Exciting news, it’s The Kingfisher’s 26th birthday and to celebrate we are offering a massive discount of 25% on all products (this does however exclude Shimano rods and reels, they are less 15% and bait is nett). The Sale starts on the 23rd June and runs to the 26th June 2022, there will be daily lucky draws, giveaways etc. This birthday sale will be across all of The Kingfisher branches and Tackle Centre. We will be open on Sunday the 26th until 1pm, so get in early.
The biggest news this week is the arrival of the sardines. The sea is still a bit big, so the netters are struggling but we are in for action for the next while…
Top tip. Now is the time to be ready to jump and go at any minute. Make sure your tackle is rigged and ready for the caliber of fish you are likely to encounter with the sardines. This means making sure the line is in good condition on your reels as well as the rods and reels being in fishable condition. Get your reels serviced and make sure all the guides on your rod are 100%.
Tight lines and let’s hope this run continues for a few weeks.
Offshore:
The fishing offshore has been going well along most of the coast with a good mix of bottom fish and gamefish. The only issue has been the bigger seas.
North – The north coast has been fishing very well from Umdloti all the way to Sodwana. The closer inshore reefs have seen some amazing couta caught, mostly on live bait. Down rigging your live bait has been key to getting the bigger bites. Try and fish one bait close to the bottom and another slightly higher in the water column. The general rule is to start fishing closer to the surface and move deeper as the day goes on. The bottom fishing has been a bit slow on the north coast but some smaller reds and daga have been caught.
Central – The Durban waters have also seen good couta around the Bluff mainly, but the main attraction has been the tuna. The Durban coast has seen more launches due to the ease of the harbour and Vetch’s beach. These two sites make it possible for boats to launch in most sea conditions. The tuna has been of giant proportions with quite a few going over the 40kg mark!
Live bait and poppers have been the two main methods reported for these big fish. Mackerel have been scarce but have also been the most successful live bait around. For the poppers, the darker colours have been hit the hardest. Make sure that you upgrade your leaders for these bigger fish and use your tackle properly to pull these fish.
South – The south coast has seen focus on the arrival of the sardines. There has been limited action around the shoals with plenty of gamefish in the mix. Trolling lures around the action is your best bet to target the gamefish specifically. There have also been some good garrick caught on live baits on the backline before the arrival of the sardines.
Deeper waters around Aliwal, the tuna and couta have been the main targets. The tuna has been chased with poppers and trolling lures.
Rock and surf:
As can be expected, the main action has been focussed on the south coast with the chaos of the sardines drawing all the attention.
North – The north coast has seen some late summer fish with flatties and sharks making up the bigger fish catches. The points have been the most productive of the spots with the bigger seas making the beaches a bit tricky to fish.
The river mouths have seen good catches of both shad and kob with some quality specimens being landed of both. Sardine and chokka have been the most successful of the general baits with live bait producing the bigger fish.
Central – The central coast has seen a patchy catch report. There have been some spots like Glen Ashley and Blue Lagoon that have seen consistent results over the past week. Then, the rest of the central coast has been very quiet with not much to mention.
Shad, kob and stumpies have been the main catches on the edible side but a few garrick have been landed. Live bait has seen the bigger fish but chokka has been the key for those fishing for the kob.
There have been grey sharks around for those wanting to catch something that will take a bit of drag but unfortunately those are the only inedibles around on the central coast.
South – The spotlight has been on the south coast for the past week and it will continue to shine until the sardines disappear.
The fishing has been great on the south coast with most of the action being around the sardine netting. There have been a good number of nets pulled this past week with both gamefish and sharks making an appearance. Keep an eye on social media and join one of the multiple groups that report on the sardine action to follow the news. Please make sure you are ready for the big fish and go have some fun.
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Freshwater:
The freshwater fishing has been cold but good. There have been good sized specimen carp caught, plenty of bass and some giant trout.
Bass – The cold water has slowed the fishing down, but it has not stopped the fish from biting.
The bass still need to feed, so focus on bigger profile baits that represent a large enough food item that the bass will consider eating. This time of year, sees jigs working very well. Black and blue is the colour combination of choice. This is true for the jigs as well as the Colorado bladed spinnerbaits. Remember to slow down your retrieve and focus on any hint of a bite. The winter bite can often be very subtle. Choose your dam and go fish.
Carp – The carp fishing has been steady in the past few weeks. The specimen angling is starting to pick up with more fish being landed this past week. The fronts have helped to drop the water temps and make the carp a bit more aggressive. Particles have done very well this past week with some quality fish coming to the net.
The conventional anglers have done well with smaller fish. Plenty of fish have been caught with very few going over the 5kg mark. The best reported baits have been strong, fruity mielie pips. Almond and banana have been the most productive of the flavours.
Trout – The trout fishing has been very good in most of the Midlands Stillwaters. The colder weather and snows have added some energy in to the fish with the colder water. There have been some giant rainbows landed in the last week. A quick social media search will show you the size of these trophies.
Float tubes, sinking lines and streamers are the way to go. Remember that these bigger fish can break tippets so upsize your end tackle to make sure you land that trophy.
Tight lines and screaming reels.
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Please send any info about fishing or fish caught in your area to mike.pereira@kingfisher.co.za
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