Angling
The shad ban is now in effect and it seems that the sardines run can now officially be called a thing of the past. All well known spots that have attracted hordes of anglers during the early morning sessions now will look like desolate places as most anglers attentions will now be turning to alternate species with some anglers now even turning their focus to bass and other freshwater fish. However, this time of the year can be very productive when a window of fair weather presents itself.

The hardcore angler with endless patience can be well rewarded when targeting brusher at this time of the year. These fish can be fished for in almost any condition as they feed in turbulent white water from mainly rocky ledges and outcrops. Along with the brusher come the bronze bream and these fish can also be caught in the same places that the brusher feed at.

The garrick run is still going strong but activity on the South Coast has slowed down somewhat but anglers on the North and Zululand coasts are still getting their fair share of fish. Favorable reports are coming in from the North coast with anglers experiencing good fun with these fish at Seoula and Barracouts Rocks. The Tongaat Long Beach stretch has also produced some good fish and at night a few average size kob have been accounted for.

Further north the Tugella and Amatikulu stretches have had equally good results. Anglers fishing the Richard Bay Piers have also had some good success with garrick,  kob and shad over the past few weeks  The Umgeni north bank area worked well during the night sessions where a variety of fish are being caught. Both edible and non edible fish were feeding and quite a few nice big kob were reported.

Some fair size grunter made for enjoyable angling. Night fishing along the Umkomaas north bank area has produced some good results as far as kob are concerned. Anglers putting in the time are being rewarded with some good size fish. Further down the coast the Port Shepstone area has produced steady results over the past few weeks far as garrick and kob are concerned.

Terry Nel from Port Edward, reports that, the holidays have begun with few fish around and there have been a few reports of some large black tail coming out and in fact one was the only fish caught at the 'subsistence' angling competition held at Glenmore on Saturday morning. A nice bronze bream was also caught at Glenmore by a visitor from Durban. Great news for the estuary fishermen is that there has been activity with big eye kingfish and some fair sized fish being caught in the area.

The Durban Bay seems to have turned on in the last few weeks as far as grunter goes. On Friday afternoon, Bruce Black and some friends as well as Peter Marriott from The Kingfisher fished the incoming tide and boated a few nice size grunter and on Sunday morning Mike Pereira, also from The Kingfisher tried his luck and manage a few good grunter, the best being a fish of 4.45kg’s, nice to see the grunter back in the Bay.  

Transkei
Anglers venturing into the Transkei have had some exceptional angling as reports coming from down there suggest that angling for edible and in edible fish has now reached a peak. Gerick have also given anglers something to smile about as some very big fish have been landed at Pension and at the Lighthouse.

Mike Laubscher
Mike Laubscher from Nikao Fishing Adventures  sent in this report. The past week and weekend has been spoilt with a lot of bad weather and so fishing has been difficult. The warm waters have reached Richards Bay where the first marlin for the summer has been reported, a whopping 210Kg. Also is Richards Bay there have been catches of large yellow fin tuna; and the first dorado for the season are coming out. In Durban there has been a whale shark around which is a very good sign that the warm waters are on their way, catches of natal snoek and garrick are being reported. Bottom fishing has slowed down and the geelbek activity is getting less. There are still good reports of daga being caught on the North Coast. Bottom fishing is still the order of the day on the South Coast and it will still be a while before the warmer waters reach there.