Flyfishing report: Saltwater - Upper South Coast

Good day everyone,

I wish I could report that fly fishing along the Upper South Coast has been good this last

month and the guys have been having a wonderful time at the water’s edge but sadly that

has not happened mainly due to constant strong winds blowing consistently either from the

northeast or from the southwest and not even dropping off during the nighttime hours so

the sea conditions have been rough and hardly does one get a chance to relax and enjoy a

few hours fishing the margins for Shad, Wave Garrick, Bastard Mullet or Smelt.

I used to fish so often along the beaches between Warner Beach and lllovo Beach, nothing

big, fishing very light with very small flies but it was great fun and relaxing fishing, also so

close to home I could walk there if I chose to, which brings me to my next point affecting

travelling to find fish along our coastline, anywhere between Cape Vidal and the Mzamba

River next the Wild Coast Sun used to be regular trips.

Here I have to say a big thank you to Donald Chump {not a spelling error) for driving up the

petrol and diesel prices and cancelling any ideas of fly-fishing travel, it is just far too

expensive for me so I hope that in the not-too-distant future things will change.

The only report I have had this month is from Peter Lehman who fished the Zinkwazi

beaches on Saturday with a friend. Conditions were really good for once with very little

wind and clear calm seas but they only managed one Bastard Mullet, one Russel Snapper and

a Lizard fish which may be a new species for Peter.

Other news is that conventional fishermen have had a good run of Shad, some big ones and

Garrick.

On that note the Shad season is closed until December, so I am hoping to target them on a

catch and release basis whilst the Shad fishermen wait for December.

Durban harbour I hear there were two Springer and some Grunter caught and as we head

into summer, Kingfish, Pick Handled Barracuda and other summer species should be in the

bay.

Hopefully next month I will have a happier report for you all.

A South Coast beach.

Peter Lehman with a Wave Garrick or 3 spot pompano.

Durban harbour – photo courtesy Peter Lehman.