Best of the West. Fishing Report – Durban – 28.12.2017

Best of the West.

Fishing Report – Durban – 28.12.2017

With an early launch we made our way out deep and headed south, we found warm, clear purple water just under 26deg.C. Birds diving and hovering, flying fish, bait schools and lots of small tuna jumping everywhere; we were excited and were expecting something big. Before 06h00 we had a nice size Dorado landed and in the hatch. The forecast had shown that in the afternoon a strong SW wind of about 21 knots was coming, but it hit us out in the deep at about 07h00 at close to 30 knots and the sea got big so we decided to turn and run back with it to shallow waters which would be smaller and so we headed towards Umdloti but sadly the waters here were green and void of life by 11h00 we were close in and spent the rest of our trip fishing for mackerel on light tackle.

 

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Lonely Dorado - Fishing Report – Durban – 26-12-2017

Lonely Dorado.

Fishing Report – Durban – 26-12-2017

After yesterdays wind the water was all green again but it was warm with temperatures from 24.3deg.C to 24.8deg.C. We had a moderate SW wind a SE swell and a very strong S-N current making for difficult fishing conditions today. Fat Girl landed 1 nice Queen Dorado and Nawty Girl got some bottom fish.

 

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Early Morning Tuna Bite - Fishing Report – Durban – 24-12-2017

Early Morning Tuna Bite.

Fishing Report – Durban – 24-12-2017

Today was one of those great mornings, flat seas and warm water at almost 25deg.C and very clean with a slight current. We had a 5 hour Mini Deep Sea so it was not a trip out to the deep and we stayed inshore. We launched at 06h00 and trolled out to the closer reefs and by 07h30 we had all the lines go twice with Yellowfin Tuna and 1 Skipjack Tuna, so with a whole bunch of Tuna in the hatch we started bottom fishing catching a bunch of Slinger and some Englishman.

 

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Little Guy loves Fishing - Fishing Report – Durban – 18-12-2017

Little Guy loves Fishing

Fishing Report – Durban – 18-12-2017

I always love taking children fishing, especially when they have a passion for it at a young age. This little guy was not comfortable with the swells in deeper water so we brought him into the backline to catch mackerel and he had so much fun on Nawty Girl and caught a whole bunch of mackerel and a few other species.

 

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Tuna off the bottom - Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 17-12-2017

Tuna off the bottom

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 17-12-2017

We had a bunch of guys that wanted to go bottom fishing today and launched at 05h00 for a 6hour trip. Sea conditions were ideal for bottom fishing today with a 1-2knot S-N current and a very light SE wind, so light that one could hear a ship’s engines from 2 miles away. The sea was flat and glassy with temperatures between 23.5degC and 24.5 deg.C.

We trolled out to the reefs but nothing toughed the lures but we caught a lot of Bottom fish today of all kinds, even a Yellowfin Tuna took a bait of the bottom.

 

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Miles of ocean and one Hot Spot - Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 12-12-2017

Miles of ocean and one Hot Spot

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 12-12-2017

We had a father, son and son in law from Hilton out with us on Fat Girl on an 8hr charter that ended up being 9hrs. We launched at 04h30 this morning and the same as yesterday we headed out in the rain, fortunately it cleared up before we even got out the port and for a while we even had some sun.

It was not a pleasant sea today with a strong S-N current, a NE swell and a SW wind making the water very lumpy. In the morning there was a very light SW wind but by 09h00 it started picking up and as the day went on it got stronger and was blowing about 25 knots by the time we got back to port at 13h30 making for a very bumpy ride home.

Inshore the water was cold and well under 23deg.C and so we headed out to deeper waters and eventually on the 200m Ballito side we found a warm patch of clear water with 24.5deg.C which was about 5km long in a sort of oval shape about 3km wide. So a rather strange patch of water that had a lot of activity and we got fish, at 08h00 we started up with a triple up of some smaller Yellowfin Tuna and so everyone had now caught a fish. Then we had 3 lines go away again and on one of them was a fish much larger than the others, unfortunately there was not enough glue on the hooks and all 3 fish came off. I carried on working the patch and it was not long and we had a line snap off the riggers and the reel was screaming and the young lad landed a nice little Bull Dorado. I continued working the patch and again one of the reels started screaming with seemed a good sized fish and again the fish came off, very annoying. I did another pass through the patch and a small Marlin came into the spread, snapped 2 lines off the riggers and hooked up on the 3^rd one, but it was not to be. I was very frustrated as to have 3 on/offs in 1 trip is more than I can bear.

