Let’s declare April angling month for all the blessings
WELL, what an exciting period we have just gone through in the bay and surrounds!
The bay is alive with just about every creature that can be imagined, from killer whales to huge amounts of anchovies.
They are most probably the magnet drawing in this hub of wildlife. It is simply spectacular. On the angling front, we could not have it any better either. The anglers operating from the Port of St Francis report good catches of tuna and yellowtail.
The rock and surf fellows are catching shad of notable sizes along the wild side of the bay, with musselcracker and hottentot also taking the hook.
The estuaries are alive too, with the “regular three species” – good garrick, kob and grunter – being on the menu.
The swimming prawns are still around, with some anglers having good success in the Sundays River using these prawns as bait.
Today’s photograph has Jovan van Tonder with a fine 70cm grunter that took this bait. The “regular three species” have been lured by the art-lure anglers too in the Swartkops, where there has been much action.
There have been at least two noteworthy catches in the Swartkops of a kob and a garrick of sizable proportions. Choose your location wisely as the fish are “on the bite”.
This is usually the case with pre-frontal activity this time of year, so plan ahead and concentrate just prior to a front passing by as you never know your luck.
We haven’t had it this good for a while, judging by the quality of fish that have been displayed on social media the past few days.
Going by the calendar, last month should be declared angling month with the two long weekends that bless the angling fraternity!
The storm water quality entering the Swartkops estuary at the brickfields remains a huge concern. This seems to have reached disastrous proportions once again.
There remains a serious issue regarding water users and people who feed off the estuary. Previous studies have proven that there are real potential health and safety issues here should we not systematically work at this problem. At least during a period of drought there should be little water entering from a storm water canal, hence the quality of water should reflect this.
The question remains where the water originates from and the causes of contamination. These words of mine are simply echoes of the past!
The weekend’s weather: The near-windless early morning conditions that we experience this time of year prevail as expected with good sunny skies and the daily mercury reaching the upper 20°C mark for both days.
Low tide is just after noon on Saturday, with tidal conditions being not too aggressive.
We advance towards neap tide this coming Tuesday.
We have just passed the magical three days after spring tide so angling should still be good, considering. Overall we are in for a pleasant weekend.
Tight lines!