#FishEagle: Tough conditions for anglers

It was anglers versus the elements with rain and strong north easterly winds that whipped up wild surf and a strong drift running like a river last week.

I was watching surf anglers struggling to keep their lines in the water early on Friday morning because of the current, and the north easterly wind that was on the water before first light. As a result angling was a little slow.

Normally this is a quiet time for rock and surf anglers with shad the most abundant species and the garrick feeding mainly at the river mouths.

Like last year, if anglers are not refraining from fishing for shad during the closed season and the popular spots are fished every morning at first light.

Rough surf conditions are ideal for anglers to target stumpnose which enjoy the rough surf because there is plenty of white water to hide in, plus the churn up produces many food opportunities.

I never saw anyone targeting stumpies as all were trying for blue shad, but I am sure that had any baits been prepared for a stumpie they could have produced excellent results.

There have been several big stumpies caught already this year but few were caught by anglers really targeting them.

Last week’s rough surf, mixed with the dirty water, did not allow for the targeting of garrick from shore.

With the windy season well established plus the grunter congregating up north, it makes sense to take a few days to book accommodation and fish for grunter.

St Lucia is a popular venue for anglers to target grunter, whether in the surf or in the estuary.

The problem with Cape Vidal is that the north easterly wind can really howl all day long and make being on the beach really uncomfortable.

Offshore anglers sometimes relate the month of November to the beginning of the game fish season and already dorado arrived, plus the inevitable tuna that seem to be around throughout the year.

November is when big game anglers converge on Sodwana Bay to compete in the annual billfish tournament.

The tournament is really competitive and is catch and release which is great news.

I remember being at Sodwana one summer when an angler brought a big sailfish ashore and was about to weigh the fish when one of the oceanographic scientists asked to do a couple of measurements first.

The scientist estimated the fish to weigh 95 pounds and he was correct.

There was a fair crowd listening intently to the commentary about the life of the sailfish and it was not long after that trip that the unwritten rule became known to rather tag and release any billfish caught.

The area to fish the big billfish at Sodwana is known as Diep Gat.

It resembles an old volcano because when checking an echo sounder, one can see the depth seems to drop off the scale and after some distance it becomes shallow again.

Hopefully the weather and sea conditions will be more favourable this week, and the temperature of the sea water should begin to slowly rise and the Mozambique current begin to move close to shore.

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