Eventually it was time to make the 40km journey back to port in a strong SW wind and against a strong S-N current which made the journey much longer taking an hour longer than usual, on the way home we managed to land another 2 Yellowfin Tuna bringing our tally for the day to 5 Yellowfin Tuna and 1 Dorado and everyone was very satisfied

 

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A Stormy Dorado into the backing - Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 11-12-2017

A Stormy Dorado into the backing

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 11-12-2017

We had a family from Vryburg booked a 5 hour charter Nawty Girl for this morning, and even though no rain was forecast there was a light rain at 05h00 this morning and so as Fat Girl was not out I decided to take them out on Fat Girl at no extra cost so they could benefit from the shelter of the cabin.

So it was raining, and as we headed out of port there was a thunder storm with lightning over Durban North and Umhlanga and I could see clear skies in the South so I decided we will fish South today. Inshore the water was colder at 23deg.C and so I tried a bit deeper on the 150m but it was not much better at 23.4deg.C and so I decided to go shallower and target known pinnacles and wrecks. The water was not that clean and but over a wreck in about 80m of water I saw some good fish showing on the sounder, but they were not coming up even after several passes, so we moved away, I saw no evidence of game fish anywhere else so decided to persist on the 80m wreck and after the 2^nd pass the reel started screaming and line was peeling off. When I saw the showings I had thought they were Yellowfin Tuna, but when the line was running I could see the fish was staying on the surface and so I knew it was not Tuna and guessed it was a large Wahoo as the fish had peeled off the 300m top shot very quickly and we were into the backing, once we had gained some line and the fish was 200m out to my surprise there was a Dorado doing acrobatics and jumping all over. In the end we landed a decent size Dorado but it was a lot smaller than the strong fight it gave.

With 2 hours left Dad had his fish and it was time to get the little guy have his turn so out came some light spinning tackle and bait and we fished a pinnacle catching various smaller species, some Trigger Fish, Slinger and a nice Englishman. Father and son were now both happy with their catch and we headed back to port and docked just after 10h00. By that time I was wet and cold as we had to pass through some rain to get back.

 

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Tis the season

Nawty Girl has taken mooring 45 at Wilsons Wharf and after 6.5 years of Fat Girl being on mooring 42 she has now moved to mooring 44. This is great as both Fat Girl and Nawty Girl are now next to each other. Moving Fat Girl stirred up many memories of starting up and then taking the plunge to go for a big boat back then, and I remembered all the challenges and the successes which has made Fat Girl one of the most popular charter boats based in Durban.

SEASON IS HERE - BOOK NOW WE FILLING UP FAST

www.bluewatercharters.co.za

 

 

Offshore Fishing Report – Nawty Girl – Durban – 26-11-2017

Offshore Fishing Report – Nawty Girl – Durban – 26-11-2017

Stunning weather today with flat seas, which was great after all the lousy weather we have been having, we were supposed to do the trip tomorrow but the forecast looked terrible so we moved it to today.

Inshore the water is still green, but deeper out we found crystal clear blue warm water and there is still a lot of litter floating around which is annoying as it keeps snagging the lures, none the less there was less litter than our last trip.

Our trip today was a short 5 hour trip with a family from Gauteng and we launched from Wilson Wharf at 05h00 and made our way out to sea to be back by 10h00. It was not long after we set our lines at about 06h00 when one of the reels started screaming with a serious bend in the rod and a big fight followed, I thought it was a large Yellowfin Tuna by the way the line went deep and about 1 hour later we found that we had tail hooked a Hammer Head Shark with one of the Rapalas, no wonder we had such a big fight on our hands and the angler was very excited with his catch, we had teased him about taking so long but he did well with a tail hooked catch.

This was not to be the end of the surprises and when I got my hands onto the Shark I found that the leader had wrapped around the lower tail fin with a single wrap so even a brief moment of slack line would have resulted in the fish coming off. With the Shark safely released and back in the water we continued out to deeper waters and managed to land a small Yellowfin Tuna, by then time had run out and we headed back to port.

