Spinning at St Lucia

[Nemo]

Howsit guys.

I will be in the area during the easter holidays and would like to have a throw or two at sunrise / sunset if possible. I will be taking the Mrs on holiday, so the agenda does not permit for too much of fishing, but rather more site seeing... Any recommended spoons/ lures that works well on the surf at St Lucia? Can I expect to catch anything? 

I'm not too clued up with spinning but I do have some tackle that I will bring along, namely a few toby spoons, and a few couta casting spoons.

 

[sardinella]

Couta casting spoons in glow, green glow and pink glow very early, change to natural colours when the sun is up.
Clean water is key here. With all the dredger spoil being dozed into the sea in front of the old mouth, the water gets very dirty. When the south blows this dirty water gets pushed up all the way towards first rocks. The clean water moves in after about 2 days of northeast wind. The area around pompano rock, just morth of slides is producing some small gts and large spot pompano. Its about a 4 km walk north from main beach.

[Nemo]

Thanks for the info sardinella. I do have one green glow and one pink glow. Will check the weather forecast around that period and the water colour and possibly have a few throws.

I'll give you a call and come say hi when I'm there.

I'll​ be spending a day at the isimangaliso park, and a day at cape Vidal, but will be residing in St Lucia for that weekend.

[sardinella]

Lets chat when you are at St Lucia.
I reside in Middelburg MP, but will be in SL from the 7th of April until the 2nd of May

[Half-Pint]

Reefz is currently at Maphelane and judging from the pics he has sent I would recommend you taking along a Warn winch to fight the trees. Apparently the dredge spill removal is dumping approximately 40tons of debris into the water daily resulting in a chocolate brown surf with masses of trees and branches floating around

[Nemo]

I will call you when I'm in St Lucia Sardinella. I will be there from the 14th to the 17th of April.

Half-Pint... that's not good at all! we planned a boys trip to Mapelane at the end of April. I hope things improve by then. can you post some of the pics that reefz sent to you? or we can let him post a report once he gets back from his trip there.

[Half-Pint]

I'm sure Reefz will post a full report when back.

The mess will definitely still be there at the end of April. The problem with Maphelane is you need the NE to blow to bring the fish on the bite however the NE will blow all the filth into the bay. They mentioned that there were some fish at Crayfish point but still plenty of debris

[yakuza]

No more walking to Mapelane from St. Lucia, for obvious reasons. Machines are running 24/7 and the sand near the dumpsite is like quicksand and you WILL sink away be weary!

[Steenie]

I go up that way once a month. Conditions at St Lucia are pathetic at present for the reasons already mentioned above. It is far better to go up to Mission Rocks or Cape Vidal for spinning.

[Rory mundy]

Reefz is currently at Maphelane and judging from the pics he has sent I would recommend you taking along a Warn winch to fight the trees. Apparently the dredge spill removal is dumping approximately 40tons of debris into the water daily resulting in a chocolate brown surf with masses of trees and branches floating around

Those bell ADT'S are dumping 30 tons every time they dump a load but bear in mind this if for the best once this job is done that estuary is going to be magical again

[Half-Pint]

Reefz is currently at Maphelane and judging from the pics he has sent I would recommend you taking along a Warn winch to fight the trees. Apparently the dredge spill removal is dumping approximately 40tons of debris into the water daily resulting in a chocolate brown surf with masses of trees and branches floating around

Those bell ADT'S are dumping 30 tons every time they dump a load but bear in mind this if for the best once this job is done that estuary is going to be magical again

Rory my understanding was that they weren't actually dumping directly into the sea but rather what we are seeing is "spillage" hence only 40 tons?

I understand this is best for the estuary but if this is not done properly I do wonder what the bay at Maphelane and the surrounding reefs and point will be like after this whole effort.

[Nemo]

I go up that way once a month. Conditions at St Lucia are pathetic at present for the reasons already mentioned above. It is far better to go up to Mission Rocks or Cape Vidal for spinning.

Thanks for the heads up Steenie!
I will be spending a day of my trip visiting Cape Vidal and Mission Rocks.

[Rory mundy]

They dumping strait in to the sea right in front were they are loading and the sea spreads it up and down the beach it's just sand with a bit of bush that was on top of the dune think they tried to burn most of it. It is no different to the umfolozi when it breaks into the sea

[Nemo]

Reefman... Please provide some feedback from your visit to the Mapelane.

