Getting HOOKED
WITH KINGFISHER WITH pilot shoals of sardines already netted, the good news is that there are bigger shoals on the way – massive shark, dolphin and bird activity has been spotted near Umkambati in the former Transkei.
This is the most promising news of sardines reaching our shores in years, so keep the oil hot and the garrick traces in readiness.
Here’s an area by area account of what went down with rock and surf angling last week.
KOSI BAY: Conditions along the entire North Coast were favourable with clean and calm waters. Spinning enthusiasts got hooked into wave garrick and king fish.
CAPE VIDAL: Most of the action happened on spoon and smaller baits. Kingfish are still frequenting the shallows and have been caught on spoons, with few edibles around.
TUGELA: This stretch has been relatively quiet apart from the odd pompano, grey shark and shad. The Tugela Mouth has been fishing well with kob the main species caught. Chokka, live shad and sardine baits yielded kob. The north bank was more productive.
BALLITO: A few diamond skates, grey sharks and pompano came out here. The greys and diamonds were more active at night. Rough seas during the weekend hampered fishing.
UMHLANGA: A few grey sharks and diamonds were caught before the rough seas moved in.
BLUE LAGOON: There was plenty of action with kob, snapper salmon, pompano, shad and grey sharks making up the bulk of the catch. After dark seems to be the best time to have your lines in the water.
DURBAN PIERS: The piers saw good catches of pompano and shad. Although shad have not been large, most are making size. After the big seas over the weekend, the bites slowed to a halt, and many anglers were left with baited hooks dangling.
BLUFF: Big seas made this stretch unfishable for most of last week. However, brusher, kob, garrick and shad were caught before the rough seas moved in and this should again be the case once calm has returned to these waters.
AMANZIMTOTI: After a slow start to last week, fishing improved towards the end of the week with anglers catching a few kob and garrick. The drop in water temperature should bring on the fish.
WINKELSPRUIT: A few garrick were caught on live baits.
ILLOVO: Good numbers of garrick and a few kingies were caught. However, days went by without any fish being caught.
UMKOMAAS: The area around the river mouth had some good catches earlier in the week. Kob, kingies, shad and garrick were landed. Live bait has been the best so far.
SCOTTBURGH: The point produced a fair number of shad and the odd garrick. Grey sharks were landed in the evenings.
PORT SHEPSTONE: This stretch has had a bit of sardine action and the larger fish that go with them. Kob have been a very popular target species at night and many have been caught throughout the week.
PORT EDWARD: Sardines is the buzz word here, as anglers stand on guard waiting for the shoals to arrive.
Send any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area to: mike.pereira@kingfisher.co.za or: fax 031 368 4007.
Until next week… TIGHTLINES! RESULTS of the Toyota Angling Club’s open boundary fishing competition held on June 7 from 6am – 11am. The breakdown is: angler’s name, club and weight
points. Dean Naidoo – Maintenance - 39.40 Rajan Auther – TDM/LPS - 10.52 Kumaren Munsamy – TDM/LPS - 8.16 Ugan Pillay – TDM/LPS - 7.82 Malcolm Moodley – TDM/LPS - 7.64 Keleshwar Lalman – Maintenance - 3.00 Dean Govender – VDC - 3.00 Ishan Bunsi – BPlant - 2.88 Sanjee Elliah – TDM/LPS - 2.36 Rishi Premjith – TDM/LPS - 1.98