A recent Witness article bemoaned poor KZN shore fishing that is probably mostly due to overfishing. Drones allow access to fish what were in the final “refuge” areas but this is not our main concern. Drones can take baits hundreds of metres offshore, beyond the back line and often rocky areas.
Many, probably most, fish hooked are not landed and a friend’s drone fished for over two years before landing a single (small) fish despite losing many large fish. Stronger and stronger tackle is used but still many fish are lost.
The angler lives to fish again but, all too often, the fish “escapes” with hundreds of metres of strong line trailing as well as an often very large hook stuck in it.
