Richards Bay grunter and stumpies
With seas being rather large along the vast reaches of our coastline over the weekend, most anglers would have got most of their angling done during the week. Sunday morning was fairly decent in most areas until the wind picked up in the afternoon.
Kosi Bay had fairly large seas for the majority of the week, with only the odd sandshark and smaller edible being landed.
Down towards Cape Vidal, things started to get interesting with more edibles coming out than Kosi or the surroundings such as Maphelane and St Lucia. Quite a few stumpnose and shad were caught at Cape Vidal, which is a good sign of things to come for this weekend at the Ballies and Babes competition. Weather for this weekend is also looking extremely good, with flat seas and mild winds, angling should be a pleasure.
Richards Bay has seen a rather poor performance over the last week and with large seas not helping the cause, very few fish have been reported. The majority of catches have consisted of spinner sharks, kob and the odd garrick. The harbour has been a more productive area for most, with good sized grunter and stumpnose coming out regularly.
Zinkwazi saw a bit of action over the last week with a variety of species including some good catches of stumpnose and shad of the larger sort.
Ballito had a good run of diamonds and grey sharks in the calmer seas, as well as a few Natal snoek, kingfish and a few geelbek too. The shad, needless to say, had an excellent run and continued to increase in size towards the weekend. Anglers using Maria spoons, to get better distance on their cast, managed not only a few kingfish, but some decent shad as well.
Umdloti had a good run of slightly larger grey sharks during the week and had even better sized fish over the weekend, mostly in the 15-20kg range. These fish have been caught on slightly larger baits which are able to remain untouched by shad during the time in the water, which allows for the sharks to make their way to the bait.
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: Gallo Images)
Facebook - ECRSportswave
Twitter - @kingfisherdaiwa @SportswaveAndre