#FishEagle: Offshore angling heats up

The number of sand sharks and rays being caught locally and all along the coastline are increasing, which is exciting news for those who target these hard-fighting summer inedibles.

The area from Blythedale Beach northwards is producing most of the flatfish.

Already a couple of “smash-ups” have been recorded, with anglers left with a lot less line on their reels after being picked up by one of the big rays.

Guys suitably equipped to do battle with these biggies have experienced some excellent action, thankfully returning them back to the water.

There are some nice sized edible fish on the bite as well, with bronze bream still providing some action. Many salmon or kob have also been caught.

The river mouth areas are normally the best areas to fish for kob, and with quite a lot of ginger beer water around other popular areas are also producing good catches.

Anglers fishing for salmon have managed to hook into the odd big stumpnose and some big grunter were caught at night as well.

The Tugela River mouth has been fishing well lately with a lot of salmon or kob being caught, with dagas and shoal salmon also in the mix.

Offshore angling is now becoming really productive with the summer game fish slowly beginning to appear.

At present it is mostly up north where most of the action is taking place.

The recent billfish tournament at Sodwana Bay produced sailfish and one angler landed and released a blue marlin.

Cape Vidal is always popular at this time of year and many fish have been caught recently when the winds allowed.

Sailfish, barracouta, big snoek, plenty of dorado and a few big wahoo have been landed, but quite a number of catches were lost to the inevitable sharks.

Local offshore anglers have also managed to catch a couple of dorado, plus one or two couta and yellowfin tuna.

Most anglers are opting to fish the productive bottom reefs where a couple of big cracker have been recorded.

Big rock cod, some daga, geelbek salmon and red fish species have been busy as well.

The guys fishing a little shallower have found half kob at times but barbell have been a bit of a problem on some reefs where anglers targeted the rubber lips and lantern bream.

Surf ski anglers have also managed to find a few fish, with snoek off Umdloti remaining plentiful at present.

One or two nice sized garrick are still being caught but these are now becoming far and few between as the water warms.

Cape yellowtail are making their presence felt. They really pull one’s arms off and with plenty of bait available, anglers should begin to record some big yellowtail among their catches.

Durban bay is still producing grunter, while salmon, springer and big mullet are rapidly increasing in numbers.

Snapper salmon seem to be the most plentiful of the salmon species in the bay but soon sand sharks and skates can be expected to come on the bite.

Surf anglers recently caught some really big bull mullet but as yet there has not been any news of three spot pompano or wave garrick as this species is widely known.

Unfortunately tobies are quickly becoming a nuisance, stripping baits without the angler feeling anything at all.

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