TOP ULTRA LIGHT TACKLE ANGLING

[jball7204]

A mate of mine and myself have been shore based spinning together for around six months now. We’ve known each other for years but neither knew the other was a closet spinning freak until it came out at a braai one afternoon. Since then we have been thrashing the waters around Durban to foam attempting to land fish – any fish, on light tackle & lures.

I have always been a light tackle enthusiast and in the 90’s used to stand on the centre bank in the Umgeni throwing small baits and lures towards the golf course side, catching a variety of species including Grunter, Perch, Kingfish and Springer. Sometimes I got hit by fish so powerful that they would run until I put too much pressure on them, resulting in either straightened or broken hooks. Species unidentified, but I’m assuming Kingies and Rock Salmon were the thugs responsible.

We were both on leave during the recent festive season and chucked everything possible, at a seemingly empty ocean, from Tinley Manor in the north to Durban Bay.

I was, just prior to that, invited back into the world of light tackle estuarine fishing by said mate, Chris. Seeing as we didn’t have too much of a successful early summer throwing off the beach and points (only a few Shad and a spunky Bastard Mullet),we became quite regular visitors to the Bay, and fishing off the side yielded a variety of Kingfish species, Pick-handle Barracuda and the odd opportunistic Rock Cod.

All this time we had been awaiting the completion of the refurbishment of Chris’s boat, as well as the necessary licensing and other , which I have discovered is extremely essential in ensuring a safe, trouble free and relaxing time on the water.

Two weeks ago we had our first launch in the Bay and motored to a spot with rock on the side, sandy drop-offs and stationary vessels that attract baitfish species to the shadowy cover they provide. It was an instant hit, with three species of fish being landed and plenty of on-offs to speculate about. My little Spanyid spoon was the hero of the day and got me two Pick-handles in the first two casts and a couple more a little after that. Added to that was a little Russell’s Snapper that was hiding in the shadows of the rocky bank.

Chris eventually caught up and landed a couple of Pickies and Bigeye Kingfish on poppers, Rapala’s and drop-shot plastic minnows.

We repeated the exercise a week later, and on the Saturday morning my little Spanyid spoon drew absolutely no attention. On changing to Yozuri poppers though, we landed ourselves six Bigeye Kingfish and two Needlescale Queenfish. Dropshot plastics later succeeded in adding a nice Pickie, a Yellowfin Kingfish and a Bar-tailed Flathead, or Sand Gurnard.

Then on the Sunday we headed over to the preferred spot expecting much of the same, only to find it a little on the slow side to begin with. Chris eventually got two Pickies on a Yozuri popper, the first one being an absolute monster. Being a good mate I managed to drop the fish before we could get a photograph of him. *&^%#%@!!!

I managed to eventually get a Bigeye Kingfish and a juvenile Greater Barracuda on a Yoziri popper as well, before losing the popper to a bit of a wild Pickie that cut me off on his first jump, after which he jumped out of the water repeatedly, trying to throw the lure out of his mouth. Well, we assume he was a Pickie, as he was a bit far away to see his patterns properly. Chris got another Yellowfin Kingie and I’m sure we had a double-up at some point with little Kingies. As it got a bit later the topwater action slowed down completely so we decided to go deep, using 5 inch McCarthy minnows in Orca colour and Berkley Realistix in Mullet.

Casting onto a shallow bank we got hit on our first casts by Sand Gurnards, and got a few more after that. After a while that also slowed down a bit and we were getting bumps and takes but no solid hookups. I decided to put my little Spanyid spoon back on as there were Barracuda around, and had two on-offs in quick succession. Then I got a really nice pull and it took me a few minutes to get the fish close to the boat. He turned out to be a large Sand Gurnard, but as I lifted him closer to the boat he bit the spoon off, releasing himself and claiming another piece of my tackle.

Tired of targeting Gurnard we headed off to another spot to just check out the water and what may be hanging around in the area. We pulled a few Rapala’s up and down a very deep channel and only pulled out a few irritating packet fish. Drifting slowly near an area that may hold Rock Salmon, and also observing some jumping Pickes close to the rocky side we decided to throw Rapala’s at the edge to see what may chase them into the deep.

What followed made my legs shake a bit! Groups of three to five large Kingies were attacking the lures every couple of throws but not committing. They would fly past the lures at lightning speed and crisscross each other but then disappear into the depths without taking a bite. I said to Chris that if I actually got a take at that speed with only 6lb Nanofil and an 8lb fluorocarbon leader (I do like going a bit light) I would imagine being in real trouble and unable to stop a Kingie of that size. After several heart palpitating moments we decided to give it up for the time being.

In a week we’ll be sampling some South Coast estuaries but have a battle plan to succeed in hooking some of those brutish fellows on our return!

[isivuba]

Awesome report, love to strap a go pro to you head and see a kingfish take such light tackle can only be fun 

[WalkersKiller]

Great report, look forward to more!

[Homie]

Great report, look forward to more!

Ditto !!!! Can't wait for the next installment !

 

[jball7204]

Hey Isivuba,
 
We were talking about it the other day.
 
How much are those cams? I've got a lekker little HD Handycam at home, but then I can't fish!!

[Cam Mundy]

Cool report bud a few pictures would be nice though!

[Gregf]

Cool report bud a few pictures would be nice though!

 

[yakuza]

This sounds like a extremely lekker way to spend one's day! Congrads

[Willie]

Great report sounds like some good fun 

[Debbie]

Awesome report, love to strap a go pro to you head and see a kingfish take such light tackle can only be fun 

I 2nd that idea

[Debbie]

and thanks for great report

[blender]

Great writing jball 

[Mrzipo]

Great report the bay is cookin

[jball7204]

Thanks guys...!!

[chrisquinton]

thanks for taking the time to share, and well written.

[jball7204]

Shot mate. Business as usual on Sat? Part 2 will be following, hopefully this evening.