The weather has been the main factor in the last week. The offshore fishing has been great, the shad have made a fantastic appearance for the rock and surf guys while the bass are getting frisky.
Top tip: The trap stick is a rod which is often forgotten on the boat (or ski).
This is a general term used for a rod that is used to put out a live bait while you fish for bottom fish. This method usually utilises a balloon and a live bait. The balloon stops the live bait from swimming too deep along with making it constantly struggle against the resistance of the balloon and thus putting out the good vibrations.
This method can be done with multiple different setups. You can choose to either have a dedicated trap stick such as the Kingfisher Poseidon Offshore Series Kingfish rod with a 40 or 50 size Daiwa multiplier, or you can use one of your other rods as a multipurpose rod. The best choice is probably your popping setup, just lengthen your leader and use a balloon about 2 meters above the live bait. Try it next time you are drifting or anchored for bottom fish and see what jumps on the trap stick!
Offshore:
The focus in the last few weeks has been on the bottom. The bottom fishing has been rewarding but the snoek and tuna are still around for those who prefer moving and fishing.
North – The couta have been around in dribs and drabs. Some lucky anglers have managed some proper fish while targeting the snoek on the backline emphasising the need to use the best tackle possible. The snoek have continued to blow hot and cold on the north coast. The early mornings have been the peak time with the earlier you can launch the better.
The Strike Pro Magic Minnow and the smaller Kingfisher Rattlers have been doing the business for those who prefer a lip lure over a fillet. The redeye sardine fillet has done some real damage in the last few weeks. Go as light as you can with your tackle to get more bites but remember that a hungry couta will not say no to a well-presented fillet bait flapping past him on the surface.
Central – The central zone has seen a lot of very good bottom fish action. The big hauls of daga and geelbek are starting to happen and some amazing (and sad) amounts of fish have been mentioned. Both of these species can sometimes get picky with what bait they want to eat so make sure you have some sardine, some live mackerel and shad. A hungry daga or geelbek will not be able to say no to those. Never forget the trap stick while you are fishing on the bottom. The trap stick out the back of the boat has accounted for a lot more fish than people think. The tuna loves to jump on the trap stick after getting attracted into the area by the commotion of fish being hauled up from the bottom. A live bait under a balloon is the best choice to put out on the trap stick.
The tuna have continued to provide some consistent action with some decent specimens being landed recently. The guys fishing on the bottom have also managed some giant copper steenbras and black musselcracker.
Fortunately, most of these fish have gone back (well done guys)!
South – The south coast has been much the same as the central coast with a lot of focus going to the bottom fish action.
The closer reefs have seen some decent couta. These bigger couta can get a bit fussy in terms of what they want to eat so make sure that you give them a couple options. The best option is to rig your baits at different depths and to use two different bait fish if possible.
Alternatively, you can use two different coloured skirts in front of your mackerel. The garrick are still around on the backline and the same methods mentioned previously will produce the bite.
Harbour:
The Durban harbour has been fishing particularly well over the last few weeks for both the artificial and bait anglers. The springer have been around for the entire year and are only getting more feisty as we get closer to summer. The kingies have been keeping the lure anglers happy as they have been gobbling up anything that moves fast enough.
Look at using some natural coloured jerk minnows in the 3-4inch variety. The garrick have also been there. These fish have been reluctant to eat but have kept their hearts as they chase and splash at the baitfish in the area.
Rock and Surf:
The main action has been based around the sardines. Some amazing gamefish have been caught around these silver shoals. The shoals have been sporadic, but they are around if you persevere.
North – The north coast has been quiet. There have been no reports that have come in from the north coast anglers.
This time of year, it is best to fish the rockier ledges and gullies for fish like bronze bream and stumpies. These fish can both be targeted with the same tackle which makes travelling and fishing light a lot more pleasurable. Light tackle is the key to staying mobile.
Rods between 10-12ft are brilliant for this facet. Most of the rock fish will not say no to prawn or chokka. On the inedible side, this time of year can be a bit slow with most of the action being grey sharks. If you are looking for something bigger than swimming one of these could produce a giant.
Central – The Durban coast has seen a lot of shad action this past week. The betting of sardines along the beachfront did bring in some snoek and Garrick which the spinning anglers took full advantage of. Throwing spoons is a great way of targeting the gamefish in and around the sardine shoals. Try to match the profile of the sardine with your spoon. Sometimes this makes a big difference, other times a piece of tinfoil will be fine.
There have been the start of a couple flatfish caught along the north beaches. Nothing gigantic yet but it is a light at the end of the cold winter tunnel.
