Musselcracker and daga off Durban
Kosi Bay and Sodwana saw very good catches of tuna in the 5-7kg range this past week, caught from charter boats by some very happy clients. Some smaller shoal couta in the 5-8kg range were also brought home for the table.
The Maphelane, St Lucia and Richards Bay areas produced a variety of gamefish, including a few sailfish. Tuna seem to be the most abundant species around at the moment. Bottom fishing off Maphelane and Richards Bay was superb and saw a number of large daga salmon, musselcracker, rockcod and plenty of half-kob boated.
Tugela Mouth saw a few anglers boating garrick, which should be on their way back down the coast within the next few weeks. The bottom fishing off Tugela was extremely productive and here again the daga salmon, cracker and half-kob were plentiful. The standard three-hook bottom traces work well in these times, with the two top hooks being the strongest 2/0 available, such as the Mustad Big Gun, Oshaunessy Commercial or even Kendal Rounds, being baited with slightly larger chokka baits and the 7/0-10/0 bottom hook being baited with a larger bait such as a whole sardine, mackeral or a combination or squid head and sardine. This trace, made up with Kingfisher 0.90mm leader line or 1mm maxima Ultragreen, will be strong enough for any species and is versatile enough for even smaller redfish.
Durban saw its fair share of good fish, including three cracker over 20kg, daga over 30kg and many other quality bottom fish.
Blue Lagoon had a decent run of Natal snoek during the week, but tapered off towards the weekend with only a few fish coming out on Saturday and Sunday. Most of the fish here were feeding on Clark spoon, Strike Pro Magic Minnows and a small Sprat spoon retrieved as fast as possible along the surface.
The south coast had as many sharks as it did fish, with many of the reported catches being half of what they originally were. Some excellent tuna were caught around Rocky Bay, some of which weighing in at over 20kg.
The yellowtail from Shelley Beach and further south were also plentiful and seem to be making a good appearance this season. Many of the yellowtail have been relatively shallow and have been caught while fishing for cracker on the shallow reefs. The catches of copper steenbras have not dropped and many boats have continued to catch their quota for the majority of the week on the fishable days.
On 1 August The Kingfisher started their annual Biggest Shad Competition. This year it will be run over a two-month period, August and September, with three prizes each month. The heaviest shad for each month will receive a Daiwa SL 50SHK Reel, valued at R1625, the second heaviest shad will receive a 13’6” Kingfisher Coastline Medium, three-piece, 4-6oz Graphite Rod, valued at R1145 and third heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa AG 6000 Reel valued at R598. Please note that all shad (fresh) must be weighed at either, The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street or Tackle Centre, Old Fort Road or The Fishing Tackle Shop, Warner Beach during trading hours.
Please remember there is a bag limit of four and the minimum size is 30cm and that the season closes 30 September and re-opens 1 December 2015.
(File Photo: Caroll Hermann)
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