Getting HOOKED
A TOUGH weeks fishing all round and a cold front over the weekend proved detrimental to angling, but with most holidaymakers filling the beaches, at least some fish were caught, including some nice garrick.
Kosi Bay had many anglers targeting kingfish and other bigger species, with little success.
Anglers fishing light tackle with smaller baits hooked into a few edibles such as cave bass and stumpies.
Very few shad were to be seen and those fell victim to baits early in the mornings.
The only spot that really produced fish in the Cape Vidal area was the bay itself and the only species in abundance were wave garrick, caught mainly on small baits but also found the new McArthy tywo-inch Paddle Tails irresistible. when these smaller species are targeted, fine wire jig heads need to be used to ensure easy hook set.
Thomson’s Bay and Salmon Bay were where the odd grey shark and Shad came out. The odd bronze bream was landed on smaller baits.
Not too much has happened at Blue Lagoon apart from a few shad, a handful of grey sharks and a Stumpnose or two. Anglers are catching plenty of shad off the piers but most have been undersized.
The odd grey shark was landed near Addington in the evenings on red-eye baits and mackerel head. Very few shad were caught on the beach stretch but the average size has been better. Also, very few shad in comparison with previous weeks on the Bluff, more bronze bream in the west than anything else, mostly near the Buccaneers car park.
Around Port St John’s, kob have been landed in the evenings, garrick in the mornings on livebait and bronze bream allday. Lots of Shad have been landed at Poenskop and Mpame as well.. Mazeppa Bay is fishing well - lots of sharks.
There have been rumours of sardines but we will see what happens after the cold front.
Reports of big fish in the harbour have been scarce but thousands of small edibles were landed before the front pulled through.
Many anglers made their way over to the deeper water to target larger fish but only one or two biggish grunter have been reported. After the cold front we can expec garrick.
Most ski-boat anglers will know the saying “best before the west”, which means the fish feed well before the cold front moves through.
On the North Coast just before the weekend, anglers were fishing in these conditions.
Some good-sized tuna were caught on rattlers at Maphelane, as well as snoek in good numbers. The snoek seem to prefer small Strike Pro Magic minnows or Halco sorcerers.
There have been very few couta but those landed are no less than 15kg.
Locally, the tuna game continues It has been nice to hear reports of more tuna in the 5kg to 8kg class.
The jet-skis have been doing very well recently with tuna and the odd couta as well.
Send any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area to mike.pereira@kingfisher.co.za or fax 031- 368 4007, and for the latest KZN fishing news presented by OJ, tune into East Coast Radio at 5.40am, Monday to Friday.