MASSIVE swells and strong currents hampered fishing all along the KwaZulu-Natal coast last week with most anglers opting to fish off the protected ledges with light tackle.
This seemed to be the more productive approach and many anglers in the Kosi Bay area did relatively well with species such as wave garrick, stumpies, stone bream and small pompano.
Further south at St Lucia, few anglers took to the water, and even fewer fish were seen. The odd bonefish and stumpnose were spotted around the shallows north of the launch site during the week, and for most of the weekend.
Richards Bay fished much the same and produced the odd grey shark over the weekend and various edibles.
The harbour was on form in the strong westerly winds and saw dozens of good edibles coming out for boaters as well as from the side. Grunter in the 2kg range were common, as well as stumpnose and perch. All were landed on cracker shrimp.
The area from upper Salt Rock to lower Ballito was among the more popular spots and saw many anglers and many fish.
The best approach in rough seas and the howling south-westerly is to downscale completely and to scratch in the gullies, instead of fishing in the rough seas where the sanded-up waters can have a negative impact on the fishing.
Fish do not like sand in their gills and nor do they enjoy low visibility conditions, which make them easy targets to predators. In the gullies, the list of predators is substantially lower and visibility is much higher due to the lack of sand.
A small prawn bait in the gullies will produce a variety of species from blacktail to stumpnose, rock cod and even shad.
Ballito and Salt Rock produced a good number of fish including very nice blacktail of 2-4kg in the Sheffield area.
Umhlanga was much the same and saw anglers scratching for smaller fish at the lighthouse. A variety of edibles were taken here, as well as a few grey sharks and the odd sand shark.
Blue Lagoon saw huge seas and was unfishable most of the week. When the sea started to settle, anglers saw a few shad, stumpies and a pompano or two.
Durban beaches have been another spot for anglers to congregate in these strong south-westerly winds, as the Bluff and interior of Durban acts as a shield and helps calm the seas in the basin. A fair number of grunter, stumpnose, and pompano were accounted for.
The Bluff fished very well and had anglers stocking up on bait daily. Prawn and chokka mix baits produced many edibles, and anglers willing to put up with the conditions were rewarded greatly.
At the beginning of the week a few anglers had good success with black tip kingies on live bait, but the prolonged westerly wind combined with the dwindling live bait availability brought an end to the action towards the latter part of the week.
Toti had another small shad run but anglers soon left and set off to find calmer waters to fish.
Umkomaas was a washing machine and saw few fish apart from the odd brown skate and snapper salmon.
Scottburgh has had some lovely clean water moving though, thanks to the westerly, but unfortunately suffered from rough seas.
Grey sharks, pompano, grunter and smaller edibles were the only fish around for most of the week.
Rough seas adversely affected angling further south, but those who braved the conditions hooked up with garrick, shad and brusher. The brusher were landed on crab baits.
Be sure to send any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area to
[email protected] or fax 031 368 4007.
Until next week… TIGHTLINES!