ROCK AND SURF
FISHING REPORT 19TH MARCH 2009.
Locally the weather gods played their part last weekend as almost perfect weather gave anglers a chance to spend time fishing. Shad seem to be settling in but still remain on the small side although a few good size specimens are being reported in the Winkle Toti and Umkomaas areas. Summer fish such as pompano, queen fish and kingfish are being reported all along the coast.

The bigger flatfish are still around and good reports of mainly brown skates and average size sand sharks are being reported off most deep water points on both North and South coasts.

The Durban area itself is still a little slow but as we go into autumn things should start changing and anglers can soon expect fair catches of shad. News from Port Edwards Terry Net is that with nothing to report last week, he had no news till the giant sea lay down.

Following that, a number of hound sharks have been taken at different points along the coastline there. Other fish species have been few and the estuaries are not producing and the only catches reported have been a few large spot pompano from the sea at the Mpenjati River.

Lloyd Pereira from The Kingfisher, accompanied by Nirosh and Verne has just returned from a four day trip to Mezeppa Bay. Nirosh landed two grey sharks between 30 and 40 kg’s using his new Poseidon HMG and Daiwa Saltiga 50HK Reel. Verne (who had never caught a shark before) caught three raggies of + - 40, 60 & 80 kg’s.

Lloyd had a great time landed two greys of 30 to 50kg’s, three raggies of 142, 105 and 90kg’s, a bronze whaler of just over 100kg’s, a spinner shark of 70kg’s and a zambezi of 151 kg’s. That’s over 700kg’s of fish in three and a half days fishing. All of Lloyds fish were landed with the Poseidon X Heavy HMG and the new Daiwa Salitga 50 Hyper reel, filled with Kingfisher Giant Abrasion .55mm line. No fish were gaffed. Chris Quail was also down there at the same time a landed four grey’s between 18 and 40 kg’s and a spinner shark of 12kg’s.

KZN Senior Shore Angling team
After several years in the competitive doldrums the KZN Senior Shore Angling team finally put together a winning combination to take Gold in the recent National Shore angling championships hosted and fished in Zululand.

Not only is this a wonderful achievement but very few teams go into Zululand’s back yard and beat, not only them, but the cream of South African competitive angling.

Weather conditions initially were not very favourable and all teams were restricted to fishing for mainly rock-fish but towards the final stages sea conditions improved and anglers were able to fish for the big flatfish that Zululand is renowned for.

After four days of angling a total of over 11 tons of fish were landed by the 12 competitive provinces and the huge effort by anglers and their management teams ensured that there was a zero mortality count as all fish were quickly measured, tagged and released.

The KZN team tallied up a total of 1901 wt points which gave them a massive 473 wt point difference to second placed Border 1428 wt points. Third were EP 1281, Fourth Southern Cape 1123 and fifth were the host province Zululand on 1101 wt points.
Congratulations must go to Shaun Jacobs who ended up top angler for the tournament and to JJ Van Rensburg and Dayle Mack for making the Protea team.
Morgan Lynch and Clinton Dunk were selected for the Presidents side.

Full results can be viewed on SASAA’s website. www.sasaa.co.za – Main menu – Competition Results – Results 2009.

LETTER RECEIVED FROM KEN AINSLEY ABOUT THE INANDA BASS CLASSIC 2009.
YES!!   THERE WILL BE A 2009 INANDA BASS CLASSIC, BUT IT WILL BE A SCALED DOWN EVENT.  IT WAS WITH MIXED FEELINGS THAT AT SPECIAL MEETING HELD AT MY WORK PLACE,  AFTER LOOKING AT THE WHOLE SITUATION AND THE SLOW  ENTRIES TO THE INANDA BASS CLASSIC, WE AGREED THIS WAS DUE TO THE POOR ECONOMIC SITUATION AFFECTING SO MANY OF US AT PRESENT. 
IT WAS VERY OBVIOUS THAT THE NORMAL BASS CLASSIC WE HAVE
COME TO EXPECT CANNOT BE HELD. WE THOUGHT THAT WITH THE VERY MUCH REDUCED ENTRY WE COULD RUN A SCALED DOWN VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL EVENT.
 
THIS WOULD MEAN WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO BUY A BOAT AND MOTOR BUT ACCORDING TO ENTRIES WE WOULD PUT UP CASH PRIZES INSTEAD THIS ALSO HELD FOR TEAM PRIZES. WE WOULD SCALE DOWN THE MARQUEE SIZE, T SHIRTS AND BADGES TO REDUCE COSTS. THE STANDARD OF THE INANDA BASS CLASSIC WE WOULD AS USUAL STRIVE TO KEEP AT

THE VERY HIGHEST THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE COME TO EXPECT.
FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS WILL BE ON SALE FROM OUR NEW CATERERS AND WE KNOW THIS WILL BE A BIG IMPROVEMENT ON LAST YEAR AND WITH MUCH BETTER PRICES.
 
