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.
The weather has been a real mixed bag this past week. The cold seems to be losing the battle to the spring warmth. The fishing has picked up and the change of season has begun.
Top tip. Essentials. With all the different facets of angling, there are a few essentials that you always need.
A good set of pliers goes a long way and can be used in most facets of angling from fly fishing to big game trolling. Quality sun protective clothing allows you to keep fishing even in the heat of summer. A decent headlight makes all the difference if you fish in any form of low light. With our need for technology and our sport involving water, a waterproof pouch is essential.
These are but a few items to put on your list of must haves.
Offshore:
The couta and tuna have been keeping the offshore anglers very busy.
The north has been the place to go but the local waters have held some giants.
North – The north coast has been the place to be if you are looking for couta.
Cape Vidal has come alive with fish and although most of the fish have been on the smaller side, the big fish are there.
The shallower areas have held most of the smaller fish, so if the giants are what you are after and you don’t mind waiting it out, head to the deeper water. Bait of choice has been an open category up north with most dead baits and live baits getting bites. Try get your hands on some good mackerel and sardines just to be sure.
Closer to Durban the anglers have done well in hooking fish, but the sharks have been a major problem.
Central – The central coast has also been very productive. The river mouths have done very well for the snoek anglers. These fish can be frustrating but as long as you fish light and make sure your lures/baits are swimming straight you should fool a few. Going slightly deeper to the wrecks and reefs has seen anglers get some couta. Purple flashers as well as chartreuse have been the most reported colours.
The deeper drop offs have produced some good-sized tuna lately for those trolling skirted lures and high-speed lipped lures. If you see any floating structure in the water, take a few minutes to fish around it. This debris can often hold dorado.
South – The south coast has seen some good tuna as well from Toti down to the shoal. Live bait slow trolled around the bait marks has been the number one method for these fish. A 6/0 circle hook bridled or rigged lightly through the back is the best way to get a solid hookup with these fish. This also works for the dorado that have been around.
The shoal has seen good numbers of wahoo around and these speedsters love a fast trolled lipped lure or a skirted lure. Work out the feeding area and then troll through this spot from different angles to find the money zone.
Rock and surf:
The rock and surf fishing has been a real mix this past week. The north coast is starting to show some summer action, but the conditions are not playing the game most days.
North – The north coast has been blowing hot and cold with the varied conditions we are having. The northeast wind has not been cooling the water down as much as usual, so an extra day of proper NE wind has been needed to get the fish feeding. Mackerel and redeye have been the most productive baits for most of the inedibles. Try make a bait with a lot of smell and scent. If the peckers are an issue, then wrap your bait with some chokka to make it last longer.
The gullies are fishing very well on the north coast with a host of species being landed. Prawns and chokka blob baits are the most successful.
Central – The beaches in and around Durban have seen some decent fishing this past week. The cape stumpies (silvers) have been keeping the light tackle guys very happy with hours of fun to be had. This is a great species to target for the newcomers or younger anglers. They fight hard for their size and are not very fussy with baits. Make a Christmas tree trace with a size 2 or so Mustad Ringer Chinu and you are in the game. The shad have been scarce in the Durban area for some reason… Your best bet is still the Pier at Blue Lagoon though. Keep an eye on the action in the early mornings and evenings. Lots of cars in the carpark is generally a giveaway of some action.
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 much 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 freshwater scene has been heating up. The freshwater anglers have had a good run this past week with some proper size bass being shown off on social media. The trout fishing is picking up and the carp anglers are doing well for themselves.
Bass – The bass fishing has been amazing in all of the KZN venues.
The faster moving baits have been putting the numbers in the boat.
Crankbaits, spinnerbaits and walking surface baits allow you to cover a lot more water. These faster techniques have allowed anglers to quickly up their numbers before switching to soft plastics to target the bigger fish.
Midmar has been doing very well for both the boat and bank anglers.
The upper reaches of the dam closer to the river mouth have produced the bigger fish. Chartreuse and white spinnerbaits have done some serious damage. Albert Falls and Inanda have both been very consistent with good catches coming from both. The only issue is the ecological disaster of the water hyacinth at Inanda. The giant mats of weed are a real menace to anyone trying to fish there.
Carp – The carp fishing has been great for the conventional anglers. Sweet flavoured baits and a spray of almond on your mielie bomb will keep your drag running and keepnet full on most of the bigger dams. The farm dams and ponds have also produced some good fish this past week with the fruity scents as well as bread seeing the best results.
