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Angling - Rock & Surf
With 2010 now upon us, anglers can only wish for a better year of angling as the past year was not one of the most memorable years due to extreme weather and sea conditions. If December and the beginning of January are anything to go by anglers should be in for a very good year.
Fishing along the Zululand coast during the holiday season proved very successful as hot humid weather contributed to some really good angling as far as flatfish go. Big sand sharks and the odd zambezi shark were caught mainly along the Tugella and Amatikulu stretches and anglers fishing for butterfly skates were also not disappointed as these fish were caught at all known beaches along this coastline.
Closer to home the North and South coasts also performed well during the holiday season as reports of mainly sand sharks and skates came in. Honeycombe rays in particular were quite plentiful along the Umkomaas and Scottburgh areas. As far as edible fish go, shad have been very scarce and only sketchy reports are coming from the lower south coast but it should not be to long before the main shoals arrive. Other edibles in the form of grunter and smaller shoal kob have been reported from the Durban area. Brusher are still on the bite and fair catches are coming in from the Isipingo and Twini ledge areas.The Durban Bay is still fishing very well with a number of nice size grunter coming out, we have heard of a few massive grunter of over 5kg’s being boated. These fish are mainly caught around the centre bank or in the deep water with live cracker shrimp as bait.
Ski Boats
Ski Boats have had a bumper start to the game fish season on both north and south coasts. Yellow fin tunny, snoek and dorado are now being caught off the Durban and Umdloti areas. There is the odd report of some fair size couta in these areas as well. On the south coast the Scottburgh and Aliwal shoal has for the past few weeks performed very well as a variety of fish has come out at this venue. The most common being yellow fin tunny and dorado but a fair number of couta, wahoo and the odd sailfish have also come out.
Last week end junior angler Dylan Hamilton Hoskins managed to fight and land a very good Sailfish of 32 kg off his dad’s boat Gub Gub in the Warner Beach area. Another junior,Gareth Woolridge a Grade 10 student at Maritzburg College caught an 18kg couta using a white and orange Halco in 12m deep, clean water off Tongaat River mouth on a Yamaha Waverunner XL 700 using a Daiwa Sealine 50HSD. Great to see these youngsters involved in fishing.
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Mike Laubscher sent in this very interesting report.
“We launched from Durban harbour at around 09h00 after the stiff morning winds had passed and made our way straight out of the harbour, there was a SW wind blowing and the conditions looked good even though there was a light rain, it was one of those few days in the year where the day just got better and better, the water surface temperature varied between 24-25deg C.
The swell was less than a meter with around a 12 second interval which by late afternoon was over 15 seconds and we went onto a beautiful afternoon and sunset which you want to last forever and we eventually got back to port at around 19h30. At around 50m I set our spread and started trolling the lures, we had just started getting comfortable when at around 80m one of the reels started to sing its song and at the end of the line a short while later was a superb Wahoo which gave an incredible account for itself.
I am particularly pleased with this catch as it is the first Wahoo for this summer on my boat, and it is not a fish we encounter very often off Durban. We continued out towards the 180m mark and observed several flying fish from around the 100m depth and then we turned north and it was not very long before we had hooked up a nice Dorado; and in a short space of time another one both on the same lure.
We continued North where we hooked up a really nice sized Dorado which took one of the lures rigged with a bird at around 150m depth. Near Umdloti we turned and started heading back towards Durban where at around 100m we got a double hook up of Dorado which really caused us some mayhem with crossed lines, but a little patience helped us deliver the goods. This was around 17h00 and we got no more fish after this whilst we trolled back to Durban”. |
ESA fishing shows on TV
Don’t forget to watch the action packed ESA fishing shows on TV. These shows feature both saltwater and bass fishing and are aired on Super sport 1. The ESA Saltwater show will be broadcasted weekly on Thursdays between 19h30 and 20h30, and the ESA Bass show will air weekly on Tuesdays between 19h00 and 19h30.
The Kingfisher free Fishing Clinic
The Kingfisher hosts free Fishing Clinic’s on their premises once a month, booking is essential. These clinics are there to help beginners and experienced anglers to see what the sport is all about and how to target certain species of fish. It also shows anglers what equipment to use and also elaborates on safety. To find out more about these clinics and to book a seat please phone The Kingfishers sales staff on 031 368 3903.
The Kingfisher’s trading hours are Monday, Wednesday to Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm, Tuesday 8:30am to 5:00pm and Saturday 8:00am to 1:00pm.
KZN fishing news
For the latest KZN fishing news presented by OJ, tune into East Coast Radio at 5.40am Monday – Friday. If you miss that then phone the Kingfisher’s KZN Angling Hotline on 082-234 6362, this report is updated 7am daily.
Any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area e-mail Mike at kingfish@iafrica.com or fax 031- 368 4137.
For the latest KZN fishing news presented by O.J., tune into East Coast Radio at 5.40am Monday - Friday. |
