Reef predators in mix off Durban coast

THE offshore fishing has been mainly based on the bottom fishing for the past few weeks and for good reason. The coppers and poenskop have been putting some serious bends in the rods!

The North Coast has seen some good snoek fishing along most of the usual spots. Tinley Manor and a Blythedale have been the true hot spots. Trolling fillets on the backline along with good quality, small lipped minnows is the way to go. Make sure you are trolling these smaller lures on lighter line (less than 25lb) to make sure they swim properly. Heavy line can cause them to kick out or not reach the proper depth. Also consider fishing them without wire to increase the number of bites.

The bottom fishing up north has been a bit quieter than the rest of the coast but there have still been some good hauls of geelbek and daga.

The tuna have managed to keep the gamefish guys pretty happy over the past week. The big seas have made targeting snoek on the backline a bit of a tricky affair. The big waves can be unpredictable so please be very careful close to the backline.

The bottom fishing has been phenomenal along the Durban coast and further south. The main targets have been the bigger reef predators. That said, there has been a very good mix of species. A lot of anglers have been experimenting with slow pitch jigging and have reaped the rewards. This facet does require slightly specialised gear so make sure you get the proper rod and reel for the job.

The rock and surf fishing is in a strange period with some summer fish starting to make an appearance but a lot of the winter regulars making up the bulk of the catches.

The Durban basin area along the beachfront has started to produce a couple of blue skates. It’s a little bit late but we won’t complain.

There have been plenty of shad around to keep those wanting a fish for the pan happy.

The rest of the beachfront has produced some good stumpies in the evenings. The most successful baits have been chokka, prawn and crackers.

The South Coast anglers have been focused on the edible fish and for good reason. The South Coast gullies have been very productive for the guys looking for bronze bream as well as brusher. The bream have been enjoying both pink and red prawn. The brusher have favoured a crab bait either alone or crab meat mixed with chokka.

The lure anglers down south have done particularly well with the garrick this past week. Some anglers have gone into double digits for their season count in just a day or two.

The Kingfisher’s trading hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays 8am to 1pm.

As always, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date with all our new video releases and to brush up on your species knowledge, tactics and tips/tricks.

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKingfisherFishing

Go to www.facebook.com/thekingfisherdaiwa and “Like” us on Facebook to catch reviews, videos, fishing reports, promotions and lots more.

Please send any info about fishing or fish caught in your area to mike.pereira@kingfisher.co.za