Into July we go, and the silver shoal is still with us. The DAFF officers have been out stopping illegal fishing which is great to see.
Top tip: Billfish and dorado. These are two of the most prized offshore targets along the KZN coast.
Dorado are easier to target most of the time, but the billfish can be targeted doing much the same.
Trolling skirted lures along the deeper drop offs and the colour lines is a great way to target both. Look at using medium to large, skirted lures with a good smoke trail and or good movement. Colour is often a personal choice when it comes to lures but a combination of colours in your spread will quickly reveal the flavour of the day.
Live baits are very happily accepted by both as well. A circle hook, bridled to a live bait and trolled slowly in a likely area on a good quality fluorocarbon line will put you in with a good chance of both species (and tuna).
Offshore:
The bigger seas and heavy winds have made fishing on the boats a little unpleasant, but the bumpy trips have been worth it.
North – The north coast has seen some good snoek and couta for the smaller boats and skis. The deeper reefs and wrecks have seen some very good bottom fishing with big trawl soldiers and a host of other species being caught. Squid and sardines have been the baits of choice for the deeper fishing.
The tuna have been full up with some giants being hooked and breaking tackle. These are very powerful fish so allow them to fire themselves out before you try to horse them to the boat.
Central – The Durban section of KZN has produced some good gamefish and bottom fish catches over the past few weeks. The charter boats are keeping their clients happy with plenty of tuna and the odd billfish to get the heart’s pumping and the drag screaming. Darker coloured skirted lures have been the most successful for these faster gamefish.
Remember that the wahoo also loves a skirted lure at speed so use some wire or a chain gang.
The bottom fishing has been patchy but good. The slinger and soldiers have been the bulk of the catches in terms of numbers with a few rockcod rounding off the catches. Squid and sardine have been the most reported baits used successfully.
South – The south coast catches have been focussed around the deeper marks along with Aliwal Shoal. There have been some big wahoo around that few have managed to land. The tuna have been great fun on the faster lipped lures and these have been working for the other species too.
This time of year is fantastic on the boat if you get the weather right, so keep your eye on the weather apps and plan accordingly.
Rock and surf:
The shore-based fishing has been a combination of spinning, scratching and a hint of big fish fishing. All that and the sardines are here in numbers!
North – The north coast points have been the most effective spots along the coast to target the snoek on spoon. Small but heavy spoons that can be retrieved very fast without losing stability are essential. You also need tackle that can throw said spoon a long way and retrieve it rapidly. This means long rods and fast reels.
The north coast has seen some decent scratching along the ledges and in the gullies. Pink prawns have been the best bait all around.
Central – The central coast has also seen some good fish being caught on lures.
There are fish for all levels and interests. The shade has been full up around the piers and are always keen to eat a drifted sardine or spoon. The snoek has been scarce as well as the garrick, but they are there, you just need to target them. The kingfish have also been there but mainly as a bycatch.
On the bait side of things, the main catches have been pompano, grunter, shad and kob.
South – Much like the central coast, there have been garrick at all the major spots along the south coast. This is great news! Remember that these fish get hammered every year by guys keeping too many fish, so please release as make as possible.
Garrick are best targeted with a live bait fished close to the shore.
Live bait type is not the most important part, but location is. Use a circle hook through the top lip of the baitfish or bridled through the eyes and you will quickly see more solid hookups. 6/0 Mustad tuna circle is the hook of choice.
This, with the presence of the sardines means the south coast is about to get very busy!
Freshwater:
The trout are feeding well, keeping the midlands anglers happy. The bass are fussy but are there to be caught. The carp are waiting for you to send a mielie bomb their way.
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 a bit slow. There has not been much reported over the last week. The specimen anglers have been traveling to get decent bites while the conventional anglers have done well at dams like Midmar and Albert Falls. Sweet flavours are still doing well with banana and honey proving to be the best options.
Trout – The cold water has made fishing go very well for most venues in the berg. Streamers have produced some proper fish with some amazing takes. 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 weather has stabilised somewhat, and we are happy to report that the fish (and the fishing) has followed suit. As mentioned previously, according to the international forecasts, it really does seem like we are in for a mild winter … but of course we are tempting fate as we say this, as there is a forecast for widespread low-level snow from the weekend! I, for one, am actually looking for a bit of a decent cold spell, so that I can cook up a decent batch of curry and some soup(s) … soul food in winter, but not so great in summer
But we digress – the trout are now fully into high-colour spawn mode, and there are some solid cruisers about. The big 60+cm / 23+ inch ‘uns are however proving somewhat few and far between, and the current theory is that the preceding summer was simply far too hot and far too long for them. On the upside, this makes space for those fish in the 50+cm / 20+ inch class to grow up into the next category.
The Natal Fly Fishers Club stillwater anglers have been, for the most part, making hay while the sun shines, with good fish being reported in the catch returns. Of course, there has been the odd blank session reported in between, as the pressure fell through the floor and tanked late this past weekend. But the fish were feeding prior, and while the pressure was diving … that is until it bottomed out. The fish reported were pretty much split 50:50 between the 30-40cm / 12-16 inch and 40-50cm / 16-20 inch classes … with a sprinkling of fish over the 50cm / 20 inch mark.
Water temperature was reported as COLD … but more specifically to be around 8deg, as reported by the anglers fishing in Leg3 of the TOPS Corporate Challenge held last weekend. With the fish now in full spawn mode, anglers had to work hard for their catches, and as expected, numbers were less than in previous Legs. The biggest fish came in at 63cm, just shy of the 25 inch mark. With the chilly and crystal-clear waters, small and slow … almost static … is the name of the game, with nymphs, small leeches and bloodworm being the most successful flies of the event.
Of interest is that the local “Women in Waders” ladies team took 3rd place overall (out of 16 teams), thereby earning themselves a place in the TCC Finals that take place 1-4 August. The ladies recorded some great fish of 50+cm / 20+ inch. With the ladies having shown that the fish are around, bodes well for the inaugural WiW Ladies Fly Fishing Festival that takes place next weekend 11-13 July.
The private waters are also fishing well reports Gary Maas from Troutbagger Farm in Nottingham Road, and visiting Durban angler Grame Pitt, who was fishing up in The Kamberg Valley.
With the warmer-than-usual winter, word on the bass forums mention “not your average winter fishing” and “been a good winter for bass”. We can report that there are some big bass around … as this time we have a couple of images to show for it! Thanks goes out to Chris Robson from the Greytown area for his 2.79kg fatty, and the 11 year old son of Rajeev Kirpal and his new PB with a 3.53kg lunker! Well Done and Congrats on those excellent fish guys. A number of successful techniques have been mentioned recently, ranging from jigging spoons and jerkbaits for clear water conditions, and spinner and crankbaits for muddy waters. Sub-surface glide bait also gets a mention.
No more word on the Albert Falls carp. With the warmer conditions, the scaly anglers are getting twitchy already, with a few getting ready to start making sorties in search of the ‘Slabs of Gold”.
A HUGE word of Thanks must go out to our customers for the great support over last weekend’s Birthday Sale!” 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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