#FishEagle: Oh, how she blows!

Last week was really windy with winds pushing both from the north and south.

The winds chopped up the sea and there was a three metre swell running during the mid-week period.

Anglers found fresh south westerly winds blowing when they arrived at the beach to fish the last day of the open shad season and the fishing conditions were really tough with a strong current running as well and some rain adding to their problems.

Fishing was really slow on Monday morning because of the adverse conditions and anglers did not remain on the beach for very long.

During the week anglers experienced limited fishing time because of the adverse weather and sea conditions but there were a few edible fish caught mainly during the early morning part of the day.

Shad made up the majority of catches but there was a nice kob weighing between six and seven kilos caught early on Tuesday morning.

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Most of the shad were caught on bait but the larger fish were all caught on spoon which was encouraging. Anglers will be able to have some fun during the early mornings from now on wards using just a spoon to catch shad and return the fish alive to the water.

I was at three different angling beaches before first light last week because I wanted to see whether anglers would adhere to the closed shad season. The weather was okay early in the mornings, cool but calm but unfortunately the surf was not all that great for fishing.

I did not see large crowds arriving at any of the beaches but this was understandable because of the conditions. The guys that did arrive for some early morning fishing were all rigged up to catch shad and unfortunately for these anglers, the fishing was a little quiet. There were a few fish caught but I did not see any returned to the water so it seems as if it will be the same as last year – “business as usual”.

For many years the Ezemvelo officers patrolled the coastline making sure that the marine resources were protected and although some people managed to avoid prosecution when poaching, many were caught and there was some sort of discipline but today there is no discipline at all.

There are those anglers that obey the rules but the anglers that fish primarily for shad, try to catch as many as they can on an outing.

Personally, I think that they will get away with it as well. I may be wrong but as yet I have not heard of anyone being apprehended for being in possession of more than the legal limit or undersized fish.

These guys also leave the beaches in a mess when they have finished fishing and the regular anglers have to put up with the complaints from members of the public.

For a change, the best part of last week was the weekend.

The weather was good plus the sea conditions were okay but unfortunately the fishing was slow. I saw quite a few anglers fishing for garrick and although I watched for a while on Saturday morning, I never saw a rod bending.

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I believe that there are still plenty of baitfish just off the backline so this could be one of the reasons for the poor garrick catches. There was a rumour that an angler caught a big stumpie in the Salt Rock area at the weekend but that rumour could not be confirmed.

Anglers fishing the rocky areas managed some prime angling time at the weekend but again, fishing was hard work with anglers managing a few stone bream, blacktail but not much else.

I spoke to one angler who was trying for brusher but he said that he had not had a touch time even though he had been on the beach for a couple of hours. He said all he had seen caught was one small shark and other anglers fishing the same area had left the beach early.

More windy weather is predicted for next week so anglers will have to make use of any favorable conditions when they occur. Last week the north easterly wind really pushed on Thursday and this wind brought with it the first of the hot and humid weather that is soon to arrive.

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