Stumpies biting in Durban harbour
Durban harbour has been producing some good fish lately with plenty of grunter, stumpnose and kingfish all coming out on their preferred baits over the past week.
Around the Yacht Moll area there have been plenty of stumpnose and perch coming out on bait. These fish are incredibly strong for their size and give a proper rev on lighter 7ft rods and 2000 size reels.
There are still a few gamefish around this area with kingies and pickhandle barracuda taking any sort of artificials.
The block has been producing some excellent grunter for the guys who are wading in. They have found that most of these grunter are taking cracker shrimp. If you are unable to get cracker; these fish are also taking baby squid, but this bait will also be enticing the brown rays.
There have been a few big kingies off South Pier for those of you with permits as well as a few fairly sized stumpnose. These fish will normally take a well-presented sea lice or cracker, but some anglers have been lucky enough to catch them on drop-shot.
Off the boats over the weekend there were reports of some big grunter coming out around the centre bank on cracker.
We have seen a fair amount of brown rays in the harbour lately and how easily it is to pick them up on grunter tackle. These rays are in the harbour for the safety and food that it provides. They are likely jump on any bait you put out, but red-eye fillets cottoned around a red-eye head will work just as well as a well-presented baby squid on circle hook. With some anglers going as light as possible on these fish, often they are lost due to tackle failure, so if you are not as confident in the light tackle as other anglers, then a medium rod with 15 to 20lb braid and a 3000 size reel will be perfect for you. The Daiwa BG series as well as the Exceler series of reels will do wonders, paired on the Exceler 7ft Medium rod and the 15lb Daiwa Braid. With this combination of tackle you will have a brilliant time with these fish.
Anglers fishing on boats around the docks will be excited to hear that there are a few big rockcod swimming around at the moment. These fish are taking a full sardine bait. These fish will be hiding in any underground structure, which makes fishing around the walls and ships in the harbour perfect, as there is always structure up close to these bays.
(File Photo: Office of the KZN Premier)
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