SOME SAD NEWS
Unfortunately some sad news, George Simpson passed away on Wednesday after a short illness. This comes as a great shock to all of us who knew George as a fit, healthy and active person as well as competitive angler. Our thoughts are with the family, Mandy, Brad and Kyle.

ROCK & SURF

Markham Pollard who managed to hook and land a monster copper steenbras of 57, 5 kg. At this stage it looks as though it could be a pending new S.A. record fish.

Garrick and shad seems to be the target specie along the Transkei and the KZN coastline. Good catches of garrick are now being reported from the Zululand beaches especially the Tugella and Amatikulu areas. Amongst the garrick in these particular areas there is also the odd big kob and some nice size grunter. A few good size garrick and kob have also been reported from the Richards Bay piers. Much the same can be said for the North and South Coasts as well. On the North Coast the Tongaat Long Beach and Barracuda Rocks areas seem to be the more productive areas. The ESA boys fished the Salt Rock area on Monday evening. Ray and Lloyd managed to land a few grey sharks on the new Poseidon H.M.G. rods, all of the fish were returned alive to the water. Shad are now feeding freely along the Durban piers and the Umgeni stretch.

Anglers fishing with live bait are also getting some garrick particularly along the beaches at the Umgeni mouth, we have been informed that 14 garrick were landed on Tuesday. A couple of massive shad have been landed recently. Craig Haimsworth land a 3.95kg fish at Pennington, Ashneel Ramkissoon landed one of 4.06kg’s at Mapalane and Siva Govender landed a shad of 4.796kg’s at Scottborough. I hope these guys took these fish to be weighed at The Kingfisher to enter them for “The Kingfisher Biggest Shad Competition”. The Isipingo to Karradene stretch is producing a variety of fish apart from garrick and shad. Some of the first brusher have made their appearance at the Twini ledge and at Warner Beach where some specimens in the 6 kg range have been reported. Anglers fishing these stretches at night have accounted for numerous good size kob but at times hordes of dusky sharks can become a problem. The Umkomaas stretch has produced some nice yellowtail kingfish recently as well as a couple of queen fish. In the Port Edward area, Terry Nel reports that apart from a few shad being caught here and there, high winds and very rough seas have kept fishermen away and those trying gullies are not having much success apart from a few blacktail and stonebream. Estuaries down there are still smelly with all the rotting debris washed down last month and they need some good rain to flush them out before our summer sport with fly and dropshot fishing begins. The Transkei and Port St Johns in particular has for the past few weeks produced some very good catches of garrick, a few specimens in the 20 kg range were reported last week. Poenskop has also worked very well with good catches of big kob at night and garrick during the daylight hours. As can be expected live bait at these venues is a problem but anglers who are willing to travel to collect shad and karrenteen are being well rewarded.

SKI BOATS
Ski Boats are still experiencing one of the better daga and geelbek seasons for many a year. These fish are being caught freely on both North and South coasts. General bottom fishing has also stepped up a gear with some nice catches of black muscle cracker and the odd copper steenbras being reported. Rock cod and ‘reds’ have also given anglers some good fun. An out of season sailfish of 44 kg was caught last week end by John Wakins fishing the deep grounds off Warner beach. Ski boats fishing along the backline in the Tongaat area with live bait have reported some very good catches of garrick recently.

KINGFISHER'S BIGGEST SHAD COMPETITION
Don’t forget The Kingfisher is running their “Biggest Shad Competition”, for the month of September. This is the final month of the three month competition run by The Kingfisher in Durban. The heaviest shad will receive a 14’ Kingfisher Poseidon 5pc Graphite Rod, valued at R1,585.00, the second heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa SL 50SHK Reel, valued at R998.00 and third heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa Opus Plus 6000 Reel valued a t R448.00. Please note that all shad (fresh) must be weighed at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street, Durban during trading hours and please remember there is a bag limit of four and the minimum size is 30cm.The biggest shad for the month of August was a shad 4.17kg’s caught by Muhsin Shaik on the evening of the 12th at Issipingo Beach. Second is a shad of 3.83kg’s caught by Dylan Naidoo at Sezella on the !9th and third is a shad of 3 kg’s weighed in by Verej Ramharak for The Kingfisher “Biggest Shad Competition”.

ESA
In ESA Saltwater T V Show this week we join the LBSA team at Mpame on the Wild Coast where they target some edibles. Dean and Abel hop on the boat in DSSA at Mpame to explore the diversity of fish species in this area with their main targeted specie being black mussel cracker. In OSSA Mark and Garth joins Tony on his Tom Cat targeting garrick off Togaat River mouth. In the ESA Bass Production Xavier and Allan Lubbe fish Klipkoppies Dam. This is the first time Xavier fishes this dam but they manage to catch a couple of good fish.

KINGFISHER FISHING CLINICS
The Kingfisher hosts free fishing clinics on their premises, 53 Hunter Street, Durban once a month. They host a Paddle Ski Fishing clinic by Markham Pollard, a Rock and Surf clinic run by Ivan Stopforth and a Drop Shot clinic by Lloyd Pereira. These Clinics are very informative and covers all the basics, including equipment, knots, bait presentation, and tactics. These free 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. These are very popular so book early to avoid disappointment. To book for one of these free clinics phone the Kingfisher on 031- 3683903.