Fishing Report 13 February 2010

With continuing good weather, anglers seem to be getting some good results mostly as far as the inedible species is concerned.
The Transkei is also fishing well with favorable reports coming in from the Port St Johns and Hole in The Wall areas.
Ski Boats are still having a very good season as far as game fish are concerned as there are plenty of fish around.

FISHING REPORT, 13TH FEBRUARY 2010

Angling
Terry Nel from Tacklenet in Port Edward reports that the shad have been on the bite again and a local gentleman and angler, Indrin, landed a 25kg kingfish at Splash Rock this weekend and a fair sized hammerhead shark was also caught there as well. Bronze bream are also taking bait and there are also baitfish on the bite.

In The Durban area, Graham Darling caught a sharp nose brown ray of 79cm (14.91kg’s), his friend Peter Gething also caught a sharp nose brown ray of 80cm (15.44kg’s) as well as three grey sharks of 74cm (5.73kg’s), 78cm (6.73kg’s) and one of 119cm (24.43kg’s). On Sunday the 7th, they were back there and Peter landed a honeycomb ray, of about 15.38kg’s (in his hurry / excitement Peter forgot to measure this one, so above is purely and estimation). All in all a very good fishing weekend at Umhlanga Lighthouse.

On the South Coast, offshore has been producing some really good fish of late with the arrival of the dorado keeping most anglers busy. Greg Delflippy boated a magnificent sailfish of 50kg's on the dot while fishing off the Sheppy mouth for dorado. Some good sized couta have been boated from Hibberdene all the way through to Port Edward with Protea also producing a couple of couta, however the ever increasing problem of sharks are taking more than their share. Snoek seemed to have arrived very early for the South Coast with spearo's getting their quotas very quickly around the Stebel area.

Toyota Angling Club 16th Annual Meet
Nat Govender from Toyota sent in this report about the recent fishing competition. Toyota Angling Club fished their 16th Annual Meet from 05/02/2010 until 06/02/2010 and had the presentation on the 07/02/2010 the results are as follows:
They had a total of 105 anglers who attended and they where based at the Tugela Mouth Resort. Fishing was not good but they all had a wonderful weekend. Fish that was landed was caught north of Tugela Mouth at Richards Bay, Dunfort and Mntinzini. Ashraf Khan lost 3 huge skates at Mnitinzini, each of the fight lasted over 1.5 hrs before the line or hooks gave way. Rakesh Harilal also lost a bus at Tilney Mannor when one hook broke and the other was straightened.

A big thank you to all those that supported the annual meet especially Toyota South Africa and the tackle shops The Kingfisher, Cheapest Tackle and Midas. Only 10 fish was landed over the 1KG mark which they regard as a catch to obtain weight points.

Top Anglers for this Round.
Position Name Team Specie Weight (KGs) Weight Points.
1. Dean Rammanhor Truck Plant Black tip 58.8 58.8.
2. Anban Reddy TSD Honeycomb 23.8 23.8.
3. Nishaan Singh TDM Kob 3.6 7.2.
Largest Inedible For This Round: Dean Rammanhor of Truck Plant with a Black tip of 58.8 Kgs.
Largest Edible for This Round: Nishaan Singh of TDM with a Kob of 3.6 Kgs.
Most Fish by an Ind. For This Round: Derek Gengan of TSD with 2 fish.
Most Fish by a Team for this Round: Shared between a Plant and TSD with 3 fish each.
Top team for the Round: Truck Plant.
Results of Postal Round 1 fished last weekend have been posted on the Union’s web Site. Web site details are: www.kzncau.co.za
Mark from Tackle Box sent in a bit of info about the South Coast.
Firstly a big congrats goes to the Natal U21 Rock and Surf side who finished first in the recent inter provincials and to the U16 side that came fourth, missing 3rd by one fish. Big thumbs up for the South Coast with both sides being captained by the Poole brothers from Shelly Beach. Both anglers fish for local club Tuna. Local angler Herman van Aswegan who also fishes for Tuna was top overall angler.
A big congrats goes to Brandon Poole, and Herman Van Aswegan for making the Presidents side who are to fish later in the year in Namibia.

These are the results of the recent under 21 tournament that was fished at the beginning of February.
1 KZN
2.Central Gauteng
3.EP
4 Border
Herman Van Aswegan KZN top angler of the comp had a kob of 34kg’s and a Free Stater caught a duckbill of 42kg’s. The weather was very poor with rain, South West winds and a rough sea. The area fished was Zululand. Thanks to Ricky Jacobs for the feedback and the best of luck to him and the rest of the Masters team, they are fishing in the PE area.
Below please see the latest news clip from Linda Gorlei following the Protea Fly Fishing Trials held this past weekend in Underberg with a short pre-lim in retrospect to Competitive Fly Fishing.

SAFFA & KZNFFA
Competitive Fly Fishing is not a facet of fly fishing that is subscribed to by many anglers, in some circles it is even frowned upon, however there is a place for it and the minority who choose that challenge within their passion for this beautiful sport have started to prove their place as some of South Africa's most skilled fly anglers. Linda says this having witnessed some of the dedication of our top anglers who, through years of hard work within their Provincial structures, descended upon the Underberg area to partake in the Men’s Protea Trials this past weekend.

The candidates were subjected to a grueling test on Skills, Techniques, Tackle, Fly Tying, Mental Resolve and Team Spirit. Individual knowledge of the forthcoming World event in Poland as well as the Fips-Mouche Competition Rules were also an integral part of the evaluation process. Chase Nicholson and Christiaan Pretorius displayed the great value of the Junior structure with this their first year in the Senior Category and each securing a place in the Protea Team.Chase was placed 2nd overall at the World Youth Championships in Chzeck-Republic last year. After all the scores were tallied the team was announced on Sunday afternoon @ The Woolly Bugger Cafe.

Paul Pelser SAFFA Chairman & Convenor of the Selection Committee reports: "It was noticeable to see that the preparation is of a very high standard. A lot of effort and research went into the preparation, that showing that we are eager for international competition, whether it is in the World Championships in Poland or the Commonwealth Championships in Wales. Our selectors did an outstanding job with taking the anglers through the evaluation process. They were open and transparent in their approach and consistent in their decisions. The selectors were unanimous in presenting the names for the respective teams. In the end, the teams selected, will be true ambassadors of our country and our sport. The anglers have been well rewarded for their contribution to the sport." Congratulations go to the anglers for being selected in the teams shown below:
Senior Protea Team (World Championships – Poland)
Mark Yelland (Captain) - (Central Gauteng)
Gary Glen-Young - (Central Gauteng )
Christiaan Pretorius - (Western Province)
Chase Nicholson - (Western Province)
Tim Babich - (Limpopo Province)
Greg Fendt (Team Manager) - (KZN)
Senior SAFFA Federation Team (Commonwealth Championships – Wales)
Cameron Anderson - (Limpopo Province)
Korrie Broos - (Western Province)
Ian Lourens - (Western Province)
Martin Ferreira - (Central Cauteng)
Louis Pretorius - (Western Province)
Manager: To be announced

SAFFA & KZNFFA extend their gratitude to Underberg Himeville Trout Fishing Club for the use of their beats on the beautiful Umzimkulu River. We wish our teams all the best of luck in the international tournaments.....bring the medals home. See the KZNFFA website for more info on the KZN structure and forthcoming event in Underberg on the 7th & 8th March