Seismic and cosmic times see many good fish caught
THE water quality of our estuaries has been a point of concern for some time now; however the issue runs far deeper than just water quality.
What grows in this brine and what toxic potential does it have? Should an injury occur, the resultant infection can be nasty and this has not just been witnessed in the badly polluted Swartkops River of late.
My old friend Marius Potgieter received a serious gash to the underside of his foot late last month in the Kromme River.
Even after medical treatment – deep-cleaning of the wound and several sutures – the wound went septic and he ended with a stay in hospital of almost a month.
Marius is not out of the woods yet and is lucky not to have lost his foot in the process. He tells me infection seemed to have set in the very day after the incident.
I can’t emphasise more the need to wear foot protection at all times when making bait, wading or even swimming, for that matter.
You never know what lies in the substrate below.
On the angling scene, many a good fish has been caught. Just about all the regular spots have produced catches.
The Sunday’s surf in particular has produced some fine kob of notable proportion to good musselcracker at St Francis.
Many garrick have been caught in the estuaries with a lot of grunter being caught by art-lure anglers using top water lures. This is particularly exciting as you see the “pick-up” happening before you.
The boiling water behind the lure warns of the strike and it you play the cards right you will have a fish on the line in spectacular fashion. Sometimes it just requires that little twitch which entices a strike.
This technique is commonly called “walk the dog”. It is a slow retrieve that will be mastered in time. The fish simply smashes the lure if you present the correct action required to attract attention.
There are times when they follow and seem to be curious but not hungry; then all a sudden the game is on. I am no expert in this field but the contributors tell me it just about perseverance!
The controversial seismic blasting has begun off our coast and we wait to see the reaction from Mother Nature.
We have witnessed a good angling summer so far, so let’s see what develops from this activity. I have my doubts that it will be favourable.
Today’s photograph shows a Natal stumpnose of exceptional proportion and weighing 4.5kg. It was caught by Christo Jansen van Rensberg near Coega harbour.
A number have been caught off the sandy shores on that side of the bay this past period.
This past Wednesday’s so-called “Blue Moon” brings with it the cautionary note that the spring tide will be larger than normal, with rip currents and large surf expected around the bay the next few days.
We once again have the golden three days after springtide this weekend.
On the weather front no real wind is expected with a stable barometer and sunny skies anticipated. Low tide is at 11.39am tomorrow and generally speaking it’s a thumbs-up weekend!