#FishEagle: Couta continue to elude anglers

There are plenty of undersized shad around almost everywhere and these small fish have proved to be a nuisance at times especially for anglers fishing the early mornings at first light.

Mind you, there are some anglers that are targeting these tiny shad but really, the fish are very small and not worth fishing for.

The sandy Durban North beaches have produced a few very nice sized bull mullet caught by experienced anglers.

Other species that are becoming more numerous in the surf are the juvenile stumpies (aka yellowfin bream).

Both are caught in the shorebreak and the trick is to use small baits and hooks.

Hard fighting summer flatfish are now more numerous in local waters especially in the sandy beach stretches.

Please return these fish unharmed and alive to the water as per standard practice.

Competition anglers target these big fish for the weight points and because they give tremendous sport.

Other inedibles on the bite are grey and Zambezi sharks plus a few raggies.

The hot humid weather is ideal for these species.

Anglers fishing at night have had mixed results as these guys target species such as the stumpnose but some anglers have found plenty of snapper salmon on the bite.

These snapper salmon can provide hectic sport for a time but they tend to suddenly go right off the bite.

Friends of mine were fishing a Durban North beach one evening last week when suddenly snapper salmon began biting and after about half an hour’s hectic fishing, the fish were suddenly gone and one of my friends thought that a shark or sharks had frightened them off.

Apparently there are plenty of snoek just off the backline and this could be the availability of food such as sprats that are also plentiful.

Unfortunately the snoek do not always attack lures or strip baits presented to them when there is live food around.

Fortunately sprats attract yellowfin tuna and other species of game fish and these fish keep anglers interested.

Inshore anglers managed a few tuna last week as well as a couple of nice queenfish, plus the inevitable sharks that are found everywhere at this time of year.

Small dorado are still quite plentiful but they should begin to move off in the near future but some larger dorado were caught off Durban last week.

These larger fish tend to hang around for a while after the smaller fish have disappeared but the disappointing thing about this year’s game fish season is that the couta are just as elusive as they were last season.

Anglers are catching a few up north so maybe there is a chance of the local inshore reefs coming alive yet.

Even the wahoo seem to be a bit scarce although a few have been caught on the South Coast.

With all the food available close inshore at present, I would have thought that there would have been a couple of reports of Kingfish up to 15kg in weight being caught but nothing has been reported and maybe the anglers are keeping mum.

I asked my friends why they go through so much trouble to keep their favorite fishing area a secret.

The spot has been good to them all year but they say they fear fishing would soon be dead if a big crowd descended on it, wiping out anything in the water.

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