“When the Umpathla is flowering, then the grunter is here!” – Vusi Mahlangu
For several generations the amaThonga fisherman around the Kosi bay lakes have been looking at the flowering seasons of indigenous trees as their annual fishing calendar. This year again, as the Natal silver oaks started producing their creamy white thistle like flowers, the name grunter became a regularity on the Ezemvelo catch records.
This last month saw many a recreational bait fisherman return from the lakes with a full bag of spotted grunter. Having returned to the Kosi area after a bunch of years in St Lucia, I was happily amazed by the average size of these grunter!
Unfortunately on fly, the results have been different. Firstly to my knowledge, not many fly fishermen have put in much time and effort into targeting them over the last month and secondly I blame my personal lack of experience in targeting these ghosts of the lakes. Any advice would be great please!
At Kosi mouth we are in for one crazy season! Water temp has reached 25’C, indicating the need for dust to be wiped off the 12wt’s. Lots of small blacktip and some very good sized brassy kingies have been taken on fly from the north bank.
Was great to see a monster GT of 153cm caught and released from the reef on a spinning outfit with a big popper. Another report came in 3 days ago about a 35kg GT taken by an angler on live bait fishing the north bank channel.
When visiting the Kosi area this summer please remember that it is turtle season! Please be respectful and try to minimise the use of lights on the beaches at night as much as possible. Fly baskets also work perfectly for collecting a bit of litter after the last cast, every bit help!
Let’s see what the next month and another slight rise in water temperature will bring! Time to make the big NYAP scatter and hold on tight..
