First marlin for the season boated

CHARTER boat Strike, skippered by Arnold Borman, returned on Sunday with the first black marlin of the season.

The fish was caught on a Halco lure while trawling for tuna and was estimated to be around the 120kg mark. This is a good sign for the coming season, as these fish move into our waters with the warm currents.

Tuna are still feeding freely with Tackle Box II returning on Sunday with a good haul of yellowfin tuna, one fish coming in at 23kg, which is an excellent sized fish for this time of the year.

The dorado seem to have become a bit quiet, but as soon as we get some slight westerly winds, they should come wild. With the water temperature currently averaging around the 23 degree mark, everything is pointing to an awesome season. Let’s just hope the weather plays its role.

Yellowtail seem to have made their return to certain pinnacles, with one boat having found them fishing the ‘vertical jig’ style on Sunday afternoon. Apparently the fish were ‘boiling’ and the only reason they had to leave was that they ran out of jigs.

These notorious hard, dirty-fighting fish are famous for using whatever structure they can find to cut themselves free and one needs to ensure that your tackle and knots are one hundred percent right if you want to stand any sort of chance of landing these fish.

With shad season now open, reports of some really good-sized shad being caught have been received. These larger fish, up to 5kg, seem to prefer the very early morning session, feeding on whole sardines. Anglers fishing the Sandspits at Port Shepstone have also reported catching some of these large shad on paddletails. Garrick are still feeding at Sheppie, however they have been reported to be on the smaller side, so guys, give these fish a chance and return a couple to ensure we have another run of these sporting fish next year.

The estuaries are also producing some really good fishing with Southbroom river, Mpenjati and The Pont all producing good fish. Rock salmon, juvenile garrick, small kob and bream seem to be making up the bulk of the catch. All these species can be targeted with artificial lures like dropshots and crankbaits, but a small live bait will always produce a pull.

Bronze bream are still feeding freely, with the tidal pool at Shelly Beach, the ledges at St Mike’s and Trafalgar all reporting some good-sized fish.

Those anglers wanting to target gamefish on artificials and spoons, must try and make an effort to get to Stiebel Rocks in Umzumbe, especially when the westerly wind is blowing. This time of the year, the yellowfin kingfish come wild and the harder the westerly blows, the harder they feed and some hectic action can be had. Early morning, even in the dark and late afternoon seem to be the best times, but these fish can feed any time so just keep a spinning rod ready, loaded with a spoon and plug and as soon as you see the chasers, throw into them and hold on. These fish are extremely strong and will test you and your ,tackle to the death. While they are not rated as the best eating fish, they make amazing pickled fish so guys, keep what you are able to eat and return the rest.

A big welcome goes out to all the visitors to the coast. Please pop into the shop for any advice or help that may be required to ensure you catch that big one.

Port Edward

Prevailing bad weather conditions have hampered fishing and the few fishermen trying have had poor catches so far. Bronze bream are being caught and shad are also in the area so as soon as there is more bait in the water, hopes for a good shad season lie ahead.

Visitors will be upon us soon and more activity on the fishing spots is expected. Please remember to be more patient with some of these guys and don’t expect them to be as good as you are on the spots, help where you can and our whole attitude and actions will go back with them when they return.

After all, the majority of us depend on them and the prosperity they bring to the coast.

Some don’t even know that permits are required to go fishing.

Talking of this, permits to fish have been in force since 1998 and revenue generated from licence fees is channelled into various activities by Wildlife. One thing in question though, is that in the past, people buying their licence were issued with enough educational material to enable them to avoid being prosecuted for offences regarding bag and size limits. In fact at a stage ‘goodie bags’ were given out which contained literature pertaining to all the laws on fishing. These bags had fish measures, information brochures and tide charts. This seems to be a thing of the past and needs looking into and there should be funds allocated so as to protect the unaware fisherman from breaking the law. Where are they?

Report by Mark Bennett (Tackle Box) and Terry Nel (Tackle Net).

Tide Table

High tide times

December

05 05.06 17.19

06 05.51 18.04

07 06.38 18.51

08 07.29 19.42

09 08.30 20.44

10 09.46 22.06

11 11.11 23.39