#FishEagle: Murky waters test anglers’ resolve

The weather and sea conditions were favourable for quality fishing in the week before Christmas.

This changed between Christmas and New Year when weather conditions deteriorated, with rain during the week and then north-easterly winds throughout the weekend.

The rain continued from New Year’s eve for most of the following week, causing rivers to flood and murky water contaminating the sea.

Before Christmas, rock and surf anglers found a variety of edible fish on the bite. Shad were caught in some areas but it was mainly the small fish that produced most of the action.

Three spot pompano or wave garrick were plentiful, feeding over a wide area, and a few moonfish or moonies were caught as well.

The Tongaat River mouth produced some excellent sport for anglers with pompano being caught in the ideal fishing conditions.

Despite the rain, the following week saw inedibles back on the bite and several big fish were landed. The summer sandies and rays provided most of the activity but several sharks were also caught offering visitors some great action.

The mixture of good and bad weather the week after New Year and the flooding rivers depositing the usual debris and plastic into the ocean, resulted in anglers being hard pressed to find reasonably clean water.

There has been an increase in the number of sharks being caught by local surf anglers, which is inevitable in the dirty water.

Although a few decent sized edibles such as the odd shad, kob, salmon and snapper salmon were landed, it is the time of the year the big sandsharks and rays will move into the local beaches to provide sport for anglers targeting them. It is good to see that the inedibles are now being returned unharmed to the water.

Game fish anglers found plenty of dorado out in the deeper waters and some big ones were caught, especially off Durban. A couple weighed in over 20kg, with one tipping the scale at 30kg.

Among the dorado one or two big wahoo emerged. Marlin are now also providing strikes to those targeting them. Two nice striped marlin plus a black marlin have been caught and released.

The water will have to clear up a bit before the barracouta make their presence felt, but snoek should be patrolling the dirty water mark and surf ski anglers are still catching snoek from time to time.

Anglers continue to be rewarded when fishing the bottom reefs, with nice-sized Cape yellowtail plus various species of big rock cod, soldiers, slinger and the odd mussel cracker keeping anglers busy.

A few geelbek salmon have also been feeding out deep but unfortunately anglers have also been taxed by sharks cruising the reefs, which is normal at this time of the year in the warmer waters.

More rain is predicted for this week and this could mean more murky water, so rock and surf anglers will have their work cut out to find good catches.

While pompano were beginning to come on the bite, they avoid dirty water and those searching for edible fish may need to target salmon and snapper salmon as the water clears a little.

Kingfish sometimes move into discoloured water but sharks are likely to be a nuisance as usual.

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