This last weekend, the last weekend in February, and in theory the last weekend of summer, Chris, myself and our families headed down to Port Edward for a long weekend.
I have been going down to Port Edward at least twice a year for the last 20 years or so, initially with my parents and siblings, and more recently with my own little family, often inviting my parents and in-laws.
There was never a time when I haven’t caught fish there, and even if the surf is a bit ‘on’ or the water is filthy there are plenty of gullies and tiny bays where a small strip of chokka has landed me a few different species of fish on very light tackle. The aforementioned species being Blacktail, Karanteen, Bronze Bream, Stone Bream, Wave Garrick and Zebra. Some of the fish have been quite sizeable and one of the Zebra’s was well over a kilo – a nice fight in between the bricks. Unfortunately that one was stolen when I put him in a secluded pool and dashed back to the cottage to get a book to identify him, as I had never caught a Zebra before then. The fishermen that were 50 metres or so away from my favourite spot, and who watched me land him, were gone when I returned after only 10 minutes or so, and so was the fish, so instead of being released as intended the poor little guy most likely ended up in a pan somewhere.
Back in December myself and Chris were spinning off the front of the bricks in Umdloti when he told me how many Blacktail he had caught in the area and at Tinley Manor using Camo Worm on 1/8 jig heads. I haven’t fished extensively with Camo Worm, but when I have used it in Salt Rock and Cape Vidal, I have had more hook-ups fishing it on a Carolina Rig and not on a jig head, but by far the most successful setup for me has been the Carolina type setup with a small strip of bay squid on a small baitholder hook. The specific size of the hook will depend on how many bites I get with no hook-ups, in which case I will go smaller.
This lead to a tiny debate which resulted in the formulation of a one-on-one competition, to be held at any spot and at a time when we were reduced to having to scratch for fish.
Enter Port Edward… with heavy south westerly winds and storm surf upon our arrival, forecast to be continuing for the balance of the weekend. We had a plan though and the weather didn’t make too much of a difference to our plans.
After a rather unsuccessful early morning on the Umtamvuna river on the Saturday morning – attributed to several factors, such as our ignorance of the area and what to target and where to target it, I suggested we compete in one of my favourite little spots in the bricks later in the afternoon on a pushing tide - Chris on Camo Worm and myself on squid.
In the first couple of throws I got a Karanteen that would have been awesome as a live bait off the front of Splash Rock or Black Rock if that was our particular mission, but I released him to fight another day.
Next came a small Stone Bream to take the species count to two. After that followed a couple of large Stone Bream which I was quite chuffed about because I have never caught them that big. Chris had a few nibbles but no takes, and it was decided that my method was the winner on the day, with further tests to follow.
The next morning we headed back to The Pont to launch before sunrise, although not as early as the morning before. By 5:30am we were chugging along and inspecting different areas of the river, looking for any sort of movement that might indicate feeding or activity of any other sort. The water was extremely quiet and lacked that particular aggression that we have been accustomed to in the Bay where there is always something chasing something else.
After some prospecting, Chris noticed something being attacked in the reed banks, and we saw small swimming prawns were being smashed at the edge of the banks and even bailing out onto the mud to avoid the predators. At this point we weren’t sure what was chasing them but we suspected Perch or maybe small Kingies.
Chris plopped a popper right into the reeds, narrowly avoiding being fouled up, and got taken immediately by a Rock Salmon. He fought well above what we expected his weight to be but turned out to be around 20cm in length. A short while later Chris hooked a larger one that went straight for the cover he came from, much like a Bass would, and after quite a fight was boated using a landing net.
Things turned a bit quiet after that, with the occasional boil behind a lure and elsewhere within our view, but with no contact at all.
Chris then decided to clip on a Strike Pro Thai Stick for one last ‘over’ along the reed edge, and after a huge hit and miss I should have been running for the camera, but was obviously distracted. I also put a Thai Stick on but I’m still working on its ‘perfect’ action, which appears to be more achievable with a stiffer rod, and maybe some more practice! I didn’t have enough time right then in any case and continued to walk the lure quite quickly, parallel to the reed.
On just about the next throw, two or three metres off the reed edge, an almighty aggressive smash took place (described by Chris as a take of “absolute hatred”) and he had another Rock Salmon on. A nice fight ensued and the little brute was landed and released in no time at all. It seemed that the fish were not that keen on our offerings, but were attacking the lure more as it and the noise it makes on the surface was irritating them. There was no action after that fish and we called it a weekend.
The Umtamvuna is a beautiful estuary, and thankfully quite protected. It would take weeks to find the most regularly productive spots, whilst avoiding submerged rocks in some areas and sandbanks in others, but we will be back!
One big lesson we learned is that the fishing on our own doorstep, right in Durban Bay, is actually outstanding to say the least. If you fish for consumption then maybe you’ll be wasting your time a bit (and endangering your health), but for a nice sporting session, with a little bit of guidance, the area is tops.
