Hot weather and NE winds have made for some fantastic fishing this past week.
Top tip: Bucktail jigs are one of the most versatile lures that you can own. They come in a variety of sizes from 1/16th of an ounce all the way up to 6oz (and more). Bucktails are essentially a lead head (hook with a sinker molded to it) with some bucktail tied to the shank. They come in a variety of colours and all of them produce fish. For the surf and offshore, chartreuse/white, all white and pink/white are the three best colours. The key to success is allowing the bucktail to bounce up and down on the retrieve. Cast the lure out, allow it to sink and then work it back with a jigging action. The pace of the retrieve can be varied until you get a bite.
Offshore:
The offshore fishing is really picking up with a lot of decent tuna, dorado and couta being caught along the KZN coast.
North – The north coast has seen great fishing when the conditions line up. The currents and water temperatures have been the things to look at.
Cape Vidal and Sodwana have produced good fish for the skis and boats. Live bait remains the best baits to use but the dorado and tuna have favoured faster plastics.
Central – The central coast has seen the same small snoek invasion as the north. Most anglers have opted not to fish in the shallows with the risk of the sewage. Tuna and couta have been around the deeper marks. The tuna have been the main target. Some giants have been hooked on both the poppers and live bait. Obviously, the guys have preferred to fish with poppers as seeing a +20kg tuna inhaling a popper on the surface will get your adrenaline going.
South – The south coast has seen some good gamefish action further offshore.
The south has seen a lot of boats launching and heading out to the Shoal. The fishing has been a mix out deep with the currents proving to be the most significant factor. Speak to the locals at the launch site to see what is happening. Faster trolling lures have been the most successful lures to use for the tuna, wahoo, couta and all the other predators.
Rock and surf:
The rock and surf fishing has kept itself on a high for the past week. There have been edibles and inedibles to catch along most of the coast.
North – The north coast has been fishing very well around the river mouths and off the deeper points. There has been plenty of scratching action along most of the north coast with some particularly good bronze bream and kob being caught. The kob have favoured chokka and live baits. The bream have favoured pink prawn. The inedibles have been a good mix of knot-testers. Sandies and honeycombs have been the pleasant surprises while the diamonds have made up the bulk of the catches.
Central – The central coast has also seen some good fish being caught on lures. There are fish for all levels and interests. The shad have been full up around the piers and are always keen to eat a drifted sardine or spoon. The kingfish have also been there but mainly as a bycatch.
The main catches have been pompano, grunter, shad and kob. On the bait side of things, pink prawn and chokka are the two baits you need to have in your box.
The basin has been producing plenty of fish with a big mix of inedibles (and plenty of anglers).
South – The south coast has seen some very good fishing in the Margate to Port Edward area. The reefs of Trafalgar have been the place to be if you are looking for bigger bream and various other edibles. Pink and red prawn have been the baits of choice for these fish.
The south coast has also seen some very big blue rays. Soft sardine baits are the ones to use for these fish. 6/0 to 8/0 circle hooks are the order of the day for these bigger blues.
Freshwater:
The freshwater fishing has been good on all fronts with carp, bass and trout to be caught.
Bass – Hazlemere has been the pick of the shore venues with most anglers fishing from the side seeing good numbers of fish as well as some decent sizes as well. Moving baits and particularly small minnow imitations have done very well. Darker colours with a bit of a gold or copper flash have done well.
Albert Falls and Midmar have been the better boat venues with anglers reporting some very big fish. A host of techniques and methods have been working so try your favourites and work the day out from there.
Carp – The carp have been consistent over the last month with mostly smaller fish making their way to the reports but the bigger catches being kept private.
Albert Falls has been producing fish for both specimen and conventional anglers. Garlic has been the most reported flavour with floaties out-fishing mielies.
Specimen anglers have been best suited using boilies in the 16mm size range and up. Remember to use whole and chopped boilies in your feed mix to make sure you give the fish plenty to eat.
Trout – The fishing has been decent on most of the trout waters with the hot temperatures are a limiting factor. Most of the venues in KZN have been seeing some fantastic fish. Those in the float tubes are out-fishing those from the banks. The float tube allows you to get to places that the bank anglers cannot access. The streamers are fishing well on sinking lines. The generic “bugger” style flies have been the most successful as they are easy to cast, easy to fish and they catch fish almost anywhere.
News in from Jan Korrubel, The Kingfisher in PMB – “The run of good weather continues, and the fishing is picking up, some better than others. With little in the way of rain – even the summer thunderstorms have backed off – the rivers are fining off and starting to come into play. Also seeing more dusty vehicles than mud-splattered top-2-bottom vehicles on the road currently, so The Midlands is starting to dry … almost to the point that I heard an angler say that if we don’t get (some more) rain soon, things might head in the opposite direction! Looking at the forecast, he might get his wishes granted as it seems we are in for a spit and spot over the next week or so…
The river anglers of the Natal Fly Fishers Club visited The Bushman’s and Mooi River beats in the week gone past, with some good numbers brown trout in the 11-13 inch / 28-33cm and 13-15 inch / 33-38cm brackets reported – water temperature was noted at 17deg.C Slightly further afield, the rainbows of the Underberg streams are also starting to produce after the long sulk of heavy water. It certainly looks like the rivers are starting to behave and time to get out there.
Note that the upper river beats, closer to ‘Berg, may still be subject to some storm activity, so keep an ear out for any rumblings from up valley, and cast and eye upward every so often to watch for any “cauliflower” activity that may herald an approaching storm. If a storm breaks upstream, the river may be subject to some heavy water coming down, so best to beat a retreat to higher ground.
The stillwater anglers have been rather quiet, and there have been no returns lodged from any of the NFFC trout dams. A report received from some tackled some bass waters with fly noted fish up to the 15-17 inch / 38-43cm bracket.
After the bump in the excitement levels of some good fishing at the recent Joey’s Tournament at Albert Falls, reports are that the dam is back to “tough fishing” with the odd, good fish ibn the 204kg range coming out “here and there”. Midmar is reportedly fishing much better and has been ascribed to a big temperature difference between the 2 waters. Alberts is reportedly sitting at near 30deg.C, while Midmar is some 5degrees+ lower, sitting at 23-24deg.C.
Once again, it seems that Sterkfontein Dam is the place to be with some excellent smallmouth yellowfish being reported on dry fly.” 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.
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