Despite extreme weather conditions, anglers are finding fish when a good window of weather presents itself.
Terry Nel from Port Edward reports that fishing here has not been too active except for some kob that have been taken at night from the beaches down there.
Time to get out the Daiwa Saltist or Saltiga reels and the Poseidon Heavy HMG rods; you are going to need them.

Angling
Despite extreme weather conditions, anglers are finding fish when a good window of weather presents itself. Almost the entire KZN coastline now has discoloured water and this accompanied by a few days of North Easterly winds makes a receipt for good angling. Anglers fishing in the Scottburgh area have had some fun off the point with a few skates and sand sharks landed, one or two fish were well over the 10 kg mark and quite a few bigger specimens were lost. These fish seem to be well entrenched on the South Coast as there are numerous reports of these skates being landed.

Terry Nel
Terry Nel from Port Edward reports that fishing here has not been too active except for some kob that have been taken at night from the beaches down there. The estuaries here are also quiet except for only a few fish.

In the North Coast area there has not been to many reports on the much awaited annual sand sharks as yet but it should not take long now before they arrive. Anglers targeting big sharks can now also start getting their heavy tackle ready as all rivers are now flowing strongly and water temperatures are now favourable for this type of angling.

Time to get out the Daiwa Saltist or Saltiga reels and the Poseidon Heavy HMG rods; you are going to need them. Anglers targeting edibles are also having some fun as summer fish in the form of pompano, stumpies and grunter have started feeding and as always anglers fishing the Umkomaas stretch have had some good returns. Garrick and brusher have started going off the boil. The Zululand beaches should start fishing well soon but anglers are going to have to wait for the ’chocolate’ water to start mixing with sea water to get the desired ‘ginger beer’ water effect and then anglers in this area can expect some very good angling.

Ski Boats
Ski boats are now slowly changing their focus to game fish as there are some good reports of dorado coming off the deeper water off Durban. A few specimens have been caught closer inshore particularly off the Bluff and Scottburgh areas. Ski-boats and Jet Ski’s operating on the Aliwal shoal have had some good results recently. Other fish that were caught included dorado and tunny.

Report by Mike Laubscher

 “Sailfish on Fly off Durban:

I have always wanted to say this, so let me say it again – Sailfish on Fly off Durban. The adrenalin is still pumping through my veins even though some time has passed. It was such an exciting experience. I do not even know how to convey the experience and excitement we had on the boat with everyone cheering, encouraging, yells and screams, the teamwork especially when we had a problem when the fly reel started falling apart. We launched early this morning to miss the heavy NE wind that was predicted and so were on our way out the harbour by 04h00 and made the bumpy ride out to the deep, it was a long 1.5hr trip of about 40Nm before we got to the area we wanted to target. This trip was purely a fly fishing trip and so we got about our business, the casting was very tough because the wind was already blowing far and so distance was a problem.
1st up was a double hook up of Dorado, one was lost, the other landed. It is important not to panic when you get a fish on and start tightening the drag, let him run and play him and you will land him, put too much pressure, especially in the beginning when the fish is still strong and you will loose your fish.

We then had a 3rd Dorado hook up. Then the moment came when we saw a Sailfish hit the one fly and immediately it was doing a tail walk which is incredible to watch. At the same time as the other fly was brought in we had a second Sailfish strike just a meter from the boat, and again the fish was lost by panicking and too much pressure. The first Sail was still on and taking line with over 200m out we were well into the backing and a long fight took place with several runs and many jumps.
Eventually just after an hour went by since hook up; we got the Sailfish to the boat and it did a spectacular jump when I had the leader in my hand. The fish was very tired after such a long fight and he was unhooked and immediately released without any further stress. I estimate this Sailfish at around 40Kg, and this is an awesome accomplishment on a 12wt fly rod. My client told me afterwards that he did a 40Km mountain bike race recently, and this fight with the Saily on a Fly rod was far more exhausting. After that we managed a double hook up with 2 Oceanic Bonito which gave an excellent account for themselves on the Fly Rods. The fly’s we used are my own design which I have developed over some time now combined with my fly fishing and big game trolling knowledge, and they really performed well leaving an awesome smoke trail and most of all they attracted fish. I have been studying, researching and planning to get a Sailfish off Durban for some time, with many misses and today we hit the jackpot. I can tell you that this is no easy feat off-shore Durban and so a real accomplishment for the angler.” Thanks Mike Loubscher.

 

Action packed ESA fishing shows on TV
Don’t forget to watch the action packed ESA fishing shows on TV. These shows feature both saltwater and freshwater fishing and are aired on Super sport 1. The ESA Saltwater show will be broadcasted weekly on Thursdays between 19h30 and 20h30, and the ESA Freshwater show will air weekly on Tuesdays between 19h00 and 19h30.