Coast KZN

Favorable conditions blessed anglers last week with the only blemish being the big south westerly on Thursday. Come Friday morning, sea and surf conditions were excellent and the usuals were out at first light, with warm temperatures and not a breath of wind.

Even though beaches north of the Umgeni Mouth remain closed, some continue to fish their favourite spots on a regular basis. Some areas have been producing nice sized shad every morning at first light. The shad season is closed but as expected, some lower North Coast anglers continue to ignore the rules without the policing that was once expected.

A number of garrick have been caught from the noted garrick angling spots and the upper South Coast is proving to be a favourite.

Car thieves arrested

The Bluff beaches have also been very popular and anglers will be happy to learn that a gang of car thieves operating in the Bluff have been arrested. Theft of cars or breaking into them has been a problem along the coastline for a number of years and a number of local beaches have been targeted regularly.

Quite a few big stumpies have been caught this year. Some by anglers targeting the copper bream and others have been caught on shad traces early in the mornings. Other species have included a couple of big grunter that are in season at present and the guys fishing amongst the rocks have caught a variety of edible fish.

At present, anglers should be fishing up north at popular places such as Maphelane and St Lucia, targeting the big grunter that gather at this time of year to spawn.

Game fish season looks promising

Its October and the off-shore anglers are already preparing themselves for the forthcoming final game fish season. There has already been news of deep-sea anglers catching dorado, and hopefully this year will produce as many fish as last year. Dorado also arrived early last year and surprisingly there was a proper couta season as well, for a change.

Some say that Covid-19 had much to do with the number of couta that arrived, because foreign fishing vessels were not operating in Mozambique waters.

Yellowfin tuna have also been caught and these fish seem to be plentiful every summer and have provided excellent sport.

Fishing bottom reefs has really become popular recently and there seems to be an increase in the fishing craft that can be chartered, which means that there is more opportunity for members of the public to experience off-shore angling. There have been big rockcod, soldiers, slinger, some Englishmen and even a few cracker caught by the anglers on the charters. I think that charter skippers will be really busy this summer season, especially if the barracouta arrive in numbers again.

Sea and surf conditions were ideal on Saturday, especially for the guys who launch through the surf. But unfortunately there was a bit of a southerly wind which made things a bit uncomfortable. Rain was also forecast and Sunday’s weather report was just as bad and this kept many off the water.

Problem polluters 

There are always those anglers who give everyone else a bad name. In addition to potentially polluted waters, some beaches are polluted by anglers who do not remove their bait cuttings when they leave. I had a look at Virginia Beach during the week and when driving into the parking area I could smell rotting fish which had been left behind.

Lets look after the ocean that provides our sport and dinner, and not be part of the problem.