Flyfishing report: Saltwater - Upper South Coast

Greetings Fellow Flyfishers,

Welcome to the upper South Coast fly fishing report.

Umgeni River mouth.

Starting from the north this month we begin at Umgeni River mouth, and two reports:

Firstly, from Fritz de Koker who has fished the area a few times and reports some nice size Perch, Kingfish and small Kob, not sure what flies Fritz has been using but from previous experience probably small shrimp patterns.

Then I had a report sent to me via Martin Smuts from a friend of his Lindsay Thomas who has also been fishing the Umgeni mouth and his report is as follows.

“Two days prior to catching my Greenspot Kingfish I lost two nice fish on 10 pound fluorocarbon leader, so I upgraded to 20-pound leader and the very next trip I was able to land a beautiful Greenspot Kingfish (see photo below) .

The sea had pushed blue water into the estuary with ginger coloured water further in. The tide had just turned, and the river was beginning to drain. I put out a nice cast into the outflowing current and began a stop-start retrieve when suddenly my line went tight and I was onto a good fish. I was more confident that I could land this fish with the stronger leader. The fight was intense with the fish taking long runs and heavy head shakes. It was great to hear my reel screaming as the fish fought for freedom. I landed the fish as quickly as was safe and possible and after a few quick few photographs released the fish to the surprise of the other fishermen present”. (I can just imagine the comments, Lindsay!)

Lindsay Thomas was using an intermediate line and his self-tied Chartreuse Clouser which from the photograph looks about 100mm in length.

Congratulations Lindsay and thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience with us all.  Please keep your reports coming, it encourages us to “Get out there and cast a line”

Durban Harbour.

I had some feedback from a friend who went fishing in the bay recently from his boat.

He reports that there does not appear to be any Cracker Shrimp left on the centre banks at all, they checked all around the centre banks and could not find any holes, also during the incoming tide no Grunter could be seen feeding on the banks.

This is indeed a very sad situation as it would appear the heavy pollution over the last few years may have wiped out the Cracker Shrimp population completely!

So, fly fishing off the centre banks may be a complete waste of time without any fish feeding on the banks. What a tragedy.

Further South.

Down the coast along the Doonside to Illovo Beach area there have been some small Shad, Wave Garrick, Smelt and Bastard Mullet caught.

Sea conditions at present are ideal for fly fishing with good weather and small surf, a very shallow bank on which one can wade out and fish the banks and drop offs.

Thank you all, I hope you enjoy reading my reports.

Should you flyfish the area between Umhlanga and Rocky Bay and wish to contribute or share your experiences please do so either via the FOSAF web site (my email address is included or message me directly).

Lindsay Thomas with his kingfish.