The closure of beaches from Umgeni Mouth through to the Tongaat River is causing increased anxiety among anglers, despite eThekwini officials having said last week that water samples proved contamination was still present from the recent chemical spill.

Results from a second test are expected soon, but until then beaches remain closed for recreational activities.

Anglers were seen fishing at a couple of beaches north of the Umgeni Mouth, but these guys were not catching anything either way.

Most fishing action has been happening at Blue Lagoon and Durban beachfront piers and beaches.

There have been some nice sized catches of shad at Umgeni Mouth, which draws a big crowd daily.

Smaller shad have also been caught along the Durban beachfront and one lucky angler caught a nice pompano weighing around 4-5kgs.

Sea and surf conditions have not always been favourable, and water temperatures have been changing constantly with the wind direction.

Anglers at Bluff have enjoyed excellent fishing when brusher suddenly came on the bite.

A number of these hard-fighting fish have been caught and there has been a bit of a rush for anglers to prepare tackle for this species.

A popular bait has been live crab that has produced a few fish.

Some anglers have been trying for copper bream while their brusher baits are in the water.

My suspicion is that the recent drop in water temperatures brought brusher on the bite.

South Coast rock and surf angling remains productive with plenty of shad being caught at most of the popular shad angling spots.

A few big fish weighing over 4kgs have also been caught. Garrick have also come on the bite when anglers were aiming for shad – spoon was used.

Unfortunately some anglers continue to ignore rules pertaining to shad, and they are catching way over the limit on a regular basis.

The problem is that there is a ready market for shad and anglers can sell their fish pretty quickly – even though this is illegal.

Rock anglers down South Coast way have been having some excellent sport fishing for copper bream and some nice sized fish have been landed.

Along with copper bream, stone bream have been plentiful as well, plus the usual small fish one would normally find among the stones.

Unfortunately because of unfavourable surf conditions on some days last week, anglers struggled and expensive fishing tackle was lost among the rocks.

Some big salmon or kob have been have been landed at night at some of the river mouth areas, with shoal salmon coming on the bite as well.

The Umkomaas River Mouth has been producing, and some nice grunter has been caught at night.

However, there remains a curfew in place and everyone needs to be home between 10pm and 4am.

There have been those who take chances, ignoring the curfew and fishing throughout the night.

Local beaches remain mostly deserted owing to closure, but guys fishing north of Salt Rock have managed a few decent edible fish at times.

An angler fishing the rough surf managed to land a nice stumpnose weighing about 5.5kgs and I believe that several garrick have been caught, too.

Shad do not seem to have arrived in their numbers, but there is still another month before the season officially closes.

I am however not confident that anglers will refrain from fishing for shad this year for a number of reasons.

Sea conditions were not really favourable last week because of big swell and strong currents at sea, but once the weather calms down again off-shore conditions should become favourable.

Spring is almost here, and the windy season is not far away either.

Sealice

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