Last week was one of variable winds – at times from the south, and on other days from the north.

What was noticeable was that the sea water temperature dropped around two degrees.

Despite some hot and humid days, early first light times indicate that change is on the way and the winter period not too far away.

The weekend weather conditions were kind to anglers for a change, resulting in the guys taking advantage of the favourable fishing conditions.

Shad anglers found things quiet last week though, with just a few fish being caught. The Durban basin produced most of the action.

Most shad caught were on the small side and it is a bit early in the season for the small green china shad that normally arrive in huge shoals.

The water temperature needs to drop a bit more before the shad will begin to move up the coast.

Few shad were caught on the South Coast and what happens there is always a good pointer for the shad run.

The favourable early autumn weather has resulted in excellent surf angling conditions, therefore local anglers who enjoy fishing at night have begun to put in some productive hours and a few decent fish have been recorded so far.

Big stumpies have been on the bite and shoal salmon are on the move in certain areas. Locations where these fish have been caught have not been revealed for obvious reasons.

Anglers not into night fishing can now apply the drop shot method in the favourable surf conditions and the rocky gullies should begin to produce some nice catches.

A few copper bream have been caught recently and other edible species expected are the much sought after pompano that should be on the bite soon, plus lantern bream and big blacktail.

For anglers choosing to use bait instead of the drop shot method, crayfish, prawn and crab baits are recommended.

Offshore anglers found plenty of snoek operating inshore again last week and some excellent catches were recorded in several areas, including the known lower North Coast snoek haunts.

Along with the snoek, one or two prodigal son and in the Durban area queenfish were also caught.

This year is proving to be one of the better snoek seasons and at times they seem to be everywhere.

The inshore waters off La Mercy are producing a fair number of snoek this year but unfortunately there seems to be plenty of sharks around as well and many hooked fish are being lost.

Couta are also providing anglers with some excellent sport but again most hooked fish have been lost to sharks.

The most productive area last week was from the Umdloti mouth in the north to around the Bluff off Durban.

It is unfortunate that there are so many sharks about this year, and they are not operating just in the shallow water but out deep as well where they are wreaking havoc.

One angler mentioned that eight out of every ten fish hooked have been lost to sharks.

Fishing on the bottom produced some excellent results last week with a few fish of note being caught.

A couple of sizeable cracker were caught along with some big reds and the usual species of rock cod. In some areas anglers found half-kob on the bite.

Conditions were more settled at sea last week and some big dorado were also caught by anglers fishing at anchor.

Anglers with time on their hands could consider a trip up to Tugela mouth where it has been reported that labotes are now again on the bite.

These strange fish, also known as tripletail, eat almost anything and the Tugela anglers have mentioned they use birds and even chicken as bait for this species.

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