#FishEagle: Good weather brings rewards

The prevailing good coastal weather conditions last week allowed anglers to find decent fishing grounds – until Saturday when a south-westerly wind pushed through at night bringing in the cold.

Debris from the recent floods still caused some disruption at certain locations.

Meanwhile, about 600 anglers participated in the Durban Ski Boat Club’s fishing festival, all eager to claim the first prize of a fully-equipped ski boat valued at about R600 000.

Unfortunately, the south-westerly buster resulted in anglers experiencing rough seas and winds on Saturday, with many calling it a day early.

Dawn on the second day saw few fish of note caught. The winning fish was a 25.5kg barracouta.

Apart from a few other good sized barracouta, a couple of yellowfin tuna and dorado of around 9kg, plus a snoek of 7kg were also caught.

Anglers said finding clean waters meant work. It will take some time for the sea to clean up.

Rock and surf anglers are scoring after several lean weeks, with a couple of local spots producing nice sized shad at first light. Fish are larger than normal for this time of year, when small green shad move up the coast.

Most of the fish are under the legal catch size of 300mm. Like their offshore counterparts, rock and surf anglers have had to search for decent fishing waters.

Now is the time to visit the South Coast for edible fish. Apart from shad, anglers had good catches of shoal salmon or kob in the dark, plus a few big grunter. Chokka or bay squid have proved to be good bait, fillet also being productive.

Garrick should begin moving up the coast. In recent years, those fishing for garrick found them on the bite in May. There are a few really nice lures which persevere over and above the traditional plugs and live baits. Old school anglers prefer their favourite spoons which have proven productive and of course, there are anglers who choose to use no bait at all.

For those not fishing for game fish, fishing the rocky gullies can produce fish especially when copper bream arrive, and when stumpnose move inshore. This should be soon, and expect bream or cave bass to feed in shallower waters.

Sharks have been plentiful, which is understandable because of murky waters. If hooked, please return sharks to the water unharmed.

Anglers are reminded of the legal catch limit for shad at 300mm, with a limit of four fish. The legal size for salmon or kob is 600mm, with a limit of one fish, owing to these being endangered.

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