[REEFMAN]

I will do a full report on Friday.
Briefly, Maphelane is a disaster area. They're dumping 10000tons of sand a day into the water at St Lucia. The prevailing North East wind blows this straight down to Maphelane, making for a mud sludge, filled with trees, branches and roots. If the South blows, then it clears up briefly, but the water is full of debris, unfishable. If the North blows for 2 days, then the mud goes as far south as Crayfish point, which is very frustrating.
The only way you can fish Maphelane at the moment is if you have 2-3 days of solid South winds, but the South winds are not very favourable for fishing conditions. Catch 22.

My advice: give Maphelane and St Lucia a miss for the next 2 years, or until they finish the dredging project... it's that bad. Can't imagine the damage all that silt is going to do to the Reef at Maphelane? 
Had 60 league anglers fish a common venue on the Saturday. Biggest fish was apparently an 800g Stonebream... 

[Nemo]

Holy C#@$ ! that's awful! 

I think its a bit late for us to plan elsewhere as we've booked and paid for the accommodation already at Mapelane for the end of the month. I guess it will just be a boys outing rather than a fishing trip.
I will look forward to reading your full report and will probably give a similar one at the end of the month. sigh!

I will take some pics at St Lucia during the Easter Weekend of the dredging if I can, and post that as well.

[REEFMAN]

I've got some great pics of the whole dredging operation, it's a massive operation...

Make sure you've got a competent 4x4 as well. The swamp on the left of the road into Maphelane has flooded the road in several places, making quite a scary deep muddy quagmire in places, water up to the doors, which stinks to high heaven of stagnant sulphur!
 
Also, I've never seen so many Mozzies in my life, literally thousands wherever you stop, including round the cabins. So take plenty Mozzie coils and Peaceful sleep spray, you're gonna need it.

Both on the way in and out, with all the rain, we had trees (one massive one) that had collapsed across the road, delaying us by 2 hrs each time waiting for Parks Board and their chainsaws. Sitting ducks for Mozzies!

If you're prepared to walk about 3kms south, the water is still clear and very fishable.

Here is the report.... http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=22176.0

[Zberg]

Any idea how far north the rubbish extends to?
Is it fishable north of the main swimming beach into Isimangaliso?

Edit... oops should really read the whole thread first next time.
Answered already by Steenie and Sardinella.
Thanks boys, my bad 

[Nemo]

So, a quick report of my holiday trip to St Lucia.

it was an eventful trip with minimal fishing!
Spent most Saturday morning in the Isimangaliso Reserve, and the afternoon at Cape Vidal. With the SW wind blowing most of Friday and Saturday, the water at Cape Vidal got chocolate brown 
My Sunday plan of spending the day at Cape Vidal Snorkelling / fishing was just put on hold.
Come Sunday morning, I decided to take a walk on St Lucia beach, and got to watch Maverick surf launch (I think it was sardinella skippering the boat ) the water colour was terrible at St Lucia, and the SW wind was still blowing strong. Went back to the chalet for breakfast, and decided to take a drive to Cape Vidal anyways.

On the way to Vidal, we stopped at mission rocks, I was surprised to see that the water cleared up quite a bit as compared to the previous day, so decided to throw a line out.
I only carried light tackle as fishing was by the way on my trip. I was using my 7.6" elbe estuary pro rod with a daiwa laguna 4000. the only bait I used was those yellow boxed prawn tails.
my first setup was a running trace with a bottle shaped 2ounce sinker... I had a cast just to the left of the entrance to mission rocks and was unsuccessful... I got stuck and had to bust the trace. it really is a mission to fish in those rocks! 
I heard about bat caves which was I think north of mission rocks, so decided to walk towards it... half way during the walk I noticed some nice ledges to fish off. so stopped to have a cast. this time I used a 1ounce ball sinker running in the line. first cast, I felt a nibble and a bite, strike! and a miss... I ran off the ledges excited and baited up again, went back and had a cast... nibble, nibble, pull! I strike, and fish on... my first impression... ah, a small fish as i'm reeling it in... then all of a sudden, zzzzz zzzzz zzzz.... this fish turned and refused to stop running !!! I tightened my drag twice in the hope that it will stop running and turn around, but it didn't... and then the line went slack    I spent the next two minutes reeling in all the line it stripped from the reel, and notice that the line broke just before the hook. there was no fraying on the leader line, just broke off there! I have no idea what fish it was!!!

I rigged up again and went to fish, but the wind was still blowing strong and the waves splashing onto the ledge got unpleasant (and the wifey was probably getting tired of watching me fish) so called it a day for fishing. with no luck. I dreamt about the fish that got away for the rest of the day!

nevertheless, I will be back a Vidal at the end of the month to look for it again!!! 

[WalkersKiller]

Thanks for the feedback bru, must have been an awesome fish that picked you up. Thats the only reason you need to justify going back there!