#FishEagle: Weather delays shad opening

Anglers looking forward to the opening of shad season last Tuesday were disappointed to be greeted by a south westerly wind that made for tough early morning fishing conditions.

Wednesday was also wiped out but anglers reeled in a few shad on Thursday when weather and sea conditions improved to near-perfect standard, but only momentarily with the arrival of rain and cooler conditions later that day.

Rain spoiled the start of Friday but conditions were perfect later that morning.

Some who braved bad weather and rough surf were rewarded with a couple of big shad, sadly some being lost in the shore-break by anglers who had not set drags correctly.

I saw one angler lose a really big shad in the wash on Thursday morning simply because he attempted to force the fish out of the water instead of using the water to help in landing his fish.

There are plenty of peckers stripping baits during the early morning periods and at times, baits are not in the water long enough for the shad to chop them.

Although a few big shad were caught last week, not all the anglers caught fish and some returned home empty-handed.

It is quite surprising that the big blue shad are still in local waters because historically the shad run would be over by the end of November.

A number of anglers were complaining last week that they had been bitten off by what they presumed to have been sharks early in the morning, but this is quite normal for this time of the year.

Anglers also hooked into big summer flatfish when targeting shad.

A couple of these skates and sandies were landed and returned unharmed to the water, but some were lost as well after stretching anglers’ arms a bit.

Rain again greeted anglers on Saturday morning before first light, but there were near perfect conditions later.

The wet weather did help to keep crowds to a minimum at popular shad angling beaches.

Surf was small and some nice shad were caught around first light.

Most anglers caught their two to three bags but, among the nice sized fish, small shad made an appearance and this could mean that the big blue shad will become more scarce from now on.

The surf on Sunday morning was a lot larger and stronger, owing to Saturday afternoon’s fresh north easterly wind.

I was at Umdloti at first light and saw just a few anglers on the beach, but all seemed to be quiet and I believe that a couple of shad were caught in the dark before dawn.

Anglers fishing the rocky areas during the week found a few copper bream on the bite in rough water but, angling was hard work and anglers didn’t spend too much time at the water’s edge. 

I saw one angler on Friday in the La Mercy area with a nice stumpie of just over 3kg.

He said he had used a mixed grill bait of sardine fillet and baby squid.

Weather and sea conditions weren’t in favour of off-shore anglers during the week, and the best days for off-shore angling were Thursday and Saturday.

On Sunday morning I saw only surf ski anglers off the backline, and the popular Umdloti beach launch site was quiet.

I think the in-shore sea water which hasn’t looked all that clean either is going to be a problem for a while.

Yet, looking at the long range weather report, rain has been predicted for most days next week.

At present, rivers and lagoons are pretty full.

Although the fishing conditions were not at their best last week, off-shore anglers caught some nice sized dorado and a couple of big yellow-fin tuna.

I saw some nice bottom fish as well, with big captain fine rockcod, plus nice Englishmen and soldiers.

Hopefully, there won’t be too much rain next week, limiting the dirty water and pollution entering the sea, allowing fish to move in-shore.

With 2020 having been an unusual year, it will be interesting to see how the now not-that-far-off holiday season pans out.