#FishEagle: Anglers persevere amid weather disruption

Weather conditions continue to hamper anglers, preventing many from casting a line, whether on the beach or at sea.

From hot to cold, and with winds blowing from the north and then the south, only early mornings proved fruitful for fishing.

Weekend anglers faced the worst conditions of all as a north-easterly wind blew in on Saturday, with rain at first light on Sunday accompanied by a light southerly wind.

Guys lucky enough to fish during the week said early mornings were most productive before winds picked up. Deep-sea anglers also managed limited angling around dawn.

Deep-sea fishing spots off the coast of Cape Vidal continue to produce plenty of game fish, including sailfish. A few crocodile-sized barracouta, some big yellowfin, plenty of dorado and kingfish and a number of snoek have been caught.

Southern anglers enjoyed hectic fishing, and those at Zinkwazi have found dorado, tuna and even kingfish. But angling was limited and anglers had to choose their spots carefully owing to the adverse weather conditions.

Increased catches have been reported off Durban, especially of yellowfin tuna and dorado – notably among anchored ships. Fortunately, the water remains fairly clean at present and around 23.5 degrees Celsius – ideal for fishing.

Shad continues to be plundered during early mornings. Kob and salmon are still found in the surf at some areas, and during the week a monster daga salmon was caught weighing in at 49kg.

This was caught at Port Shepstone.

Plenty of big grunter can be found at the bay, and there have been a few caught around Durban North beaches at night.

Sandy beaches are now producing a number of big rays, including species of duckbills, eagle and diamonds. Anglers targeting shad have found themselves in tremendous battles after hooking into skates.

A reminder to release these hard-fighting fish alive and unharmed back to the water instead of leaving carcasses to rot on the beach.

There are plenty of bait fish for anglers in the surf at present as wave garrick, mullet and moonfish can be found almost anywhere. All these bait species are excellent to target garrick which continue to be caught.

The grunter run should be in full swing up north and I believe the estuary at St Lucia is open to the sea with a fair flow of salt water flowing in.

Mapelane is another excellent grunter angling spot and at this time of the year it does not take long to record a bag limit of grunter on every outing.

Prawn, shrimp or even sealice will guarantee a pull, so a trip up north could be well worthwhile.

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