DURBAN HARBOUR: Z-Claw wins, Saltwater Fishing Report

Lure casting with light spinning tackle is one of my favourite ways to fish, especially when using my Z-Claw. I just love the way this lure moves and still remember the first time that I saw it and imagined all the fish I would get with it, perhaps I just understood this lure immediately and knew what to do with it. Since then my Z-Claw has produced some good catches and today was no exception.

I feared that I was going to fish in the rain again but when we launched at 15h00 the weather was stunning with a light NE wind, we decided to shoot quickly off-shore and cast lures for some Kawakawa and hopefully we could find a Yellowfin Tuna or Dorado lurking in the shallows. The sea was gorgeous and the weather stunning making a lovely afternoon and a superb evening.

It was not long before 1 of the guys hooked up a nice Kawakawa on drop shot, but he came off. I cast out an 8 inch McArthy chartreuse minnow and decided to let it sink and whilst the boat was drifting I fed out a fair amount of line and then proceeded with a slow jerk retrieve and when I was about halfway up; BANG the reel started to scream and my Aerocast had a serious bend to it, unfortunately there was not enough butt power in the rod and I was not able to put enough pressure to turn this big fish without breaking the rod and when the spool was ¾ empty and still peeling I decided to straight stick and break off instead of loosing a spool of braid.
I then decided to put my Z-Claw on once I had tied on a new leader and shortly after I was ready 1 of the guys hooked into a nice Kawakawa with an Onda Onda.
The Z-Claw produced another Kawakawa hook-up and a Garfish hook-up.

By now the tide was falling and we decided to go into the harbour to try for some Springer (Lady Fish) and King Fish (Jacks).
Once back in the bay and within a few casts 1 of the guys hooked up a nice Sand Gurnard (Flat-Head).
Then as the sun started falling I put a long cast onto the sand bank and hooked up a nice sized Sea Pike (Pick Handle Barracuda) on the Z-Claw. This was not the end because the Z-Claw then produced 2 little GT’s (Giant Trevally).
Shortly after this another decent size Sea Pike was landed on a BassArrow.

About the Author:

Captain's Bio: Started fishing in Durban Harbour at age 7 and got hooked for life with over 35yrs experience, 3yrs ago I started doing full time Charters. My boat which is a 32ft Silverton Sport Fisher is moored at Wilson's Wharf in Durban Harbour specialising in singles or groups up to 4 persons.

My specialty in Durban is Game fishing, and in the summer months we target Billfish and Game fish in our sub tropical waters, Autumn and Spring are also mainly spent targeting Game Fish and also Reef fishing which is the main fishing done in our winter. The weather is good all year round in Durban our summers hot and winters mild.

I am very passionate and conservation minded with regards to my fishing, my boat has a good reputation and catch record here in Durban and is well respected with many satisfied clients.