Wahoo action off Umhlanga
Northern areas of the KZN coast line have definitely been productive of late, producing better quality fish and a lot of them. As with the weeks before, the likes of Sodwana, Maphelane, Cape Vidal and Richards Bay have been good to anglers, producing fish such as couta, tuna, wahoo and dorado over the past week. Most fish have been caught on lures or small live baits on colour lines in relatively shallow water. Snoek have been biting very well in the Maphelane and St Lucia areas, taking Strike Pro magic minnows.
The main news starts in the Richards Bay area, where anglers have had extremely good tuna action in the deep fishing on 50 and 80lb outfits. Targeting marlin on these outfits has become a waiting game for tuna and tuna only. Very few boats have hooked into marlin north of Durban over the last week, but the amount of yellowfin between 30kg and 70kg has made up for this. Further south into the Zinkwazi region, there have been plenty of anglers who have been hooking into tuna with the dolphins, which have strangely enough been followed by sharks. Anglers are urged to fish with heavier outfits with a higher strength braid in the 80-100lb class. The size of the tuna is also a hot topic at the moment, with boats averaging catches of between 25kg and 40kg. One anglers in the Ballito area managed a fine specimen of 35kgs on a Daiwa Grandwave 7ft rod matched with a Saltist 4500 loaded with 55lb Saltiga boat braid. This fish towed the angler around for an hour before it was brought to the fishing ski.
Every angler has a day on the water that they will never forget, whether it's because of the company, the location or a once in a lifetime fish. Jason Jearey, while fishing off Umhlanga on his kayak, hooked into what he thought was a sailfish and fought the beast to the gaff in 28 minutes. Jason was met by a once in a lifetime beast of a wahoo which weighed in at 42.7kg. Jason hooked this fish on straight fluorocarbon and treble hook, which makes this catch even more amazing.
Other anglers in the Umhlanga area were not as lucky, but still managed some lovely fish on Rattler Poppers with the dolphins. Some of these fish weighed in at over 30kg and were caught in twos and threes. Further south in the Durban area, Natal snoek have been caught off Blue Lagoon and Virginia. Most of these fish have been landed on finesse fillet traces and small Strike Pro lures. Halco Jelly Prawn lures have worked well also. The ships have also produced a good number of dorado and a large number of big Wahoo.
Spear-fishermen have done extremely well in the Umkomaas area with large hauls of wahoo, prodigal son, couta and tuna. Plenty of kingfish have also been sighted.
Reminder - Imperial Nissan Zululand Couta Classic at Mtunzini on 25 and 26 April 2015.
For more details on this KZN north coast deep sea fishing competition you can contact Hylton on 078 854 9358 or Rod on 083 587 3990.
May will see Pumula on the KZN south coast hosting the annual Quattro King of the Sea fishing contest.
The 2015 Inanda Bass Classic will be held at Inanda Dam over the first long weekend in May 2015.
Friday 1 May 2015 will be the show day where our sponsors will display and sell some of their goodies.
Registration will take place from 13h00 on 1 May 2015 and the briefing will be at 18h00.
The competition will be on 2 and 3 May 2015.
There is a guaranteed first prize of R60 000 for the biggest bass caught.
There will also be prizes for the runners-up in all the divisions with lots of lucky draws and booby prizes too.
The total value of the prizes excluding the cash prize is currently estimated to be in the region of R60 000 – R70 000.
Food and drinks will be available for purchase from the caterers on site.
Entry forms are available at www.inandabassclassic.co.za or from Ken Ainslie who can be contacted on 031 205 3777
(File Photo: Umlalazi Ski Boat Club)
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa