Getting HOOKED
FISHING in KwaZulu-Natal has been rather strange over the past week. The water temperature has been changing from warm to cool to hot. This has put the fish into a mood on some days, and made them feed on others.
Conditions aside, there have been some lovely catches recently from all the facets. The north zone of KZN has been firing in certain spots. Jex Estate continues to produce good fish, but has a major shark population that seems to love the dinner bell of a screaming reel. Mtunzini high points have also been a hot spot and have produced some quality couta over the past few weeks.
In the central zone, there are some bomber kingfish around and there have been many stories coming in of the big one that got away. Remember that these are extremely powerful fish and require stout tackle to be subdued. The tuna are still around in good numbers and their size has increased. The backline boys are also doing well with the snoek, just watch out for those rogue waves.
The South Coast has seen some lovely fishing for all the offshore facets. The shoals of bait are still around, and the game fish are harassing them.
Tuna, snoek and couta are the main culprits and anything small and shiny thrown into the mix will deliver a pull. Make sure to get your fish out of the action as soon as possible as the chances are good that another fish could swim into your line or a shark could decide to take his share of your luck.
The right hook can make all the difference. Choosing the right hook when faced with a wall of options can be a daunting task. There is no such thing as one hook that is perfect for every species. The size of hook is important and will be dictated by the target species. For example: the hook for bronze bream (Mustad Ringed Chinu size 1/0) is not the right hook for stone bream.
This does not mean that you cannot catch multiple species on one hook, but that you should vary your hook according to the species you are targeting to get a better hook-up to landing ratio or to better
Ray’s tip:
present the bait to that species.
Using the example above, a bronze bream enjoys bigger prawn bait and has a bigger mouth than a stone bream. Therefore, it requires the bigger hook. A stone bream is a shy fish and has a much smaller mouth, so we scale down the bait and therefore the hook, to produce a more natural-looking bait that gets more pulls.
See the last ASFN newsflash: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=7ELZ2m9zLoM
With winter getting closer every day and the prospect of big fish peeling metres of line off the reel dwindling, it is the time for rock and surf anglers to start scratching. Scratching is an art form when it comes to angling. It is easy enough to catch the fish in the gullies when there are plenty of them around and they are feeding well, but when the fishing is tough, or the fish are not feeding, it takes a true angler to produce the goods.
Look at Ray’s bait and trace demonstration for catching stone bream: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=ijRzUve7_rA
The North Coast has seen a host of species coming out to the anglers targeting the smaller inedibles and scratching fish. These include a few different kingfish species, some springer, rockcod and all the bream (black tail, bronze and stone). The rocky gullies and ledges in the north are the place to go if you are wanting to target any of these species.
Using a double hook trace will increase your chances of a bite and can allow you to target multiple species at once. Generally, one would use a bigger hook at the bottom with a bait for a rockcod (normally a fleshy fish bait) and a smaller bait on the top hook for a bronze bream or other smaller fish (prawn or chokka bait).
Using circle hooks drastically reduces the amount of tackle lost as they do not get stuck when being retrieved. Also remember to use a lighter sinker line so you can break the sinker off should it get stuck.
The piers have been producing the goods over the past week. The shad are around in good numbers and the sizes are better here than elsewhere. The resident honeycombs have also moved in and are attracting a lot of attention. There have also been some lovely stumpies and pompano coming out off the piers. Most of these fish have fallen for cracker shrimp, but pink prawn will suffice.
The South Coast has been the zone with a bit of everything. There have been some hound sharks around for the lower South Coast guys. These are surprisingly strong fighters and should be on your target list.
The scratching crowd have been having good runs of all sorts of species. The stone bream are around in good numbers and are a blast to catch on light tackle. Scottburgh Point has thrown the most inedibles along the southern zone. The catches have mainly been grey sharks at night, but there have been a few flatfish in the mix. Redeye and mackerel have been the baits of choice for the inedibles, while the edibles have been coming out on pink prawn and cracker shrimp.