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TarX - One More Cast, Durban (2026)

26/03/2026

Not something you get too often on lures.

This goatfish has to be one of the more special catches on the light setup. They give a proper rev and the colours on them is absolutley incredible.

22/03/2026

Throwback to this catch from early last year...one of the days that I'll never forget.

18 March 2025:

For the past couple days I've been having a hard time finding the motivation for doing those 5am spinning sessions with today being no exception..

I'm the kind of person that sets multiple alarms just to get out of bed for these early sessions, but in the past few days I've slept through every single one.

This morning went from being awake awake at 3.30am to be on the beach before 5am...to waking up at 5.30am..spending another 15 minutes deciding whether to just turn over and carry on sleeping or to find the motivation to go for a cast before the rain comes in....again..

Considering the amount of rain in recent weeks, the colour of the water, how big the sea has been and the amount of dirt that's been floating around and washing up on shore...it was not ideal..mix that with already missing the high tide..and the odds don't look too great.

The only thing that made me take a chance, was knowing I'd miss fishing when I'm not able to do it.

Getting down to the beach thereafter was as easy as 1 2 3.

Depending on where I'm fishing, I try to plan sessions around the tides. This morning the high tide would have been favorable for the area. Usually, I'd try and fish an hour before high, to about 2 hours after, sometimes longer if there's fish around.

Having only reached the spot an hour after the high tide, I didn't have much time before the area becomes a graveyard for lures.

With the water being abit rough, and discolored (Photo makes it look blue rather than slightly brown, with it being very dark), it was an easy choice picking what lure too use.

A shallow diving stick bait that has the right profile as the mullet in the area, that can make some noise and put out a ton of vibration, was the obvious choice. Colour wise, any solid, dark colour would have done the trick. The only option i had, was the Koffana with the black back and deep purple on the sides that tapers off to silver down the sides to the bottom.

The plan was to work the lure over some shallow reef that usually holds fish on the high tide. In a few hours that reef will be completely out of the water, making it completely unfishable. Around spring tides.

After a good few casts, it was easy to pinpoint where the pockets of mullet were. Usually I try to work the lure past them, or through the shoals, making it seem as if one of them is having a hard time swimming.

After a couple more casts I hooked into something that I could not put my finger on..at first I thought I'd foul hooked a mullet on the side...but in the shore break it looked much thicker..so then I'm thinking small kingfish..but when it washes up on the beach..I was surprised to see a chub of about 35cm which clearly went for the lure as it connected with the back trebles. In terms of size, it wasn't spectacular, but it's not a fish that you see going for a lure often, especially one that's 3/4 the size of the fish.

I did manage to get a photo of that chap before continuing my search for something bigger.

When you're alone on the beach, your mind tends to wander. For me it happens when I get into a rhythm of casting and working lures through the water...at some stage you're not focusing on what you're doing physically. Subconsciously your mind is making your body do the work, while you've drifted off somewhere.

I was just thinking about how a couple weeks prior, I was given pretty much the same conditions to fish, around the same time, weather was very similar, and I got my backside handed to me on the ultralight setup..

Not even 2 minutes after thinking it..i get the heavy bump that snaps me back to reality..

From the hookset I could already tell it was another one of those bigger shad..having seen the tail splash, the heavy head shakes, not moving as fast as a kingie or GT, and considering we don't usually get kob here, or one of decent size...it was definitely a big shad.

My only concern was having hooked the fish in a spot where either the hook could pull, or having my leader get bitten off...in that moment I forgot about the floating debris and weeds which would soon enough end up adding to my concerns.

With the tide dropping slowly, it made getting this fish in harder than usual..the added weight from the weeds made me slack off the drag abit in an effort to play the fish abit more gently so we don't break off or pull the hooks..

That last 10% of the fight is always nerve-wracking...when you've got the fish at the shorebreak and it takes those last couple runs and when you get it in again and the water keeps pulling back...just the waiting part of having the right wave come in and push the fish up for you...alot of the time that's where many good fish are lost.

All it takes is a little bit of patience..and the right wave will come along.🎣

Fish measured 77cm total, 73cm to the fork.

Was taken on the BG 10.6ft H 30-70g + BG3000 +10lb J-Braid.

11/03/2026

Fishing has its bitter/sweet moments.

The last day and a half being a prime example of how things can go from bad, to good, to bad, and even worse.

We spent most of our Sunday afternoon on the beach searching for big summer kingies. Between the 2 of us throwing lures for +-5 hours, and having a friend join us for atleast 3 hours of that session, we managed to get only 2 smaller fish on lighter setups..

