Great snoek action off Durban
North
Ski-boaters have had an interesting week and some excellent fishing. Up north the couta have been in full force having been caught on most days by both charter boats and recreational anglers. Maphelane has been fishing extremely well and has had good catches of couta, snoek and also the odd queenfish. Most of these fish have been caught on bait, with the majority of Natal snoek being caught on smaller lures or spoon. The action does not stop there as anglers in the Richards Bay area have been catching what seems to be an endless supply of geelbek on the deeper marks. Along with the geelbek, other species such as daga, rockcod and other general redfish have been plentiful. Bottom fishing from Richards Bay and down has been excellent and has put anglers into winter bottom fishing mode. Along with the good bottom fishing, anglers from Zinkwazi down to Westbrook have all had good success with the couta and snoek, with a few of the paddleski anglers taking home couta over 30kg. A few dorado are still hanging around in our waters as anglers fishing out in the deep have managed to land some good specimens up to 14kg.
Central
Durban has come alive with action and has seen a cracker of a week with snoek fishing as well as bottom fishing. Blue Lagoon was on fire for the most part of the week and had boats and skis catching anything up to ten snoek per angler. Most of these fish were landed on red-eye or sardine fillet, with the odd larger fish coming out on spoon. Brad Jardim managed a respectable fish of 6.5kg on light tackle using only 15lb Gatorbraid with a small Sprat spoon. Geelbek have made an extremely good appearance and many of the Durban boats have caught good numbers off Glenashley and the Bluff. With the sardines present off the south coast, anglers have managed a few garrick off backline. This is the start of the garrick and anglers will start getting more and more off Durban from this point, with Winkelspruit and the Cutting being other hot-spots.
South
Tuna, garrick and yellowtail have been caught in and among the sardines along with a number of larger couta on the KZN south coast.
(File Photo: Caroll Hermann)
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