The Mercury

SUMMER AT THE SEASIDE, FISHING IS EASY…

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FEBRUARY already?! The year is flying but the fishing has been good. Summer is here and the heat is on. Many have suffered the pain of sunburn while pursuing their passion, so be safe out there and be sun savvy.

The heat of summer is upon us and the summer fish are here. Make sure your knots are good and your backing is in good condition. You don’t want to lose that fish of a lifetime because you wanted to save a few bucks.

With the current state of our beaches, please pick up your rubbish when you leave. Let us be the solution rather than the scapegoat for the public.

Rather, let them say that fishermen are the reason the beach is clean instead of the reason it is dirty.

The north coast is the place to be at this time of year. The fishing has been hot but the sand has been hotter. An important note for first time visitors to the north is bring some shoes when you are fishing from the beach.

The sun cooks the sand and blisters on the feet are a painful reminder of forgotten shoes.

Fishing-wise, there have been plenty of bites up north for those fishing the right tides and times.

There have not been as many diamonds as there should be but there have been plenty of other fish coming out.

The night-time bite has been far better than the day and the species coming out have been feeding on the pushing tide.

Mackerel and bonito have proven to work for the honeycombs, duckbills, milkies, spinners, hammers, browns and diamonds that are all coming out. The central section of KZN has seen some good fishing for both edibles and inedibles.

The basin and the beaches between the piers have been producing some decent grey sharks between the 10kg and 20kg range during the nights.

There have also been some brown skates, sandies, honeycombs, diamonds and a few giant thorntails hooked. These fish all enjoy chokka, redeye sardine, mackerel and bonito.

A combinatio­n of chokka and one of the meaty baits is a great way to multi-target these species. Look for areas of deeper water and get your bait to these spots.

If you are not wanting to catch the sharks, omit wire from your traces and use a good quality nylon such as Maxima Ultragreen.

For the edibles, there have been some very good grunter caught off the piers on cracker baits. This is a deadly bait for most edible fish and will work very well for stumpies, kob and pompano as well.

The south coast has seen a large number of bronze bream caught over the last while. The conditions and time of year is out, but the fish are still feeding well. These fish are very shy feeders and it takes a master to learn to hook them when they are in a mood.

It is best to use an abrasive resistant thin line with a Mustad Chinu 1/0 and a small orange float. If the fish can be seen but they are not taking your bait, take the float off and see if the more natural approach helps.

The rest of the south coast has seen a few good inedibles coming out (see baits and tips above) as well as some decent edibles.

There have been a few garrick on the live baits as well as some decent kingies.

Tight lines and screaming reels! As always, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date with all our new video releases and to brush up on your species knowledge, tactics and tips/tricks and follow us on all the social media platforms.

The Kingfisher’s trading hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm; Saturdays 8am to 1pm.

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■ Please send any info about fishing, fish caught or competitio­ns in your area to mike.pereira@kingfisher. co.za

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