Grunter action at Umkomaas

Kosi Bay – This area has produced plenty of smaller edibles over the past week. Bonefish are still frequenting the shallows and have been caught on small baits. The anglers fishing in the protection of the bays have managed to hook into a good few species on fly as well.

Cape Vidal - Zululand angler, Brad Carr, spent some time tussling a 25kg GT at Cape Vidal which was safely released to be caught again in the future. Well done to Brad. Other species in the area include some very nice stumpies, some of which weighed in at around 5kg and a decent showing of shad too.

Maphelane - Heiko Lilje fished Maphelane over the weekend and landed a very nice sandy on a slide bonnie head. This fish was landed on a Daiwa Saltiga 50HKP, the right reel for the job. Although uncommon for this time of the year, there have been reports of these fish moving in and feeding off the sandbanks.

Richards Bay - The bay has produced good catches over the last week and showed no signs of slowing down towards the weekend. Species include kob, smaller garrick and some very respectable grunter. The shad have come and gone but when available, they have been put to good use with a few catches of big Zambezi sharks at night.

Ballito - A nice change in species all around the Salt Rock and Ballito area over the last week, with anglers catching quite a few grey sharks on fleshy baits such as red eye and mackerel. The shad have been scarce recently, but there have been more catches of stumpies.

Blue Lagoon - This spot has been the talk of the town with its excellent shad angling over the last week and weekend, with very few days of slow fishing. There have also been a few diamond rays caught on bigger baits such as shad head and mackerel. There have been many sightings of garrick following plugs and smashing shad on the surface, which is only more reason to get down to the water and try your luck.

Durban Beachfront - Most anglers have got their bag limits of shad throughout the week and weekend. There have also been a few diamond rays in the area along with some decent grunter and stumpnose as well. There have been some decent sized kob that have been landed around the Durban area and after this recent cold front, the water should be just right for these fish.

Bluff - Reports of shad have been slow from the Bluff recently, however an increase of catches towards the end of the week gives us hope for the week to come. As far as kob go, they have been small, but more regular at Sloane Road over the weekend. There have been plenty of kingfish, although smaller than before, being caught mostly on small Pro Jet spoons and live baits of the smaller sort. There has also been a rise in the numbers of rays being landed.

Toti - There have been better catches of shad last week and a fair amount of garrick in the mix too. The best time of day seems to be early in the morning off the rocks, throwing baits and Falcon spoons.

Winkelspruit - Garrick have been caught along the Winkelspruit stretch throughout the week, on live shad as well as some smaller specimens on plug.  As most of the fish are relatively small at this time of year on plug, remember to change the treble hook on your plug to a decent single hook for easy hook removal. Recommended hooks include Mustad’s Big Guns, Tarpon 6/0 and even the trusted Mustad Kendal round. This will ensure a clean hookup and minimal damage to the mouth when releasing fish.

Umkomaas - Grunter are still being caught near the mouth on red eye baits and also chokka baits. The piers are producing some lovely shad as well as a few blue rays.

Scottburgh - Many anglers shared the spoils during the week as a decent spread of blue rays moved into the area. Angling at night improved drastically with many reports of shad well into the evenings as well as some very nice diamonds. There has been an abundance of grey sharks as well.

Port Shepstone - Garrick seems to be the main target species in Port Shepstone recently which are being caught at first light, with kob also being landed at night on McArthy Paddletails and live baits. The most versatile paddletails have been the 5" for many months now, but with the size of the kob steadily increasing, anglers find themselves landing bigger fish on the 6" McArthy Paddletails more frequently.

Port Edward - Shad fishing is still the main activity in this town and the rocks in front are crowded most of the time and shad are biting just about all day, most days. A fair sized hammerhead shark was in amongst the bigger fish and garrick  are also showing their appearance, one good sized fish was taken on a spoon. Other fish caught were blue skates, rockcod, eeltail barbel and cave bass.

(File Photo:Gallo Images)

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