ROCK & SURF
Summer flatfish seemed to have entrenched themselves as there are various reports of some sizable sand sharks and big skates being caught all along the KZN coast. The Toti and Warner Beach areas in particular have produced some very big specimens when the right conditions prevail. Edible fish are also still to be found but with the decline in garrick catches lately many anglers are changing their focus either to have fun with some flatfish (make sure your Saltist and Saltiga reels are serviced, these fish are strong) or target brusher and other edible species. Brusher in particular has been feeding well on both North and South coasts. In the North coast areas the bays and rocky outcrops along the La Mercy stretch has proved to be most productive and the Twini ledge on the South coast has been a steady producer of some really quality fish. The Durban area has also started fishing well after a very slow start. A few nice size brusher have been taken from the beach front piers during the last few days. Anglers fishing the Umgeni north bank area has started catching some nice grunter, stumpies and the odd pompano recently. Some flatfish have also been reported from this area. Terry Nel from Port Edward apologises about the absence of his report last week but he was away trout fishing and on Monday reports were that not much had happened on the rock and surf scene. The trout fishing was good though and in appalling windy weather a number of fish were caught and released. The outing was organized by Marlin Rock and Surf and was the annual 'bulls vs. the rams' contest where the best extreme species was chosen to target at a beautiful dam up near Swartberg. Eight guys took part and they had a total catch of 52 fish over the weekend. No less than 40 fish were carefully released and they had the pleasure of tasting 'sushi' prepared by Dean Pretorius (seems his extreme fishing ability also goes into the preparing of the fish as well) that evening. The weather beat the older more wise and with the enthusiasm of the younger team they beat them by just 2 fish. Seems that the challenge is now on for next year. On the rock and surf side this week, only one garrick has been reported and the bad weather has not allowed much fishing there.

NEWS FROM THE TRANSKEI
News from the Transkei suggests that the garrick run down there is nearly non existent as very few reports have filtered in from the Port St Johns area. However sharks in the form of hammerhead and grey sharks seemed to have moved in at most big deep water points so an eventful summer can be expected for those anglers who target sharks.
Ray from ESA is fishing in the Mazeppa Bay area and landed a few huge raggies on Tuesday. Ray was testing out the new Daiwa Saltiga 50 HKP Hyper reel and he said that with the new 15kg drag pressure, the reel was a pleasure to fish with in difficult conditions.

FISHING COMPETITIONS
Dave Nisbet who is the Secretary of the KWAZULU – NATAL COAST ANGLERS UNION sent in this report. “It has been brought to our attention that the Postal Round 4 was arranged on a “Bad Moon Rising” weekend. At the Executive Committee meeting held on 10 November 2008 it was agree to move Postal Round 4 from 8, 9 & 10 May 2009 to 22, 23 & 24 May 2009.”

SKI BOATS & FISHING SKI'S
Ski boats seem to be at the beginning of what hopefully will be a great game fish season. Reports from Cape Vidal suggest that there is a variety of fish that has already been caught. Last week good catches of dorado, tunny and couta were reported and quite a few sightings of sailfish as well. Locally the Aliwal shoal and the Protea banks have had steady catches of tunny, wahoo and a few early season couta. The Scottburgh area at this time of the year always seems to produce the first of the imminent couta run and already a few couta have been accounted for. The Durban Bay has also picked up a gear as reports from various sources suggest that a good variety of fish has been coming out lately especially from the light tackle boat guys. Mike Pereira fought and landed a springer of just over 6 kg’s recently but the fish of the month must surly go to dedicated LTB enthusiast Alan Maughn who after years of fishing and hoping eventually caught, landed and released a magnificent Grunter of 6, 15 kg on 4 kg nylon, needless to say he swept the board at prize giving and still sports a broad grin.
Fishing Skis are also getting amongst the action with some encouraging news from the Scottburgh area where some tunny and the odd couta have been landed recently. The Cape Vidal area has also been kind to ski’s lately as some good catches of dorado and couta were reported. Jaco Franken and fellow Winkle Club members spent some time up there last week and despite some adverse condition managed to land some big dorado. Smaller tunny and couta were also caught.

KINGFISHER
Rumour has it that the boy’s from The Kingfisher have been busy getting the pricing ready for their annual sale. This sale items includes samples, demo items etc. Watch out for ads in the newspapers towards the end or the month, this should be a good one.
As we are on the subject of The Kingfisher, the new Poseidon HMG rods have just arrived and look great. The range consists of seven models, go to your nearest tackle store or pop into The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street, Durban, to check out this new range.
The trading hours of The Kingfisher over the festive season are as follows:
Mon – Fri. 8.00 – 17.00.
Sat. 8.00 – 13.00.
Plus: Every Sunday in December including the 30th November and the 16th December from 9.00 –13.00.

KINGFISHER FISHING CLINICS
The Kingfisher hosts a free Fishing Ski Clinic on their premises once a month by Markham Pollard. These monthly clinics (except for the month of December) 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. Over and above this they also hold Rock and Surf clinics 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. To book for one of these free clinics phone the Kingfisher on 031- 368 3903.