#FishEagle: Weather gods smile on anglers
Sea and surf conditions moderated nicely, resulting in a low swell reading but rivers are still flowing strongly out to sea keeping the water brown and still feeding in weeds and other debris.
This past week it seemed as though the weather gods apologised for their bad behaviour, with beautifully sunny days and little to no wind.
Cool weather at first light on most days, with rain greeting anglers come the weekend, but mostly at night.
Come Tuesday night, a colleague rang me to say he and his family went to the beach after work. When they arrived they saw a small group of anglers fishing, but it appeared as though not much was happening, again owing to the brown water.
After some time, two more anglers rigged up their gear and cast out their baited lines. After only a few minutes one of the angler’s rod was bending and he reeled in a shad weighing over 1kg.
Having put the fish away and hooking up more fresh bait, his partner happened to land a nice shad about the same size. The other group had not had a bite.
The first angler cast his line again, and again pulled out another shad, also roughly the same size.
This continued for about 15 minutes, catch after catch, while the other group caught nothing.
While cleaning and packing up, my colleague had a chat with the anglers to find out their secret. He said all he could think was that they used red eye sardine for bait, while the others used normal pilchards.
Last shad season, anglers used Japanese mackerel and more fish were caught regularly compared to those using Natal, or normal, pilchards.
It has been reported that snoek have been feeding along dirty water lines, so backline anglers should keep a careful eye on conditions. Areas to watch are Selection, south of Umdloti. La Mercy and Sweet Water just south of Ballito.
Fish have been feeding mostly at first light but expect to be hassled by sharks.
Ski boat anglers fishing off Durban continue to catch big yellowfin tuna and the odd big couta. Anglers launching up the coast should check surf conditions in case of dangerous debris.
Once beyond the dirty waters, anglers should find some decent fish.
There are big couta to be caught and, recently, there have been some nice bottom fish catches.
With roads still closed, travelling to some launch sites could be difficult.
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