FISHING REPORT 24TH JULY 2010

Angling
The sards are here, and fishing has now improved. Shad are plentiful, and garrick are coming out regularly from the points using live shad as bait. The sea on our coast this last week has been extremely calm and the water is still very clear. However, angling has picked up dramatically as winter fish now seem entrenched on the coast. Anglers could not ask for better winter weather and sea conditions as the past few weeks have been almost ideal for angling. Fish have also played their part as reports from both North and South Coasts have been positive.

Shad as always is the number one target specie and anglers have not been let down in this department. Early mornings and late afternoon sessions have produced some wonderful catches of shad with the average size being well over the legal limit. Talking about shad, on the 1St August, The Kingfisher starts their “Biggest Shad Competition”. This year it will be run over a two month period, August and September, with three prizes each month. The heaviest shad  for each month will receive a 14’ Kingfisher Poseidon 5pc Graphite Rod, valued at R1,589.00, the second heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa SL 50SHK Reel, valued at R998.00 and third heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa Opus Plus 6000 Reel valued at R498.00. Please note that all shad (fresh) must be weighed at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street, Durban during trading hours and please remember there is a bag limit of four and the minimum size is 30cm

Game-fish in the form of garrick and kingfish have come out in good numbers along the Umkomaas North bank stretch as well as Illovo and the Winkle areas. Anglers fishing with live bait have been kept busy in these areas and quotas are attained during the morning session. Some fair size kob have also been reported from these areas. Terry Nel from Tacklenet reports that the sardines were present in the area all week but only shad have been on the bite, obviously the game fish were drawn away by these north moving shoals. Have just spoken to Dean in Port Edward and he informed us that two tiger sharks were hooked at Splash Rock, one was lost trying to pull it up, the other was tagged and released.

The Durban area has also picked up nicely; the Blue Lagoon and Umgeni North bank stretch has produced some good catches of shad as well as some much awaited garrick. Anglers fishing here at night have landed a variety of fish which include some shoal kob, stumpie and fair size grunter. Sardines have been netted all along the Durban beaches as well as the Umdloti area and with that; quite a few diamonds rays have been landed. Further north the Tinley and Tongaat areas have had some good catches of shad and anglers using live bait in the Tongaat area have had some measure of success as far as garrick goes. Yellowtail kingfish as well as snoek have also been landed here.

Ski Boats
Ski Boats are in the middle of a very good season as there are still reports of snoek on the North and South Coasts. These fish are feeding freely and the average size has also picked up. There are many fish in the 3 kg to 5 kg range but a lot of bigger fish well up to the 8 kg mark that have been reported. General bottom fishing has also picked up and apart from the daga and geelbek salmon a few big red steenbras have been reported from the South Coast.