Bluff kingfish and blacktail action

North - The talk of the town has been the catches of GTs in the Kosi Bay area, which have ranged between 3kg and 40kg. Most of these monsters have been landed on live wave garrick slid on heavy tackle. Anglers with heavy grinder outfits have also managed to cast a smaller live bait into the strike zone. Many anglers believe a grinder outfit will not be able to handle a decent sized fish, which is false. A 6500 Daiwa Saltist reel will hold close to 900m of 50lb braid, and with a back-breaking strong drag, will have no issue landing any fish that a multiplier would be able to.

Cape Vidal - As usual for this part of the year, the shad are shoaling in large numbers in the bays, small edibles are feeding readily off the banks and the kingfish are plentiful in most areas, being caught mainly on artificials. Kingfisher Buck Tail Jigs, McArthy Paddletails, drop-shot and small spoons are the best to use for a variety of kingfish species. There have also been good reports of sandsharks being caught off Cape Vidal and Maphelane on chokka baits. A rise in the numbers of honeycomb rays in the area has also set off a fair amount of anglers to start throwing larger baits, which is what has been working well.

Richards Bay - Has had plenty of sandsharks and honeycombs, both in the 30kg range. These are strong fish and heavy tackle is totally necessary due to the fact that at any stage fish in excess of 100kg can bite, strip 500m of line and send an angler home in a matter of minutes. When using a grinder setup, nothing less than a reel such as the Daiwa Saltist 6500 filled with 600m of 48lb Triple fish Gatorbraid backing and 250-300m of Gatorbraid 48lb top-shot should be used. A rod capable of turning a 100kg+ fish should be considered, the Saltiga HMG Spinning 6-8oz or heavier will suffice. Another important factor is quality terminal tackle. Strong hooks as found in the Mustad range, power swivels, a decent fluorocarbon such as Siglon or Triple Fish and of course, well-practiced knots.  Richards Bay harbour has started to heat up somewhat, boasting a strong appearance of ox-eye tarpon, kingfish, springer and a few edibles too.

Zinkwazi - The waters between Zinkwazi and Salt Rock produced a variety of species in the gullies and off the banks, with some excellent reports of stumpnose present at most favourite stumpnose spots. Good reports of grey sharks have also been received from the Ballito area, as well as some good rockcod being landed on the larger baits in the rocky areas. Tinley Manor saw some yellowtail action during the week, a couple of which weighed in at 14kg.

Umhlanga - This area seems to have settled somewhat, having had reports from few anglers, most of which have been inedible species such as grey sharks and brown skates. Virginia has seen plenty of shad recently, most of which have held good weight and have taken spoons and ground baits used for flatfish or stumpnose. Beachwood locals have managed to land a few pompano and the odd stumpnose on sea lice.

Durban - As anglers eagerly wait the reopening of shad season, they are keeping themselves busy off Blue Lagoon catching a variety of smaller edibles and sandsharks. The garrick have been slow but present nonetheless, being caught on live blacktail or maasbunker.  Further south along the beaches and piers, anglers have had fun with grunter, bonefish, stumpies and grey sharks. Most of these fish have been caught on the exact same bait, which has been chokka and red-eye baits, baited on an extremely sharp Mustad Big Gun size 4/0.

Bluff - This spot has had a ton of shad, good numbers of kingfish and excellent catches of blacktail and wildeperd. Strangely enough, the brusher have been elusive and only a handful have been landed. Good weather has been forecasted, so keep your lines in the water and it should only a matter of time before the brusher come through. Toti and Warner Beach has seen a lot of grey sharks and shad early in the morning, both of which have been caught on chokka and red-eye baits or mackerel cutlets.

(File Photo: Gallo Images)

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