The Kingfisher’s annual Clearance Sale will take place on the 2-4th December 2022 (NB. At 53 Hunter Street only). Samples, Trade Show Stock, Seconds, End of Ranges etc. All to be offered at massive discounts. There is something for all anglers whether it’s offshore, shore, carp, bass or fly we have it all, there is over 200 rods, masses of reels and terminal tackle.
The Kingfisher trading times for the festive season is as follows:
In December 2022, all branches will be open for trading on Sundays, 8 to 1pm.
Friday the 16th of December 2022, 8 to 1pm.
Sunday the 25th of December 2022, all branches will be closed.
Monday the 26th of December 2022, 8 to 1pm
Only the Salt Rock and Ballito stores will be open on Sunday the 1st of January 2023, 8 to 1pm.
Monday the 2nd of January 2023, all branches will be open, 8 to 1pm.
We are almost at the end of the 2022 year. It has been a rough one so let’s focus on some quality fishing to cap off the year.
The year has flown past and now we can sit back, relax and enjoy some much-needed fishing and rest.
Top tip. Getting your sinker stuck is part of fishing in the rocks. The last thing you want is to lose your entire trace (and possibly your catch) if your sinker gets stuck. There are a few things you can do to combat this. The two main ways to prevent total loss is to either use a lighter sinker line and/or to shorten your sinker snood. Shortening your sinker snood (shorter than your hook snood) will prevent your sinker getting stuck while fighting the fish. Making your sinker snood out of a lighter nylon than your hook snood will allow you to part off your sinker and retrieve some of your tackle. Make sure that the sinker snood is strong enough to handle your cast but light enough to part off if need be.
Offshore:
The offshore fishing is really picking up with a lot of decent tuna, dorado and couta being caught along the KZN coast.
North – The north coast has seen great fishing when the conditions line up. The currents and water temperatures have been the things to look at.
Cape Vidal and Sodwana have produced good fish for the skis and boats. Live bait remains the best baits to use but the dorado and tuna have favoured faster plastics.
Central – The central coast has seen the same small snoek invasion as the north. Most anglers have opted not to fish in the shallows with the risk of the sewage. Tuna and couta have been around the deeper marks. The tuna have been the main target. Some giants have been hooked on both the poppers and live bait. Obviously, the guys have preferred to fish with poppers as seeing a 40kg tuna inhale a popper on the surface will get your adrenaline going.
South – The south coast has seen the garrick and snoek as well, with the same techniques proving to be successful.
The south has seen a lot of boats launching and heading out to the shoal. The fishing has been a mix out deep with the currents proving to be the most significant factor. Speak to the locals at the launch site to see what is happening. Faster trolling lures have been the most successful lures to use for the tuna, wahoo, couta and all the other predators.
Rock and Surf:
The rock and surf scene has gone to summer mode. The fishing is picking up and the conditions are starting to settle enough that we can predict the better days.
North – The north coast has seen most of the inedible action with the areas around Richards Bay seeing the most activity. There have been some big diamonds and a good number of sharks hooked along the far north. All these fish can be targeted using an FMJ trace and a 9/0-10/0 circle hook. Big fleshy baits with a lot of smell is the way to go. In terms of wire for the FMJ, 150lb carbon-coated steel is more than enough for 99.9% of the fish you are likely to hook.
Central – The central coast has seen a bit of edible action. There have been a few garrick taken at Blue Lagoon on live bait. These are highly pressured fish so please consider releasing your catch. The beaches along the central coast have also seen some good stumpies and kob being caught. Chokka, prawn and sardines have been the best choices. The shad have been around in the early mornings and the anglers have made the most of the season opening up.
South – The south coast has seen very good edible fishing. The garrick anglers have done very well along the Toti section with a few fish being caught. Some anglers have managed to catch these fish on artificials, but the live baits have been more successful.
The rest of the fishing on the south coast has been around scratching. Anglers have managed good numbers of bronze bream and a few other species. Pink prawn and chokka is all you need.
Freshwater:
The fishing has been good in most of the freshwater facets. There has been something for everyone so get out there and catch some fish!
Bass – The bass have turned fully to summer mode with moving baits producing the best results. The best bassing has been at Alberts over the last week with most reports saying the fish have fought harder than usual.
The patterns have changed each day so make sure to try a few patterns and don’t be afraid to fish the same area with two or three different lures. Midmar has also seen some decent fishing as well as Hazlemere.
Carp – The carp fishing has been good in most of the KZN dams. The fishing has been fairly consistent over the past few weeks with the weather patterns being the main factor determining a trips’ success. There have been good numbers of fish reported from most of the local anglers and floaties in banana flavour have been the resounding favourite.
The specimen anglers have not reported much this past week so one can assume either the fishing is very good or very bad.
Trout – The warmer waters have moved in so please take as much care as you can to get the fish back quickly.
The rivers are running full but there are fish in the clearer areas. Flies with a bit more weight and sparser ties are the best to get to the bottom of the river. Make the most of the weather before we hit the oppressing heat of February.
The stillwaters are producing fish but the deeper, cooler areas are the place to focus.
