ESA Angling

Targeting Couta off the Ski
Text by Craig Stubbs

Seasonality -
The Couta (King Mackerel) is generally your most common encountered fishing ski species, arriving in significant numbers on the Northern KwaZulu Natal coastline around December each year and gradually spreading down the coast. This mean mid to late January they extend all the way down into the lower South Coast and often into the Transkei. Nothing is cast in stone though as they have been known to arrive either earlier or later, with many fishermen having their own theories as to when the couta will show up in numbers. Throughout the summer months they provide many memorable catches, and as the season progresses into late autumn and early winter, big crocodile couta make their presence felt with many anglers longing for an encounter with fish of twenty kilograms or more. Couta generally remain on our coast line until after the annual sardine run, which usually means by the middle of July each year, they rapidly disappear until the following seasons welcome return.

When and where -
Smaller couta of between four and eight kilograms are generally prolific in clean and warm water. They feed in loose shoals often spread out in the water column as they move between areas known to hold baitfish and cover. Good areas to target couta off a fishing ski are reefs, wrecks, pinnacles and drop offs in fifteen to thirty five meters of water. Early mornings are considered to be the best time of the day to target couta, the anticipation associated with having your first baits in the water as the orange sun rises over the horizon is hard to beat. Having said that, there are times when couta feed strongly well into mid morning and some good catches of this species are made in the afternoons and evening. As the season progresses and the bigger couta arrive in greater numbers, they too can be caught in similar clean and warm water. Any angler worth his salt knows when targeting really big couta it is best to fish in greener water where bigger fish feed and are more often fooled by our offerings.    

Bait -
Couta can be caught on a wide variety of dead baits with some of the best being mackerel, Natal sardine and red-eyed sardine. Other effective baits are mozzies (maasbankers), half beaks, silkies (wolf herring) and walla-walla, the latter being particularly effective for the bigger couta. Depending on their seasonal availability, these baits can be found in the bait fridges of most good tackle stores. Live bait is very effective when couta fishing and if you can get your hands on live mackerel, mozzies or small bonito, you have a good chance of meeting with success.

Artificials -
Couta can be effectively targeted with lures, jigs and drop shot minnows. Pulling lures early in the morning can be a good way of locating shoals of fish, whilst light jigging, spooning and throwing drop shot minnows can be very effective once shoals of couta have been located.