#FishEagle: Heavy rains curb good catches

Sealice is back in action this week after some time away dealing with health problems, something readers will surely hope remain a thing of the past.

Fishing along the coastline remains poor with the recent heavy rains – unusual for this time of year – but on the flip side the rains have helped clear pollution from some rivers in flood.

But waters remain dirty for the time being, of course, negatively impacting the angling fraternity.

There have been occasions when species such as stumpies and even small pompano have suddenly appeared in local waters and anglers have scored when they had their lines in the water.

Recently, surf anglers fishing at Durban have experienced some excellent fishing and have caught a number of small pompano found feeding on sealice. Unfortunately, the Umgeni River has been depositing dirty water out to sea and when the north-easterly winds pick up, this dirty water flows southward, turning fish off from the bite. Fish then opt to feed only once the water has cleared.

Normally, the sandy flat beaches are quiet except for summer flat fish and sharks, so most of the local anglers revert to fishing rocky outcrops and gullies in the hope of catching something worth talking about.

It is the time of the year for the big pompano to arrive and any time anglers see calm, clean surf conditions, they should cast their lines and target them.

Pompano do not usually feed early in the morning and seem to prefer mid-morning periods. Crayfish or live crab baits are highly recommended, but it has been known for pompano to take sealice, mussel and chokka baits at times.

Fairly strong tackle is recommended when fishing for pompano as these fish seem to prefer the rocky areas. Losing fish on light tackle is fairly common.

Deep sea anglers have had another pretty good game fish season again this year with just the elements spoiling fishing conditions when fish begin to feed.

Many dorado have been caught and for the second year running couta have arrived, and some big ‘crocodiles’ have been caught in several areas.

During the recent long weekend, offshore fishing conditions were pretty good and on Sunday morning two fish of note were subdued by offshore spear fishermen.

The first was shot off Sheffield Beach, and when brought ashore the diver found that he had speared a GT Kingfish weighing 40.5kg. That is a real big kingie and one of this size can really do some damage if not speared properly.

The second fish of note was a decent sized marlin shot off Westbrook Beach. It is not every day that a spear fisherman has a chance of spearing a decent sized marlin. It could very well be a catch of a lifetime.

As usual for this time of the year, several offshore angling competitions have been held recently and some really good catches were weighed. But anglers have had to put up with varying weather conditions at times that created difficult fishing experiences.

Most of the big barracouta seem to have been caught in and around the Durban area, and anglers fishing around the corner of the Bluff have done well at times.

Early morning launch conditions were pretty good last Saturday with just a bit of a breeze and the anglers continue to target game fish.

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