Plenty gamefish off KZN
December has been the month of the gamefish along the KwaZulu-Natal coast with huge numbers of fish coming out all the way up to Sodwana. A sure sign that the Natal snoek are biting is when the anglers spinning from the surf start to catch them on spoon.
This means that they are feeding well and have come shallower to feed. This is when anglers should be getting close in, pulling small Strike Pro lures and Clark spoons along the backline. Fillet is also worth using, especially if the fish are feeding slow. When targeting these fish on fillet, be sure to keep a spoon rigged on a light spinning rod, and when a fish is hooked on the fillet trace, have a few casts into the area where the fish was hooked. This increases your chances of hooking into another fish from the shoal, but be sure to keep the lines apart to avoid a tangle.
In the Maphelane area there have been large shoals of tuna, dorado and couta too, which have been feeding well. In the deeper waters there have been some good marlin and wahoo taken, mainly on Konas.
Further north at Cape Vidal there seems to be no shortage of dorado and tuna which have come out on a variety of trawled lures and casting lures such as the Daiwa D Minnow.
At Zinkwazi there have been far better bottom fish catches and gamefish catches over the last week. A few dorado bulls of 15-20kg were landed deep off Zinkwazi on live mackerel and also on Kona.
Umdloti and Westbrook seem to have been the firm favourites for kayak anglers over the last week, having seen plenty of tuna and dorado action, and a few sneaky couta in the mix too. The snoek have been more prolific in the Umdloti area and the beach stretch between Umhlanga and Blue Lagoon. Snoek here which have not only been caught by boaters, but from the surf too. These fish seem to be a lot closer inshore and a dry mouth approach is often needed when trying to locate the snoek. Many boats will attempt to trawl a Clark spoon very shallow at a speed and try to get the lure into the strike zone. Once the shoal is found, spoons can be used to pick more fish off the area.
The Bluff is producing masses if fish and is becoming the most productive spot of late. Tuna, wahoo, dorado and yellowtail have been coming out off the Bluff the whole week. The cargo ships off Durban are holding a lot of dorado and can be fished early in the mornings with live baits.
On the south coast the shallow marks are producing a lot of shad and smaller yellowfin tuna, which is not common but is providing plenty of fun for the kayak anglers. Bottom fishing further south has been good and various reports of yellowtail over 20kg have been received.
In the Maphelane area there have been large shoals of tuna, dorado and couta too, which have been feeding well. In the deeper waters there have been some good marlin and wahoo taken, mainly on Konas.
Further north at Cape Vidal there seems to be no shortage of dorado and tuna which have come out on a variety of trawled lures and casting lures such as the Daiwa D Minnow.
At Zinkwazi there have been far better bottom fish catches and gamefish catches over the last week. A few dorado bulls of 15-20kg were landed deep off Zinkwazi on live mackerel and also on Kona.
Umdloti and Westbrook seem to have been the firm favourites for kayak anglers over the last week, having seen plenty of tuna and dorado action, and a few sneaky couta in the mix too. The snoek have been more prolific in the Umdloti area and the beach stretch between Umhlanga and Blue Lagoon. Snoek here which have not only been caught by boaters, but from the surf too. These fish seem to be a lot closer inshore and a dry mouth approach is often needed when trying to locate the snoek. Many boats will attempt to trawl a Clark spoon very shallow at a speed and try to get the lure into the strike zone. Once the shoal is found, spoons can be used to pick more fish off the area.
The Bluff is producing masses if fish and is becoming the most productive spot of late. Tuna, wahoo, dorado and yellowtail have been coming out off the Bluff the whole week. The cargo ships off Durban are holding a lot of dorado and can be fished early in the mornings with live baits.
On the south coast the shallow marks are producing a lot of shad and smaller yellowfin tuna, which is not common but is providing plenty of fun for the kayak anglers. Bottom fishing further south has been good and various reports of yellowtail over 20kg have been received.
(File Photo: Caroll Hermann)
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