ROCK & SURF - South Coast
Shad are keeping anglers busy on most parts of the coast but more so on the South Coast. These fish seemed to have stayed in our local waters much to the delight of most social anglers. Most are on the small side but can provide hours of fun especially with fly rods and drop shot tackle.
Reports from the lower South Coast suggest that the first of the hound sharks had arrived as a few specimens were caught in the Marina Beach and Ladder Rock areas. Terry Nel from Port Edward reports that from midweek, rough seas and warm water has brought few results from the fishermen who have tried their luck. However, some interesting catches have come off Splash Rock during the week and one angler Indrin Archery landed a 6kg springer after a spectacular fight and Cassie De Klerk brought in a fine 7kg kingfish on a drift trace looking for shad with light tackle. A report says that another fisherman caught and kept a small garrick at Splash. Estuaries are dirty again after the heavy rains and no reports of fish have come in.

ROCK & SURF - North Coast
Further North, obviously shad are keeping anglers busy but places like Scottburgh, Greenpoint and the Umkomaas north bank area could provide anglers with a good variety of fish. Much the same could be said for the North Coast. Due to adverse conditions, the Zululand beaches have not lived up to it’s reputation this year and not too many diamond skates and outsize sand sharks have been reported although we are now in the peak season.
On the competitive side, it’s time for the Nationals which are to be fished in the Southern Cape from the 3rd March to 7th March. KZN has picked a highly competitive side this year and under the guidance of Noel Skinner hopefully our boys can bring home the Gold this year.

ROCK & SURF - Durban
For obvious reasons of late, the Durban harbor has not been fishing well and with construction taking place on the piers very little action has been reported from these well known venues. Weather lately has not been what anglers expect at this time of the year. Last week end a howling North Easter kept most angles at home but the weather for Saturday and Sunday looks favorable with low swell and light Easterly winds predicted.

SKI BOATS
Ski Boats are still having a great game fish season as couta and dorado are being caught all along the coast. Places like Umdloti in the North and the Aliwal Shoal and the Protea banks in the South have over the past few weeks been steady performers. Bottom fishing is also in good shape with most boats getting some nice red fish and rock cod. Marauding sharks are still giving the ski boat men a very hard time and even fish of around the kilo mark are being taxed.
The Durban Ski –Boat Club are having a fishing festival on the 26 & 27 April 2009. First prize for the biggest couta is a completely rigged 565 Sea Cat with trailer and 2 x 70HP Yamaha’s, the value is about R310, 000.00. There are R200, 000.00 worth of other prizes to be won and pre-entry is R200.00. For more info on this very well run competition visit their Website: www.durbanskiboatclub.co.za.

THE MARLIN CLUB
The Marlin Club of South Africa held their annual Billfish tournament off Durban on the 7 – 9 February .Chairman Bobby Graham reports that the Tournament went well with 10 billfish tagged and released from 28 boats. One of these was a short bill spearfish, a rare catch indeed of Durban! Many hook-ups were reported and a fair number of fish lost. For the first time in many years no striped marlin were caught, but many blue marlin showed up off Durban. The by catch was also good, with many dorado, small yellow fin tuna, bonito and a few wahoo caught. Notable catches included a yellow fin tuna of 22Kg. We had the usual hard luck stories, Tom Bradfield and his crew on Lynski had been fighting a marlin for 3 hours when the line parted! The weather was fantastic on Thursday, but turned into a very bad South-Easter with a huge swell on Friday. The wind turned back to the North-East for Saturday, but unfortunately the cold front had adversely influenced the fishing results. The Tournament rules stated that in the event of a tie, the last fish caught will be the winning one. As no boat caught two fish, the winners were Jeremy Ferrow and his team aboard Dohazari, as they had release the last fish on Saturday.

BASS FISHING
Bass Anglers, the 11th Inanda Bass Classic takes place at the Inanda Dam on the 26-27 April. Entries are limited to 300 boats and it is strongly recommended to register early. The past 2 years have seen entries turned away because of the popularity of this tournament. Entry forms available at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street, Durban.

ESA
Don’t miss the ESA fishing programs on DSTV. Bass fishing starts on Tuesdays @ 7:00pm on SS1 and Saltwater Angling on Thursdays @ 7:30pm on SS1. Each program is repeated several times during the week on one of the Super Sport channels. Check Your TV guide for details.

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For the latest KZN fishing news presented by O.J., tune into East Coast Radio at 5.40am Monday - Friday.