Getting HOOKED

SO, seven months of 2018 have come and gone. What a magic year of fishing we have had. The sardines are still around and there is plenty of action being had by all.

As we thought the sardines were going to vanish and the coastline would quieten down, they start netting hauls of 1 000 crates and more. It just goes to show that the sardines are difficult to predict.

The fishing from the side has been going well for most and exceptionally for others. There have been good catches of both inedible and edible fish up and down the coast. The northern territory has seen a mix of action. The spinning guys have been doing well with all sorts of species.

The kingfish have been falling for soft plastics and surface lures, while the garrick and snoek have favoured chaos plugs and spoons respectively. The other edibles being landed up north have been eating chokka baits. These fish have been caught while scratching in the bricks and the number of species landed is too numerous to mention.

While the inedibles have been a mix of flatfish, grey sharks and a zambezi or two caught on swim bait, the action along the Durban area has been focused around the piers and the uMhlanga Lighthouse area.

The piers have been producing some good edibles.

The shad have been feeding well in to the darkness, so make sure you have your glow sticks. The bites have come the quickest to the guys fishing with fresh sardines but the Jap macs have also accounted for fish. The other edibles have been feeding on any prawn baits on offer and some decent blacktail, pompano and stumpnose have been landed.

The inedibles have favoured mackerel baits (including sand mackerel) and fresh sardine.

The species being landed have included honeycombs, spotted eagle rays, brown skates and grey sharks. The southern section of KZN has been the hive of activity again. The action has been focused around the sardine netting for those of you wanting to target the big sharks.

The edible fish, however, have been staying away from the mayhem. There have been a lot of garrick caught on the south coast. Most of these have been on live bait but there have been a few crazy ones caught on chokka baits at night. Just goes to show that there are no rules in fishing. The kob have also been around on the south coast. Fresh sardine have been the bait of choice with chokka falling slightly behind and paddle tails proving the winner for the lure anglers. Most of the river mouths and deeper rocky areas have produced kob over the last few weeks.

The Durban Harbour is flooded with mullet! There are some giants around and the guys targeting them are having an absolute blast with these hard-fighting fish. A white float, small hooks and white bread is the way to get stuck in to these fish. For the rest of the anglers, it has been rather quiet. Tight lines and screaming reels…

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