Large tuna hunting off Durban

North

Many anglers have had a good session or two on the boats on the north coast, with Maphelane and surrounding areas doing particularly well. Many of the catches on the north coast around Sodwana have comprised of couta and Natal snoek, which were caught consistently throughout the week. South towards Maphelane is where the action really started, as boats fishing on the 50m mark hooked into some huge couta on bonito and mackerel. A lot of these fish were taxed, but the majority were landed and made for a good day on the water. The snoek at the shallower spots seemed to be endless on certain days, with anglers catching fish on almost anything they put behind the boat. The larger fish did, however, come out on fresh red-eye fillets, trawled in slightly deeper water. Bottom fishing in these areas has also been great, with large musselcracker and daga being boated.

Central

Durban had a few fish being landed, and has had good sightings of tuna with the dolphins. Some of the tuna were extremely large and managed to make short work of heavy tackle. With the water being as clean as it us, fishing has been tough and will need a good northeast wind to add a bit of colour to the shallows. The deeper water is looking good, but lacking fish.

South

Down in the south good catches of yellowtail still dominate the reports, with more gamefish species such as couta, snoek and kingfish being landed by the week. The sardines have brought the fish closer in and many boats have had a great time with the bait balls. Bottom fishing has been good as well, with a few boats seeing good catches of copper steenbras and musselcracker. The general bottoms have also been good, with excellent hauls of trawl soldiers and also geelbek.

(File Photo: Caroll Hermann)

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