COUTA SEASON is here - The Curse Continues // Kayak Fishing Durban

Couta season opens in Umdloti and so does the curse. Justin, Faf and Daniel launch into a backline that's so busy it looks like the whole coast called in sick to chase the first proper run of the year. Snoek is on early, the water's warm at 25 degrees, and hopes are high for screaming reels on couta baits and a bit of jigging once the sun is up. 📍 Umdloti, KZN, South Africa Daniel cracks the first fish of the morning, a clean snoek off the floaty. Faf works the long game on the deeper line · a couta trace out and a quietly negotiated handful of live baits from a passing ski boat that frankly nobody else can find. Justin gets the takes he's been chasing all summer, the first on a downrigger bait with a pink flasher, but every solid run turns out to be a small hammerhead screaming off like the king he was hoping for. The couta curse digs in. A proper run loads the rod, the gaff goes in, and the fish wriggles off boatside · the kind of loss that hurts twice. The drift carries on, slow-pitch jigging through the shoals, more sharks, more cut traces. Faf rescues the morning with a textbook snoek on a jigpara, lit up like a wet bar of silver. Around him the radio chatter keeps coming · another snoek on the next ski over, another shoal pushing through, another patient wait. By the time the northeaster fills in, Justin's hatch is, as he puts it, 007 · zero gamefish, seven hours, plenty of traces lost. Some days the fish find everyone else's lines. The crew catches the wave home through the Umdloti shore-break with the village stacked up on the cliffs behind them. Chapters: 0:00 Cold open: snoek hookups and chaos 1:09 Dark launch from a packed Umdloti 1:35 Sunrise on the beach, claims for the day 2:18 Justin paddles out, plan for couta and jigging 3:15 Daniel hooks up first 3:37 Daniel lands a snoek 5:05 Faf works live baits off a passing ski 6:45 Justin sets a dead mackerel and a livey 8:42 First take, in on a pink flasher 10:05 Hammerhead, not the couta he wanted 11:00 Big run loads up, gaff goes in 11:55 Couta wriggles off at the boat 13:20 Turn and drift, slow-pitch jigging 14:35 Northeaster picks up, shoals on the move 15:40 Faf lands a snoek on a jigpara 16:30 Another snoek on the next ski 17:10 Shark wraps the traces, lines lost 18:00 007: zero fish, seven hours, ride the wave home Connect with us here: Website: https://www.saltrockers.co.za/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saltrockers... TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@saltrockers?_...