#FishEagle: Perfect weather, but sards stay deep

By last Tuesday morning, rough sea conditions had moderated nicely and although sardines were spotted at several areas, the fish passed by in deeper waters – far out of reach of netters.

Sea and surf conditions were beautiful on Wednesday morning, with water temperatures at 21 degrees Celsius.

There was great expectation of more netting to be achieved.

The morning started off quietly, but by mid-morning sardines were being netted at Durban, followed by Eastmore at Umhlanga Rocks and Rocky Bay just south of Park Rynie.

Unfortunately, there were no game fish or sharks in attendance and although a few of the local anglers tried, nothing was caught.

The rest of the working week proved quiet although sardines were spotted all along the South Coast, moving well out of casting and netting range.

Although surf angling conditions were good from Tuesday to the end of the week, few fish of any size were caught.

The popular shad angling beaches were crowded after news of sardines at Durban and Umhlanga, but many fishermen returned home disappointed without even a single bite.

There were a few small shad and mullet caught at Blue Lagoon.

The sad news is that anglers had been catching undersized grunter and not returning them unharmed to the water.

I believe that it has been a similar story at the piers at Durban.

Anglers fishing the rocky areas seem to have fared better and there have been a few copper bream, stone bream and some blacktail and karanteen.

It should be noted that eating karanteen can induce LSD-like hallucinations. Karanteen was reportedly consumed as a recreational drug at the time of the Roman Empire.

It is believed that the fish eats a particular algae or phytoplankton which makes it hallucinogenic.

Now is the time to fish for lantern bream or cave bass. Last year provided good winter fishing for lantern bream when they were caught almost everywhere.

Another species which can be caught from local rocky outcrops is brusher, though not many have been caught in recent seasons.

But this could be the year, who knows. Guys lucky enough to be fishing on the South Coast recently had some memorable outings, especially where the sardines have been close in-shore.

Shad have been caught almost everywhere, the majority around a kilo in weight. But there have been a couple of ‘bombers’ as well.

Garrick have also been plentiful again and a couple of outsized fish have been landed.

Most were taken on live bait, which had been plentiful but there have been a few nice garrick caught on the jig and drop method around sardines.

Surprisingly there has been a few prodigal son caught as these fish are normally very scarce.

It is something special for an angler to be lucky enough to land one.

Heavy tackle anglers looking for big sharks have also been in business and some tremendous battles have been recorded with plenty of big fish being hooked and lost.

It was good to see sharks landed were returned alive and unharmed to the water.

Most likely, more sardines will appear in local waters this week and hopefully move in-shore allowing local anglers their turn with the fish following sardines.