TACTICS
Part 1: Ski-boating in central KwaZulu-Natal By Justin Paynter
D
URBAN can arguably be referred to as the place where offshore fishing from small craft started in South Africa. That was back in 1945, post the Second World War. The sport has seen spectacular growth during the 76 years since then, and now extends to the entire South African coastline as well as most of Africa’s gamefish areas. Thanks to the mobility of the offshore fishing craft we colloquially call ski-boats, a huge number of inland boat owners tow their craft to fishing destinations from Namibia in the west right around the coastline of South Africa to Vilanculos on the central Moçambican coast. This trend leads to various sportfishing opportunities and exciting destinations where boat owners can pursue their sport recreationally as well as competitively, whilst at the same time enjoying varied holidays with family and friends. However, these “nomadic” ski-boaters often arrive at a proclaimed hot spot, launch their craft and then face the perplexing decision:“Where do I start fishing and for what?”
10 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2021
As an example, a visiting ski-boater to Durban may launch his craft from Vetch’s PWC, survey the 180° vista of open sea and be confronted with the daunting task of finding a good fishing spot and knowing what to target there. Inevitably it’s generally a follow-the-herd instinct that takes over, as well as much trial and error, which may — with a huge amount of luck — result in him actually catching some fish. Most, if not all, boat owners, new or old, will experience this conundrum at least once in their boating lives. Any time one launches at a destination they haven’t fished before, no matter how much research one has undertaken, they will be faced with this extremely vexing question: “Where do I now go?” We at SKI-BOAT magazine have also faced this mental torment many times, so we have come up with a concept that will provide visiting skippers with some fairly basic information that will give them a good starting point at least. The simplified nautical chart on this page shows the Durban area from Isipingo to Tongaat river mouth, and has been embellished with GPS waypoints showing where to target baitfish in this part of the ocean. On the subsequent pages
