Herald Fishing: Winter fishing picks up

FISHING has definitely picked up over the past week. Better conditions have meant a lot more fishing and a lot more fish getting caught.

The rock and surf fishing has started to move towards edible targeting and away from the flappy and toothy summer fish.

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You can still target these summer brutes but they are much less common in the colder months.

There have been grunter, pompano, stumpies, cavebass, rubberlips, brusher, blacktail and bronze bream to name a few.

All these fish are there for you to target if you use the correct tackle. Lighter tackle allows you to move around and effectively target all the right areas.

Scale down on your trace snoots as well to see the best results. Baits include sealice, crackers, prawns and chokka.

You can use the fleshy fish baits, but they generally attract the moray eels.

Use circle hooks in various sizes depending on the target species and you will see more hookups and less getting stuck.

Anglers fishing on the Sandspit in Port Shepstone have been catching a lot of snapper salmon, stone bream and grunter.

The bass and carp are still going strong and the trout fishing is picking up every day.

Bass have been smashing the artificial top water frogs.

If you have not experienced a top water frog bass, get your hands on some frogs, head to the nastiest piece of weedy water and hold on for the explosion.

This time of year sees the fish start to hunt bigger food items to fatten up for the colder months.

Frogs, mice and fish are all present at this time and the bass clue in on this.

Choose your bigger lures and look for areas where there is some deeper water for that big momma to hide.

Tight lines and screaming reels. 

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