The specimen anglers have been quiet over the past few months. There have been some good fish coming out, but the patterns have been difficult to predict, and the guarantee of success has been missing.
Nonetheless, Nagle has been the “secret” venue for those looking for a quieter place to catch a big fish. Although there is plenty of submerged weed so make sure you have a boat to be able to go fetch the fish if it gets stuck. Boilies have been the most successful of the specimen baits.
Trout – The focus of the fly guys has shifted towards the flowing waters.
Scalies have topped the hit list but there have been some proper trout mixed in. The rivers are throwing up some decent scalies and a few trout. Nymphs in the deeper water and Klinkhammers and the likes in the shallow stuff.
The Stillwaters have seen some good trout, woolly buggers and the likes have been the most successful flies reported. The darker colours have been the most popular. Try fishing a dark brown or black woolly bugger slowly along the bottom with an erratic hand twist retrieve.
For most of the dams in the Midlands, an intermediate line will be more than sufficient to get the fly into the strike zone. The deeper lakes require a type 3 or 4 sinking line. With all sinking lines, you do not need as much emphasis on tapered leaders and delicate presentations. A level leader is exactly what is needed. The faster the sink rate of the line, the shorter the leader needs to be.
News in from Jan Korrubel, The Kingfisher in PMB – “The snow came … and sadly disappeared just as fast. The images floating about on the socials looked great, but it had all disappeared by the time we got to the mountains for Opening Day of the trout rivers this weekend. While it had melted, it didn’t appear to have had much effect on the river, as the flow was low (and appeared to be dropping still), and water temperature was 13deg.C. at mid-morning … good fishing temperature, but a tad high for so early in the season. So now we wait for rain…
Happy to report however, that the water was still moving, and there were fish about that were eager to take the dry fly. The water was “thin”, as expected for post-Winter, and the fish spread out, confined to the slightly deeper runs – but action was had, and with fish in the net, the season’s account opened with a couple of deposits. Opening Day calls for dry fly, and all fish were taken on a para-RAB / Klinkhamer style parachute dry. Other reports mention that a sunken fly (was opposed to the dry) was the recipe. Clearly the fish seemed to be on the prod, chasing pretty much anything and everything.
Of interest is that there seems to have been a higher than usual numbers of anglers out on Opening Day, spanning The Bushman’s, Mooi and Umgeni Rivers. Especially The Bushman’s, where the Natal Fly Fishers Club beats provided some great fish into the 15-17 inch / 38-43cm bracket. That’s a great start!
Conditions are doable if one is desperate to scratch the river itch, but the river would certainly benefit from input right now, and another 6-8 inches, if not 8-12 inches of water will do wonders for the system. So, head out, get your fix on a trout or two, and then wait for rain.
There is another way to get one’s moving water fix, and that is to chase scalies – which also seem to be very much on the prod of late. The NFFC beat on the Umkomaas River yielded some excellent fish up into the 17-19 inch / 43-48cm class – and even some on dry fly! Further afield, The Tugela has also been producing some great fish.
With all eyes, and rods on the rivers it seems, there were only a couple on returns from the NFFC stillwater anglers. One outing unfortunately took place immediately prior to the snowy frontal system moving in, and drew a blank, while the other was after the front had moved and the weather had stabilized … and some good fish in the 15-17 inch / 38-43cm bracket came to hand. No water temperatures noted, but probably up a degree or 2 from last week, so middle teens. Best to get out and onto the waters sooner than later, before we get the full effects of the summer heatwave.
This weekend saw the the Albert Falls Bass Classic taking place, and with the dam being close to competitors for the last two week prior to comp day, it was surprising that the top two fish came in 3.760kg and 3.755kg, to Brendon van Zuydam and Eugene Potgieter respectively … a mere 5g apart! Once again, no doubt that the frontal conditions dealt a hand against the anglers, with the bulk of the fish coming in at 2-3kg. Of the 128 teams competing, 20% weighed in full bags of 5 fish each over the 2 days … with 13% of the field recording only 1 fish. With the event taking place on the water, the bank anglers were also complaining about the fishing, saying NO bass, carp or barbel landed … tough to say the least!
Word from Midmar Dam (and surrounding waters) is that they are fishing well, with some good bass and carp coming to hand.
No word from Sterkfontein as yet, but as the warmer weather gets here, the rush north will commence – there are a good couple anglers ready and waiting…
Tight Lines all … and do stop in at Kingfisher-PMB for the best in tackle and advice! Opening hours are 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, and 8am-1pm on weekends and Public Holidays”. Thanks Jan.
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.
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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/
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