Cold conditions and light tackle this weekend

WITH another cold snap coming through last week, fishing was not as good as some may have expected, although the lower South Coast fished particularly well and some good catches were recorded.

The rain coming up this weekend will yield more or less the same conditions so expect some cold conditions and light tackle scratching. The lack of rain in the

area has effectively cleaned up the water along the Kosi stretch and visibility is extremely good. The clean water has made it easy to catch smaller edibles such as wave garrick and smaller stumpnose.

Kosi Bay Cape Vidal

has produced a variety of species, including some very nice springer on chokka and redeye baits. Speckled snapper have been landed more frequently throughout last week and some larger species were seen at the weekend.

Many shad have been landed in the bays around the and areas, many of which have been sent back to the water on a trace in hopes of hooking into a garrick or other larger species.

Some fairly decent garrick has been landed as well as a number of respectable kob. Good reports of stumpnose have been seen just south of Crayfish Point over the last week, with most of the fish weighing in at 2-4kg. Most anglers like to keep their traces simple when it comes to stumpies, as they are dirty fighters.

Over the past week anglers were kept busy in and around

catching a substantial amount of diamond rays and also raggies. There have been some brown rays, garrick and also big shad in the area. The activity on plugs and artificials has been relatively slow, and in contrast, the live bait option has produced garrick and kob.

has been fishing well, with more spinner sharks being landed by the day. The usual suspects, shad, kob and garrick, have been frequenting the river mouth, and a few lucky anglers have managed to land some excellent grunter on cracker or sea lice.

The shad have been mixed sizes and live bait is not an issue. The garrick that is coming out has been caught on certain days.

Grey sharks and a few blue rays have been on the bite in the and

area, with catches on the rise due to the large number of anglers using medium to heavy spinning outfits. Most of these fish have been caught in pre-frontal/westerly conditions especially after two or three days of north-easterly winds.

The fish have been feeding well and a session producing five or more fish is not uncommon.

Shaka’s High Rocks had an excellent haul of shad, brusher and garrick. With no shortage of shad to use as bait, a

Maphelane Richards Bay, Tugela Blythedale St Lucia Zinkwazi

few inedibles were caught as well as some lovely kob. The areas close to the High Rocks saw some decent action with the variety of fish mentioned above, too.

Grey sharks were caught almost daily at over the last week, with most successful anglers using mackerel head as bait. Smaller baits have picked up blue rays and brown rays, with a few edible species in the mix too.

has had some very nice conditions for fishing of late, with more and more large shad being taken on a daily basis. The larger shad seem to prefer the Japanese mackerel or fresh sardines presented on a double-hook trace at first light.

There has been an increase of catches at over the last week, from salad fish and wolf herring to big shad and a decent amount of pompano caught on cracker close to the rocks.

Ski boaters usually begin to hook into a few snoek at this time of the year, along the back line at Blue Lagoon so it seems the wise move would be to wipe the dust off the spinning gear and make your way down to water’s edge for a shot at a few snoek.

Make long casts into the rips and along current lines, retrieving as fast as comfortable for best results.

After a relatively slow start to the week, anglers got off the mark and managed to rack up a good report for themselves by the end of the weekend. Inedibles have been relatively quiet apart from the odd spinner sharks off the piers and grey sharks in dribs and drabs.

Blue rays and brown rays were landed far less than in the previous weeks, with the only catches being from anglers casting over the banks with grinder set-ups and braid.

Grunter showed face midweek, with reports indicating cracker or sea lice to be the bait of preference.

Plenty of bastard mullet or threadfin have been landed along the many of which have been caught on shad baits or small redeye baits. Small kingies were caught on drop-shot and also live bait towards the station over the weekend, all of which were released.

Good catches of various rock cod species were reported towards Cave Rock and off the Tidal Pool. These were landed on big sardine baits, mackerel head and also live bait.

Another area which was hit hard by shad anglers over the weekend, resulting in good catches of a handful of fish weighing over 2kg was

Please remember there is a bag limit of four and the minimum size is 30cm and that the season closes on September 30, and reopens on December 1.

Anglers fishing off High Rocks managed some decent catches in the area, particularly in the mornings on slide baits and big throw baits.

Virginia Umdloti Blue Lagoon Durban Bluff, Toti. Port St Johns