Conditions perfect for great fishing experience
THE fishing has been very good for both the shore and boat anglers this past week. With the conditions starting to settle a bit, the fish have started to become a bit more predictable.
The couta have been on the bite for a few weeks now and the excitement is palpable at the early morning launches. The average size has been a bit on the small side but there are some better fish mixed in.
The north coast has seen the bigger of the couta with the average size being north of the 10kg mark. The most successful method has been trolling live or dead baits slowly over likely looking areas. Make sure that you run your baits at different depths to find where the fish are feeding, after which you can fish that depth with all your baits.
Try using either a glow bead or a skirt in front of your bait to attract the fish to your bait.
There are very good pre-made traces from Salt Water traces; they are available in a sizes small, medium and large with a bead, skirt or duster. The north coast has been snoek central. The areas around Tinley Manor and Umdloti have been the two main hotspots.
Trolling a combination of a single fillet bait on one rod and a small lipped lure on the other rod just behind the backline at first light will give you the best chance of hooking in to one or seven of these beautiful fish.
The couta have been on the smaller side around Durban but some fish close to the 20kg mark have been landed. The area south of the harbour entrance has been the most productive of the spots. Around the 20-30m depth mark has been reported as the most productive.
Trolling a dead mackerel or sardine with a 4-6oz downrigger weight has put the results on the board. Make sure that your bait is not spinning while being trolled and that the hooks match the bait size. If you can get your hands on a live bait, you are 99.9% guaranteed a bite. The Durban coast continues to produce good hauls of bottom fish. Geelbek and daga make up the bulk of the catches but the mix includes soldiers, rockcod and slinger. The switch to circle hooks has helped a lot of anglers increase their hook up and landing rates. If you haven’t tried them yet, now is the time.
The south coast has seen a lot of bottom fish action over the last few weeks.
The rockcod have been very greedy and they have jumped on most baits dropped down. The tuna have been the only reliable gamefish to target down south with the rest of the bunch being hit or miss. The tuna have been taken on everything from small live baits to large skirted Kona’s.
Aliwal has been producing some amazing action with plenty of different gamefish reported from both the commercial and recreational anglers. Lipped trolling lures have been the most productive with the deeper diving Kingfisher Rattlers in pink and purple producing all the pulls. The rock and surf fishing has been a mix of shad (big and small) and some better inedibles including zambezi sharks, diamond rays and the odd giant sandshark.
Fresh bait has made a big difference in the speed of the bite so try your best.
The shad have been wild but please stick to your limit of four per person per day and do not keep fish that are smaller than the 30cm legal size. Sardine has been the pick of the baits for these fish and a sensitive rod to detect the bites as the shad have been feeding shyly.
The Kingfisher’s trading hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturdays 8am to 1pm.
Go to: www.facebook.com/thekingfisherdaiwa and “Like” us on Facebook to catch reviews, videos, fishing reports, great promotions and lots more.
Please send any info about fishing or fish caught in your area to: mike.pereira@ kingfisher.co.za