Plentiful dorado and couta
BEAUTIFUL weather and lovely sea conditions … this is the time to get out there and fish!
The sea has been very kind to those venturing offshore. The dorado and tuna have kept the hatches full and the sea itself has been a pleasure to be out on. The KwaZulu-Natal North Coast has seen some amazing fishing, with the areas around Cape Vidal seeing tons of action. There have been a lot of billfish around for those looking for a big saily.
Skirted lures have been the most consistent producers, but a hungry sailfish will not resist a live bait. They are hard fighters, but your standard couta tackle will handle the fight.
The tuna have been fighting with the dorado for top spot. Most methods will give you a good chance of hooking one of these hard-fighting gamefish. The Durban coast has seen a lot of boat traffic, with the visitors from all over flocking to the beach. Fortunately, the catches have been plentiful.
The main catches have been couta, dorado and tuna although there have been plenty of other species as well.
Live bait and a slow drift have been the two keys to a successful day on the water. Bait has been a bit scarce, but it is worth the extra effort.
Try using some older bait as a chum in the area where you are fishing. When setting up your spread of baits, make sure you down-rig some and run some near the surface.
The South Coast has also seen some good gamefish action, with a lot of dorado and couta coming out on both the boats and the skis. The couta favour a deeper bait, so make sure you use an 8oz sinker or so on one of your baits.
The dorado have favoured a bait on the surface. You can try the old faithful pink bird with a red-eye sardine rigged further behind. This is a deadly method for attracting the dorado. Make sure you keep a spinning rod close and have a couple of throws at any structure floating in the water. There is often a dorado or 10 hanging around this flotsam.
The North Coast has been the place to go target the bigger flatfish. The thorntails, honeycombs and big sandies have been fairly rampant and have had many anglers sweating on the North Coast beaches. All these fish favour a bigger bait, so try a bonito head or whole mackerel
There have been some very good edibles up north as well. The kingfish have been feeding well, and a lot of kingies have been taken on bait and lure. Plugs and drop-shots are the best lures for these fish.
The Durban beachfront has been very busy with swimmers and beachgoers. This has made fishing very difficult at the best of times..
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