#FishEagle: Stock up on bait now, shad season looms

Last Monday began on a disastrous note with early morning rock and surf anglers finding horrible surf conditions.

A south westerly wind arrived on Tuesday and sea conditions became much worse, leaving angling beaches deserted.

A north easterly wind did help a bit to calm the sea on Wednesday and Thursday but then another massive cold front moved rapidly up the coast.

Sea and surf conditions were okay on Friday morning, allowing anglers some fishing time, but unfortunately another cold front was on its way and that was announced by a south westerly whoosher at first light on Saturday.

There was no news of any sardines close inshore last week and it seems as if they have now disappeared.

They do have a habit of appearing when and where least expected so who knows, we may yet see pockets appearing along the Dolphin Coast.

Offshore bottom anglers will be hoping the sardines are still here.

It is not uncommon to catch a big rock-cod, only for the fish to regurgitate a fresh Natal sardine onto the deck even though there may be no signs of sardines about.

Anglers down south caught some nice fish from the beach.

Those used to fishing rough waters found brusher, one or two stumpies and copper bream on the bite in rocky areas.

They were not telling where they had caught their fish, but I was told of two brusher weighing in the region of 6 to 7 kilos as well as a nice stumpie of 4.5kgs and several nice kob.

The usual shad were on the bite too, but strangely there has been no news of any garrick.

Locals are still targeting copper bream and other species among the rocks, but the guys targeting shad are yet to find them in any number.

Those caught have been small and have not remained on the bite for long.

Every year at this time, beaches become somewhat of a problem for locals when anglers leave a big mess behind on the beach.

Not wanting to be painted with the same brush I heard of a few anglers on the South Coast who banded together and are cleaning up after other anglers.

It is something that is so easy to do and every beach has bins in which rubbish can be deposited.

The guys who are willing to clean up are the regular anglers who do not want angling banned.

Those who leave a mess are usually those who fish only when the shad are running.

Some of them are aggressive and I have seen many a confrontation in the past with the regulars about cleaning up.

With the shad season about to begin, it is encouraging to note that some sizable fish have been caught down south already this season.

It will be wise to stock up with pilchard bait because once the fish begin to come on the bite there will be a shortage of fresh bait.

Remember that shad do not mind rough waters.

These fish feed at first light and from late afternoon, throughout the night.

There have also been a number of decent salmon caught down south so far, and salmon tend to feed in the dark.

Anglers should soon be seeing salmon begin feeding in local waters, so that is something to look forward to.

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