Garrick and kob action at Tugela

Kosi Bay - This area has been fishing surprisingly well over the last week or two, with good numbers of sandsharks being landed on smaller slide baits and throw baits. This is unusual for this time of the year as these are generally summer fish. The best bait for these sandies seems to be mackerel baits or a chokka bait with red eye cutlet addition. There are also many edibles in the area which include decent stumpnose, kob, shad and bonefish.

Cape Vidal - Reports of some very respectable kingfish up to 25kg. Two beautiful specimens were caught on live shad, one of 15kg and another of 25kg. There were other reports of smash-ups on lighter tackle which one would assume to be kingfish as well. The shad have kept anglers busy throughout the week as well as some nice kob which have been landed on chokka baits.

Richards Bay - It seems the continuous north-easterly winds have turned on the summer species again, which have been welcomed by all anglers who have had lines in the water. The main species seen have been milkies and spinner sharks and as far as edibles go, snapper salmon and shad have taken first and second spot.

Tugela - If it is garrick or kob that you are after, be sure to head up to Tugela for some hot action. Reports keep coming in strong from anglers who have caught and released as many as seven garrick in one session near the river mouth. These fish have been landed on live shad, but don't pack your plugs away as the plugs seem to be more and more effective as we move through the season. Kob has not been targeted as much as the garrick, but with the amount of catches by anglers targeting general edibles, it is time for those bigger 20kg and more kob. With good weather predictions forecasted, Tugela might just be the spot to consider for a fishing trip.

Ballito - Anglers have enjoyed some light tackle fun fishing off Shaka's Rock with the Daiwa Exceler Elite 11.6ft rod paired with Daiwa's legendary Daiwa Oceano 4500j. Most of these grey sharks were landed on shad head or smaller red eye baits. The abundance of shad in the area seems to have brought the bigger sharks in as well, with an excellent catch of a 120kg raggie by one of our local anglers.

Blue Lagoon - The shad catches have been intermittent throughout the week and with no real pattern to go by. Anglers who have fished daily have had better catches. There have been less sightings of garrick over the last week, but they have been seen north of the mouth by anglers who have been plugging and spooning.

Durban - Our beachfront has been kind to us throughout the week, with catches comprising of shad, stumpies and grunter. Addington Beach has seen some decent grey sharks between the wreck and the pier. There has been an increase in the number of kob being landed around the North Pier area from the Ski Boat Club beach and surroundings. Under these conditions, one needs to attain maximum distance to reach deeper water. Remember to use a lighter braid such as Triple Fish Gatorbraid 33lb on a  Poseidon 14’ Gold Class Medium, three piece 5-6 oz. rod. This is a great combination. This will allow the angler to cast a 4oz sinker along with a chokka and red eye bait or a small live bait, the distance that is required. Reports of good size grunter have come from anglers fishing Vetch's reef, some of which have weighed in at 6kg.

Bluff -  Shad, kob and kingfish have been feeding sporadically, going according to the weather patterns and sea conditions. The kob have been more frequent on live bait and on McArthy Paddletails at night.

Toti - This area saw some lovely shad coming out on Sunday morning, unfortunately leaving the garrick elsewhere. Smaller grey sharks were landed into the evenings which took shad cutlets and also live shad. Anglers at Warner Beach landed a few decent garrick on live shad. The bite on plug seems to be slow, but as we move on in the season the fish seem to be feeding more aggressively and have showed more interest in the plugs.

Umkomaas - Kob have been coming out at a more regular rate recently, and to many a spinning enthusiast’s pleasure, have been taking paddle tails and larger spoons. There have also been good catches on bait, but due to the style of paddletail fishing, anglers cover more ground and pass more kob while using paddletails, which has resulted in a very high catch rate.

Scottburgh - This spot has been the talk of the town over the last week as reports of various species flood to us. For anglers targeting non-edibles, there has been an increase in catches of blue rays off the point which is a good indication of the dropping water temperature. These fish rarely attain sizes that require heavy tackle so dust off the Daiwa SL30s and get down to the water, cast a chokka or prawn bait and hold on. It is not uncommon to land up to ten blue rays in a session in the right conditions which makes for excellent fun with the youngsters. The trace is similar to that which we use for our warmer water brown skates, but in areas such as Scottburgh Point one should use a section of Fishmate 60lb carbon coated bite trace, to avoid being bitten off by the grey sharks and hammerhead sharks. A Mustad Big Gun 4/0 is more than sufficient.

Port Shepstone - Some very nice kob have been caught at Port Shepstone over the last week, on most smaller baits and of course, McArthy Paddletails fished slowly on the bottom. The majority of catches have been throughout the night, but anglers managing to find decent working water have landed some fine fish during the day too. Bigger shad have been caught in the mornings on bait and bigger Toby or Falcon spoons.

(File Photo:Gallo Images)

Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa