#FishEagle: From disrupted plans to crocodile-sized catches over Easter weekend
April and May have historically been known as the "time of the crocodiles" as the big couta arrive.
The north-easterly winds were pumping during the first part of last week, creating wild seas and discoloured water.
This obviously disrupted fishing plans.
The surf was wild with a wave height of about eight feet at times and the north to south wash was running like a river. Trying to keep bait out in those conditions would have been impossible.
Fortunately there was a change in the weather by Thursday morning and a light southerly wind began to calm things down and clean up the water a bit.
By Friday morning the swell reading at sea was just over one and a half metres and the wave height just over a metre, allowing anglers to get back to business at the beginning of the long weekend.
Unfortunately the north-easterly wind returned on Sunday.
Reports from anglers were few and far between, especially during the first half of the week because of the adverse sea and weather conditions.
The die-hards who persevered took a hammering from the rough surf and as expected, very few fish were caught.
A few copper bream were caught but the venues were not disclosed. Copper bream seem to be widespread at present with reports coming from the South Coast as well.
Small salmon or kob were also reportedly on the bite with a few of these fish being caught along the coastline. Fishing in the surf for the salmon could not have been easy because of their strong current.
Summer flatfish catches seem to be declining as we move further into autumn. At present anglers generally regard this time of the year as the in between season as the early winter fish have not yet arrived.
The first two days of the Easter weekend were perfect for anglers to wet their lines. I have not received any catch results yet but I can surmise, looking at the sea conditions, that one or two nice pompano were caught as the surf was perfect for the pompano to feed.
Anglers fishing the rocky gullies must have had great fun catching copper bream, lantern bream plus some big blacktail and stone bream.
The returning north-easterly was blowing hard enough to chase anglers off the beaches on Sunday and for some this meant the end of their weekend angling as they began to prepare for their trips back home.
A huge four-metre swell kept the offshore anglers off the water for most of last week. Some larger charter craft persevered for limited outings as the wind allowed, but fishing in the rough seas and strong currents resulted in sparse catch reports.
The usual bottom fish, including rock cod and the red fish species made up the small catches but conditions did not allow much time on the reefs.
Before first light on Friday morning the offshore skippers were already launching and heading out to their favourite game fish fishing grounds.
There were a few nice-sized couta caught but many were again lost to the taxman.
Cape Vidal and Richards Bay anglers reported a few crocodile-sized couta being caught at the start of the weekend. Now the time that these big couta begin to move into local waters and the months of April and May have historically been known as the “time of the crocodiles”.
The yellowfin tuna are still a bit scarce out in the deep but bonito are still plentiful with shoals being reported all along the coast.
This year the bonito seem to have arrived in their thousands and anglers should persevere and catch some bait for future fishing trips.
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