Getting HOOKED
SPRING is starting to make an appearance in both the shore and offshore scenes, with some of the traditional spring fish showing up in the catch reports.
The weather at the weekend kept most anglers indoors, but the weekdays have been firing. As always, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel (it’s free) to stay up to date with all our new video releases and to brush up on your species knowledge, tactics, tips and tricks.
Firstly, apologies to the thirdplace winner of last month’s shad competition (Raffic Razack). The report was not updated after you brought in your fantastic catch.
Raffic placed third with a shad of 2.36kg. Well done Raffic. We are looking forward to the results of this month’s competition… tight lines.
The rock and surf side of things has started to get quite exciting as the summer inedibles have begun to bite. This is a great time of year as there is a transition between the winter and spring fishing, and both edibles and inedibles are around in force (weather permitting).
Concerning the fishing on North Pier (the northern breakwater of Durban harbour), it is legal but only to those with a Transnet permit. There is still a lot of uncertainty around this issue and contacting the harbour authorities or the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is your best bet at the truth.
The fishing in the central region of KZN has been based around edibles. The beachfront at all the piers has been producing a large number of stumpies, and some good fish have been landed.
Fish up to and over 3kg are becoming a regular occurrence. These fish cannot resist a cracker shrimp-and-prawn combo bait, but the bigger fish love a sealice chokka mix or a well presented crab (watch our YouTube channel to see how Ray does it).
There have been a few inedibles but nothing to rush down to the sea for, mainly grey sharks for the guys fishing at night. Keep an eye on the weather though, as three days of north-easterly wind will have the summer fish feeding. The south has been producing some inedibles. The grey sharks have been ravenous and have been eating all the bait they can lay their teeth into.
Anglers have been picking them up on prawn baits while fishing for stumpies. Speaking of which, there have also been some good stumpies falling for well-presented prawn baits. Fish over 60cm have been regular occurrences. The deep-water points have been producing some unstoppable fish for the drone guys, while the guys still throwing baits have been scratching in the gullies, with good results. The scratchers have had a good run of bronze bream, blacktail and tasslefish.
All these fish eat prawn and crackers, but the tassels and blacktail prefer a smaller hook. Try the size 2 Mustad Chinu hooks as these work for all three.
A reminder that the Kingfisher Biggest Shad Competition has begun. The heaviest shad for September will receive a Daiwa BG 5000 Reel filled with Daiwa 8 weave 30lb J Braid, valued at around R3 000. The second-heaviest shad will receive a 13’6” Kingfisher Coastline 5 piece (L, M & H tip) Graphite rod, valued at R2 000, and the third-heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa Laguna 5 000 spinning Reel valued at around R1 000. Please note that all shad (fresh) must be weighed at one of The Kingfisher branches.
Please send any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area to mike. pereira@kingfisher.co.za