The Bluff has had a ton of Shad, good numbers of Kingfish and excellent catches of Blacktail and Wildeperd.
Most of these fish have been caught on the exact same bait, which has been Chokka and Red Eye baits, baited on a size 4/0 hook. Further south along the beaches and piers, anglers have had fun with Grunter, Bonefish, Stumpies and Grey Sharks and Shad. With the Shad slowing down at Blue Lagoon, anglers are keeping themselves busy catching a variety of smaller edibles and Sand Sharks, being caught on live Blacktail or Maasbunker. Spinning tackle has been doing a large sum of the damage here.īeachwood locals have managed to land a few Pompano and the odd Stumpnose on Sea Lice. Virginia has seen plenty of Shad recently, most of which have held good weight and have taken spoons and ground baits used for flat fish or Stumpnose. Apart from the Shad, the Umhlanga area seems to have settled somewhat, having had reports from few anglers, most of which have been inedible species such as Grey Sharks and Brown Rays. Local – There have also been good reports of the Snoek which seem to have turned on again with the rains which came down last week. Good reports of Grey Sharks have also been received from the Ballito area and some good Rock Cod being landed on the larger baits in the rocky areas too. The waters between Zinkwazi and Salt Rock produced a variety of species in the gullies and off the banks, with some excellent reports of Stumpnose present at most favourite Stumpnose spots. The Pick Handle Barracuda have been on the loose and will continue to supply hours of fun through December and January. Richards Bay Harbour has started to heat up somewhat, boasting a strong appearance of Ox-Eye Tarpon, Kingfish, Springer and a few edibles too. Strong hooks as found in the Mustad range, power swivels, a decent fluorocarbon such as Siglon or Triple Fish and of course, well-practiced knots. A Saltist Heavy Spinning 6-8oz rod or heavier will suffice.Īnother important factor is quality terminal tackle. A rod capable of turning a 100kg+ fish should be considered. When using a grinder setup, nothing less than a reel such as the Daiwa Saltist 6500 filled with 600m of 48lb Triple Fish Gatorbraid backing and 250-300m of Gatorbraid 48lb top-shot should be used.
These are strong fish and heavy tackle is totally necessary due to the fact that at any stage, a fish in excess of 100kgs can peel of 600m of line and send an angler home in a matter of minutes. Richards Bay has had plenty of Sand Sharks and Honeycombs, both in the 60kgs range. A rise in the numbers of Honeycombs in the area has also set off a fair amount of anglers to start throwing larger baits, which is what has been working well. There have also been good reports of Sand Sharks being caught off Cape Vidal and Maphelane on Chokka baits. Kingfisher Anchovy Spoons, Bonnie Spoons, McArthy Paddle tails/ Dropshot and other long casting spoons such as the Chase spoons are the best to use for a variety of Kingfish species. With the introduction of the Daiwa Saltist Nero 65 to the market, a few anglers have come to know the power of these very affordable reels. The Nero 6500 reel will hold close to 900m of 50lb braid, and has a silky smooth drag system so it will have no issue landing any fish that a multiplier would be able to.įurther south towards Cape Vidal and its surrounding areas, as usual for this time of the year, the Shad are shoaling in large numbers in the bays, small edibles are feeding readily off the banks and the Kingfish are plentiful in most areas, being caught mainly on artificials.
Anglers with heavy Spinning outfits have also managed to cast a smaller live bait into the deeper water to search for a larger specimen. With more and more anglers getting involved in Spinning over the last year, the number of catches has multiplied exponentially and has become the favoured technique for most anglers. Most of these monsters have been landed on spinning gear over the last month, as well as Fly tackle and live bait. North – An interest has been shown in the GT’s in the Kosi Bay area, which have been plentiful and seemingly easy to catch. It is a fantastic time of year to fish and there have been phenomenal catches all over the KZN coast in this holiday period this far, and many more are to come. From The Kingfisher team, travel safe and enjoy the Holidays! Season’s greetings to our fellow anglers! Many families will be happy to take a break and travel to their favourite fishing spots along the coast at this time of year, which means a lot of the fishing spots will be occupied and relatively festive.