Offshore Fishing Report

Offshore Fishing Report
This winter has been very cold, I dont remember going out dressed with so many layers for so many trips. Or maybe I am just getting older and can't take the cold like I used to. Either way it's been freezing early mornings and somedays freezing all day. Tuna fishing has not been what it should be, perhaps the Chinese trawlers have played a big part in this. None the less we have been getting some smaller Yellowfin Tuna in the 4 - 5Kg range. Bonnies, and Sarda - Sarda in the 1.5 - 2kg range have been full up and on some days we have caught so many we just had to stop. Shad have been very active early mornings and most have been just under and over size so many have had to be thrown back. The mackerel have been amazing and we have caught a lot of them that have been bigger than the Bonnies and Sarda - Sarda, real monster Mackerels. Bottom Fishing has been productive on most days except when the current is screaming with Copper Bream, Englishmen, Slinger and Soldier Bream making up the majority of the catch. Whales, Dolphins and turtles are now a common site on every trip.

Offshore Report - Durban

Its been a while since I posted a report, life gets so busy at times. For the last while bottom fishing has been good with some good size Singer and Englishmen around along with Copper Bream and Rockod being caught on most of our trips. On the trolling side we have been getting a lot of Bonnies and there have been a few Yellowfin Tuna around. This past Game Fish season was certainly the worst I have ever experienced and I don't know what to put this down to. The waters are still relatively warm and averaging 23deg.C. With a more than usual amount of rain the inshore waters have never really been clean the whole season and winter came early this year. The last few trips have had some nice seas for a change after a lot of really lousy weekends.

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 12/03/2016

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 12/03/2016
Fishing was tough this weekend with a strong reverse current and green water, we struggled to find clean warm water but eventually we managed to find some purple water at 27deg.C and picked up a really great Bull Dorado. We had a large Black Marlin on the outside rigger line he did a jump and threw the hook then he moved and hit the short corner and did a superb aerial display and threw the hook. We had a few on/offs and fish hitting the birds but it seems they biting short. Bottom fishing was not easy in the strong current but with big sinkers in shallow waters we managed some really nice slinger.
We came across a monster sized Manta Ray and is wing span was wider than Fat Girls 12ft beam. Amazing to see such a magnificent creature.

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 18/02/2016

We launched in the rain but were lucky that for most parts we seemed to miss the wet spots (Maybe because I dodged them). The water was warm and clean and we had intermittent NE winds blowing from strong to low which kept on changing. Lots of life in the water and we saw Yellowfin Tuna jumping frequently. In the end we dropped 3 and landed 5 good specimens.

OFFSHORE MARLIN REPORT - Durban 14/01/2016

OFFSHORE MARLIN REPORT - Durban 14/01/2016
 Wow what a stunning day, sea was flat like a lake water at 26.5deg.C and that deep purple we always long for. I see that the sun is starting to rise later already, time flies. We did a long trip yesterday to specifically find a Marlin and we travelled almost 90km from Durban. We left port just before 04h00 and it was slightly overcast, after about an hour the sun showed its face and gave us a glorious sunrise, as the day went on the day turned out sunny. At about 06h30 we dropped lines some 50km out of Durban and just before 08h00 the port outside rigger line went tight and a nice 30min battle followed and we got a nice Striped Marlin next to the boat which we released. He gave us a fantastic jumping display and had all his lights turned on and was glowing. Later on during the day we had a double Dorado hook up, we lost one but landed a nice size Bull. At midday the wind turned to the poison SE and we had no more luck with fishing. Then we had to make the long trip back to port.

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 2nd-4th January 2016

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 2nd-4th January 2016
We started 2016 with an offshore fly fishing trip, it was a stunning day with virtually no wind and the water was warm and crystal clear, all we managed to get were small Dorado around the ships. The next day the NE was blowing a little and the day went well with nice clean warm water and we landed some nice Dorado. By the 4th the NE had started blowing strong and to my dismay the water had gone green and dead, there was no life there was not even bottom fish showing on the sounder, we saw no birds. We did see 1 hammer head shark lazining around and on our way back from the deep we came accross a Black Marlin sun tanning who had no interest in our offerings. Very frustrating. Am hoping the current westerly conditions and rains bring some life back to our shores.

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 27-31 December

OFFSHORE FISHING REPORT - Durban - 27-31 December
I first would like to wish everyone a fantastic 2016, may God prosper you during this year.
With a variety of seas from nice calm days to a few bumpy days with NE winds we have been out on the water the whole week and every trip has produced Dorado, the water inside has a slight green tinge but it is clear and averaging 23.5-24.5DegC, 40km out on the 500m the waters are the colour purple and 27deg.C which just gets my blood tingling with excitement, cant wait for this to come closer in. We had a big knock out in the deep when looking for a Blue which I think was a big Tuna, unfortunately it did not stick. We have seen large pods of Dolphins. Wahoo have stolen some lures from us but we have not landed one as yet. The good news is that the persistent SW winds have left us and so we should see the fishing improve as I have found that the fish are not as active as they should be this time of year and even though we getting fish on all our trips it should be better. Plankton levels are low which is probably the reason for this.