Bonefish action at Umhlanga

North Coast - On the upper north coast stretch, there have been good catches of the typical smaller edibles such as stone bream, stumpnose, juvenile shad and also a fair amount of rock cod. Anglers using drop shot in the shallows racked up a few wave garrick and smaller kingfish.

When using light tackle, most anglers struggle to set the hook on most of these fish, which is why jig head choice is important. Anglers need to find the fine line between a hook with a fine enough gauge, but still have the strength to apply pressure on the larger kingfish. Paddle Pro jig heads are available in all sizes and weights and have proved extremely popular not only with the kob, but with a variety of the smaller species too. For the ultra-light enthusiasts, a range of Maria jig heads in 3,5g and 5g are also available.

The bigger species seem to be hanging around in the Richards Bay and Mtunzini areas, which have been hugely productive over the last week. Honeycombs have slowed down substantially and have been few and far between, however the amount of larger diamond rays in the area make up for the lack of honeycombs. A few anglers have been lucky enough to hook into some decent blackfin sharks on larger baits. Smaller baits have been milk shark magnets and should be avoided. 

Tugela saw plenty of anglers and few fish. Anglers fishing off the mouth managed to land a few grey sharks and smaller edibles, but unfortunately nothing to write home about.

At Zinkwazi, grey sharks have been feeding well and are mostly in the 8-10kg range. Mackerel head rigged on a Big Gun 6/0 has been working well for these sharks.

Ballito has also fished very slow over the last week but has produced a few larger stumpies and grey sharks in the evenings. Reports suggest that the diamond rays have been present and feeding well on mackerel or shad.

Central - Umhlanga Lighthouse has also had plenty of action with grey sharks and a few diamonds, whilst the anglers targeting edibles have landed some lovely stumpnose and bonefish. 

Virginia has also been a part of the grey shark hit, with some days producing some lovely results. On the edibles side, anglers have had a good time with the pompano on sea lice, which has also accounted for a few good catches of stumpnose and grunter now and again.

Blue Lagoon has produced shad and kingfish of the smaller variety, mainly in the mornings for the few anglers fishing before work.

Durban has had a mixed bag of stumpies, grunter and pompano. Anglers off the piers have hooked into monster honeycombs and have not managed to land many at all due to the sheer size of these fish, which have all been way over 100kg.

South Coast - Toti and Warner Beach is another area which has been hugely intermittent with its results, and there have been only a few reports of smaller edibles.

Umkomaas river mouth has been this week's firm favorite yet again. With catches like half kob, stumpies, grunter, shad, kingfish and pompano, this is definitely a hot spot at the moment. 

Scottburgh Point has had a few good days of angling and locals have managed to hook into some good size kingies off the point on McArthy drop-shot late in the afternoons.

Hibberdene anglers have landed some good shad recently too, along with decent bronze bream.

Port St John's has had a few grunter on offer recently and they have all been large fish. This is an easy fish to target at this stage of the year and should be targeted on light tackle using prawn baits. Bigger shad have also been on the loose and have even taken plugs.

Reminder - Imperial Nissan Zululand Couta Classic at Mtunzini on 25 and 26 April 2015.

For more details on this KZN north coast deep sea fishing competition you can contact Hylton on 078 854 9358 or Rod on 083 587 3990.

May will see Pumula on the KZN south coast hosting the annual Quattro King of the Sea fishing contest.

The 2015 Inanda Bass Classic will be held at Inanda Dam over the first long weekend in May 2015.

Friday 1 May 2015 will be the show day where our sponsors will display and sell some of their goodies.

Entry forms are available at www.inandabassclassic.co.za or from Ken Ainslie who can be contacted on 031 205 3777.

(File Photo: Gallo Images)

Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa