#FishEagle: Anglers chase the colour line

Thunderstorms and heavy rain dominated the week.

As expected, the rivers swelled and brought down a considerable amount of weed.

The dirty water stretched far out to sea and the winds ensured that the dirty water and weeds spread over a large area.

Unfortunately, it was not just weeds that was washed down the rivers but all types of rubbish that had been discarded into the river.

Every time there is heavy rain and the rivers flood, people are shocked by the debris that heads towards the sea.

The Umgeni River tends to display the lack of human discipline most of all, with tonnes of plastic, bits of old furniture and all types of debris that has been dumped.

I think that the surf anglers will be struggling with rubbish becoming entangled on their lines for a while to come.

After a week of mainly southerly winds, on Friday morning the sea was rough with a big surf running and I am sure that most of the local beaches will be scoured out by the heavy surf.

The sea was cleaning up a bit at the weekend but there are some rivers that are still flowing strongly so there is still the possibility of more dirty water.

It is a pity that the heavy weather lasted for so long because the fishing was just beginning to improve and there were signs that the summer flatfish were beginning to arrive, but anglers will now have to watch the water carefully before deciding on fishing again.

The weather patterns of last week did prove again that there is change in the seasons and we can expect more violent storms and heavy rain in the future.

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The offshore anglers were also disappointed with the bad weather because inshore catches were beginning to improve but now because of the dirty water, anglers will have to look for the colour line and this could be some distance from the shore.

The dirty water could cause dorado to move closer inshore to hunt along the colour line and lurk below any debris floating in the water.

Anglers fishing up north were doing well recently but I am sure that the conditions are not that favorable at present and anyone planning a trip should probably wait for a while to avoid disappointment.

Before the onset of the bad weather, offshore anglers fishing the bottom reefs caught a variety of bottom fish.

I believe one angler caught two green jobfish which is unusual for local waters.

Over the past couple of years, there have been a few species of fish caught by offshore anglers that should only be found up north in Mozambique.

This must be a definite sign that the sea water is warming up and offshore angling as we have known it could change in the near future.

The usual big rockcod, reds, some kob and the odd musselcracker have mainly made up boat catches but it has been hard work.

I was talking to a couple of offshore anglers during last week and we were discussing the disappointing couta seasons of late.

One mentioned that he was told the couta have been scarce up in Mozambique waters as well.

This could mean that the foreign trawlers have almost fished the couta out but one does not really know.

Another said that the best couta seasons in the past have been when the jellyfish have arrived in numbers and anglers caught double figures on every outing.

The other problem has been that the juvenile couta, or “darts” as we used to call them, have been missing for a number of years now.

It is still early days to be fishing for couta but who knows, stranger things have happened and this year could see a magic couta season.

I was hoping to have some encouraging news about grunter and stumpnose but the elements saw to it that nothing would happen.

My friends have postponed their trip up north in search of big grunter and not many anglers frequented the beaches last week.

On Sunday the sea was cleaning up and moderating nicely and the light north – easterly wind certainly helped in this respect. If the weather holds this week, I am sure that the fish will be back on the bite and anglers should be vigilant at all times while on the beach or the rocks.

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