Musselcracker off Warner Beach

North

Sodwana Bay all the way down to Maphelane has been fishing well recently and is right up there on the list of places to go. The bulk of catches has consisted of decent sized Natal snoek and couta. The majority of reports suggest that the couta are feeding well shallower and 20m seems to be the zone to target. Live bonito has been number one in the bait department and has been held responsible for most of the larger fish. These are down rigged with a 5oz sinker and fished a few feet off the bottom in around 20m.
This technique has also been extremely effective for the musselcracker in the Maphelane area and if rigged with a smaller bait such as mackerel, will perform for a variety of species in these shallow areas. The stretch from Richards Bay down to Zinkwazi has been fishing surprisingly well and have continued to produce good catches of couta. Many of the fish reported from these areas have been over 20kg. Again live bait has been most effective here, as well as walla-walla. Bottom fishing in these areas has produced good numbers of cracker and daga, which have been targeted on the same marks using either live bait or sardine. These fish are not to be taken lightly and need to be targeted with heavier tackle. Hook sizes can be in the range of 8/0-10/0, preferably Mustad Kendal Rounds. Tinley Manor has seen a few Cape yellowtail from the ski-boaters, which have come out on bottom traces as well as boats fished for gamefish and even a few on artificials. Most of the action has been at 80m on bottom traces, where a live bait has been used for geelbek. Many anglers have only managed to get these fish to the boat when manhandling them, as these fish need to be pulled off the reef or wreck and not given an inch of line. This is why heavy tackle is needed and 130lb braid is recommended.

Central

The Durban area has had very slow fishing, particularly for the paddle-ski anglers who have struggled to catch fish within their paddling range, and apart from the odd Natal snoek and prodigal son, not much was reported over the last week. Ski-boats have seen far more fish, but still not much compared to the north coast. Some very nice fish have been landed in the deep, as well as two very good size amberjack.

South

Deep off Warner Beach there have been good catches of musselcracker and other good bottom fish such as slinger, dageraad, geelbek and daga. Greenpoint has returned to its former glory and has been one of the most productive snoek spots along the coast over the last week. Anglers did particularly well on red-eye fillet baits and even mackerel fillet baits. Hibberdene has been on with a few couta, which have taken mainly bonito and shad.

(File Photo: Caroll Hermann)

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