It was one of those sessions where you'd put in maximum effort for very little reward. I can't remember the last time I fished that hard and didn't end up with a fish that was atleast half decent. By the end of it all, you're left tired and sweaty from getting baked all afternoon, and a little disheartened to not catch anything that would have made the entire session worthwhile.

Being abit stubborn, or persistent rather, I made that extra effort to get in a few hours of fishing before work on Monday morning.

I was out extra early, made my way down to the beach while it was still dark and continued where we left off the day before.

Within 10 minutes of working a koffana, I get a solid hit with a decent amount of weight behind it...

From the first run and a couple of head shakes I knew it wasn't a kingie. It just felt different. Not like a big shad, not like a pickhandle, not the same level of aggressive as the big kingies we've been getting. For a second it crossed my mind that maybe its a kob, which is not very common for the area.

After a couple more attempts to run, the fish found itself getting closer and closer to the shore break. After a couple minutes of back in forth with the waves, I get a slightly bigger one that helps me pull this fish onto the sand.

As suspected...a really decent kob for this area.

The fish measured 79cm TL, which would have kept me happy for a very long time...except the story doesn't end there.

Had that been my only bite, my only fish for the day, I'd have been extremely happy...but fishing will find a way of throwing something at you that just messes with your head.

For an hour following that fish, I kept casting. Hoping to either get another kob if I was that lucky, or just anything else that would make a session which is already good into something greater.

With about 10-15 minutes left to fish and already doubt in my mind that I'll get another fish... the rod buckles over and line starts peeling off the reel..

From the strike to how fast the fish was moving and the sheer weight behind it, I knew that's one of the bigger kingies we've been targeting the day before..

Honestly.. this fish didn't even give me half a chance. Usually when we know they're around, we fish an almost locked drag to stop them from cutting us off..but this fish made the drag look as if it was on 20%...

In an attempt to give myself a better chance of keeping my braid out the brick, I ran up the bank behind me to get abit of height, but even so, the fish knew what it wanted to do, where it wanted go, which rock to cut me off on, and within a few minutes, I was saying bye to another big fish and my stick bait.

On any other day I'd have re-tied leader and had another couple casts to maybe, hopefully, get another pickup...but I had to call it quits so I wouldn't be late for work.

The entire day I was itching to get back to the beach for an afternoon session. The only thing I could think off was getting another one of those fish to bite again.

After dragging myself through the day, my chance at another round with this fish was almost there. That rush to get home and grab your stuff. You can feel the adrenaline starting to pump a little bit.

Judging from my size these days, I dont do much running anymore...yet I literally ran down to the beach to meet the guys there. Hoping that maybe they'd atleast gotten a few knocks or even landed a fish or two.

When i got to the spot I could see them about a hundred meters away from where I stopped to have a cast...

On the very first cast..without any warning..no signal...i get probably one of the hardest pulls I've ever had..

From the second that fish was on, I had it on maximum pressure in an attempt not to let it run over and rocks.. I basically was trying to force this fish into the shorebreak where I'd have a better chance of playing it and landing it..however, that fish was not having any of it and pulled equally as hard in the opposite direction..

Sadly..in my attempt to not get reefed again..I pulled all of the stretch out off my leader and had it part while trying to hold the fish from going over some rocks close to the shorebreak.

That instant feeling of despair from losing yet another fish of that size cannot be described in any words...

Nevertheless..that's the nature of fishing..

You can't always win and have to lose every once in a while.

07/03/2026

Story from October 2025 of the two fish that basically kicked off summer fishing for me.

Its funny how things work out when you least expect it.

I spent the entire winter season hearing about and looking at photos of people absolutely smashing fish on lures during the sardine run. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity, or was never at the right place at the right time to get in on any of that action.

I spent a lot of time waiting for the north coast to fire the same way the south coast did..but we never even got anything close to it.

After a few relatively quiet months of waiting for the sards to disappear so things can go back to normal.. I finally made an attempt to head back down to the beach.

Usuall I prefer days when theres no wind and the weather is pleasant...but today, for some reason, I had Nike's "just do it" slogan in my head, on repeat. I'd like to think that it was my gut feeling telling me to go.

Apart from the wind, conditions would seem less the desirable for most people.

Water was quite choppy, washing from north to south, and had that blue/green colour with abit of brown. There was a time when I'd have just looked at the water, turned, and made my way home. However, in recent years, I've come to enjoy fishing such conditions. Those few days after abit of rain when the waters discolored has been some of the best fishing conditions for bigger fish. After the rain we had last week and over the weekend, there was still just enough colour in the water for those bigger fish to hunt. When the smaller fish struggle to swim in rough and choppy conditions, these bigger predators take full advantage of the opportunity.