 

www.bluewatercharters.co.za

#game-fishing #tuna #game #deep-sea  #fishing #charter #Durban   

   

Offshore Fishing Report - Durban - 21-11-2017

Offshore Fishing Report - Durban - 21-11-2017
Got a call to do a short charter  late this afternoon and so we went out. On the way out the port right at the South Pier we spotted a large GT of about 30Kg dashing through the swells breaking over the sand bank.
It was sad to see the amount of litter floating around in the sea, packets, bags, bottles, containers of all kinds by the 1000s, right out as deep as 200m. I am sure this has all washed out from the rivers after all the rains we have been having.
The water was warm but very green, and it was a very ugly swell today, very steep and choppy even. The wind started out as a SE but then turned to an East wind  and got stronger and the swell got even more ugly. Lots of lures got caught up in all the plastics floating around making fishing very difficult. I the end we were rewarded with one small Yellowfin Tuna. We got back as a strong SW of about 35 knots hit Durban so perfect timing.
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New Website - Adventure Fishing Safaris

The Adventure Fishing Safaris website has been completely redone. Check it out
http://www.adventurefishing.co.za/

Offshore Fishing Report – Nawty Girl Maiden Charter – Durban – 05-11-2017

Today Nawty Girl did her first charter and it ended with pleasant results.

The weather forecast showed light SW winds, but we got light NE winds getting stronger as the day progressed instead. Fishing was not easy with cold green water and overcast conditions, early this morning we got some rain. Overall the conditions were comfortable.

The fish finder was showing nothing, not even bottom fish and as it was only a 5hr trip so we could not go too far. I tried North and nothing; we went deeper over some pinnacles, ledges and wrecks and nothing, we tried around some ships and nothing. I eventually headed South of Durban and the Rapala X Rap 40s delivered us some great Yellowfin Tuna, even with a double hook surprise at the end up which made for a great days fishing. The new Tyrnos reels were also christened along with Nawty Girl.

 

www.bluewatercharters.co.za

#gamefishing #tuna #game #deepsea  #fishing #charter #Durban         

Nawty Girl ready for Game Fish season off Durban

Nawty Girl our second boat is complete and ready, she is in the water and on her mooring at Wilson's Wharf. We launched her on Friday.
Book your Game Fish trip now, season has started

Getting Ready for Summer

Fat Girl is out on the slip for her annual maintenance, anti-fouling paint and safety inspections to be ready for the next season. This year Fat Girl also received a great upgrade with a nice pair of 31ft out-riggers to help catch even more fish.
She is nearly done and will be back in action soon

Offshore Fishing Report Durban 02-09-2017

Offshore Fishing Report Durban 02-09-2017
At long last we got some warmer waters with the temperature gauge showing at 23 deg.C out on the 200m.
After a short light rain we were treated to a stunning rainbow over the sea early in the morning
For a short 5hr trip it was great fun with 11 Oceanic Bonitos (Skipjack)getting hooked up providing some great entertainment.
Looks like we may get an early start to our game fish season this year and if conditions continue like this we may even see a Dorado being caught on some boat during September and I anticipate some nice Yellowfin Tuna very soon. Marlin love these Skipjack so if the food is already here.......We wait and hope
www.bluewatercharters.co.za
#gamefishing #tuna #game #marlin #deepsea #fishing #charter #Durban

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 4 June 2017

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 4 June 2017

Stunning weather this morning before the South Westerly came through. Fat Girl was out deep on a short 5hr trip early this morning. Water is still over 23deg.C, I was expecting it to be cooler and am also anticipating seeing the first Whales arriving at anytime. No signs of any sardine activity although I have heard that they holding deep off the Eastern Cape. We had some great action with a really nice Yellowfin Tuna today. Can anyone guess its weight?

 

www.bluewatercharters.co.za

#gamefishing #tuna #game #deepsea  #fishing #charter #Durban         

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 27 May 2017

Offshore Fishing Report – Durban – 27 May 2017

Saturday was cool weather and started out as a really stunning day and was stunning for most of the day with only a stiff wind that picked up later in the afternoon. Water temperatures have come down a little and are sitting a little over 23deg.C. There was a strong N-S current and although the water was not dirty it was not clear either. There was loads of Skipjack Tuna (Oceanic Bonito) around and they provided some great lighter tackle fishing fun for everyone on board; with a total of 9 landed and a few more lost. Bottom fishing was done at the end of the trip for a short period with some general bottom fish caught with nothing to write home about it was not so easy to get the lines down in the current out deeper.

www.bluewatercharters.co.za

#gamefishing #tuna #game #deepsea  #fishing #charter #Durban