Big swells and a cold front made for a tricky weekend of angling after a few weeks of good signs.

Chilly temperatures, wind, rain and wave heights of over three metres meant both offshore and rock and surf anglers struggled to make the most of the Easter weekend.

There were some good catches earlier in the week however, including some decent pompano, copper bream and shad. It is a little strange that shad are in North Coast waters at this time of year as they usually appear in numbers in November, but anglers are not complaining. Shad were hooked at both Ballito and Salt Rock, while pompano were popular at Tinley Manor.

There is good news from South Coast anglers who have started catching some sizeable karranteen and blacktail, which is an excellent sign for locals as the fish move north. Karranteen have been scarce for a few years so it is good to see them back. Some small brusher and copper bream were also found in the area, but no further garrick have been spotted since the one hauled in at Margate Pier. It’s early days still.

The big swells also meant many offshore anglers chose not to launch, with most choosing to focus on this weekend’s Durban Ski Boat festival, which already has over 200 boats registered.

The long range weather forecast looks good, which means the popular game fish grounds will be pretty crowded as anglers target big crocodile sized barracouta.

One popular area continues to be Umdloti, which has produced lots of snoek, while wahoo, yellowfin tuna and bonito can be found over a wide area. Live bait is reportedly a little scarce, but most anglers will have a stock to use during the competition and there are also some fantastic lures available at present.

Some nice sized half-kob have caught the attention of anglers fishing the bottom, while soldiers, rockcod and the odd daga salmon and grunter have also been on the bite. The water temperature is consistent at between 24 and 25°C and this week should be productive for offshore angling.

There have been some enquiries about sardines recently but it is still too early to get excited about these fish. We await news from the Eastern Cape and a drop in water temperature before the sardines hit our stretch of coastline.

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