#FishEagle: South Coast anglers reel in shad and copper bream

There was plenty of baitfish activity in the vicinity of the harbour entrance last week with baitballs being observed along the other beaches as well.

pectators on North Beach were treated to a baitball being smashed by garrick, kingfish and queenfish along the backline plus there were sightings of salmon below the baitball as well.

Offshore anglers said that they observed a feeding frenzy by snoek just off the harbour entrance as the fish attacked shoals of sprats and mackerel.

Netters managed a couple of successful nets catching mixed bags of natal sardines and mackerel.

Surf anglers fishing Durban North beaches caught a variety of edible fish last week, beginning with a few big shad at first light at Blue Lagoon. One angler fishing at Virginia managed four pompano weighing around one kilo each then a couple of nice grunter at Glenashley.

There were also several garrick caught along the Durban North stretch as well plus a couple of nice salmon and stumpies caught in the dark.

Nearer to home, the fishing is still a bit patchy with a few shad in the early mornings plus garrick in the Tongaat area and a few fish amongst the rocks.

Anglers fishing the rocky gullies found some outsized blacktail on the bite plus the odd copperbream and a few other odds and ends.

Peckers are a bit of a problem at present, really frustrating anglers trying to catch karranteen plus the outsized blacktail.

It is not often that these big blacktail are caught locally with some of the fish weighing near one kilo and the cooler water may have had a hand in the fish moving inshore.

The time for the best catch prospects at present remains at first light for the shad and salmon, but the abundance of food inshore may result in very few fish being caught and this includes the garrick which are plentiful.

The South Coast rock and surf anglers are the guys catching most of the fish.

Shad are being caught in their numbers with the fish varying in size but there has been the odd whopper of a shad caught at various venues.

The smaller shad seem to be mostly found along the lower South Coast beaches where the rocky outcrops are proving to be the places to fish.

The copper bream are back on the bite and divers have reported that the copper bream are massing on the reefs.

Big blacktail are also on the bite and I believe that the odd nice rockcod is being caught amongst the rocks.

Surprisingly there do not seem to be many garrick being caught along the upper South Coast beaches, even though plenty of shad and karranteen are being caught.

The South Westerly bringing a big swell could be what is needed to shake up the fishing along the upper South Coast and even the local fishing venues.

Offshore anglers are mainly concentrating on fishing the bottom reefs where there have been some notable catches recently, but last week there was an increase in shark activity.

Daga salmon seem to be found almost everywhere and red fish and rockcod continue to keep anglers happy.

Apparently there have been one or two really nice yellowbelly rockcod caught in local waters recently out fairly deep but patches of cold water did hamper the anglers at times.

A big swell predicted for the beginning of the week could keep anglers shorebound and the swell will not help the surf launch anglers also.

Sealice.

Stay in the loop with The North Coast Courier on Facebook, X, Instagram & YouTube for the latest news.

Mobile users can join our WhatsApp Broadcast Service here or if you’re on desktop, scan the QR code below.