Great news, The Kingfisher has just opened their new store on the upper north coast. Situated in the Tiffany’s Shopping Center in Salt Rock, this store is ideally positioned for our north coast anglers. For all your angling needs, (freshwater or saltwater) pop in and see them or give them a shout on 032 307 0041.
The fishing has been good along the coast with most anglers reporting great edible results.
Top tip. When it comes to scratching for bronze bream, sometimes it pays to have a bigger bait. If you find that the fish are just pecking at the bait and not committing to the bite, changing to a bigger/bulkier bait will often result in a solid bite. This means putting on two prawns instead of just one. Try it and see the results.
Offshore:
The offshore fishing has been decent with most boats seeing a need for a gaff. Tuna, daga and everything in-between
North – There have been some good catches of snoek along the colour lines in the north. Fillet baits have continued to produce the goods with both standard Natal sardine and Japanese mackerel fillets working well.
The bottom fishing has also been particularly good up north with all of the reefs seeing a mix of species. A general trace would consist of two smaller hooks at the top with a bigger hook at the bottom. This trace allows you to target the smaller reds with the top hooks and rockcod and the likes at the bottom.
Central – The Durban area has seen some good tuna for the guys running out to the deeper areas. The tax has been a bit down from the grey suits so you can pull a little slower on the fish, but I suggest faster rather than sorry. The tuna have been taken on poppers and live baits.
The snoek have been around the shallower reefs and backlines of the central coast. Sardine or redeye have been the fillets of choice.
South – The south coast has not reported much off the boats which generally means the fishing has been very good…
Much the same as the north and central will apply to the south coast with gamefish and bottoms available. The Aliwal area will produce some good fish with the ever-present wahoo being the main target. There are tuna around most areas with the same as the central coast applying.
Rock and surf:
The rock and surf anglers have been catching some very decent size kob and bronze bream. This has kept the edible anglers happy while the inedible hunters have started to land a few sandies…
North – The north has seen some good edible catches with the reef areas of Sodwana and Vidal producing some proper fish. These reef areas are best fished with circle hooks and bigger baits for the speckled snapper/rockcod species while the other fish will scoff down a chokka bait. Most of these are hard-fighting fish that require heavy tackle to land them. On the lighter side, you can have days of fun targeting the open sandy areas with dropshots and small spoons. There are a myriad of species to be caught and they all put up a great fight on light tackle.
Central – The Umgeni mouth has been producing some good catches, even with the dirty water. The river water has not been that pleasant so make sure to fish the area on a high tide. This area has seen some lovely grunter, kob and stumpies being landed in the last week. Chokka has been the bait of choice and the size of the bait is all you need to vary to target all three.
The beaches and piers along the beachfront have seen some fish but in general the fishing has been slow unfortunately.
South – The south coast has seen some good kob being caught. Chokka and live baits have been the best for these fish. Remember with your chokka baits that floatation and movement are very important as well as some noise from a rattle in the foam. A glow bead can also add vital attraction to your bait.
The rest of the south coast has seen good scratching for species like stumpies using prawn baits. Trafalgar has been fishing particularly well.
Freshwater:
The dams and rivers are all producing fish with anglers blessed with a bunch of species available to them no matter where they live.
Bass – In general the bass fishing has been good. The summer fishing is getting closer… Midmar and Albert Falls have been the pick of the venues with Midmar being the lead singer in the band. There have been some amazing fish caught from this dam in the past few weeks with both largemouth and smallmouth being landed.
Midmar has been fishing well on the offshore structure. This means focussing on your graphs/finders and getting your baits down to them. Dropshotting with smaller minnow imitations is a great way to fish these deeper areas.
Carp – The carp fishing has been slow. There have been a lot of fronts moving through. These constant changes in pressure do not lend themselves to good fishing. The recent weather patterns have put the carp in a bit of a mood, so it has been tough to put good numbers into the net. The tilapia have been very active so there is always something to catch.
The stronger flavours have been the better scents to go with at the moment. The cooler water does not spread the flavour as much so you will want a stronger scent like garlic or almond.
Trout – The Stillwaters are fishing very well. The size of the fish have not been the same giants as in previous weeks but the fishing has been good.
Minnow imitation streamers have been the most successful flies mentioned across the different venues. Those fishing the smaller venues have seen better results with smaller patterns. The fronts coming through have slowed fishing down a bit and might need you to scale down to worm patterns and hand-twist retrieves.
News from our Jan, The Kingfisher in PMB – “Let’s get straight to the point – the weather is picking up for the better, and a result, I am happy to report that so is the fishing. On all fronts I might add … trout, bass, carp, yellow’s … you throw a line at it, and it might just have your name on it!
After the severe weather warnings received from down south and threats of snow, the weather seems to have bypassed us here in The Midlands. It did get a tad frosty one morning earlier in the week, and with reports of snow from the W.Cape, I suspect that there was probably a light snow on the High ‘Berg that caused the drop in temperature. While August is generally considered to be a windy month, we have only had 1 or 2 episodes this month so far, so fingers crossed that it stays away (plays havoc with fly casting!). The forecast for the next week is all sun, so time to get out there … but keep an eye out for winters last sting in the tail that is sure to come!
Let’s kick off with the bass : after a good while of reporting that fishing has been tough / slow etc., reports are that the bass fishing is (finally) starting to pick up, with fish in pre-spawn mode and starting to move up into the shallows. Happily we can report that this is for both Albert Falls and Midmar Dams. Great news for Alberts with the Albert Falls Classic coming up next weekend 25-27 August!
Michael from KF-PMB has been fishing Midmar of late and has been getting some great fish on Kingfisher’s range of REACTION plastics … pop in and come chat to Michael to get the inside scoop
Early spring is usually a time for jerkbaits, but word from the waters is that there are not working at present. With the spawn imminent, and the bass moving up into the shallows, an effective method to go weightless (e.g. worm / fluke etc.) … it’s subtle approach that won’t disturb the shallows on the cast and bass usually can’t resist the slow falling presentation. In the current clear water conditions, neutral colours work best.
I suspect that the mock charge frontal systems have contributed positively to the fishing … there have been some great fish caught by members of the Natal Fly Fishers Club on Club waters. Returns show fish from the late 30cm / 14 inches and up, the longest fish reported for the being pulling the tape to 48cm / just shy of 19 inches. Water temperatures are on the up – now 11-12 degree’s – and interestingly, still plenty minnow’s about, so a Zonker baitfish pattern in olive is a good bet at present. A tandem rig is always a good – double the flies and double your chances I say! – and the Gold-ribbed Hare’s Ear (GHRE) nymph has been a solid favourite through winter.
We mentioned that the carp were on the go at Albert Falls, surface feeding on sheets of midge in the calm conditions – had a report this week of a solid 5.5kg / 12lb coming to the net on dry fly.
The yellows (scaly / Natal Yellowfish) are also turning on very nicely – the Umkomaas is starting to fire, and some excellent fish have been reported on a range of flies – predominantly on nymphs, taddy’s and small jig buggers, but also some larger patterns like minnow and dragonfly patterns”! Thanks Jan.
Tight lines and screaming reels.
For the best in tackle and advice, pop into The Kingfisher 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-1pm on Saturdays and Sundays
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