The freshwater fishing has been amazing!
The bass are getting feisty on their nests, the carp are warming up, the trout are still feeding and the scaly season has kicked off with a few bangs.
The bass fishing has been amazing these past few weeks with every day seeing better fishing.
The fish in some dams are going in to spawn already with plenty of bedding marks on them. Please look after these fish as they are looking after the future stock.
After last week’s “they are eating anything and everything” report, the bass fishing is still firing on all cylinders.
ALSO READ | Freshwater fishing is getting a lot of attention at the moment
No monsters this time around, but still some with some great fish in the 2 kg+ bracket being reported from both Albert Falls and Midmar Dams.
Both the boat and bank anglers are doing well on a variety of lures and colours including hard/soft plastics and spinnerbaits. Just get it in the water they will eat!
Hazlemere has also seen good fishing with most anglers catching a good number of fish every day. The carp fishermen have been a bit quiet of late.
With the floods and rains having wrecked some of the specimen waters in KZN, most of the guys looking for the specimen carp have taken up travelling to fish.
The local waters are fishing well and most of the locals around Inanda have been catching decent size carp for the last few weeks.
This time of year can be a bit difficult with a lot of pressure changes from the fronts. The key is patience and persistence.
Pick your area, bait it and be confident in your approach.
Fruity flavours have been key with banana floaties producing the best-reported results.
fly-fishing
On the fly-fishing side, the scalies are here and the rivers are fishing well. The recent rains have muddied most of the usual spots so make sure to phone the area and check what is happening.
Last week’s snow was somewhat disappointing in that it was so light and disappeared so quickly … but it did feed the upper systems and there is some water coming off the mountains … so we’ll take it.
Last week saw some weather come up from the south that brought some rain and snow to the ‘Berg —the snow was very light though, and was gone within a little over a day (ask me how I know … I chased it by running up the mountain, but it was melting faster that I could go uphill (sad face), so I didn’t get a chance to make a snowman …
The melt has, however, input to the small feeder streams up on high, and that water has made its way down to the main river systems … not quite enough to get properly excited about just yet, but it’s a start, so we’ll take it. Next weeks forecast has some rain in it for the mountain areas (nothing here out on the flats) so fingers crossed that the weather gods are correct …
After the weather settled, the river anglers were back out in force — the river returns from the Natal Fly Fishers Club (for both the trout and scaly/yellowfish beats) outnumbering those from the stillwater guys by 10:1 …!
Some great fish have come to hand from the trout streams — the NFFC beats on the Bushman’s River in particular are providing the goods with good numbers of fish reported around the 40 cm/16 inch mark, and one of over 50 cm/20 inches.
The Mooi River beats are also giving up their fish — located higher up, it’s a smaller stream but holding some good fish — great fun for those dabbling in the lighter end of the 1-3wt spectrum. Fish are being taken on both dry fly, and smaller nymphs fished suspended in dry and dropper style.
Of interest is that the SA Protea Team is currently fishing the 41st FIPS-MOUCHE World Fly Fishing Championship in Asturias, in the mountains of Spain. Last week was practice week, and this week is comp … Team SA currently lying a very creditable 13th position out of 22 teams for Days 1 and 2 of the fishing this week. Have seen some great images of the Spanish rivers and the beautiful brown trout coming via team member Shaun Dickson (a Durban lad) … Tight Lines guys!
Still water trout fishing
The still water trout fishing is a tad quiet with few reports coming from the NFFC waters at present. There have been some good fish caught, however, up to just shy of the 50 cm/19-inch mark, so they are out there for those anglers wanting to get out there.
Standard patterns for this time of year include woolly buggers, dragon / damselfly and minnow patterns. To up the ante, fish a tandem rig with a smaller pattern like a nymph (e.g. GRHE or PTN) on the trailer.
The NFFC beat on the Umkomaas River is some prime Yellowfish water. Good numbers of fish in the 10-13-inch/25-33 cm range, with a couple of fish reported over the 40 cm/15 inch mark.
As mentioned previously, nymphing is the preferred method for yellows, with the PTN Hotspot being the most requested fly currently. Other popular flies are small jig buggers fished tandem with natural nymphs,
More international news from the bass boys as PMB-based angler Martin de Kock takes up the position of vice-captain for the SABAA Opens World Championship team headed to Lake Murray, South Carolina, USA next month! Congrats Martin.
On the offshore side the sea has been both kind and wild this past week. The winds have made some days tricky to fish but most of the time it has been worth the launch. The north coast has been fishing well with most spots producing fish. The inshore areas are loaded with the smaller snoek. There have been plenty of the 1-3 kg class snoek around. These are great fun on the lighter tackle and, unlike their bigger siblings, these smaller individuals are keen to jump on a lure or bait.
The backline area has also had plenty of garrick. These have been taken on livebait rigged on appropriate size circle hooks. The central coast has seen the same small snoek invasion as the north.
Most anglers have opted not to fish in the shallows with the risk of the sewage. Tuna and couta have been around the deeper marks. The tuna have been the main target. Some giants have been hooked on both the poppers and livebait.
Obviously the guys have preferred to fish with poppers as seeing a 40 kg tuna inhale a popper on the surface will get your adrenaline going. The south coast has been quiet. Most anglers have travelled very far south and have gone down to the Transkei.
The copper steenbras have been the main target in the ‘kei with a few reports of giants being landed. Please respect these fish and release as many as you can. The current has been very strong down south so be prepared with thinner line and heavier sinkers. A skilled skipper is invaluable.
Rock and surf fishing
The rock and surf fishing has been going well along the KZN coast. Edibles have been the main targets with a few summer inedibles making an appearance.
The north coast has been the place to go if you are looking for both inedibles and edible fish. The banks area has seen some giant shad being landed while targeting the inedibles. This area also produces some decent kob every year.
The inedibles up north have been few but worth the effort. There have been raggies, diamonds and sandies to be caught.
Large fleshy baits are the best bet to get these bigger fishes’ attention. Try adding sardine or mackerel fillets on the outside of your bait. The central coast has still been a contentious area with people unsure of what is open to fish and what is closed.
This being said, the area around Blue Lagoon has been fishing very well with some big garrick being caught. This is still an area of contamination but the choice is up to you. The more northern sections of the central coast have seen some good bronze bream fishing as well as brusher in the rockier spots. Down south, the rocky areas have seen some big brusher hooked this past week. Most of the fish have been hooked on “muscleman” crabs.
Please make sure you have a licence to collect or be in possession of these. The lower south coast has seen a lot of kob, garrick and bronze bream. All of these have been covered in length so choose your preferred target and go for a drive down south.
Tight lines and screaming reels!
Credit: Source link
