Getting HOOKED

FISHING over last week was up and down in all facets.

The Ski Boat fraternity enjoyed superb fishing on some days and terrible, fishless days the next.

The Rock and Surf has been the same. With the weather unable to make up its mind, it seems the trends will be the same for a while. So prepare your tackle and make the most of every fishing outing.

The offshore reports have been nice to read over the past week with all facets enjoying some lovely fishing. There have been some big tuna and couta coming out along the coast and anglers boasting about their catches.

The North Coast has definitely been the land of plenty when it comes to offshore reports over the past few weeks. The snoek continue to feed well on certain days, but true to form they will ignore the same presentation the day after. Make sure you have all three common targeting methods available when going for these elusive light tackle game fish.

That is small spoons (like the Kingfisher Anchovy spoon) on a flick stick, lures to troll (Strike Pro Magic Minnow, a small Rattler or a Clark spoon) as well as some fillet baits.

The couta have also been gracing the decks and hatches of the boys up north over the past week. There have been some slabs landed and a few beasts lost to offshore SARS.

Live bait in the form of mackerel or maasbanker have been the weapons of choice. The Durban area has been fairly consistent… reports of tuna, couta and dorado came in in dribs and drabs for the last week.

During this time of year you are likely to come across all sorts of species when fishing the more popular spots.

It is highly recommended that you drift with your live baits out and then work a soft plastic or spoon in the area to bring the fish from far out to your bait.

Also, make sure you have your tuna popper at the ready. For this type of fishing (throwing poppers), you need a rod that can throw a popper accurately and far.

We highly recommend an 8’6” with the Poseidon Offshore Popping or Daiwa Saltist Popping being the best choices.

If you are on a fishing ski and need multi-purpose rods, you can get away with using a “jigging” rod for this application. Remember that the stealth of the ski means you can get closer to the dolphins without spooking them and therefore do not need to throw as far.

For the reels, I would go with a Daiwa Saltist or BG and load it with 40-50lb J-Braid. This set-up will pull anything you hook.

The South Coast has been a hit-and-miss affair over the last couple of weeks. Some have enjoyed spectacular fishing while others have been left watching TV.

Live bait has been the most consistent producer of fish but trolling to find the fish is still the fastest way of getting into the right location.

Purple and black have been the top colours for trolled lures in the south with the deeper divers out fishing the shallow-lipped lures almost 3 to 1.

If you want to fish for the billfish, make your way out to the deep and make sure to add a red and black Kona to your spread (you will quickly find out why).

The hype and excitement around the big flatfish smashes up north have died somewhat but they are still feeding there if you make the trip.

The edible fishing has begun to pick up and there have been some nice pompano and stumpnose caught by the anglers targeting them.

As I mentioned earlier, the fishing has slowed up north but the fish are still there.

Diamonds are still making up the bulk of the catches but there are a few other species thrown into the mix.

Giant sandies, raggies and zambies are the three most commonly caught by catch of the guys targeting the diamonds. All three of these species will take the same baits as those you throw/slide for the diamonds, so don’t be surprised when the fish you pull out doesn’t flap on the sand.

The Durban beachfront saw plenty of action last week. Some nice grey sharks have been coming out in the basin area and Addington Beach has seen some sandies.

With the warm water that has been pushed into the basin, the fishing will slow until the North Easter blows some offshore water in close.

The edible fish, mainly shad and stumpies, have been feeding well in the basin/beachfront area as well as the Lighthouse at uMhlanga.

The baits of choice have been pink prawn for the stumpies and Japanese mackerel for the shad. The south has been the hub of the edible action.

Reports of kob, musclecracker, stumpnose, pompano and bronze bream came in last week. The baits of choice have been crabs, pink prawn and chokka.

So if you are making an edible trip down south, make sure you have enough of each of the three groups of these baits.

Mullet, mullet and more mullet.

The Durban Harbour is looking like the 1970s at the moment. Everywhere you look… mullet.

The trick with these often finicky fish is to be patient and stealthy. Use a large white float; because a mullet is an inherently inquisitive fish, the white float attracts him from a distance.

The rest of the trace is simple; one or two hooks on short snoots set close behind the float. You want your hooks to sit about 15cm from the float. When baiting up, do not squash the bread.

Squashing the bread makes it sink and you want a floating bait.

Break the bread into small pieces and feed them on to the hook snoot so you have a string of bread.

Cast this out to a likely area (where you have seen mullet) and leave it. Do not move the float as this will spook the fish. The mullet will come and take the bait and swim off. Then you can enjoy the fight.

The rest of the fish in the harbour have been playing second fiddle to the mullet but the grunter are still feeding well.