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.
With the spring sunshine trying to break through the winter chill, the fishing is also starting to warm up nicely!
Top tip. Quick clips. One of the biggest game changers in the last few years was the use of quality quick change clips for most fishing facets. These allow you to swap out lures quickly from a plug to a spoon or change from a trace with wire to a full nylon one. On the competition side, it allows anglers to prepare baits on traces and then just clip on and throw to make the most of a bite. If you haven’t tried these yet, get some proper quality clips and see how much more you enjoy your fishing.
Offshore:
There have been plenty of whales around enjoying the Durban sun. Please keep an eye out for them and respect their space. The fishing has been a good combo of gamefish and bottoms.
North – The north coast has seen the bulk of the gamefish action. There have been some very good catches of couta, dorado, tuna and sailfish to name the top four. Live bait has been (and always will be) king. All of the species will rarely turn down a well-presented and lively baitfish trolled behind a boat or ski. When bait is scarce then lures will still produce good results.
Cape Vidal has been the place to be with social media full of amazing catches from there.
Central – The central section of the KZN coast has produced a lot of bottom fish and gamefish for the boating crowd. The tuna and couta have been the main gamefish coming out and they have not been that picky when it comes to bait. Both species have been caught on trolled lures, poppers and live bait. Use whichever method you prefer and look for the action (birds or fish busting). The bottom fishing has seen a lot of geelbek, daga and rockcod being landed. The sharks have taken their tax and beating them has required some heavy pulling so make sure your knots are good.
South – The shallower areas down south have produced a couple of couta and some nice snoek. The fillet baits have been the pick of the bunch for the snoek while a larger live bait has been a killer for the couta.
The bottom fishing continues to produce really good quality catches with some bomber rockcod being brought up from the depths. The geelbek and daga are still keeping the commercial guys busy while the charters target the closer reefs. Please stick to your limits no matter how wild the fishing is.
Rock and surf:
The rock and surf fishing has been interesting. The fish have been around, but the fishing has been tough. Put the time in and you will reap the rewards.
North – The north coast has seen the bulk of the early summer flatfish and sharks. There have been some decent blackfin and sandies hooked already with the fish leading the scoreboard. Bigger, meaty baits have been the trick to get the bite. Look for colder water areas and try to get into the deepest water possible.
The edibles have been difficult with not much happening on the north coast apart from a kob or seven. Please remember to limit your catch and not catch your limit.
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 scratchers have been doing very well down south with some quality fish being landed. There have been stumpies, bream and pompano on offer with some bomber shad mixed in. Speak to the anglers in the area you are fishing and find out what has been working in the days prior.
The deeper points down south are still holding some of the better inedibles and anglers have managed a few bus eagle rays and some honeycombs. The eagle rays prefer an octopus bait while the honeycombs will love a redeye sardine concoction. It is early for these inedibles, but it is always worth trying for them.
Freshwater:
The trout are still doing well, despite the rivers being closed; the bass are eating everything, as usual; and the carp are vacuuming up most baits.
Bass – The bass fishing has been fantastic. We are finally moving out of the colder months so the fishing will start to pick up.
Moving lures and minnow imitations have been the most successful of the patterns mentioned. Spinnerbaits and cranks have been the best of the methods mentioned. Colours have not been too important but make sure you use more chartreuse colours if the water has a bit of colour.
Most of the waters in KZN have been fishing well so focus on putting the time in on your water and don’t worry about the colour of the grass on the other side.
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 stillwaters are fishing very well. The size of the fish have not been the same 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. Fishing a PTN on a long leader and floating line as slowly as possible can often bring excitement to a quiet day. 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 in from Jan Korrubel, The Kingfisher in PMB – “The happy fishing streak continues! The weather is warming up nicely, and the fish are coming out to play … and there are some excellent fish on all fronts to report on … so let’s get cracking.
The days are ticking off to the start of the trout river season on 1 September – but no one really needs reminding of that … flies are being tied, and the talk is hot!
For the moving water fans, we reported last week that there have been scaly coming to hand – the folks at African Waters fishing outfitters recently had their annual Tugela trip, and reports tell of good fish in the late 40cm and up into the 50cm / around 20 inches range. Water is still on the cool side, so small patterns in black and olive were the order of the day. There were also some small catfish moving about … great rod-benders these guys are!
On the stillwater front, with the recent decent weather (albeit a tad windy as is usual for August), the Natal Fly Fishers Club saw a rise in the number of returns as more anglers are getting out and about. There were good numbers of fish reported in the 11-15 inch / 28-38cm range, as well as in the 15-17 inch / 38-43cm class. The bigger fish are starting to make an appearance as well, and a worthy mention must go to the submarine that taped in the 23-25 inch / 58-63cm bracket! Water temperatures are up into the double figures now, variously reported at between 10-13 deg.C. Still a bit cool for the spring/summer weed to start developing, but some big midge hatches occurring with the warmer water. Woolly Buggers in black, brown and olive still very much in favour at present, along with minnow patterns, if your preference is for the bigger flies. On the smaller end of the scale, natural nymphs such as PTN, GRHE and Zak should always be top of your list.
From the private waters, Gary Maas from Troutbagger in Nottingham Road reports some good fish of over 8lbs / 3.5kg being caught.
Reports from the bass fraternity are that the fish are in pre-spawn, and in the beginning phase of staging up, just sitting it out on the ledges. Bites are few and far between, and “weird” was a description used … soft and gentle from some and hammered by others … no real pattern.
The weekend past saw the PMB Bass Masters ‘Triple Skins Challenge’ being held on Albert Falls … practising anglers reported some good fishing the weekend before, but the fish went quiet over the event … isn’t that always the case?
On the upside, local angler Zeyn Habib had some good fishing on Albert Falls this past weekend, reporting four fish of around 2.5kg and two more of 1.5kg.
Note to all the Albert Falls Classic Bass Tournament anglers – the cutoff for practise is this week Friday 16 August, with the event taking place 31 August.
With the bank anglers reporting all things quiet with the carp, at both Midmar and Albert Falls, there have been some good carp elsewhere locally … father Ralton Dickason, and son Connor, reported a great day’s fishing this past weekend.
There are flat water days to be had when the wind isn’t blowing, and Jeremy Rochester of Escape Fly Fishing reported such a fine day with carp on the surface on dry fly on Albert Falls”. Thanks Jan.
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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