Out of the entire stretch of beach laid out infront of me, there was only one spot that caught my eye. A 20-30m stretch of beach where it was fairly sheltered by rocks, and the water wasn't washing to the side. Atleast there was a spot that was somewhat fishable.

Luckily for me, it didnt even take 2 minutes to see smaller fish getting chased around by what I assumed was just a shoal of shad as you cannot escape them during this time of year.

I watched the moonies and flag tails get pushed up onto the shore a few times but could not get a glimpse of what was spooking them.

As any fisherman would, I started casting towards where I saw those chases, and every once in a while I'd end up foul hooking a moonie which gave me an indication that im in the right place.

At first I thought the profile of my lure was too big. These fish being chased are abit smaller, maybe these smaller predatory fish dont want the bigger profile.

Just as I began to wish for my ultralight setup so I could mess around with the moonies...i felt an unmistakable thump as I ripped the lure through the shoal..

I would like to say there was complete chaos and make it seem like all hell broke loose, but for some reason this fish did not do all the things we expect blacktip kingies to do. Apart from a few short runs, and a small scare of leader rubbing along some rock for a few seconds, it was a rather tame fight. There was no need for excessive drag, no long run over the reef to cut me off. Granted, I do fish my drag on 80% most of the time, and today it seemed like more than enough for this fish. I don't know, maybe somewhere down the line in it's life, this fish decided to undentify as a garrick.

A few minutes of tussling in the shorebreak and a well timed wave helped push this fish up onto the sand.

Lo and behold...a specimen of a blacktip.

I tried my best to get a few pics and handle the fish without injuring myself on the scutes, or injuring the fish by dropping it. You can see me holding onto whatever bit of the tail I can so it doesn't slip.

As with all kingies, I love watching them swim off with the idea that they could grow, and come back next year to give me more memorable catches...or hidings.

After that fish i was ready to pack up and call it a day. Completely content with what had just happened.

However, in the back of my mind i knew that I dont get to fish as much as before, and im already here, so I might as well make the most of whatever time I have left.

Another forty or fifty minutes go by and I could see the sun starting to go down. The dunes behind me casting a shadow over the area I was fishing. As I pulled the lure through the shoal again, the baitfish scattered and I thought I might have spooked them, but at that exact moment there was another thump followed by a run that made me want a new pair of underpants.

Heavier, stronger, and definitely more feisty than its counterpart from earlier. This fish had me worried from the second it was hooked. Luckily for me, its plan wasn't to run out and cut me off on the reef. Instead, it took me for a walk down the beach, just using its weight and following the current.

At some point the fish decided it had enough and started to swim back towards me. It made getting it into the shorebreak easy, and landing even easier with the right wave.

To get one big blacktip was enough for me..but to get two in the same afternoon with the second one being bigger at 88cm FL.. I could quite happily retire for the rest of the season.

After a few pics and sending this chap back to terrorize the reef, I had my mandatory last casts before officially calling time on another memorable afternoon.

Both of this fish fell for the strike pro koffana. Was through that on the Daiwa exceller 10.6 with a 5000 size reel and 20lb siglon advanced.

06/03/2026

In the early parts of Feb, I had one of the better weeks of fishing for the Summer. A couple of nicer Blacktip Kingfish and a PB Pickhandle Barra in the space of a few days, it gave me an itch to keep fishing..

If i was still in my teens, I would have been able
to spend as much time as I wanted scratching the itch...but as an adult...reality always catches up with you..

I spent roughly two weeks carrying that itch. When you spend large parts of your day either talking about fishing, hearing about fishing, and watching fishing related content...it just makes it progressively worse over time..

Now i know two weeks doesn't seem like much..theres probably people out there who have not fished for months, even years, unable to scratch that itch. A couple of years ago I was just like them...unable to fish for an extended period of time..for someone who grew up hearing the ocean every single day..it took a long time to adjust to not having that...

Nevertheless.. the time to fish eventually came..felt like the longest 2 weeks ever..

The evening prior to this session, I spent quite abit of time prepping my tackle. I've gotten into the habit of tying new leaders, retying knots, making sure everything is one hundred percent before any kind of fishing. My plan is to always target those bigger Kingfish and GTs, and it dont want to be the guy that loses that trophy when it finally comes along because I was to lazy to retie a knot or a leader.

