North Easterly winds have been dominating our coastline for the better part of the last two weeks, the water temperature has dropped substantially and so fishing in general has been pretty slow.
Onto what’s been happening, deep South Coast area the Blue Skates have been relatively abundant and some Hound Sharks have started to arrive with the cold water.
On the weekend Henry Brown landed an awesome Zambezi Shark off Errol Hayze point of 174kgs.

Angling
North Easterly winds have been dominating our coastline for the better part of the last two weeks, the water temperature has dropped substantially and so fishing in general has been pretty slow. The water has even gone down to as low as 17 degrees at stages.However, every cloud has its silver lining, the good news is, the reefs will be nicely rested and will have more fish on them, the banks formations will have built up nicely and when the conditions do come right, you will be well prepared from the time you haven’t been able to fish.

Onto what’s been happening, deep South Coast area the Blue Skates have been relatively abundant and some Hound Sharks have started to arrive with the cold water. Some Rock Salmon and Perch have been caught in the estuaries down in that area as well. Scottborough had been producing some bites but that’s gone quiet since the temperature drop.

On the weekend Henry Brown landed an awesome Zambezi Shark off Errol Hayze point of 174kgs. This fish was hooked on a bonito slide. Apparently the Zambezi’s have been showing there faces up into the Umkomaas River; the reasoning behind this is that they swim into the fresher water to kill the parasites off them.

Up the Durban side once again it’s been relatively quiet because of the cold water; most predominant species being caught has been the Blue Rays (they love cold water).

I fished up the North Coast twice this week with no success but the Big Black Tail have been in there numbers, pecking and sometimes getting hooked on our bigger baits. I haven’t heard any news from the North Coast. I can only assume it’s the same story.


Skiboats
The boat action has also been quiet as a result from the weather and sea patterns. Only anglers willing to travel many kilometres out to sea have been having any luck with the bigger pelagic species.
Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado and Wahoo continue to show there faces in this wonderful season we are experiencing.

Mike Loubser was telling me yesterday he managed to get a client of his an awesome black marlin of about 140kgs on Tuesday. Mike did say the current was exceptionally strong.The Mackerel have been “wild” with all this cooler water so if you want to stock up, now is the time. No reports of snoek, couta or tuna have come in as the conditions for closer water have been pretty bad! Besides being cold it’s been dirty as well, these fish don’t like that at all.

Looking ahead for this weekend, If I was wanting to fish off the boat I’d fill up with plenty fuel and head for the horizon in search of “ink” blue water and fish for the pelagic species mentioned above. From the shore the conditions look superb for targeting inedible's, my only concern is with the north easterly predicted to blow strongly again I wonder what fish will eat in what promises to be cold water.

The Durban Ski –Boat Club Fishing Festival

The Durban Ski – Boat Club are having a fishing festival on the 23rd & 24th  April 2011. First prize for the biggest Couta is a completely rigged 565 Sea Cat with trailer and 2 x 70HP Yamaha’s, the value is about R400, 000.00. There are R450, 000.00 worth of other prizes to be won as well as a huge jackpot lucky draw of R20, 000.00 cash. Pre-entry is R300.00. For more info on this very well run competition visit their Website: www.durbanskiboatclub.co.za.

New Hanover Schools Bass Compo.

Rory da Silva has sent in this info about the New Hanover Schools Bass Compo. “This is the 8th year the comp has been running and last year we saw a record turnout of 840 anglers of all ages. This is one of the best if not the best comps of this kind around. (Organized and run as only people with a passion and commitment for their school can do) Date: Saturday 12th March 2011 Venue:  Dalton/New Hanover area.