WE ALSO  HAVE A NEW SYSTEM WHICH WILL IMPROVE THE WEIGH IN  TIME TREMENDOUSLY, OBVIOUSLY IF ANY ONE WISHED TO WITHDRAW THEIR ENTRY FROM THIS SCALED DOWN VERSION OF THE CLASSIC WE WOULD UNDERSTAND AND REFUND THEIR ENTRY FEE.
ALTHOUGH WE HOPE THIS WON'T HAPPEN.
PLEASE GET YOUR ENTRIES IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
(ENTRY FORMS CAN BE FOUND AT ANGLING SHOPS AND ON OUR WEB SITE = WWW.INANDABASSCLASSIC.COM)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND MANY CONCERNED PHONE CALLS OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS.

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED TRY AND IMPROVE THE ENTRIES AND FOR THEIR SUPPORT. I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL AT THE INANDA BASS CLASSIC ON THE 25 -26 APRIL 2009.

SKIPPERS LICENCE AND BOATING REGISTRATION
SKIPPERS LICENCES AND BOATING REGISTRATION WILL NOT BE NECESSARY AT THE CLASSIC I HAVE APPLIED FOR AN EXEMPTION FOR THIS TOURNAMENT.

Kayak fishing event
Get down to Westbrook Beach on the 28th and 29th March for the largest Kayak fishing event South Africa has ever seen. With jumping castles for the kids as well as a dropshot fishing competition, lucky draw prizes for the ladies and competitors throughout the day as well a D.J. keeping you entertained while you soak up the sun and not to mention over R 100 000 worth of prizes up for grabs for the main event. Call the editor of Go Fish Magazine and organiser of the event, Kirk Newton on 084 512 5512.

Ski Boats and Fishing Ski's
Ski Boats and Fishing Ski’s are back on the water after a rather dismal spell of dirty water and huge swells.
Last week-end almost all who went to sea got into a fair amount of fish action particularly on the South Coast.
The Aliwal shoal produced some fine catches of above average size couta and ski anglers who were fishing along the inshore and backline areas has excellent catches of snoek and big couta.
Vernon Mallon landed a nice big couta of 20 kg in the Warner beach area. Some good size snoek were also caught in this area with Darryl Brokensha landing a fine specimen of 8kg.
Prospects for this week-end look promising with light winds being predicted.

The Marlin Ski Boat Club
is hosting The Port Edward Ski Boat Festival on the 1st & 2nd May 2009. 1st Prize for the heaviest couta is the Explorer 465 MPB with 2 x Yamaha o/b motors and all the extras – ready to go to sea.
Worth over R200, 000.00.
This competition is open to Ski – Boats only. Early bird entry fee (by 28th Feb 2009) is R190.00 per angler. For more info and entry forms go to www.marlinskiboatclub.co.za.

The Durban Ski- Boat Club Festival
The Durban Ski- Boat Club Festival is being held on the 25th & 26th April   2009. The main prize for the biggest cuda is a Seacat 565
with 2 x Yamaha 70hp motors, trailer, complete with electronics,
safety equipment plus fishing rods
and reels worth over R352, 000.00, plus other prizes
worth over R550, 000.00.
Early bird registration before
31st March 2009–R225.00, thereafter R295.00.
This promises to be, as the last few years,
a magnificent competition.
Visit www.durbanskiboatclub.co.za
for an entry form, or forpre – entries contact
Durban Ski – Boat Club
Tel: 031 337 9506.

TRADING HOURS
The trading hours of The Kingfisher over the festive season are as follows: Mon - Fri. 8:00am - 5:00pm Sat. 8:00 - 1:00pm .

KINGFISHER CLINIC
The Kingfisher at 53, Hunter Street, Durban hosts a free Fishing Ski Clinic on their premises once a month by Markham Pollard.

These monthly 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. 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. Remember guys, the crayfish season opened on the 1st March. Please make sure that we stick to the rules and look after this resource.

The clinic on marlin fishing at The Kingfisher on 14th March by Andy Jones has been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances, we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
To book for one of these free clinics
phone the Kingfisher on 031- 368 3903.
Any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area send info to kingfish@iafrica.com or fax 031- 368 4137, attention, Mike.
For the latest KZN fishing news presented by O.J., tune into East Coast Radio at 5.40am Monday - Friday.