August, typically known to be a month of winds and rough seas, delivered a blow on its final day for the month which the North Coast had not seen in some time.

The south to north current ran like a river at sea and couple with the huge swell, taking a shot at fishing would not only have been impossible but dangerous, too.

People stood in awe of the ocean, not believing the sheer size of the waves which lashed the coast.

One can expect heavy erosion of beach sand in parts. But, most of the sandbanks that have built up during the year will now be gone, which is good news for crayfish divers and anglers who fish the rocky gullies.

Sardines continued to pass by several upper South Coast beaches last week, where in Durban these fish were being sold for a dozen at R20 with the hope of moving product swiftly.

While sardines were plentiful this year, numbers do not compare to the year prior. I suspect adverse weather to be the culprit.

While historically offshore angling has been quite at times with few fish caught at the bottom reefs and gamefish grounds, this year the signs indicate an early arrival of the summer gamefish season with recent big catches of yellowfin tuna.

A couple of fish have already been caught, and no doubt anglers will target these as soon as they return to the water.

Rocky gullies were unfishable last week, owing to strong winds.

Just prior to that, copper bream were said to still be performing wildly.

Prawn seems to be the preferred bait.

I believe there are still some big blacktail and the usual karranteen around.

From what I know, beaches remain closed from Umgeni River Mouth up to Westbrook, but I’m sure big seas would have removed the E. coli problem, unless raw sewage is still finding its way out to sea.

Shad anglers should have something to look forward to owing to recent good catches down south. Now is the time for blue shad to move up the coast to spawn, bringing with them some outsized fish to be caught.

Fishing ought to improve this week, so tight lines to all.

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