South – Sardine central. The south coast has been the place to go whether you are after a garrick or a giant grey shark. There have been a couple successful methods used last week. The jig-and-drop method accounted for some very good edibles including big kingfish, prodigal son, kob and garrick. This method is exactly as the name states. You cast into the sardine shoal, jig a sardine by striking and then let it drop out of the shoal. This is a deadly way of targeting edibles around the sardines.
Those looking for the bigger sharks are best served by either sight casting to the fish around the nets. Please make sure you are ready for the battle that follows as these are not small fish.
Freshwater:
The freshwater fishing has been a nice mix of fish with the weather making some days a bit tricky to fish.
Bass – The boat anglers have been doing extremely well. The bass are moving on to the spawning beds and the boat guys have the benefit of being able to move around and find the nests. These fish can be targeted with various methods so focus more on the area and accuracy of your casts than the lure. Dropshot is a great method for the more finicky feeders using a straight worm or fluke. Those fishing the areas around the spawning areas have done well with reaction style baits. The jerk baits ha e done particularly well but the deeper areas have been dominated by Carolina-rigged worms.
The bank anglers have done well at Hazlemere but the low water levels have made fishing a bit muddy. Weightless soft plastics have done very well. A weightless fluke fished slowly through the shallows will produce some good fishing.
Carp – The cold is starting to break, and this makes the evening next to the dam a lot more pleasant. Spring is here and the fish are starting to feed. Spring is a great time to fish bright-coloured popups to sighted fish. These can be either orange, pink or yellow (many more colours) and should be fished fairly close to the bottom. My preference is for a spinner rig but there are multiple options available.
Inanda has produced the most consistent results for the specimen anglers these past few weeks. There have been some amazing fish caught. Baiting an area and fishing to it accurately will get you the best results. Albert Falls has seen the most success for the conventional anglers.
The numbers have been big but the weights small. Only a handful of decent fish have been landed.
Trout – The Swartberg area has been producing some amazing fish, but the cold has been biting as well. The big streamers and minnow patterns on intermediate and sinking lines have been the most productive. Remember that you are fishing for bigger fish so don’t be shy to go heavier on your leaders as you are focussing on landing the fish and not delicately presenting a dry fly.
Colours in the black, brown and olive range have been the most reported in terms of success.
News in from Jan Korrubel, The Kingfisher in PMB – “Here we are, a week after the Big Freeze of early last week, but the chill factor is still high … or rather, (very) low! Although moderately warmer, water temperatures are still well into the single figures, and the fish appear to be on the “frozen fish fingers” end of the scale, with not much movement going on at present. However, we are already in the second half of winter, and conditions can only improve from here on.
With only a few returns from the Natal Fly Fishing Club anglers to work with, it seems that that the “fishers” are in the same predicament as the fish … not quite sure what the weather is up to, and whether to make a (proper) go at it, or simply stay in bed.
Or go to work more likely, now that the holidays are over … so the NFFC returns are essentially from this past weekend. While it started off well, a pre-weekend dip in the barometer, with a system following, certainly put the fish down and made fishing exceedingly difficult. The fish that came to hand fell across the tape measure spectrum, ranging from the 9-11 inch / 23-28cm class up into the 15-17 inch / 38-43cm bracket.
Fishing before, and into the weekend, the ladies of the inaugural ‘Women In Waders’ Fly Fishing Festival fared much better, with some excellent fish being reported prior to the above barometric mentioned dip. Biggest fish of the event pulled the tape to 57cm / 23 inches, with a good few more fish coming in at over the 50cm / 20inch mark. Predominant species caught was rainbow trout, but there were a number of solid browns also reported, biggest of which taped in at 49cm / just over 19 inches. Team “Damsels in Distress”, comprising local ladies from Pietermaritzburg and Durban, took the honours, with team member Lyndall Blaikie-Webber voted “Miss Piggy” of the event for catching fish in every session … excellent fishing under the trying conditions! Comments from the visiting anglers (coming as far south as the Eastern Cape and north from Gauteng) were extremely positive, and it looks like this event might just make it onto the annual Midlands fly fishing calendar! Well done to you Ladies.
With the bass socials touting ads for upcoming events – as far away as September – then it must be taken that the Midlands bass have gone to sleep. No local action to report on, so best advice at present is to put some travel in your fishing plans and find some warmer waters, perhaps closer to the coast.
But as they say : if you don’t throw, you won’t know … so throw! Linked to that of course is that any day spent fishing is better than a day in the office”! Thanks Jan.
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