Richards Bay kob and garrick success

Kosi Bay has begun to produce the goods, starting with good numbers of shad in the mornings which has moved steadily up the coast into Mozambique. These shad can be caught on spoon or on bait, but will often be more pleasurable to fight on a lighter spinning outfit using a Toby or Falcon spoon. These fish are a shoaling species, so when the bite slows down, stay in the same area and wait for another shoal to move in. A few Natal snoek have also been landed off the rocks around the Kosi Bay area, taken on bullet spoons cast as far as possible for kingfish.  

Maphelane has done exceptionally well with smaller edibles as well as larger species such as kob and garrick, which have both been targeted on lure and bait in the mornings. Anglers testing the new Daiwa D Minnow did well with the "bone" colour with garrick and also a few kingfish. This lure has proven deadly for shad and has been a go-to lure for many anglers targeting them. The shad seem to prefer a constant slow retrieve whereas the kingfish and garrick have enjoyed a fast ripping action.  

In Richards Bay the garrick and kob action continues. Most of the kob and garrick seem to have been caught on live bait, with only one or two reported to be caught on lure, unlike the shad, which have been unable to leave the drop-shot and Falcon spoon alone. A handful of anglers have still put out larger baits in search of a larger inedible species and a few have been successful. The odd sandshark and honeycomb have been taken during the day in the beginning of the week, but this was short lived with the arrival of the bad weather. Anglers fishing in the bad weather towards the end of the week still managed to land good number of shad.  

Most of the action from the Richards Bay area down to Durban has been slow, with the exception of Tongaat River Mouth, which has continued to produce good numbers of fish ranging from garrick to kob and other species such as grunter. With the huge amount of rain that KZN experienced over the weekend, all of the rivers came down with dirty water, resulting in discoloured seas for many kilometres up and down the coast. This has made for excellent kob conditions and many of the anglers who fished for kob around the river mouths had good catches of not only kob, but grunter too. With the shad moving up the coast steadily and in full force, species such as kob and garrick naturally move up the coast to feed on these shad. It is advised to use live shad or shad belly in these shad runs, as the catch rate will increase heavily.  

Big fishing competition for physically challenged anglers at Durban Naval Base on 1 August 2015 - Call 031 701 7444 for more details.

(File Photo: Gallo Images)

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