Umhlanga wahoo action continues

North Coast - Hatches have been filled to the brim with a mixed bag of game fish and bottom fish recently on our north coast. Fishermen targeting marlin and sailies have been rewarded with many smaller blacks and stripies between 50kgs and 120kgs. Most of these fish caught in our waters are released, but every now and again a fish kills itself as a result of fatigue during the fight. Most anglers will make an attempt to resuscitate the fish if signs of weakening are present (bronze colouration in the skin, slow breathing, no movement and bleeding), but on the odd occasion the fish will not be able to be revived. In the event of this sad reality, one is urged to rather keep the fish for the pot. Small marlin and sailfish may not be as great cooked as we usually prepare line fish, but is exceptional if smoked. Dorado, couta, tuna and snoek have been present in large numbers from Mapelane down to Richards Bay.

In terms of lures, generally we target each species of fish on a different lure. To increase the amount of species caught in a trip, one could fish with lures that entice more than one species of fish. The most versatile lure is a Kona and is generally taken by dorado, tuna, wahoo, sailfish and marlin. H2O lures has a great range of trawling feathers, Konas and smokers.

Durban and Central - Well done to Hilton Kidger from Durban Ski Boat Club and his crew over the weekend that landed 3 lovely yellowfin tuna with the smallest weighing in at 24kg. They were all caught off Durban. Poobal Govender ventured to the ships and landed a lovely wahoo on a Rattler 150 being pulled at 15kmh. This is Poobal's third wahoo in 2 launches. Dorado have been targeted heavily over the last week and many have been boated with some over 15kg. If the weather holds up, this weekend should be good to target these beautiful fish near the ships and bait marks on live bait, and remember, these fish are great fun on a light spinning rod, so when you have your first fish at the boat, cast a lure and the partner of the hooked fish will often be hooked too. Many snoek have been landed all the way from Westbrook to Blue Lagoon with the bigger fish coming out north of Glenashley. These snoek have fallen victim mainly to fillet baits and small Strike Pro Magic Minnows.

Alain Tardin and I are planning a jetski fishing trip next week and we sincerely hope that the good fishing will continue.

I suspect we will be trying for the dorado and wahoo in and around the ships.

The trip should serve nicely as sparring for Alain ahead of the Racetech Yamaha Jetski Fishing Classic in Mozambique next month.

(File Photo:Gallo Images)

- Kingfisher and Andre Bloem

Twitter - @SportswaveAndre