and one or two sandsharks. Deep sea anglers found rough conditions last week and it was mainly from the safe launch in Durban that the boats were put to sea.

Some snoek were caught in the Umgeni area just off the back line and I believe a couple of nice couta were caught at Number 1 and around the corner in the Bluff area. Anglers should keep an eye on the water temperature as the water has been cold recently and this has resulted in the fish being off the bite.

I know that the charter craft in the harbour have been having quite a good billfish season. Visitors wanting to use the local beach parking spots should be aware that there are some areas that are best kept away from as vehicles have been broken into on a regular basis. It is probably better to park where you can keep an eye on the vehicle at all times.

Rather to be safe than sorry – do not fish alone in remote or quiet areas at night as you make yourself a target. It is sad I know but it is a sign of the times.

Another thing that I would like to tell the visiting anglers is to use fresh bait at all times as this produces more pulls. Enquire at the tackle shops about the availability of bait as these guys are only too happy to help.

Sealice