South Coast anglers are reeling in shad at a furious pace, with only empty bait buckets and sleep slowing the action during this year’s shad run.

Some big fish typically caught offshore have also been hooked by surf anglers among the tail end of the sardines, adding another bonus to what has been a fantastic season.

Over the past few weeks, some sizeable musselcracker, snoek and a few barracouta have been landed, along with a big yellowbelly rockcod and even a yellowfin tuna for two lucky surf anglers.

Sardines were still pulled in at Umzumbe and Mnini last week, but most remaining shoals recently sighted were offshore and out of range of netters. Among the sardine shoals, there have been plenty of baitfish – including mackerel and maasbanker – common towards the end of the sardine run.

Shad running wild

Despite the variety, much of the angling chatter on the South Coast has turned to shad where the action has been relentless.

There is an unfortunate side effect to these conditions and some anglers are showing a total disregard for size and catch limits, including one who was found with eighty shad.

South Coast residents are also starting to complain about the mess being left behind.

Locals have begun to dread the onset of the shad season as crowds stream in, which occasionally become an unruly mob. When shad are running, some anglers seem to grow horns and angling turns to tangling, with abusive language and threats of violence common.

Closer to home, some shad have been pulled in at first light, but nothing like the South Coast returns.

Anglers fishing the rocky gullies have fared better, with karranteen and some sizeable blacktail providing great sport. The karranteen are ideal for use as live bait and they have been used to catch big daga salmon at Port Shepstone.

Garrick also feed on karranteen and the signs are there for another good season, particularly at the popular Durban North beaches.

Stumpies, a few grey sharks and a rare grunter caught on a sealice bait were all also recently hooked at Durban North. Most surf anglers from Durban and further north are waiting for the shad to arrive in big numbers however.

Looking forward, the water temperature of 21°C is perfect for the much sought after brusher, which should appear locally once the surf settles. Anglers fishing their favourite rocky areas could also find copper bream back on the bite soon.

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