It is once again that time of year when the curious lobote fish enters North Coast waters.
This strange fish, also known as the triple tail, is only found locally at the Tugela Mouth and is caught using unusual baits such as dead chickens or other birds. They are typically found right at the river mouth around May and sometimes reappear in December. The flesh of the lobote is very oily and slightly coarse, but quite palatable.
Further south there were challenging swell and surf conditions for offshore anglers and water temperatures of around 24.5°C that proved too high for good rock and surf fishing. However one large G.T. kingfish hooked by an angler off Tongaat beach – a catch he will no doubt remember.
Some couta were found off Umdloti and the Bluff and the bottom anglers scored some sizeable fish including soldiers and slingers of note, some large spotted and captain fine rockcod, plus a few half-kob, geelbek and the odd daga salmon.
It was interesting to hear that a Garrick was caught off the Umhlanga lighthouse during the Durban Ski Boat festival, which could mean the start of another fantastic season for the fish. It is still a bit early to tell but the last few years have been great for Garrick hunters and it is not the first time they have appeared in May.
The official stats are out and 89 fish were caught at that festival, which showed how difficult fishing was given 700 anglers entered. Last year 200 couta were caught alone, aside from the wahoo, dorado, bonito, snoek and tuna.
Dirty water continues to affect the southern coast, with only some small blacktail and stone bream reported among the rocks. The Umkomaas area was looking promising before the heavy rains, but it is probably still worth avoiding until the water clears completely.
There was no news of shad last week except way down south at Port Edward where a few small ones were found.
Weather forecasts are much more favourable this week and more time on the water will almost certainly produce better catches.
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