By Erwin Bursik
A
Above: George Swart, Les Hayter and Bill Lauderdale with their good haul of ’cuda and one dorado, caught off Durban on 13 February 1954.
In recent years good ’cuda catches have been scarce, but Warren Anthony and his dad, Greg, did well catching these two beauties off Durban on 28 February 2021. Warren’s cover-worthy fish weighed in at 32.6kg. 14 • SKI-BOAT May/June 2021
FLASH of silver is the first reward a ski-boat angler gets following a fast first run and short but dogged fight. That flash is the first confirmation that the adversary is indeed a king mackerel, more commonly known as cuda or couta. Shoals of this magnificent gamefish migrate southwards from Moçambique waters in early summer, arriving in South African waters off Sodwana Bay in November, and thereafter moving down the KwaZulu-Natal coast. They’ve traditionally arrived off Durban on 16 December. This was the history and the fish that was responsible for getting shore-based anglers in the mid 1940s to fabricate small boats — ski-boats — to get out past the backline and target these splendid silver fish that were also so good as table fare.The vagaries of nature often delayed the arrival of these fish until after the Christmas holidays, but the shoals eventually made their way, seemingly reluctantly, down the coast. Early 2021 allowed ski-boaters fair opportunity to target ’cuda from Sodwana Bay down to Salt Rock, but very few reached the Durban/ Umdloti area that, since time immemorial, was traditionally ’cuda rich. However, in the last weekend of February 2021, following some heavy rains and much dirty water flowing into the ocean, the silver fish arrived off Umdloti in fair numbers to reward the flotilla of ski-boats that were there to meet them. Reminiscent of the good old days, a fleet of about 46 boats was spread from just opposite Umdloti’s southern rocks right up to the area opposite Sea Belle at La Mercy.The sight of bending sticks and the tangible excitement in the air provoked continued anticipation of a strike that was so eagerly awaited. Even the “taxman” was not that much of a menace on this day, allowing us anglers a lot more relaxed enjoyment while fighting these magnificent fish. Chasing the shoals of sprats was another firm favourite of the ski-boaters in this area. The good number of Natal snoek (queen mackerel) that came out added greatly to the enjoyment for those anglers who were flicking small lures into the after boiling mass of snoek attacking a shoal of sprats. Back in the 1960s and ’70s, traditionally a ’cuda shoal feeding off Umdloti could be expected to move southwards towards Umhlanga, feeding well off Peace Cottage, then for some inexplicable reason moving out to Durban’s No. 1 reef. The smaller boats that were unwillingly or unable to run to Umdloti would congregate in this relatively small area to fish. An armada, we called it, referring back to those of our fraternity who
