KZN FISHING REPORT - 21 June 2008

ROCK & SURF
Sardines have finally arrived and with it came the usual rush of thousands of
people wanting to see and get their hand on some fish. From an angling perspective the run has not produced as many fish as expected. There has been the odd big bronze whaler and spinner shark but nothing on the scale that anglers experienced a few years ago. On Friday evening Lloyd Pereira from The Kingfisher caught and released a spinner shark of about 140kg’s. So far this is the heaviest shark that we have heard landed during this sardine run. Lloyd was using one of the new Poseidon HMG 6-9oz rods and his trusty Daiwa Saltist reel filled with Kingfisher Giant Abrasion line. This fish was hooked from Green Point on the South Coast and was landed two hours later on the beach about one kilometre north. Lloyd was using two Natal sardines tied together with a big piece of foam, as throw bait. After a few photos this great fish was released alive back to the water (this was after Lloyd had received a nice cut on his finger when he was taking out the hooks. Lloyds finger required eight stitches, so please be careful when you guys are removing the hooks, it could spoil your fishing trip)
On Tuesday a weather front moved in and made netting or at least spotting sardines near impossible. There were however two nets taken at Acid Pipe in the Amanzimtoti area. Apparently the first of these nets contained nearly 300 baskets and had to eventually be cut in order for the netters to retrieve their nets. Wednesday morning conditions are not at all favourable with heavy rains lashing most of the South Coast. The weather forecast predicts waves in excess of 5m and this does not bid well for the rest of the week. Let’s hope the front has amore positive effect on angling and brings with it even more of those silver bullets. Fishing has been rather quiet over the past two day with little or no reports of fish being caught at all. Thanks to the guys from Absolute Angling for the info.
The Illovo stretch has yielded many nets but very few fish. Some diamond skates, garrick and a handful of yellowtail kingfish have come out from shore based angling. The good news is that there are still sardines down as far as the Transkei and we should hopefully be in for a bumper season. Some sardines have been spotted up as far as Ballito and Umdloti. Apart from all the sardine activity there are still some good catches of shad being reported from most popular spots on the South Coast. The Winkle high rocks and Toti rocks area has for the past week produced some excellent results. There has also been the odd pompano and grunter that has being caught at these venues. The North Coast has for obvious reasons gone a little quiet but if the sardines keep coming through like they are it will only be a matter of time before fish move in. The Transkei has also gone off the boil a little and only the odd report of kob and garrick are being caught in the Port St Johns area. The rivers there on the other hand are fishing very well with grunter and kob being caught as well as the odd big rock salmon.
Sardine action began in the Port Edward area on Wednesday when the first attempt to net failed and a large pocket of sards moved to Southbroom and Ramsgate. More pockets passed Port Edward and were netted at Leisure Bay and some even “beached”. On Thursday a pocket passed Black Rock and two cuta were landed, one of 25kg’s caught by Craig Jollife. A large bonito was also taken at Splash Rock. A big bronze whaler was lost in the gully at Splash after a long fight. Young angler 'Eknows' landed a raggie of 124kg’s and a grey shark of 50kg’s that evening at Splash Rock. In the days following not much action has been had and small shoals are passing by. The excitement is that all of this has deposited plenty of shad here the super fresh sardines around is proving to be deadly as bait.

SKI BOATS & FISHING SKI'S

Ski Boats and Fishing Ski’s are now finding fish a little harder to come by although there are still a lot of game fish around but to get them to feed is the hard part. Spear-fishermen are seeing and shooting some good size couta on the South Coast but boats and ski’s that are operating the same areas cannot raise a pull. This is the time of the year that very big couta make their appearance and a few good ones have already been landed. The fish of the sardine run so far must surly go to Sean De Gray - Birch who landed a monster couta of 35,4 kg at Warner Beach on Monday off his Jet Ski. (See photo). Another good couta of 22 kg was also landed at this area by a fishing Ski angler. With many more shoals of sardines on the way anglers could be in for a bumper year. Fishing locally from a ski boat over the weekend, Imi Rashid landed a raggie of around 170kg’s. After a fight of forty minutes Imi had this fish boated using a nine inch KP reel and a Kingfisher Magnum boat rod. Mike Platt caught a yellow fin tuna of 14.88kg’s off Pennington recently. This fish was caught using a mackerel as bait, a Daiwa Firewolf reel filled with Kingfisher 13.6kg line and a Kingfisher SF12 rod.

