Shad biting at Blue Lagoon
North Coast - It has been a very long time since one could say that the Spinner Sharks have been out of control, but after what the Richards Bay locals experienced over the last week, "out of control" seems only to be an understatement. Every Chokka bait to hit the water was scoffed by these Spinner Sharks. In between the Spinner Sharks, the odd Brown Ray, Sand Shark and Diamond Ray was also landed, but obviously due to the abundance of inedibles, the edible species that have been present over the last month or so have been elusive with only a handful being landed.
What happens in most of these areas that usually hold a good concentration of edible fish is when a bigger shoal of sharks move in, they will clean an area out, they will herd fish into gullies, troughs, behind sand banks etc. and they will not stop feeding until there are no more fish to feed on. Sharks are known to feed until the point of regurgitation and then feed further. Spinner Sharks have also moved down to Ballito and Salt Rock areas, and are being caught on Chokka baits, Red eye baits and Shad cutlets. There have been some Shad off most of the beaches and points, but mostly undersized but still good fun for the kids on light tackle with spoons. Salt Rock has been producing some nice Kingies, which probably came on the bite due to the rise in water temperature. Most of these fish were landed on Prawn and Chokka baits that were thrown for fish like Bronze Bream and Blacktail. These Kingies can also be caught on spoons and dropshot, when they are really on the bite, nothing can beat this style of angling. The McArthy 3” and 4" Jerk Shad and even Paddletails will work very well for these Kingies.
La Mercy - Produced a good few juvinile Sand Sharks and Browns prior to the winds and rain. More and more anglers have been seeing excellent results using bait boats, particularly with Blackfin Sharks which generally feed slightly deeper and take big baits such as Bonito and whole Mackerel. These fish are extremely acrobatic once hooked and nothing less than 1mm leader should be used. Kingfisher offers a great range from 0.5 up to 1.0mm that has extremely good abrasion resistance, low stretch and low visibility, for a fraction of the price of Fluorocarbon.
Blue Lagoon - Is a bit quiet at the moment, which is probably due to the conditions worsening. Not to worry, as conditions have already seen improvement and by the end of the week fishing should be back to normal again. The Shad have been present towards the end of the week and are being caught mainly on lures and spoons.
Durban - The Durban piers are still providing our anglers with some Pompano and Grunter on Sea Lice and Prawn baits. These fish can be fussy so try downsize on the hook to improve your chances of hook-up. Many 3 Spot Pompano and Southern Pompano have been landed on Sea Lice from our more protected beachfronts. Most fish have been landed on small hooks but a 2/0 Mustad Big Gun is suggested due to the fact that bigger fish have been seen and if a bigger Stumpnose finds its way to a smaller, weaker hook then most of the time the hook will be opened or crushed. This hook also works very well with Sea Lice to make a well presented bait.
Toti/Scottborough - Grey Sharks have been landed at Toti, mainly in the evenings and on live baits. There are plenty of bait fish in the bay which will draw the game species in towards the end of the week. The Snapper Salmon have made their way down the coast again to Scottborough, providing may an angler with some good fun and tasty dinner. During the Westerly wind, the Grey Sharks and Browns seemed to have been caught more than during the East winds. From Scottsborough through to Port St Johns, Bronze Bream, Blacktails, WildePerd (Zebrafish) and Shad have been on the bite, with the odd Hammerhead Shark also caught.
(File Photo:Gallo Images)
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