#FishEagle: Rain throws spanner in the works

The rivers are now flowing strongly after the weekend’s downpour and water had to be released from the Hazelmere Dam.

The obvious end result is chocolate coloured water pouring into the sea from the Umdloti River and winds are distributing it north and south.

More rains are expected, meaning anglers will have to put up with murky sea water conditions for some while yet.

Last week rock and surf anglers found non-edible fish on the bite.

But the warm water has brought with it plenty of jellyfish and bluebottles that have stung many anglers when they came into contact with the tentacles.

It was inevitable that the discoloured water would attract sharks into the surf, and grey sharks are being caught all along the coast.

Other species have included much sought after diamond rays.

When the water was a bit clearer during the week, sand sharks were on the bite along Durban’s north beaches and a couple of big fish were landed – and returned to the water.

To find edible fish, rock and surf anglers may have to travel this week to find water that is not chocolate coloured.

Areas to try for salmon are Salt Rock, Sheffield and Tinley Manor but this will depend on the water quality.

Anglers who enjoy fishing the rocky outcrops may struggle a bit, although some kingfish species do not mind if the water is discoloured.

The odd big shad had been caught but I think they may now stay away from the beaches considering the condition they are in at present.

Off-shore anglers caught some big dorado last week weighing in the vicinity of 20kg and above. Most of the fish were caught in the deeper waters where one or two sizeable wahoo were boated as well.

The water was purple out deep and billfish activity was observed.

Although the warm water is in close proximity of the shore now, the murkiness will keep the game fish in deep. Unfortunately sharks have now appeared and are striking anything that has been hooked.

Two big tuna were taken by sharks after they were hooked last week, so getting game fish on board without being attacked is a problem and there were many grumpy anglers last week who lost decent catches.

Fishing the bottom reefs continues to produce good results with a variety of reef fish being caught. Cape yellowtail, various rock cod species, soldiers, slinger, the odd Englishman plus one or two musselcracker have all made up catches recently.

Before the sharks arrived, anglers experienced hassle free fishing on the bottom but now they will probably lose many to sharks.

The sharks arrive every year during the summer and the trick is to fish reefs where there are no sharks and when they arrive, move off to another area, frustrating as this may be.

The discoloured water has seen a bit of a change in the fishing in Durban’s bay. Fish caught recently have mostly been small and the big grunter have given way to smaller fish along with snapper salmon and one or two small kingfish.

The heavy rain resulted in structural damage that included sewerage plants in the Durban area, so there is a good possibility of raw sewerage contaminating the bay so anglers should steer clear for the time being.

Water from the Umdloti and Tongaat rivers will still flood into the sea this week so there will probably be a lot of debris in the Tongaat river mouth, Westbrook, La Mercy and Umdloti areas.

Follow The North Coast Courier on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube for breaking news

WhatsApp Broadcast Service: https://chat.whatsapp.com/BdGZsGJEAf04AXZ2yLWi8T