News from our Jan, The Kingfisher in PMB – “After a week of miz, we get a break in the weather, so I hope y’all been getting out and “making hay while the sun shines” before the next round of miz … a mate has his parents coming over from Europe to visit and they said they were looking for the SA sunshine … and his response was “Welcome to London…” On the upside, temps are nowhere London, and even a bit too warm already for the trout anglers mainly, but hey, we can’t have it all, all the time, so we look forward to those spots in time when the planets do align…
Trust everybody got wind of the massive 4day Kingfisher Black Friday Sale last week – it certainly seems that way up here on the hill, and it leaves me only to impart a MASSIVE THANK YOU to all our customers that supported the sale. Buy a Donkey! 😊 Hope you managed to get out already and make use of your new acquisitions, otherwise let’s have a looksee as to where you might…
The last week of miz was mostly just that, thick mist and light drizzle, and there wasn’t really that much rain that came with it – but enough to keep conditions wet and muddy. Also, it seems that it kept the barometer low, and as we know, fish are not partial to low pressure and tend to go zip-lip.
That seems to be the case with the stillwater trout – literally only a handful a of returns from the Natal Fly Fishers Club anglers, and only 1 reporting fish … biggest coming in just shy of 40cm / 15 inches. Another report mentioned fish “porpoising”, which simply exacerbates the situation – we KNOW they are there, but when they refuse to play ball … ouch!
Something I can report on 1st-hand as I took the opportunity to get out on the first clear day this week … unfortunately having the same experience having flogged the water for the better part of the day to no avail. I have a couple of (possible) excuses and will stick to them : dirty water (3ft visibility), along with low pressure hanging over from last week combining to give the fish lockjaw if they even saw the fly! As mentioned in the NFFC report, fish were moving here and there, swirls possibly indicating an emergence of some sort (bolstered by swallows dipping on the water for a period) along with seriously splashy rises and even fish jumping clear of the water. Gave it all from streamers to snails to fishing a dropper rig of emergers and small stuff … but sot so much as a bump. So it goes I guess … it’s called fishing after all, and not catching… better luck next time!
Also only a couple of NFFC returns from the river anglers, but here there be fish! It interests me that many a stillwater angler comments that they find river fishing so technical, but in fact, if you know how a river works, you KNOW (pretty much) where the fish will (should) be … Even under high and dirty water conditions, one can find fish … as shown by these two returns, both from the NFFC beats on the middle Mooi River. And some good numbers of fish too – largest return was for 10 fish, of which the longest fish pulled the tape to just shy of 40cm / 15 inches – that’s a good day on the river by anyone’s standards!
Last weekend also the long-awaited NFFC River Clinic – while weather didn’t exactly play ball, as indicated by the returns mentioned above, the fish were certainly about and some good fish were caught by the Clinic attendee’s. I shot up after work on Saturday for the afternoon, nice and cosy in the lodge while the drowned rats of anglers came in … but all smiles with tales of fish caught. The series of Clinics held by the NFFC went down a treat, and look to becoming an annual fixture on the NFFC calendar – keep an eye on their socials, or come and chat to Jan at Kingfisher-PMB, if you want to get in on the action.
Very little word to be heard coming from the bass anglers – as mentioned previously, the current comp running till end-December is unfortunately having anglers keep their catches very close to their chest.
Also no reports this week from the scaly (Natal Yellowfish) anglers – no doubt river flows and colour is keeping them at home.
Sterkfontein continues to be a of a hit-and-miss affair – some days on and others off … but I guess one needs to be there to catch the ON. Top tip is to watch the weather Harrismith / Sterkies area for a run of 2-3 day hot weather, and if nothing brewing after that, make the run. Have a seen a couple images from the socials showing with characteristic spawning bumps on the face, so things are happening”. Thanks Jan.
Tight lines and screaming reels
Series 21 (can you believe it; this is Petri’s 21 series) of Hier Gaan Ons Alweer on kykNET, premieres are on Saturday evenings at 18:30 on kykNet, channel 144 and there are a number of repeats during the week. The repeats are on Sundays at 16:30, Mondays at 12:30, Tuesdays at 17:00 and Fridays at 22:00. Series 21 ends on the 24th December 2022.
As most of you know, Petri and his guests cover various angling styles (fresh and salt water) in and around Southern Africa.
The KZN Angler News audio fishing report is South Africa’s first fishing podcast series that focuses on the latest fishing reports of the East Coast, it delivers true and accurate content from the provinces most prominent anglers on a weekly basis on various facets of angling. This report is free and available on all major Podcast platforms including Apple Pods, Google Pods, Spotify and Deezer as well as SA’s most popular Facebook Pages.
https://ansapodcast.buzzsprout.com
The Kingfisher has opened their new store on the upper north coast. Situated in the Tiffany’s Shopping Centre in Salt Rock, this store is ideally positioned for our north coast anglers. For all your angling needs, (freshwater or saltwater) pop in and see them or give them a shout on 032 307 0041.
For the best in tackle and advice, pop into any of the seven Kingfisher stores, they are open 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-1pm on Saturdays and Sundays
Please send any info about fishing or fish caught in your area to mike.pereira@kingfisher.co.za
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As always, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date with all our new video releases and to brush up on your species knowledge, tactics and tips/tricks. https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKingfisherFishing