Good tuna fishing off Durban

North

The flat seas have made ski-boat and paddle-ski fishing a breeze over the last week, which was ended abruptly by the icy cold weather and rough seas brought through on the weekend. From the north coast, we have received very few reports of fish being caught out at sea. A few anglers managed to put fish in the hatch during the week, the odd couta, Natal snoek and kingfish which have been smaller than average. The only spot which produced the goods was Maphelane, with good sized snoek being caught all week. The next spot along the coast which produced fish was Richards Bay, seeing more snoek and couta. The couta have been few and far between, but are making decent size. Bottom fishing seems to be the way to go in these areas if it is dinner you are after. Tugela is the one spot which has consistently produced fish this year and has not stopped yet. The bottom fishing has been out of this world recently and geelbek, rockcod, slinger, musselcracker and daga salmon have been on the bite daily. Gamefish have been slower but still around, with garrick being the main target species at the river mouth.

Central

Durban seems to have had its fair share of tuna over the last week, as well as a few Natal snoek here and there for those who out the time in. The Bluff saw the lion’s share of tuna with jet-ski anglers catching up to five fish each session. These fish have been caught along the 50m mark, trawling Rattlers and Halco's at around 15km/h. It is often a case of getting a bite and maintaining the same speed in order to get the second bite. If the ski or boat is taken out of gear or slowed down, the second lure will not get a bite.

South

Anglers on the south coast struggled for fish, but had a few good days where snoek were landed, particularly in the Winkelspruit area and Umkomaas stretch. Sprat spoons and strip baits worked wonders in these areas. For certain anglers, one technique that worked extremely well was trawling two spoons out the back of their ski. The two spoons were let out the same distance and trawled as fast as possible. Anglers on the lower south coast in the Port Edward area had a good time with yellowtail and other bottom species such as musselcracker. Live mackerel was the key to success for these anglers.

Big fishing competition for physically challenged anglers at Durban Naval Base on 1 August 2015 - Call 031 701 7444 for more details.

(File Photo: Gallo Images)

Twitter - @SportswaveAndre @kingfisherdaiwa

Facebook - ECRSportswave