Good garrick fishing at Amanzimtoti
We have been told of good garrick fishing at Amanzimtoti over the past week. We have also heard of grunter success at Virginia and of blackfin shark activity at Cape Vidal.
Starting off at Kosi Bay we have had many anglers reporting catches of the smaller edibles mostly on sardine and chokka baits. A good way to prep this bait is to cut the sardine belly cavity away from the fish, wrap it backwards around a foam body joining the shank of the hook and then tightly wrap with latex cotton. Then take a piece of chokka, hammer it out and fold it over the bait, once again wrap tightly. This will allow the bait to give off the smells and oils, but not allow the smaller peckers to strip the sardine belly from the hook.
Anglers around Cape Vidal have been catching plenty of blackfin sharks on medium size chokka baits and live bait such as blacktail.
North of Richards Bay anglers have been having lots of fun with the brown rays that are currently in the area, as well as the odd bonefish, all being caught on small squid baits. Further down south of Richards Bay there are reports of brown rays as well as the bigger diamond and butterfly rays. There are even a few reports of guys landing big sandsharks on big fleshy baits such as a flapped bonito or mullet.
Ballito is yielding plenty of grey sharks at the moment, most of these fish being caught later in the evening on bigger live bait and fillet of mullet and bonito.
Anglers around Durban are unable to shake off the shad during the closed season as there are so many around. Many anglers are reporting catches of grunter around the Virginia area as well as stumpnose and pompano closer to the harbour. Some small diamonds have been testing anglers' tackle with many of them being hooked by guys fishing with chokka for stumpnose. There have also been plenty of honeycomb ray activity along the main beaches with anglers returning home disappointed after being unable to land these fantastic fish.
Toti is having a fantastic run of garrick this year with a few coming out last week - almost all these fish on live mullet. There is also plenty of shad harassing the anglers here. There are also good reports of big grey sharks all along the Toti beaches.
Red-eye sardine seems to be the bait of choice in the Scottburgh area with plenty of grey sharks and brown rays only taking this bait. Down at Port Shepstone there seems to be very little action with only reports of small shad and the odd bronze bream coming out. With all the shad around, it is vital that we respect the law as anglers to allow the shad a break during the closed season, or else one day there will be none left.
(File Photo: AFP)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre
Anglers around Cape Vidal have been catching plenty of blackfin sharks on medium size chokka baits and live bait such as blacktail.
North of Richards Bay anglers have been having lots of fun with the brown rays that are currently in the area, as well as the odd bonefish, all being caught on small squid baits. Further down south of Richards Bay there are reports of brown rays as well as the bigger diamond and butterfly rays. There are even a few reports of guys landing big sandsharks on big fleshy baits such as a flapped bonito or mullet.
Ballito is yielding plenty of grey sharks at the moment, most of these fish being caught later in the evening on bigger live bait and fillet of mullet and bonito.
Anglers around Durban are unable to shake off the shad during the closed season as there are so many around. Many anglers are reporting catches of grunter around the Virginia area as well as stumpnose and pompano closer to the harbour. Some small diamonds have been testing anglers' tackle with many of them being hooked by guys fishing with chokka for stumpnose. There have also been plenty of honeycomb ray activity along the main beaches with anglers returning home disappointed after being unable to land these fantastic fish.
Toti is having a fantastic run of garrick this year with a few coming out last week - almost all these fish on live mullet. There is also plenty of shad harassing the anglers here. There are also good reports of big grey sharks all along the Toti beaches.
Red-eye sardine seems to be the bait of choice in the Scottburgh area with plenty of grey sharks and brown rays only taking this bait. Down at Port Shepstone there seems to be very little action with only reports of small shad and the odd bronze bream coming out. With all the shad around, it is vital that we respect the law as anglers to allow the shad a break during the closed season, or else one day there will be none left.
(File Photo: AFP)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre