Large couta feeding on bonito
North – Ski boat angling on the upper north coast has been an absolute joy of late and has produced hours of fun (sometimes on the same fish) throughout the week in areas such as Sodwana Bay, Maphelane, Cape Vidal and Richards Bay. The amount of marlin hook-ups over the last week has been phenomenal, leaving very few boats fishless. Sodwana has had the best results and has seen dozens of marlin catches in the deeper water. Sailfish have also been plentiful and have both been caught on Konas in most depths of water. For the anglers targeting something to take home, couta have also made a fair appearance and have averaged around 15-20kg. These have been caught on dead baits or lures in relatively shallow water. The best tackle for these fish still remains the trusty Daiwa SL50 paired with an 8ft rod such as the Poseidon Offshore Couta. No more than 30lb line is needed. If anglers are finding themselves in a spot of bother with line capacity, then 600m of a decent long lasting braid such as Triple Fish Gatorbraid 4 weave can be used as backing to ensure there is enough line for any fish. Richards Bay saw some large tuna landed in the deep on Konas trawled for marlin.
Zinkwazi has been the couta hot-spot recently, with more than three quarters of reports coming in from anglers in the Zinkwazi area. Dead mackerel, walla walla and even sardine has got a bite on most days. These fish have been of substantial size, so put the light tackle away and pack the big guns as the sharks will be waiting to take their share.
Local - Umhlanga also saw a fair number of fish caught off boats and paddle skis this week, with paddle skis seeing more of the action. A handful of queenfish were landed on the skis during the week off the Barge in the mornings on live bait. Along with these, some good sized bonito and a few smaller tuna were landed too. Westbrook had good results from boaters who managed to land good numbers of wahoo and couta on rod and reel and on the spear, which has given anglers hope for the upcoming Ski Boat Club Festival. Umdloti had action with wahoo and couta, however the action was short lived and produced only the odd Natal snoek for the remainder of the week. The higher concentration of snoek was seen around the Virginia and Glenashley areas, and were taken on Strike Pro Magic Minnows and smaller Halco lures. Fresh red-eye sardine fillets trolled slowly close to the backline worked early in the mornings too. There have been some bigger snoek around, so the use of steel trace is recommended on smaller spoons. Isipingo area and the pipe have produced some massive yellowfin tuna and the best bait for these has been a smaller mozzie.
South - For the anglers targeting croc couta down the coast, now is the time to get in there as reports have started to come through of good size specimens between Port Shepstone and Port Edward. Smaller bonito have accounted for the majority of the catches thus far.
Reminder - Imperial Nissan Zululand Couta Classic at Mtunzini on 25 and 26 April 2015.
For more details on this KZN north coast deep sea fishing competition you can contact Hylton on 078 854 9358 or Rod on 083 587 3990.
May will see Pumula on the KZN south coast hosting the annual Quattro King of the Sea fishing contest.
Contact [email protected] to enter the Pumula event scheduled for 23 and 24 May.
The 2015 Inanda Bass Classic will be held at Inanda Dam over the first long weekend in May 2015.
Friday 1 May 2015 will be the show day where our sponsors will display and sell some of their goodies.
Entry forms are available at www.inandabassclassic.co.za or from Ken Ainslie who can be contacted on 031 205 3777.
(File Photo: Umlalazi Ski Boat Club)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa