#FishEagle: Good fishing at Umdloti

The long weekend weather was just about as good as it gets with very little wind during the day but still hot and humid plus the occasional thunderstorm at night with light rain.

This trend continued throughout last week and although there was a bit of a swell at to start off with, by mid-week it had dropped and fishing conditions improved.

Unfortunately the swell reading reached close to two metres again on Saturday morning and a moderate to fresh north-easterly wind created uncomfortable beach and fishing conditions.

Sunday was blown out as well because of a south-westerly wind that pushed through during the early morning hours and carried on throughout the day, bringing some rain.

Anglers fishing locally and through to the lower South Coast as far as Port Edward all commented the sea was unsettled and the water at times discoloured.

Local surf anglers continued to record some decent summer flatfish though, with a number of rays of various species being caught, plus a few big sandies.

Guys fishing at Westbrook beach had a reasonably good week catching these inedibles.

There have been rumours of a couple of pompano coming out as well but the anglers are keeping mum about where they were feeding.

Umdloti beach produced a few good catches last week, including a few decent shad. A number of kingfish have also been caught by anglers using lures and live baits when available.

The unsettled surf made fishing among the rocks difficult for the regular rocky outcrop anglers but it seems as if the conditions were ideal for the guys targeting copper bream as several good sized fish were landed.

It has been another fantastic season for copper bream. Stumpies also enjoy the rough conditions and a couple big fish were caught last week.

Unfortunately, anglers seem to be reluctant to reveal the locations of good catches but one cannot blame them because it would just bring the crowds to their favorite fishing spots.

Offshore anglers had a reasonable week. A Durban angler managed to catch a bus bull dorado of 24kg, a fantastic catch so late in the dorado season.

Some decent barracouta were also boated with Umdloti being the most productive area but fish were also caught in the Sea Belle area, Stud Rock and off Ballito.

Anglers continue to catch bonito which are plentiful but yellowtail tuna seem to be feeding out deeper at present.

Decent sized snoek are still being caught in some areas.

The bottom anglers continue to produce better results while fishing the deeper reefs but the guys fishing inshore seem to be scratching a bit. This is probably because the water out deep is not as warm as inshore and more sharks are being found on the shallower reefs.

The usual rock cod and red fish species made up the majority of catches and there has been a bit of geelbek and yellowtail as well. Anglers said that the water was a lot cleaner but currents can still be found in some areas hassling the anglers.

Apparently there is a big fishing competition at Umhlanga Rocks this weekend and offshore anglers will remember the Umhlanga Festival competitions of the past where a good time was had by all and excellent prizes were on offer.

Hopefully the weather will play along.

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