Prep work also includes changing out hooks that are now blunt and split rings that are starting to look abit weathered. I do sharpen hooks from time to time if they still look in fairly good condition and havent seen many fish, but when they've been through the wringer, its better to swap them out for a fresh model.

Any chrome, copper, or tin spoons that begin to look abit faded also get abit of a face-lift with some metal polish. Always satisfying getting a proper shine on them because i know that can make the difference on a bad day.

I've learnt that there's things that i cant control when it comes to getting a bite or not, or losing a fish. However, the things that I can control, I make sure to do them properly to give myself the best chance possible of safely landing any fish that i might hook.

There's no point in having some of the best gear and then slacking off on making sure your terminal tackle is up to scratch.

When the morning came, I didn't even need my alarm to get me out of bed..that eagerness to get down to the beach was all it took..

Even though this was from mid Feb, I still remember the anticipation as I walked onto the beach..the weather was near perfect...water just as good..

Im sure there's fisherman out there who experienced the feeling of looking at the beach and instantly knowing it was going to be a good day to fish...that there is definitely a fish swimming around with your name on it.

From the first cast i could feel the anticipation building from when you know theres going to be a big fish. Its just a matter of "when" is it going to hit that lure like a runaway bus.

Every cast, every sweep, every pause of the lure i waited for a rod buckling "haazit bru".

Within twenty minutes from the first cast, somebody decided to have a go at the stickbait and with all the build up and anticipation for the bigger fish...i might have set the hooks abit too hard on what was a rather "less than average" greenspot kingie..

I'll bet when that fish woke up today, it didnt expect to start its morning off by being turned into a flatter version of a plug.

I did measure the fish out of interest and it ended up being 47cm to the fork. I clearly remember telling myself that its a good start because they can only get bigger from there.

Usually a fish of that size is a lot of fun on the 7ft light setups, but on this particular morning, we weren't here for that.

Cast after cast, and i began to wonder if I anticipated too much. Usually it doesn't take too long to get a bigger fish in the conditions that were present, especially if you're there before daybreak when the water is still abit dark and its harder for them to clearly see the lure. While their lateral line is their biggest strength in finding bait in darker conditions, its also their biggest weakness to lures that put out a ton of vibration.

As the sun began to peak over the horizon, I made a rather long cast on the inside of the reef, parallel to the shore. About two sweeps into the retrieve, I get that one solid "i think its a rock" pull.

Every single time I get one of these guys on the other end of the line, its like meeting an old friend. You know their habits and what they are going to do.

This chap decided it wanted to make a run for the reef, which was impossible on an almost locked drag. The best it could do was swim side to side and hope for the hooks to pull out.

I wasn't about to start my day off with disappointment for breakfast, and began to play this fish abit hard. Pumping and winding as much as I could to shorten the fight as much as I could to get this fish out as fast as possible.

When i finally beached this fish with a well timed wave, that itch that I had for the past few weeks was finally scratched.

This Blacktip Kingfish measured 77cm to the fork.

While getting measurements and a photo, the fish did give me a nice little souvenir to carry for the rest of the week. One of the scutes at the base of the tail briefly met the side of my index finger, giving us a "blood for blood" moment.

While we both left that battle with a couple of wounds, I dont think mine was as bad as taking a couple treble hooks to the face.

That was the last fish for that session as things died down as soon as the sun came out. Usually by 7.30am in the summer, things start getting hot and uncomfortable on the beach. With the tide dropping, the only way to keep fishing and getting fish successfully would have been to fish the lighter outfit, which I didnt carry as the sole focus was to get something decent on the first day back.

03/03/2026

Pandles Part two:

Towards the back end of summer in 2018, I landed my biggest Pickhandle Barracuda. Since then I've spent numerous summers and countless hours trying to break that PB. Over the years I've hooked many fish that would have been bigger, but none of them ever seemed to stick, losing those fish to either being bitten off, jumped off, or hooks pulling either from fishing jumping or during landing in the shorebreak.

I slowly began to accept that I might spend many years hooking bigger pickhandles, but not necessarily landing them...until today.

This morning got off to a late start. Despite doing everything I normally do to leave the house before day break, I noticed abit of a knick in my braid just above the braid leader knot. At the time it annoyed me that I'd have to waste a good few minutes to tie again, but looking back, it seems like something that actually happened for a reason.

After seeing a couple of videos floating around social media on the weekend of massive shoals of pickhandle barracuda, it made me even more keen to get down to the beach because these guys have been scarce so far this summer.

