Zinkwazi the pick of the week
THE weekend weather was fantastic, and the short-lived storm on Friday night did not do too much to hinder anglers from getting to their favourite spots.
St Lucia/Cape Vidal – This is a good spot for young and old to target shad as they are close in, and the Falcon Spoon is still their nemesis. Some of the guys have put shad to good use by targeting kob at night.
Mapelane – A mixed bag, with predominantly shad and kob. For those targeting inedibles there were some Zambezi sharks, with anglers using saltwater slide traces and live or dead shad.
Richards Bay – It seems garrick have started feeding a bit more in this area, as live shad in the early morning seem to be picked up in a few minutes. The evening sessions have produced kob, and there are a few sharks about for anglers looking for inedibles.
Zinkwazi – With better conditions the fish came back on the bite, and this is my pick of the week. Novice anglers keen to try out their new equipment had good fun with smaller grey sharks and the odd blue skate.
Ballito – This spot was quiet, with only the odd snoek coming out on the rocks, on Pro Jet Spoons with medium to light spinning tackle.
uMhlanga – The ever-popular lighthouse area seems to have a bully black-fin beast that is giving anglers of non-edibles a hard time – it picks up the baits, runs out to sea and then jumps and snaps the guys off. There were also shad and the odd brusher.
Durban Piers – Snake Park Pier saw some good shad action, but New Pier was more quiet. South Pier was somewhat quiet, except for geelbek early in the week and bigger shad near the harbour entrance.
Beachfront – There seem to be a lot of small shad on the beachfront, and among these are blacktail and juvenile Natal stumpnose. Sadly, the beachfront is quite sanded up, so a long throw is required to get into deep water.
Bluff – Sunday morning saw some real excitement with two big kingfish chasing a shoal of karanteen almost on to the rocks. Although some of the locals tried their best to target these fish, they are still out there chasing the bait fish.
Toti/Winklespruit – For the diehards there are still garrick to be had, although live baits are a problem. Some intrepid anglers have begun netting mullet in the nearby rivers to target garrick in the early morning light. The best way to keep these fish alive is to use a bait aerator pump, which oxygenates the water.
eMkhomazi – Unusually quiet last week, with only the odd kob and one or two small grunter reported.
Scottburgh – Some small blue rays were caught, with a grey or two in the mix. There are also a fair amount of smaller shad, with not many making the legal size limit.
Umdoni – This popular point had its fair share of shad, and a few garrick were caught on live bait.
Port Shepstone – Has seen good action, using McArthy Paddletails to target kob in and around the banks.
Port Edward – Terry Nel from Tacklenet in Port Edward informs us that calm, clean seas do not always lend themselves to good fishing, and things have been a bit patchy.
As the shad season approaches its end at the close of the month, shad fishermen have fewer than two weeks left. This is the time shad spawn, and we need to conserve this great sporting species.
October is known for its “bronze” fishing, yet these fish are caught all year round. The reason could be because fishermen turn their attention to bronze bream when they can’t fish for shad and, naturally, more of these delicious eating fish are caught. A number of grey sharks are also on the bite, and the evenings are a good time to target them.
Transkei – Port St Johns seems to be overflowing with kob, and they are now taking live baits in and around the lighthouse and Skimmington areas. Those lucky enough to fish here in the early mornings have also been able to target garrick on live bait. Lower down in the Transkei, big sharks have been hooked on most of the deep-water points.