Garrick seen in Durban harbour

With a generally poor performance from most of the popular rock and surf areas, many anglers this week had a go at harbour fishing to see if they could boat a few grunter.

The result was pleasing and many an angler has had their faith in Durban bay restored.

The variety of fish was not spectacular, however the sheer number of anglers who caught decent sized grunter was astonishing. One angler fishing around the mangroves had more than 20 grunter landed in the space of three hours on cracker on Friday morning. The grunter varied in size, but no less than ten of the grunter were more than 40cm long.

The N-shed area is still producing good fish on cracker as well as on sardine fillet baits.

No reports of kob have come through this week, however there have been a few reports of anglers spotting garrick on the centre banks.

One angler who was unprepared managed to hook into two garrick, but lost both being unprepared in terms of tackle and rig. 

It is important for anglers to keep an outfit on the boat ready for garrick at all times during this winter period in the harbour. Each year anglers find themselves missing out on the garrick action because they only start fishing for them once the fish are plentiful.

Anglers who carry a live bait rig on the boat with them and set it up each time they are on the banks fishing for grunter will catch more garrick than others. Small live baits are relatively simple to catch around the mouth and can be kept alive for the entire day in a simple 10L Seathru Live Bait Bucket, available from most tackle shops. This can be hung over the side of the boat where fresh seawater will constantly be running through, keeping the bait fish happy.

The tackle needed for garrick is nothing fancy. The average angler will opt for a small spinning reel like the Daiwa Laguna, between a size 2500-4000 loaded with 12-20lb nylon, depending on your preference. Some anglers have been successful using reels such as the Daiwa Emcast 4000-5000 bait runner reels. This system is foolproof and will allow the garrick to make off with the bait and detect no pressure on the line, which will give the angler time to click over and set the hook. A light to medium action rod is all the angler will need and should be between 7ft and 8ft, here again the Daiwa Laguna rods will work very well.  

A standard balloon float rig is used and has been extremely effective for these fish in deep or shallow water. A small balloon (or other inflatable product) is tied onto the leader between 2m-4m above the hook, which is usually either a single hook such as a Mustad Kendal Round or Red Tarpon in a 4/0. Some anglers prefer a double hook trace, others a treble hook, all will work, as long as the fish is left to feed once detected.

(File Photo: Office of the KZN Premier)

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