Sardine! Sardine! Sardine!
The silver shoal is here with us, and the sharks and gamefish are full up with them.
Top tip. Keeping warm. The switch to warmer gear is imperative for winter. Much like sun protection in the summer, you need to make sure you prepare for the inclement weather during your winter sessions. Not having something to keep you warm can result in a miserable fisherman and more than likely an early departure. Look at a decent light-weight jacket along with a beanie. These should keep you more than warm enough in KZN.
Offshore:
The offshore has been up and down. The seas have been choppy but those that have launched have landed some good fish.
North – The north coast has produced some fantastic fish with big tuna and some fat snoek being landed. The snoek have been around the Tongaat long beach area. The backline is a fantastic stretch to troll for both garrick and snoek. The snoek have been preferably picking a fillet bait while the garrick like a live shad or mackerel.
The deeper reefs have produced some quality reef fish along with decent tuna on the drift. A live mozzie or mackerel under a balloon will quickly draw the attention of a passing gamefish.
Central – The Durban area has been focussed on the snoek at Blue Lagoon and the bottom fish on the deeper marks.
The snoek have also been a bit smaller than the earlier season fish but they are still fun to catch and make a delicious meal. Much like the north, a redeye sardine fillet trolled behind the backline produces a bite on most mornings. The Strike Pro Magic Minnow has earned its reputation and deserves a spot in every snoek tackle box.
The bottom fish have been keeping the KPs back-winding. Some very decent cracker have been landed over the last week or so and respectfully, many have been released (well done to these anglers). The rest of the catches have been made up of rockcod (white-edged, catface, yellow belly) and the usual red fish. The slinger and soldiers have been of a very impressive size, seems lockdown may have done them good. While fishing on the bottom, try fishing a trap stick with a livey. This is best done using a balloon to suspend the live bait a meter or two below the surface. This is a great way to target gamefish while getting your bottoms.
South – The south coast has been bottom fishing well. Dageraad, scotsman, crackers, slinger, daga, geelbek, rockcod and soldiers have all been regular culprits on the catch reports. Those new to bottom fishing will be happy to know that there are ready-made traces available for targeting all these species at your nearest Kingfisher branch. If you are looking to multi-target different species, then you need to use a trace than incorporates hooks ranging from 3/0 to 9/0. I would highly recommend circle hooks. Using a 3/0 on the top snoot, a 6/0 in the middle and a 9/0 on the bottom snoot will allow you to target everything that is likely to visit the inshore or offshore reefs.
The game fishermen have managed some good tuna out deep but the wahoo on Aliwal have continued to play hard to get. Only a handful have been landed and many sad stories have been told in the past few weeks.
Rock and surf:
Sardines have been the main focus this past week so not much has come in from the other areas.
North – The north coast has seen a couple of garrick for the guys fishing live bait. Targeting the areas of slightly deeper water close to a river mouth are your best bet for these fantastic gamefish. The tackle does not need to be too heavy as a garrick is one of the cleanest fighters you will ever hook. The north coast has also seen some very good shad coming out. This bodes well for the upcoming shad competition, and we look forward to seeing your giant shad getting weighed in!
On the inedible front, there have been a couple of diamonds around, but the main fish caught have been blackfins and grey sharks. Mackerel has been the bait of choice for all of these. Targeting both of the sharks mentioned sometimes necessitate a decent cast so make sure you have the correct braid and sinker weight for your rod to maximise the distance of your bait.
Central – The beachfront has seen some good fishing since its opening. Most of the central zone fishermen have made the trip down south to follow the sardines instead.
The Blue Lagoon “pier” has seen the most productive fishing over the past couple of weeks. The stumpies have been feeding well for most of the day and night. Prawn, chokka and sardine heads have been the best baits. The shad fishing has been slow, but the persistent anglers have done well. The lure guys have seen less success but with some of the sardine action moving past, the fishing should pick up!
South – The sardine hotspots have all lived up to their reputation this year. Pennington, Rocky Bay, Pumula to name a few have all seen a lot of action. The gamefish action has not been amazing on the whole, but guys have managed good catches of kingies, garrick, shad and some snoek (with a prodigal son or three).
The main focus has been on the giant sharks. This is 80lb braid + territory and is not for the faint hearted! There have been a few hookups already, but with the sheer number of fish in the water, swim offs are a constant problem no matter the thickness of your line. Trace wise, the 12/0 Mustad Demon Circle heavy hook has been the hook of choice for price and strength. This connected to 250lb+ Fishmate carbon-coated steel makes for a more than heavy enough setup. If they bite through 250lb, they will bite through anything.
Freshwater:
The freshwater fishing has been good for those braving the cold mornings. The bass requires a bit more focus, but the trout and carp are feeding rather well.
Bass – The colder weather has meant slower; more finesse approaches have done better than ripping a spinnerbait through an area. Dropshot fishing with a straight-tail worm has seen the most success from the reports coming in. Colour of the worms has not been of the utmost importance but the more natural browns and greens have seen more productive fishing. Target the deeper areas adjacent to structure or shallow flats. The bass will move between the shallows and depths to find the warmer water.
The smaller jerkbaits have also seen results but they have to be able to be fished slowly and therefore need to be of the suspending type.
Carp – The carp fishing has been on fire for the last couple of weeks. The fruity flavours continue to produce fantastic results with bank anglers having to empty the keepnet before the end of the session.
