FISHING REPORT 03RD JULY 2010.

Angling
Sardines have once again become a non entity bar the few nets that were taken during the course of last month. However there is still plenty of action along the Transkei coast and some shoals have been spotted as far up as the Grovener area just south of Port Edward. Hopefully the westerly that blew during the midweek period will get things moving for this week end.

Shad have moved in along the coast and are feeding exceptionally well along the entire coastline. The Umzumbe area in particular produced some really big fish during the course of the week with some fish exceeding the 3kg mark. The rest of the south coast is also producing some bumper catches of shad. Places like the Bluff, Isipingo, Toti, and Winkle have for the past few weeks produced a steady flow of fish. The Durban area itself is also fishing very well as far as the shad are concerned with good catches being reported from the Piers and the Umgeni areas.

Garrick are now starting to come on the bite and a few good specimens have been caught along the Illovo and Karadene stretches. These fish have also made an appearance along almost the entire south coast with a good few fish being taken at the Sandspit in Port Shepstone and at Umzumbe.

Anglers fishing with spoons and plugs during the early morning and late afternoon sessions could now start picking up some very good game fish, especially where there is a lot of shad action and if one is lucky enough to find a small pocket of sardines.  With strong early morning off-shore winds the Kite anglers have also come out in force particularly at the Umkomaas car park. These anglers have had some measure of success lately with the odd above average size sharks being landed.

Terry from Port Edward informs us that, shad have been on the bite all week and many spots on our coastline here have produced fish almost all day long while others are only active early mornings. Garrick are being taken from the deeper points over the few days that the sea has been fishable as the cold front has also brought rough seas. A large kob around the 30kg mark was landed from Splash Rock by a local angler. Wildlife officials are very active and non-compromising so make sure that your bag is legal as no amount of 'sweet talk' will get you off breaking the law.



Transkei
The Transkei is fishing extremely well as far as Shad goes with anglers getting their quotas very quickly. The Port St Johns area at this time gets very active and many anglers flock to this spot to catch mainly garrick and big kob. Garrick has been a bit scarce but at night some good action has been had as far as the kob go. The river here is also fishing very well with some good grunter in the 4 kg mark being landed. Fishing at The Hole In The Wall has also produced some good angling as reports from here suggest that the garrick have been feeding well. The north coast and Zululand have gone off the boil a bit but as the shad slowly start moving northward things should pickup a bit.

Ski Boats
Ski Boats are now getting some good bottom fish as well as game fish.
General bottom fishing has picked up with the first geelbek and daga salmon being reported. Couta, although slowing down a bit are still being caught on both north and south coasts. The Aliwal shoal has over the past few months really produced some great angling as  wahoo in particular have given anglers some great fun. Couta and yellow fin tunny are also still coming out but shark activity has also increased and a lot of fish are now being eaten by Sharks.

A reminder to ski boats, Jet Ski’s and fishing skis is that ORI have deployed a few ‘Drifter Buoys’ off our coastline. These are black buoys with a material substance hanging below them and their basic functions is to gather information for ORI as far as offshore currents and the KZN Bight are concerned. If any of these buoys are encountered anglers are asked to leave them alone (satellite tracked) or phone the relevant people at ORI. If they are encountered in the surf zone a call would be appreciated by ORI so that they can be deployed. Contact people are: Lisa Guastella 082 860 4043, UCT Oceanography Sean Fennessy 073 648 4804 or Lisa Hancke 082 713 0270.

Fishing ski's
Fishing ski's now seem to be targeting Snoek as numerous fish are coming out along the Umgeni area as well as good catches being reported from the Westbrook and Umdloti areas. With Sardine activity on the south coast anglers can soon expect some good Couta fishing particularly in the traditional Scottburgh and Park Rynie areas where game fish seem to congregate at this time of the year.