With the right bait you can land some monster tuna

THE couta and tuna have been keeping the offshore anglers busy.

The north has been the place to go but the local waters have held some giants.

Vidal has come alive with fish and although most of the fish have been on the smaller side, the big fish are there.

The shallower areas have held most of the smaller fish, so if the giants are what you are after and you don’t mind waiting it out, head to the deeper water. Bait of choice has been an open category up north with most dead baits and live baits getting bites. Try get your hands on some good mackerel and sardines just to be sure.

The Durban waters have also seen good couta around the Bluff mainly but the main attraction has been the monster tuna and dorado. The tuna have been of giant proportions with quite a few going over the 40kg mark.

Live bait and poppers have been the two main methods reported for these big fish. Mackerel have been scarce but have also been the most successful live bait around. For the poppers, the darker colours have been hit the hardest. Make sure that you upgrade your leaders for these bigger fish and use your tackle properly to pull these fish.

The dorado have been around the colour lines and floating structure. They have not been too fussy and most trolled lures have worked for them.

The summer fishing has been hot. The sand sharks have been among the main targets for shore anglers along with the bigger flatfish like the honeycomb or back-breaking thorntail.

The North Coast has been blowing hot and cold with varied conditions. The north-east wind has not been cooling the water down as much as usual so an extra day of proper NE wind has been needed to get the fish feeding. Mackerel and redeye have been the most productive baits for most of the inedibles. Try make a bait with a lot of smell and scent. If the peckers are an issue then wrap your bait with some chokka to make it last longer.

The gullies are fishing well with a host of species being landed. Prawns and chokka blob baits are the most successful.

The central coast has seen some good pompano and stumpies in the last few weeks. There are a number of baits that work for these fish but it is important to focus on good bait presentation as they can be picky feeders.

Chokka and prawn is a personal favourite bait but crabs and sealice work very well as well. Try a 4/0 size hook and a longer hook snood to keep it natural.

The central coast has also had plenty of inedibles with some large rays and sharks being caught. The deeper points have been productive as they allow the angler to get the bait into the deeper water. Mackerel has been the top producer.

For the best in tackle and advice, pop into The Kingfisher 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-1pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

Go to: www.facebook.com/ the king fis herd aiwaand“L ike” us on Facebook to catch reviews, videos, fishing reports and more.

Send info about fishing or fish caught in your area to: mike. pereira@kingfisher.co.za

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for video releases and to brush up on your species knowledge, tactics and tips/tricks: https://www.youtube.com/c/ The King fisher Fishing