Coast KZN

Shad season has come to a close and will remain so until the end of November. I suggest that anglers refrain from catching and keeping shad owing to fishing inspectors out last week checking on catches and fishing permits.

Early in the week an angler entered the Kingfisher Biggest Shad competition for September with a bus of a shad that weighed 6.2kg. The angler caught this fish at Amanzimtoti and took first prize in the competition with the second prize fish weighing in at 5.77kg.

The popular shad angling spots were busy at the beginning of the week until season closed on Wednesday. There were a few fish caught at first light, however as is often the case there were more anglers than fish caught. Some guys had bags of 2 to 3 fish and these were the anglers using fresh mackerel which shad prefer over usual sardine bait.

Anglers braving the weather and fishing at night have had some excellent sport and were rewarded with several nice sized grunter.

The Durban beachfront has been producing nice fish, and grunter have also been caught from the Umgeni North Bank. Cracker shrimp, sealice and shell bait have all produced fish but anglers have had to be patient. This is not easily achieved, especially when the rain is falling. Grunter are also on the bite in Durban Bay, and are becoming more numerous as the spawning season approaches.

Anglers keen on catching grunter should begin looking to the north at places such as Mapelane and St Lucia. This is where the grunter will be congregating at present to spawn.

With the recent rain there is bound to be some river water entering the ocean and this could make for excellent kob angling.

A couple of big daga salmon were again caught this past week and the local river mouth, or known salmon angling spots, could well be the places to fish at in the dark.

A few shoal kob have also been caught, and these are excellent table fish.

When fishing for salmon there is every chance of pulling a nice stumpie, as there have been a few decent sized fish caught recently. Anglers wanting to fish in the dark for salmon should ensure that they will be safe while fishing.

Garrick have finally arrived in their numbers and the Umgeni mouth has produced some big fish, mainly on live bait, but there was a big fish caught by an angler using a plug.  The usual local garrick angling spots should all produce garrick and a tip is to maybe try the area in front of the Fairmont hotel. This fishing spot has a reputation for producing big fish on a regular basis.

There are plenty of peckers attacking fillet baits in the dark, especially recently, so catching live bait should not be too much of a problem.

Shad anglers have hooked and landed a number of small rays the last few days so, it certainly seems as if there is going to be a good summer fishing season this year. Already those fishing up north have reported some epic battles with summer flatfish even though it is still early in the season. The hot, humid weather is not far away and this is when big flatfish begin feeding, so there seems to be plenty of action which surf anglers can look forward to in the next few weeks.

Off-shore anglers have been restricted a bit because of adverse weather and sea conditions, but those lucky enough to be able to fish during the week when conditions have been favourable at times, have recorded some decent catches.

It seems as if the summer game fish season has already begun in some areas along the backline, along with the garrick, and although there has been plenty of live bait, shad have destroyed plenty of quality live baits put out for garrick.

I think that once the weather settles and sea conditions become favourable, off-shore anglers will be in for some hectic fishing close in-shore, plus the guys that prefer fishing bottom reefs will continue to beach with some excellent fish in their hatches.

Marlin should begin to be caught up north at Sodwana and I believe that several big sailfish have already been caught and released by off-shore anglers fishing off Sodwana Bay.