KZN Offshore - Whatzup

[Rory mundy]

Reefs we all stayed at the ski boat club's tented camp which is nice, The roads in were horrible as usual and i dont think to much has changed at the parks board camp and chalets they still ruff

[Bwana]

Reefs we all stayed at the ski boat club's tented camp which is nice, The roads in were horrible as usual and i dont think to much has changed at the parks board camp and chalets they still ruff

Absolutely, the club camp is awesome but the last stretch of road is a screamer, definitely 4x4 or SUV with high ground clearance only. There were some issues with water pressure so I assume the same for the Parks Board Camp.

[MichaelK]

I went down to the Block in sheppie (River mouth) at lunch time and saw an old chap fighting a fish.


The chap managed to land it and to my surprise it was a garrick weighing in at about 8 - 10kgs.


So it looks like the garrick have come through early this year, i'll be out at Lugs trying for them his weekend

[dugong]

They always start getting on the lower south coast around now and by July they will be up at Winkle - generally the windy months they appear at Lugs.

[Shaun17]

I went down to the Block in sheppie (River mouth) at lunch time and saw an old chap fighting a fish.


The chap managed to land it and to my surprise it was a garrick weighing in at about 8 - 10kgs.


So it looks like the garrick have come through early this year, i'll be out at Lugs trying for them his weekend

So just a question regarding offshore game fishing in general in KZN... can anyone summarise the best times of the year to target the respective species (appreciate  it differs from the south to north coast).
 
Call it the Dummies Calender to KZN Offshore FIshing if you will...   

[Capt. Hook]

I went down to the Block in sheppie (River mouth) at lunch time and saw an old chap fighting a fish.


The chap managed to land it and to my surprise it was a garrick weighing in at about 8 - 10kgs.


So it looks like the garrick have come through early this year, i'll be out at Lugs trying for them his weekend

So just a question regarding offshore game fishing in general in KZN... can anyone summarise the best times of the year to target the respective species (appreciate  it differs from the south to north coast).
 
Call it the Dummies Calender to KZN Offshore FIshing if you will... 

General for Durban from my experience
Dorado - Dec - March
Wahoo - Jan - April
YFT - All Year
Couta - Jan - April
Sailfish - Jan - June
Snoek - All Year
Garrick - June - Sept
King Fish - Oct - April
Queen Fish - Oct - April
Black Marlin - Dec - April
Blue Marlin - Jan - April
Striped Marlin - Oct - Jan
Tropical Yellowtail - Oct - Dec
Prodigal Son - No Clue never caught one

For sure you will catch all these species outside of these dates as this is just a general guide, and as always if you don't have a line in the water you wont catch fish

[CLS]

They always start getting on the lower south coast around now and by July they will be up at Winkle - generally the windy months they appear at Lugs.

According to my little black book - end September 

[FFF]

Decided to do a bottoms trip with Umpa Lumpa yesterday.

Sea was flat but the fish were not biting. Had to work hard for our fish but got a couple nice Englishman.

[Shaun17]

I went down to the Block in sheppie (River mouth) at lunch time and saw an old chap fighting a fish.


The chap managed to land it and to my surprise it was a garrick weighing in at about 8 - 10kgs.


So it looks like the garrick have come through early this year, i'll be out at Lugs trying for them his weekend

So just a question regarding offshore game fishing in general in KZN... can anyone summarise the best times of the year to target the respective species (appreciate  it differs from the south to north coast).
 
Call it the Dummies Calender to KZN Offshore FIshing if you will... 

General for Durban from my experience
Dorado - Dec - March
Wahoo - Jan - April
YFT - All Year
Couta - Jan - April
Sailfish - Jan - June
Snoek - All Year
Garrick - June - Sept
King Fish - Oct - April
Queen Fish - Oct - April
Black Marlin - Dec - April
Blue Marlin - Jan - April
Striped Marlin - Oct - Jan
Tropical Yellowtail - Oct - Dec
Prodigal Son - No Clue never caught one

For sure you will catch all these species outside of these dates as this is just a general guide, and as always if you don't have a line in the water you wont catch fish

Thanks Mike 

[dugong]

To add my 5c to Mikes list - for Durban.

Dorado - Dec - March personally March has by far been the most productive month
Wahoo - Jan - April
YFT - All Year but go back 10-15 years and there were nothing like the numbers we have been getting in recent years - big shift in YFT  
Couta - Jan - April Start in December if you include Umdloti and stretch to May - the best numbers for me have been December (Umdloti ) and the biggest fish in May (Hyper-LaLucia stretch and Cutting)
Sailfish - Jan - June
Snoek - All Year year round but as a rule as soon as the offshore starts blowing so mid March to August, June/July best but personally July has by far been the most productive month
Garrick - June - Sept as a rule windy months so September - December
King Fish - Oct - April
Queen Fish - Oct - April sometimes large numbers on any shallow wreck/reef  January-March and even till May if the warm water stays
Black Marlin - Dec - April
Blue Marlin - Jan - April
Striped Marlin - Oct - Jan
Tropical Yellowtail - Oct - Dec
Prodigal Son - No Clue never caught one generally a summer fish, all mine have been caught whilst fishing for couta (as with most guys hence the name )

[CLS]

Whoever is fishing tomorrow - see you on the water 

[Umpa Lumpa]

Whoever is fishing tomorrow - see you on the water 

Tight lines makree, i must work 


Weather looks pearler tomorrow, tight lines to those hitting the water tomorrow.

[CLS]

Fished Saturday, only managed a couple snoek early then tried for a tunny nothing, then for a couta but nothing. Had a few waters with Rich and STD and caught up on all the latest news. Till next week cheers.

[FFF]

Also launched on sat as Kieran has rugby on Sundays. Went for bottom fish but the current was flying down south. On the deeper marks we were doing 3.7km/h on the drift. Shallower was still 1.9km/h so struggled. Gareth got a nice catface rockcod that weighed 5.3kg.

After beaching loaded the boat and found it was not straight. While we were pushing it straight on the trailer Gareth got his finger caught between the boat and trailer and cut the end of his middle finger off. From the nail to tip. So ended out being a really k*K day. Believe he was in surgery yesterday. They going to amputate from the first Knuckle.

[iNdlovu]

Eeina, not good. Recover quickly Gareth.

[REEFMAN]

Also launched on sat as Kieran has rugby on Sundays. Went for bottom fish but the current was flying down south. On the deeper marks we were doing 3.7km/h on the drift. Shallower was still 1.9km/h so struggled. Gareth got a nice catface rockcod that weighed 5.3kg.

After beaching loaded the boat and found it was not straight. While we were pushing it straight on the trailer Gareth got his finger caught between the boat and trailer and cut the end of his middle finger off. From the nail to tip. So ended out being a really k*K day. Believe he was in surgery yesterday. They going to amputate from the first Knuckle.

Damn, that's not great at all! Please send our regards to Gareth, wish him a speedy recovery.

[Half-Pint]

Absolutely amazing how quickly a life changing accident can happen

Hope he has a quick recovery

[Shaun17]

Sorry to hear Ant, not good at all bud!!


Wishing you a speedy recovery Gareth!!!

[dugong]

Eish sorry about the finger , hope it heels soon, a mate of mine had the same thing when trying to separate dogs fighting, also lost from the top knuckle.
I took a mates two lighties for snoek and we ended up with three of 2-3kgs, they were so stoked to catch something bigger than small shad and bass
until the one went  so we changed plans and pulled some raps back from the deep and a 'fresher' speed 

[Umpa Lumpa]

Unlucky Fluffer  but hey could have been worse, nice reports chaps.