Cape Vidal fishing very well

North - Fishing up here, particularly the Cape Vidal and Sodwana areas, has really started producing some class fish. Weather patterns and currents have played a huge part in making the start of the season a big success. Persistent north-east winds, high water temperatures, coupled with a fairly strong northerly current, makes these venues highly desirable. Reports of shoal couta, dorado, tuna and some big wahoo. Some wahoo touching the 40kg mark have been taken at both these venues by both ski boat and fishing ski anglers alike. Marlin have also been very active here and ski boats have had some good fishing as far as mainly black marlin are concerned. A few blue marlin and sailfish have also been caught. A little further south, the Mapelane area has lately produced some outstanding catches of big Natal snoek. Some of these fish have pulled the scales to the 12kg mark, which is quite uncommon for this species. A trip to this venue to target snoek would be a good call.

Central - High temperatures and clean water should be accounting for more fish than are really being caught in the Durban area. Sporadic catches of mainly yellowfin tuna are being made and the odd report of dorado is also filtering through. There has been some encouraging catches of Natal snoek along the Umgeni and Umdloti stretches, but the average size of these fish is still a little on the small side. Bottom fishermen are getting amongst the geelbek salmon on the deeper wrecks, but the shark problem here still persists. General bottom fishing has also picked up a little with good reports of big redfish and rockcod.

South - Here some better fishing is being experienced particularly in the Aliwal Shoal, Scottburgh and Park Rynie areas where some excellent catches of fair sized yellowfin tuna are being made. Clean, warm water and favorable currents have made this stretch produce not only tuna but reports of dorado and some big wahoo are also coming through. A little further south, the Protea Banks are also producing much the same catches. The Port Edward area has been steadily producing some good catches of Cape yellowtail off the deeper wrecks as well as good general bottom fishing.

(File Photo: Gallo Images)

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