WATCH - Fishing for couta
This past week there have been plenty of different species landed all along our coast. Anglers have been having most luck with edibles, but there have been some noteworthy catches of non-edibles as well.
Starting off in Cape Vidal there has been an array of gamefish species and a few reef fish as well, mostly pompano, stumpnose and bonefish. There have been plenty of kingfish coming out on spoon, but all other fish taking the preferred chokka or small squid bait.
Richards Bay north has produced a good number of flatfish such as brown rays, honeycomb rays and diamond rays over the past week on fleshy baits such as bonitos rigged with a Dingle Dangle onto a circle hook. These fish have not been huge, but they have been a form of entertainment for the greener non-edible anglers. Unfortunately the weather has not been right to bring the bigger fish in close enough to feed with some anglers saying a northeast wind blowing for 2-3 days will bring the bigger fish.
Richards Bay south is having a slight problem with shad at the moment with these fish eating the bait before it even settles for the bigger flatfish to find it. Anglers who are inexperienced in fishing this area are advising that you look for the banks, prepare a good sized fleshy bait and cast to the center of the bank. This will yield good results as there are big diamond rays that hang about in this area. The choice bait to use in this area would be the bonito, rigged onto a Dingle Dangle with a Mustad Tuna Circle circle hook.
Ballito is still producing good catches of grey sharks, hopefully giving the early holiday makers some fun. The water is still quite clean even with the rain so there is still a possibility of catching bronze bream around the area. There are plenty of shad around the Durban area which are harassing anglers trying to fish for other edibles. There are a few grunter coming out just north of Durban as well as a few diamond rays.
In the beginning of the week, the water around Toti was a ginger beer colour, but has cleaned up quickly. There are quite a few rays coming out on bay squid and chokka baits. There have also been a few sandsharks in the area. These fish are incredibly strong for their size and will take anglers by surprise once landed. It is encouraging to see these fish being caught in westerly winds.
Water around the Port Shepstone area has been on the dirty side with a lot of rain water coming down the river. This has made fishing for garrick difficult, but has also kept the kob around for a bit longer. Anglers fishing for bronze bream have been surprised with this by-catch so late in the year, even though they are on the smaller side.
There are plenty of hammerheads and raggedtooth sharks being landed down in the Transkei area at most of the deep water points. These sharks are being caught on live karanteen and blacktail. There have been plenty of shad around and anglers are counting the hours to the re-opening of the shad season on 1 December.
We have also been told of early season couta landed at various spots off the KZN coast.
Richards Bay north has produced a good number of flatfish such as brown rays, honeycomb rays and diamond rays over the past week on fleshy baits such as bonitos rigged with a Dingle Dangle onto a circle hook. These fish have not been huge, but they have been a form of entertainment for the greener non-edible anglers. Unfortunately the weather has not been right to bring the bigger fish in close enough to feed with some anglers saying a northeast wind blowing for 2-3 days will bring the bigger fish.
Richards Bay south is having a slight problem with shad at the moment with these fish eating the bait before it even settles for the bigger flatfish to find it. Anglers who are inexperienced in fishing this area are advising that you look for the banks, prepare a good sized fleshy bait and cast to the center of the bank. This will yield good results as there are big diamond rays that hang about in this area. The choice bait to use in this area would be the bonito, rigged onto a Dingle Dangle with a Mustad Tuna Circle circle hook.
Ballito is still producing good catches of grey sharks, hopefully giving the early holiday makers some fun. The water is still quite clean even with the rain so there is still a possibility of catching bronze bream around the area. There are plenty of shad around the Durban area which are harassing anglers trying to fish for other edibles. There are a few grunter coming out just north of Durban as well as a few diamond rays.
In the beginning of the week, the water around Toti was a ginger beer colour, but has cleaned up quickly. There are quite a few rays coming out on bay squid and chokka baits. There have also been a few sandsharks in the area. These fish are incredibly strong for their size and will take anglers by surprise once landed. It is encouraging to see these fish being caught in westerly winds.
Water around the Port Shepstone area has been on the dirty side with a lot of rain water coming down the river. This has made fishing for garrick difficult, but has also kept the kob around for a bit longer. Anglers fishing for bronze bream have been surprised with this by-catch so late in the year, even though they are on the smaller side.
There are plenty of hammerheads and raggedtooth sharks being landed down in the Transkei area at most of the deep water points. These sharks are being caught on live karanteen and blacktail. There have been plenty of shad around and anglers are counting the hours to the re-opening of the shad season on 1 December.
We have also been told of early season couta landed at various spots off the KZN coast.
The couta is also known as the king mackerel and this species plays the starring role in our fishing footage today.