The specimen anglers have been reporting slower catches with long periods between catching bigger fish. The small fish on the other hand have been a bit of a nuisance. Using bigger baits will stop the smaller fish from picking up the bait.
The conventional anglers on the other hand have been having a ball with the numbers. Albert Falls and Inanda are both fishing very well.
Trout – The midlands have been cold! This has not put the trout off; on the other hand, the fishing has been rather good. Most of the trips up to the many Stillwaters in trout country have yielded success for even the newcomers to the art of fly fishing.
Some of the venues have still reported good catches on orange-coloured flies so make sure you do have something in orange to use if nothing is working. The stockies have been feeding fairly heavily on bulkier flies with a black woolly bugger continuing to come out tops. The flexibility of this pattern in terms of retrieves is phenomenal! The larger fish have been a bit more selective with more realistic baitfish patterns producing some good results.
News in from Jan Korrubel, The Kingfisher in PMB. “The chill from the previous weekend’s snowfall settled in last week and put The Midlands into proper winter. A week later, and there is still snow visible on the top of The ‘Berg, that sends nighttime temperatures well down into the single figures and even below. This has resulted in water temperatures taking an extreme dive also into single figures, and no doubt given the system a bit of a shock, as the fishing hasn’t been of the best lately. The current early morning temperatures certainly make staying indoors and undercover a while longer a much more attractive option.
After the lackluster fishing of the recent Hasting’s Exclusive and TOPS Corporate Challenge over the previous weekends, it was high hopes for the Kamberg Trout Festival held this last weekend to showcase some real winter stillwater trout fishing. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans and after the low of the storm, the barometer screamed up some 20+ bar over the course of 2 days. Without doubt, this extreme rate of change made the fish very uncomfortable and combined with water temperatures ranging from an early morning 6 degrees to 9/10 degrees in the afternoon, simply put the fish off. Of the 37 teams of 4 anglers, just shy of half managed to log double figures of fish over the 2 days and 4 sessions. Biggest fish of the event stretched the tape measure to 62 cm / 24.4 inches and pulled the scale to 3.2 kg. The top 3 positions were hotly contested with essentially only 1 fish of around 40cm between them, but congrats to winning Team Xplorer Fly Fishing, who managed to pull 19 fish out of the proverbial hat, measuring some 899 cm / 8.99 m total length of all their fish caught. All in all, a great event on the winter calendar, and the countdown to next year has already begun … and we trust Mother Nature will behave and not throw us another temper tantrum.
The weather appears to be stabilising currently, and the forecast is looking great for this weekend’s Boston Fly Fishing Festival … so fingers crossed that the fish behave accordingly. There is a week break in the events after Boston, with Leg 3 of the TOPS Corporate Challenge taking place at the end of the month 28-30 June.
With only 4 returns over the last week, it would appear that the anglers of the Natal Fly Fishers Club also fell foul of the weather – and opted to stay indoors. Of those anglers making it out, half returned a blank session, while the others found the rainbow(s)! Water temperature was reported at 12 degrees, considerably warmer than the waters of the Kamberg, which no doubt contributed positively to catching. Fish were primarily in the 13-15 inch / 33-38 cm and 15-17 inch / 38-43 cm classes, but there were excellent fish noted in the 19-21 inch / 48-53 cm and 21-23 inch / 53-58 cm classes. Now that’s winter stillwater trout fishing for you … have to wonder where those fish were hiding while I was fishing in the Kamberg event…?
Not much currently from the bass anglers – but PMB Bassmasters held a Tripe Skins Challenge on Albert Falls this past weekend, and after the howling wind of last week, the weather turned out great on the day. The heaviest bag of the day (3 fish) went to Paul and Leon Fouche with 7.9kgs.
The next Triple Skins event will be held in August before the cut-off for the Albert Falls Classic.
Top Rhyming Tip heard recently for winter bass fishing: “Tight and White.” With the cooler water temperatures, anything moving will show less action than in warmer water – hence “tight,” also refers to slow your retrieve down … and “white” is a standout colour for maximum visibility of your offerings.
The cooler air and water temperatures have slowed the surface action on Albert Falls, and there has been no more word on any carp action. As previously mentioned however, scaly’s may still be around … less in number but bigger fish, so it is worthwhile keeping an ear to the water for any action.
Conditions may not be the best, but fish still gotta eat – so get out there.” Thanks Jan.
Please remember to leave the areas that you fish in a better condition than when you got there. Take a few moments to pick up some litter and take it to the nearest bin. Tight lines and screaming reels.
For the best in tackle and advice, pop into any of the seven Kingfisher stores, they are open 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-1pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Go to www.facebook.com/thekingfisherdaiwa and “Like” us on Facebook to catch reviews, videos, fishing reports, great promotions and lots more.
As always, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date with all our new video releases and to brush up on your species knowledge, tactics and tips/tricks.
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKingfisherFishing
The KZN Angler News audio fishing report is South Africa’s first fishing podcast series that focuses on the latest fishing reports of the East Coast. This report is free and available on all major Podcast platforms including Apple Pods, Google Pods, Spotify and Deezer as well as SA’s most popular Facebook Pages. https://www.ecr.co.za/podcasts/ansa/
Please send any info about fishing or fish caught in your area to mike.pereira@kingfisher.co.za