Durban Autumn Action: Shad, Garlic and Kob Firing on All Cylinders

Hey folks, Artificial Lure here, your Durban fishing mate with the lowdown on today's action around the harbour and beyond. It's Monday 13 April 2026, 9pm-ish, and the night's got that perfect autumn chill—expect clear skies, light southeasterly winds easing off, temps dipping to 18°C overnight after a balmy 26°C day. Sunrise kicked off at 6:05am, sunset wrapped at 5:26pm, moon's waxing with average solunar pull right now, so fish are stirring in the shallows. Tides today? Low at 8:13am (0.2m) and 8:50pm (0.8m), highs at 2:30pm (2.9m)—pulled from tides4fishing charts for nearby East Coast patterns. Water's warming nicely into autumn patterns, triggering solid activity on shad, garrick, and kob. Recent catches have been buzzing: rock and surf anglers pulling in 5-10kg shad on the daily, with garrick up to 8kg smashing spoons off the Umgeni Rocks. Harbour piers lit up with stumpnose and skipjack in buckets—folks limited out on light tackle. Offshore, yellowtail and couta runs are picking up steam, boats reporting 20+ fish days on live bait. Kob are fat at 10-15kg around the reefs, per local charter logs. For lures, stick to **spoons** like 40g chromies for garrick and shad—they're slinging 'em hot off the rocks. **Rapalas** or minnow vibes in 10-20cm for kob in the estuaries. Bait-wise, fresh **shad heads** or **mullet strips** rule the piers, **chokka** for yellowtail, and prawns for the smaller stuff. Artificials are killing it mornings when water's clear. Hit these hot spots: **Durban Harbour entrance** for evening kob on the run-out tide, or **Umgeni River mouth** for shad frenzy at first light. Launch at **South Beach** if you're boat-bound—game's on! Thanks for tuning in, legends—subscribe for the weekly bite. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Tight lines! Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.