Durban harbour grunter and rays
We have been told of good grunter and brown ray fishing in Durban harbour this past week.
After a few days of slow fishing in the previous weeks, Durban harbour seems to have settled somewhat and is now consistently producing good catches of grunter.
The anglers fishing from the BAT Centre Pier have had good success using cracker shrimp during the late afternoons and into the evenings. Off the boats things have been a bit different, making fishing relatively tough to get right consistently. The banks have had a massive showing of tailing fish, which are clearly visible by boats up to 100m away. At night these tailing fish can be heard and paddle-ski anglers are doing very well with these fish on light tackle, drifting a weightless cracker over the active feeding zones.
At times when the fishing is tough, it is necessary to downsize on all tackle, which means going lighter on the line, leader, sinker, hook and even swivel. Some anglers who have been fairly successful in comparison to others have been using a 6lb Daiwa Sensor line tied directly to a size 8 Mustad Mosquito hook, snelled and fished in the tip of the crackers tail on a drift over the sand bank. This is a gamble, as there is a chance of the grunter cutting the line with its gill plates, but it is definitely a way to get more bites.
The brown rays in the bay have been fairly abundant and have been caught on the banks with red-eye baits as well as cracker. Along the piers, the pickhandle barracuda have been around, making up the bulk of the reports.
Hand-sized kingfish have also come onto the bite and the odd 3-4kg blacktip kingfish has been seen patrolling the shallows in search of that slightly larger bait.
Feel free to send your fishing news and photos to [email protected] or share with us on Twitter.
(File Photo: Office of the KZN Premier)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa
Facebook - ECRSportswave
The anglers fishing from the BAT Centre Pier have had good success using cracker shrimp during the late afternoons and into the evenings. Off the boats things have been a bit different, making fishing relatively tough to get right consistently. The banks have had a massive showing of tailing fish, which are clearly visible by boats up to 100m away. At night these tailing fish can be heard and paddle-ski anglers are doing very well with these fish on light tackle, drifting a weightless cracker over the active feeding zones.
At times when the fishing is tough, it is necessary to downsize on all tackle, which means going lighter on the line, leader, sinker, hook and even swivel. Some anglers who have been fairly successful in comparison to others have been using a 6lb Daiwa Sensor line tied directly to a size 8 Mustad Mosquito hook, snelled and fished in the tip of the crackers tail on a drift over the sand bank. This is a gamble, as there is a chance of the grunter cutting the line with its gill plates, but it is definitely a way to get more bites.
The brown rays in the bay have been fairly abundant and have been caught on the banks with red-eye baits as well as cracker. Along the piers, the pickhandle barracuda have been around, making up the bulk of the reports.
Hand-sized kingfish have also come onto the bite and the odd 3-4kg blacktip kingfish has been seen patrolling the shallows in search of that slightly larger bait.
Feel free to send your fishing news and photos to [email protected] or share with us on Twitter.
(File Photo: Office of the KZN Premier)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa
Facebook - ECRSportswave