FISHING REPORT 13TH JUNE 2009.
For those shore anglers that are experiencing a difficult time finding fish the good news is that there is quite a bit of sardine activity down in the Transkei. Recent reports suggest that some very big shoals of these fish are in the vicinity of Mezeppa Bay and that there is a lot of bird and common dolphin activity in this area so hopefully the weather plays it’s part and pushes these shoals closer to the KZN coast. Shore based anglers fishing in the Transkei areas have recently had some good results off the deep water points. Quite a few very big couta have landed here using live shad of which there is plenty. Locally as suggested, there is not much coming out except for some shad (some of these shad are the smallest we have seen) and garrick. The main bait that is working for garrick at the moment is small live shad and nothing else seems to attract a bite. Anglers who could not find any live shad and had live mullet or blacktail out did not even get as much as a pull. However, anglers who worked hard to get live shad at places like Winkle and Toti rocks and to transport their bait all the way to Illovo and Umkomaas were well rewarded. The size of these fish is still on the small side, 4 kg to 6 kg but one or two in the 10 kg mark were reported. As far as tackle is concerned, a great combination rod and reel for these great fighting fish is one of the Kingfisher Poseidon rods with a Daiwa SL reel (size 50 or 30) and Kingfisher 12.5kg line. Anglers must once again be reminded that you can only catch two of these fish per day per angler. The authorities have recently been ruthless on offenders and it is just not worth the fine and above all the hassle of not obeying the law. The same applies to shad, you may only catch four of these fish per angler per day. Other than the garrick and shad, there is still other edible fish on offer. Pompano are being caught on a regular basis in the upper South Coast. With some nice fish in the 10 kg range have been accounted for in these areas. Small shoal kob are still being caught in the vicinity of the Umkomaas River mouth area at night. The odd bigger specimen has also come out here. Apart from these reports shore based angling has not been kind to anglers for the past few weeks.
For the results of the KZNCAU, Round 4 of the Common Venue Competition, click here Common Venue Competition

ESA will be offering a sardine run package deal during June and July for anglers to participate in one of the greatest angling phenomenons along the South African coastline, namely the annual sardine run. The guided angling trips will be conducted by the ESA presenters. The angling public, whether they are new to the sport or have years of angling experience have grown to trust and believe in what the ESA presenters do and can do for them when it comes to angling. Booking can be done by mailing raymond@charadon.com this e-mail address is being protected from spam bots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The 4 day package is available with all food, accommodation, soft drinks and transport around the sardine run in the ESA branded vehicles plus the groups will be filmed for possible use on the ESA show. The package will cost R 4995.00 per person for ESA members and R 5995.00 per person for non members. Also please note that due to the nature of the sardine run they cannot guarantee sardine run action every day, however they will fish in and around the most likely areas to catch your dream fish.

Catch the ESA team doing battle on ESA Saltwater at 7:30pm on Thursday and don’t miss the bass show at 7:00pm every Tuesday on Supersport 1 (unless mentioned otherwise – check your DSTV guide for details) The latest ESA magazine is out and on sale at The Kingfisher for R19.95. This issue it is jammed packed with great features.

"Hier Gaan Ons Alweer" is airing on Thursday evenings on Kyknet,  channel 111 at the following times: Thursday 7th of may18:30hr. There will be six rebroadcast as follows: Fri 13:00, Sat 9:00 and 0:00, Mon 13:30, Tue 9:00 and 1:00.This series will run for three months. “Hier Gaan Ons Alweer” is in "Stywe Lyne” as well as "Fish" magazine. Both magazines are doing a series of articles on this fishing series. Petri and his team fish all over Southern Africa, fishing in salt and fresh water and will be fishing with The Kingfisher products, reels, rods, lines lures etc.

Ski Boats and Fishing Ski’s
Ski Boats and Fishing Ski’s on the other hand are still having a wonderful season as both couta in the North Coast and snoek in the Durban area keeping this fraternity busy. Reports of big couta are coming in from both North and South Coasts. The Aliwal shoal has for the past week or so been comparatively quiet with only a few couta being reported. Conditions for the week-end look promising with low seas and light winds predicted.
The Kingfisher’s trading hours are Monday, Wednesday to Friday 8:00 to 17:00, Tuesday 8:30 to 17:00 and Saturday 8:00 to 13:00.
Shane from Freedivers is holding a clinic on diving (spear fishing and cray fishing) at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street Durban on the 25 July. This clinic is free and like all of the clinics, booking is a must.