FISHING REPORT 2nd JANUARY. Happy Holidays to the many anglers and their families around South Africa, may all of your travels be safe and your lines stretched. Rock n Surf: Kosi Bay - This area has had a good few sessions last week with plenty of fish being caught. As expected for this time of year, there are reports of various Kingfish which are being landed on bait as well as heavier spinning tackle. Ideally, an 11′ or 11’6″ spinning rod with a fairly substantial backbone to it, such as the Daiwa Exceler Elite which boasts a 4oz casting capability. Not only does the Elite cast like a dream, but has enough pulling power to stop anything that decides to challenge it. To complement the Elite, a perfect reel for the outfit would have to be the trusty Daiwa Exceler Oceano 4500j which has been one of the most reliable reels released since the BG range. With the ability to hold over 300m of Triple fish Gatorbraid 33lb, or 300m perfectly of Saltiga 55lb braid, it has the line capacity to suit its abilities. For the KZN North coast, an outfit of this level will be ideal for throwing plugs, drop shot or spoons for Kingfish, or even as a scratching outfit when targeting edibles of any size, including Pompano, Stumpies and Snapper which have also been running at the moment. Apart from the variety of different edibles on the bite in the Kosi Bay area, anglers have also found themselves stuck into some fairly large Honeycombs and Sand Sharks. Although not as many as the previous weeks, the size has definitely increased and many catches have been trophy size fish. The lakes have also found many anglers trying to escape the busy beaches, using light spinning gear such as the Daiwa Laguna 702 rods with Daiwa Laguna 2500 reels spinning for smaller Kingies and Rock Salmon. The Banga Nek area had a large number of anglers which resulted in good catches throughout the week and weekend. Some large Spade Fish were landed on Chokka baits earlier on in the week. South of Banga Nek, a small group of anglers managed to hook into a few very large Pompano, the only one which was weighed tipped the scales at over 8kgs. These fish are extremely powerful fighters and require skill to land on light tackle. Mustad Big Gun or Tarpon 3/0-4/0 hooks will suffice, with a 0,65mm Siglon fluorocarbon leader. Sea Lice is the preferred bait but Pompano have also been known to feed readily on Ghost Crab, Chokka, Cracker and even Sardine baits. Cape Vidal - Has been busy and many of the youngsters have been making lifelong memories fishing in the shallows with light outfits for Wave Garrick and Moonies. Richards Bay has been a bit offbeat recently and has not produced the goods as much as the surrounding areas. Hopefully with the good weather on its way we will see an increase in catches. The only reports from this area have been of Spinner Sharks and Grey Sharks. Zinkwazi - Reports from Zinkwazi on the other hand have been first class. Ballito and Salt Rock saw some good Grey Sharks up to 20kgs which gave anglers using spinning tackle much joy into the night. Good numbers of Shad have also been around and have been fairly easy to catch. La Mercy also produced good Grey Sharks on bloody baits such as Shad cutlets or Japanese Mackerel clusters. Local - The Umhlanga areas and popular spots have been taken by most holiday makers which have managed to rack up a few Brown Skates and small Greys. Blue Lagoon is starting to look better for Shad in the mornings, but with the morning tide being low this week, anglers may need to wait for the high water mornings to catch a fair amount of fish. The Beachfront and Piers have both been relatively consistent with catches of Shad, Stumpies, Grunter and a handful of Pompano as well. Sand Sharks have been landed on bigger fleshy baits on the Addington Beach stretch. In the Ushaka area, there have been large concentrations of Snapper Salmon which have fed on almost any bait in the water. Bluff - For those who have been considering going down to the Bluff for a spinning session, some motivation has come in the form of a 16kg GT caught on a chartreuse and white Kingfisher Buck Tail Jig by an angler targeting smaller Big Eye and Black Tip Kingies. This is an extraordinary catch as the angler was severely under gunned with only 20lb braid and a 9ft Daiwa Exceler Saltwater spinning rod. A very well done to the angler! Toti - Toti and Warner Beach have had some good catches of Shad and Smaller Rock species. In the right conditions, a number of Brown Skates and smaller Sand Sharks were landed too. Umkomaas - Further south in the Umkomaas area, there have been good reports of Sand Sharks and Brown Skates at the river mouth with good catches of edibles as well. We have also had reports from numerous anglers with some bigger Grunter and Snapper Salmon around the mouth. Durban Harbour - The Harbour has been fishing very well at the moment in the deeper water with some fair size Grunter, with smaller fish coming out in the shallows. Anglers on the banks have hooked into plenty of Flatfish including some lovely Diamond rays and a few Honeycombs. The majority of the catches have been Brown Rays ranging between 3kgs and 15kgs. Most catches have been on Cracker, but a bloody bait will get a bite shortly after hitting the water. The Rock Salmon have been feeding well and have taken many types of bait including live baits. Spinning for them has also been successful, using small Strike Pro Arc Minnows. Ski Boat: Zululand - As far as consistency is concerned, Vidal and Sodwana have provided anglers with some really good angling over the past couple of weeks. Game fish in the form of Couta, Dorado, Yellowfin Tunny and Wahoo have been the order of the day. Anglers targeting Snoek in the Vidal and Mapelane areas have had mixed results but when these elusive fish are around they can produce endless entertainment for anglers. Marlin fishing in here has been quite prolific as there are reports of endless strikes and hook-up’s when weather allows. Forecast for the New Year looks very favorable with light NE winds predicted. Central - Durban and the North coast have gone surprisingly quiet as far as the Yellowfin Tunny are concerned but the long awaited Dorado seems to have finally arrived. Good reports of these fish have come from the Durban area itself with many boats achieving double figures of fair sized fish. Couta have been coming out in the Ballito and Westbrook areas but not in any great numbers; however the ones that have been reported are all in the 20 kg range. A few big fish have also been caught off the Bluff and ‘Cutting’ areas. South Coast - This is where all the action has been taking place for the past few weeks and it certainly looks as though fishing is just getting better and more consistent particularly on the Aliwal Shoal and Protea Banks areas. Although the long awaited Couta have not been caught in any significant numbers there are reports of the odd fish coming out in the Scottburgh and Greenpoint areas. Ski Boats and Jet Skis have had excellent results of Tunny, Wahoo, Dorado and the odd Sailfish on the Aliwal and Protea areas, here the lure of choice has certainly shifted to the Kingfisher ‘150 D Rattler’ series of lures. These lures are reasonably priced and taking into consideration how many fish and lures are falling foul to persistent Sharks the affordability of these lures are taking the ‘Rattler’ series into a league of their own. Poppers are also becoming extremely popular at these venues with anglers taking a variety of fish in this relatively ‘new’ form of fishing. Mainly Tunny and Kingfish have been caught using this method but as the season progresses there are sure to be many more fish species falling to this form of angling. Anglers wishing to break into this exciting form of fishing can get some professional advise at both ‘The Kingfisher’ and Tackle Center’ in Durban with ‘The Fishing Tackle Shop’ in Warner Beach offering the same expert advice. Fishing Report From The Kingfisher .....
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 06:24:43 +0000
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