FISHING COMPETITIONS
The Convener of Selectors of KZNCAU has the pleasure of announcing the following selections.

KZNCAU Senior's A Team				KZNCAU Senior's B Team
To Fish Nationals Zululand 2009				To fish  B Nationals Border 2009
Manager – Billy Lorenzo				Manager – Ronny Naicker
Non Fishing Captain – Wally Watt				Assistant Manager – Mark Gilliver
Neil	Arlow	Glenmore		Lance	Grobler	Tuna	Captain
Clinton	Dunk	Benders		Renier	Bekker	Warnadoone
Corrie	Groenewald	Benders		Gary	Boulanger	Tuna
Shaun	Jacobs	Leviathan		Regan	Hutson	Tuna
Paul	Loomes	Benders		Brendon	Kohler	Tuna
Morgan	Lynch	NCAA		Andre	Lutge	Uvongo
Dayle	Mack	Old Boys		Dean	Naidoo	Sharkfin
Daryl	Mckenzie	Leviathan		Palla	Pillay	Umkomaas
Deon	Naidoo	Leviathan		Vaughan	Reilly	Old Boys
Marius	Nortjie	Tuna		Deepak	Sewpersad	Hibiscus
Ockert	Schonken	Glenmore		Louis	Taylor	Benders
JJ	Van Rensburg	Benders		Craig	Wesley	NCAA
Reserve				Reserve
Dean	Naidoo	Sharkfin		Ravi	Govenden	Flying Fish
Development Team				KZNCAU Triangular Friendly
To fish Development Nationals KwaZulu Natal 2009				To be fished at Hole-in- the-Wall 25-27 September 2008
Manager – Kusheel Ramdarie				Manager – Jace Govender
Assisted by – Chris Chetty
				Neil	Arlow	Glenmore	Captain
Craig	Jolliffe	Marlin		Renier	Bekker	Warnadoone
Gringo	Naicker	Flying Fish		Ravi	Govender	Flying Fish
Merwyn	Pillay	McWillaw		Morgan	Lynch	NCAA
Brandon	Poole	Tuna		Daryl	McKenzie	Leviathan
Robin	Sewdular	Umvoti		Dave	Murgatroyd	Benders
George	Tripepi	Marlin		Marius	Nortjie	Tuna
				Okkie	Schoken	Glenmore
Reserve				Deepak	Sewpersad	Hibiscus
Kuben	Mudera Muthu	Flying Fish		Greg	Sutherland	Leviathan
				Louis	Taylor	Benders
				Craig	Wesley	NCAA
				Reserve
				Eddie	Meek	Benders

The Ladies, Masters, Under 21’s and Under 16’s will announced at a later date.

HEER GAAN ONS ALWEER
Heer Gaan Ons Alweer is back on TV. This very interesting show is hosted by Petri de Wet and covers many different fishing spots, fresh and salt water in Southern Africa. This fishing show is on kyknet, channel 35, every Thursday at 18:00 with reruns during the week. Check your TV guide for details.

ESA
Also don’t forget to tune into SS1 on Tuesday at 19.00 for ESA bass and Thursday at 19.30 for the ESA salt water section, great viewing.

THE KINGFISHER CLINICS
Lloyd Pereira (as see on ESA) will be hosting a drop shot clinic at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street, Durban. 9:00 to 12:00. These clinics are there to help beginners and experienced anglers to see what the sport is all about and how to target certain species of fish. It also shows anglers what equipment to use and also elaborates on safety. This should be a very popular clinic so book early to avoid disappointment. The Kingfisher also hosts a free Fishing Ski Clinic on their premises once a month by Markham Pollard and a Rock and Surf clinic run by Ivan Stopforth. These Clinics are very informative and covers all the basics, including equipment, knots, bait presentation, and tactics. To book for one of these free clinics phone the Kingfisher on 031-3683903.