Durban Charter Boat Association - Fishing Reports and Updates

[Durban Charter Boat Assoc]

Greetings to everyone,
 
The past week has seen some good fishing from DCBA members with good reports of fish coming out.
 
Warm waters have been close in shore and many Dorado have been reported along with an abundance of Yellowfin Tuna. This week also saw some good Couta action north of Durban, but unfortunately the was many sharks in amongst the Couta shoals, one Croc couta was reported that was taxed and the head weighed in at around 17Kg.
 
The Marlin bite was on during the week with reports of Blacks, Blues and Stripeys hitting the baits and even some multiple strikes reported.
 
The DCBA urges the public to be responsible and support legal and registered charter operators as there are many illegal operators who are not licenced to offer charters to the public.
 
Keep it Clean, Keep it Reel
 
DCBA Members thank you for your support.

[Toppie]

Dear DBCA,
 
Would it be presumptious for us (the fishing community and potential clients) to request a list of approved/affiliated fishing charter operators?
 
Perhaps you have a website where they are listed so that we can see, and can point us in the right direction?

[Durban Charter Boat Assoc]

Hello Toppie,
For the greater Durban area you can go to www.dcba.co.za for a list of our operators, there is also the Cape Charter Boat Association
 
This does not mean that charter operators who are not members of the associations are not legal, there are perfectly legal operators operating outside of these 2 areas.
 
There is a list of legal requirements that will make a charter operator legal, if you book with any legitimate operator he should be able to provide you with at the very least the following information.
 
A current SMSA Local General Safety Certicicate (LGSC), which will state the vessel, name, allowed passengers and the registered use of the vessel which forms the licence for the bessel to operate and its area registered to operate.
The first 2 digits of his boat registration number will be "DT" if not that then for sure its not legal
There is no pink slip as is used by recreational vessels, so any boat registered as a recreational vessel through a club may not by law do charters. The vessel must be registered with SAMSA and inspected according to a commercial vessel safety survey.
 
A Skipper with a commercial skippers ticket
 
Proof of Public liability insurance for charter operation.

[CLS]

Welcome to the site, hope to have many updated reports. For us weekend anglers its great to be updated with what is coming out in our area. A bit of info like what lures as well as where would be welcome.

[Durban Charter Boat Assoc]

The past week and weekend has seen many Dorado coming out from deeper water with some boats bringing in good catches for their clients and many Dorado weighing in on double digit figures. There are still several Yellowfin Tuna around. There was a large Prodigal Son caught near the ships late last week.
 
Shoal Couta are being caught north of Durban with weights from 6-12Kg, and Queenfish have started making an appearance with a few catches being reported. Snoek have also been caught North of Durban in the early mornings.
 
The Marlin were relatively quiet but there was one catch reported of a small Black Marlin taking a Couta bait and after an exciting fight was landed on 20lb tackle. Well done to the angler.
 
Bottom fishing has been relatively good on most days, with some Geelbek coming out many Reds and there was also a very large Cracker reported from the waters South of Durban
 
Sharks have been a problem when targeting Bottoms and Couta, and there have been some monsters sighted which would make for the fight of a lifetime if hooked up.
 
Many thanks
 
Durban Charter Boat Association