I know when we get those days when the water is relatively flat, they come in close to feed on the inshore reefs during the high tide, looking for whatever baitfish they can find.

At the same time there's also a good chance that a couple of trevally species will be patrolling the same inshore reefs.

With the water flattening out between sets and the wind non existent...it made for a very pleasant morning to try and get something decent.

The longer I fished, the more it seemed that the area I was in, was devoid of all life. Apart from the crabs having a dip in the shorebreak, there's was nothing that I could see which would indicate that there may be a few fish around.

I watched the waves as they curled over the reef to see if there's any fish swimming along the structure, scanning the shorebreak and midbreak during retrieves for any jumping baitfish...but there was absolutely nothing.

As i was about to change my plan and walk further down the beach, but gave myself one last cast in a spot that's known to hold a fish or two, and where I've actually caught decent fish before.

Just a few cranks into my retrieve with the strike pro koffana and the rod buckles over, followed by a couple of slow head shakes..

Initially it had me thinking it was a decent kob because there was no run, just weight moving with the current with the occasional slow head shake. Only when this fish realized it was in trouble, it made an attempt to run, and in an effort to shake the hooks, breached the surface of the water during an acrobatic show, giving me a full view of exactly what it is.

Id like to say the fish fought hard, and screamed off, but I've been fishing an almost locked drag for most of the summer because of the bigger kingies and GTs, and it made very light work of this fish. Apart from pulling 10m of line, a couple of aerial displays and a dance in the shorebreak, this fish was under control.

My only concern was the teeth, and potentially losing this fish them, or pulling the hooks.

Nevertheless...today fate decided it would be kind to me, and let me put this fish on the beach so I could complete something I've been trying to do for years.

This fish measured 135cm FL...completely shattering my previous best for this species.

I can happily live the rest of life knowing this fish is my biggest for this species.

My daiwa exceler 10.6ft with 5000 size grinder and 20lb siglon did most of the work, while i was just the guy holding the setup during this event.

01/03/2026

Pandles Part one:

Probably my most memorable catch all the way back from April 2018. I still remember this like it was yesterday.

The story of this incredible fish actually stems from my morning session yesterday which i blanked terribly.

When i got onto the beach yesterday i had the chance to witness a certain fish hunting shad, making them jump out the water, as well as seeing big tail splashes on the surface. At the time i could not see what was doing the chasing clearly, but i knew it had to be something of decent size.

This morning was my chance to make up for my blank session. Weather was just about right for me with lots of clouds and no sun. When i stepped onto the beach the water was super flat, something i dont enjoy when spinning because we nornally get sharks when the water is like this.

So i went to the only spot on this stretch of beach thats not sanded. Downside is the rocks are just unforgiving. Nevertheless, i was there, the tide was high, and i pretty much had the beach to myself while i waited for my spinning buddy to arrive.

It only took about 20 mins for me to find that sweet spot. I had a few casts and a few chases, with no solid takes.....

Thats when i saw this dark figure speeding towards my lure on the next cast. I sent that lure towards the reef about 130-140m in, the lure dropped just 20-30m short of the reef, and it looked like this big black blob in the water gave birth, to this slender looking creature. This unknown shape chased my lure for 70-80m before annihilating it in the last 20m. All i saw was this figure break through a wave, sn**ch the lure, and shoot of like a rocket.

At the time i couldnt clearly identify the fish, but this fish is peeling drag at an alarming rate. I had to tighten up a bit and this fish is still making its way over the first set of reef. In a desperate attempt not to lose what could possibly be my biggest fish yet on artificial, i had to tighten my drag to 80-90% and start pulling this fish hard to get it over these knife-like rocks. Once i did get it over i knew that landing it is going to be the next mission, but my knots held strong, my leader performed to its utmost best, and with the perfect wave i knew this fish was mine.

When the fish was firmly on shore, the wave acted as a "curtain" to reveal this fish to me. One can imagine the shock i got when i saw this beast of a Pickhandle Barracuda.

Fish measurement:
Lenght - 118cm /1.18metres forklength
Weight - 6.81kgs (weighed digitally)

This is my first fish on artificial that broke the 1 metre mark.

Tackle used was the penn allegiance 11ft with the okuma trio 55s filled with 20lb boss braid, 50lb braid leader, and .70mm sportex leaderline (using heavy leader for the rocks). Caught on the new chase bullet spoon, redhead design.

TarX - One More Cast

26/03/2026

22/03/2026

11/03/2026

07/03/2026

06/03/2026

03/03/2026

01/03/2026

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