Durban Fishing Report: Waning Moon, Light Winds, and a Short Prime Bite Window

Artificial Lure here with your Durban fishing report. We’re sitting on a **waning moon**, and conditions have been a bit scratchy but still worth a throw if you time the tides and work the cleaner water. Durban bay and the open beaches have both produced fish this past week, with the odd proper pull for those putting in the hours. According to Windy’s latest model, the **predominant wind** along the Durban coast tonight is a light to moderate south-westerly backing off into the evening, with seas sitting around 1.5–2 m and a bit of leftover lump on the outside banks. Skies have been partly cloudy with mild temps in the low 20s, typical early-winter coastal stuff. WeatherSA lists **sunrise around 6:45 am** and **sunset around 5:05 pm**, so your prime low-light bite is short and sweet – make it count. Tide tables from SA Navy Hydrographic Office show a pre-dawn **high pushing mid-morning** and then dropping into a late afternoon **low**. That change of tide around the early morning high and the late afternoon push has been the best window for bites, especially for kob and stumpies in the surf and kingies around structure. On the **fish activity** side, local reports from Durban Ski-Boat Club and social groups say the offshore guys have found **bonito, couta (king mackerel), and the odd yellowfin tuna** out deep on the colour lines and current edges. Inshore reefs have coughed up **rockcod, slinger, and the odd daga kob** at night. Surf anglers along the upper South Coast and north towards Umhlanga have been into **shad**, smaller **kob**, **stumpnose**, and plenty of **blacktail**. There’ve also been a few **brown skates and smaller sandsharks** in the deeper gutters on chokka and sard combos. Numbers haven’t been wild, but guys putting in a proper session are reporting a handful of edible fish per outing, with some boats getting 3–6 gamefish on the troll on the right day. **Best lures and bait:** - For surf edibles, go with **fresh sardine**, **chokka**, and **sea lice or prawn** for stumpies and pompano. Brown water after the wind has made scent baits deadly. - For spinning off the bricks or piers, 1–2 oz **spoons**, small **plugs**, and **weighted soft plastics** in natural baitfish colours have been working for shad, kingies and snoek when they’re in range. - Offshore, slow-trolled **live mozzies, mackerel or karapau** remain top for couta. If you’re short on bait, **deep-diving hardbaits** in purple/black or green/yellow and **condom skirts** over strip baits are still getting bites. A couple of **hot spots** to put on your radar: - **Blue Lagoon / Umgeni Mouth:** When the river isn’t too filthy, the colour line has held shad, kob and the odd kingie at first light on spoons and sard. Work the channel edges on the pushing tide. - **Toti / Warner Beach area:** Consistent stumpies and kob in the deeper gutters on chokka-sard combos, with shad at dawn when the water’s got some movement. - **Umdloti / Umhlanga stretch:** Cleaner water has produced some better-quality shad and kingies for the guys throwing metal and small plugs on the points. - **Inshore reefs off Durban and Umhlanga:** Night sessions with bait for rockcod and daga, daytime scratching with smaller baits for slinger and other reef species. If you’re heading out tomorrow, plan around that early **sunrise high**, fish the first light push on a good bank or reef, then be ready again for the late afternoon tide change into sunset. Light but strong tackle, wire only when you’re specifically hunting toothy critters, and don’t forget a headlamp and proper safety gear if you’re on the rocks or launching. That’s it from me, Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn