#FishEagle: Winter fish on the move along the North Coast
Spiralling food and fuel costs have seen more people turn to angling to supplement food needs. Regulars are trying to keep crowd levels down at their favourite angling spots.
Winter is setting in and it won’t be too long before the early morning sun does little to warm up rise-and-shine anglers, forcing them to change tactics to accommodate winter fish.
Anglers are already turning their attention south, waiting to hear news of sardine activity.
The Shark’s Board took a flight down the coast last Thursday to see if the rumours were true.
Reports were that dirty water was found all along the coast into the Transkei, making spotting shoals difficult.
In East London large patches of birds were seen sitting in the water but no sardine activity. Only small shoals of baitfish were spotted.
Despite clean-up efforts, Durban beaches remain covered in debris but waters continue to clear each time the southerly winds blow. It cannot be classified as clean yet, with high levels of E.coli detected.
Rock and surf anglers last week found fairly clean water at several angling spots. A few shad were caught around first light but anglers are reluctant to say where.
Shad seem to be a bit fussy lately, but anglers using red eye sardine and Japanese mackerel are enjoying the most productive fishing. This time of year draws out surf anglers who take to the rocks in search of copper bream and other species.
On Sunday morning water temperatures were higher than historical levels by some 3 degrees Celsius, meaning anglers fishing the rocky outcrops may struggle for catches.
Kingfish have been on the bite recently though, averaging six to 10 kilos in weight and guaranteed to provide a good fight.
Night-time anglers have been catching shoal salmon, grunter and at times big stumpies, but are reminded to be alert when fishing at night.
Baby squid has proven to be productive bait for shoal salmon, while grunter seem to prefer sealice or prawn baits. Stumpies enjoy a variety of baits, but lately there have been a lot of peckers stripping fillet baits in seconds, hence the preference for squid or whole crab.
With water temperatures remaining high, offshore anglers can always expect to catch themselves a big crocodile-sized couta. These prefer live bait.
Surf-ski anglers will find decent snoek along the discoloured water line, specifically at Selection Beach and Umdloti. Couta seem to have a preference for deeper, cleaner water and anglers using trapsticks have been rewarded with the occasional nice dorado.
Although the ocean is slowly clearing up, anglers will have to continue searching for clean waters when fishing for game fish.
With an apparent scramble for daga and geelbek salmon at night out at sea, it may be best to book a charter.
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