Yet another Cyclone has hampered last week ends fishing as massive swells together with driving wind and rain ensured that all forms of angling were shelved. The majority of anglers must have had family days. The forecast for this week end looks very favorable with light north east winds predicted and low swells.

For surf angling this weather pattern should be beneficial as most rivers broke their banks and there should be ample ‘ginger beer’ water around which should make for excellent angling. Before the bad weather set in most anglers were targeting shad, which were being caught at most known spots.

ROCK & SURF Angling - Durban
Anglers fishing off the Durban piers and at Umgeni mouth have recently got stuck into quite a few Natal snoek. These fish seem to be all along the coast but the specimens caught off the piers and beaches are rather on the small side, never the less these fish provide endless hours of hectic fun for anglers. Most are caught by anglers using spinning outfits with small spoons but the ‘drop shot’ boys have also in on the action and numerous snoek have fallen to this exiting method of angling.

A great outfit is the Daiwa 8’ Exceler spinning rod and Daiwa Exceler 2500 or 3000 spinning reel. Apart from the snoek and shad there is not much to report on with regards to surf angling.

ROCK & SURF Angling - South Coast
Terry Nel from Tacklenet in Port Edward reports that last year, huge seas pounded their coastline and on some days with the rough seas they have been having, one can see just how possible it can be for this to happen again. Over the past week they have had big seas with few days of fishable water especially off the deep water points where only a few hound and hammerhead sharks have been caught.

Some bronze bream have been taken in the gullies but other than that, not to much has happened in the the fishing department.

SKI BOAT'S & FISHING SKI'S Angling
Ski boats and fishing ski’s on the other hand have had a really great season so far as far as game fish are concerned. Couta and snoek have over the past few weeks have been feeding well on both North and South Coasts. Deep water venues like the Aliwal Shoal and the Protea Banks at Shelly Beach have also been prolific lately. Here there has been a greater variety of fish with some good tunny, wahoo and big kingfish being caught but with so much fish around there has to be a down side and this is the dreaded shark factor.

Hoards of sharks in all shapes and sizes are harassing anglers and eating their catches. This influx of sharks has also moved inshore and fishing ski’s for the first time are now losing fish to sharks on the shallower reefs and even some snoek are being eaten in the backline areas. It certainly does not seem that the so called ‘global massacre’ of sharks has reached our shores.

There are a few competitions coming up soon and this week end sees the Pennington Easter Couta Classic taking place as well as The Mtwalumi Game fish Competition and the The Hibberdene Ski – Boat Couta Classic. These competitions are always well run and well represented. With favorable conditions forecast ski boats as well as fishing skis should bring in some good catches.

Next month 19th and 20th April the Winkle fishing ski club and Eric’s canoes host the Annual Fishing Ski Team event run from the Winkle Lifesaving club.

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.

FRESH WATER Angling
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.

News from Rory da Silva on the bass comp fished recently. “Once again it is my privilege to report back on the New Hanover School Bass Comp held in the KZN Midlands. What can one say?? The popularity of this comp has gathered such momentum that it has escalated from 476 entries last year to a new record of 712 entries this year, and for those of us not mathematically inclined an additional 236 anglers participated.

With foresight that is so characteristic of the organisers an extra dam was secured to alleviate overcrowding and although fishing was tough some excellent fish were caught. The weather was a blistering 31degrees (discomfort level taking it to 40) and surface water temp 27 degrees. To say the fish had gone deep, shortly after sunup would have been an understatement, but persist they (the anglers) did, all vying for the first prize of a kick boat plus the other prizes up for grabs.

Being the weigh masters assistant at dam 3, the hosting venue I can personally vouch for the tenacious anglers both juniors and seniors alike trying to top the 57cm senior and 55.5cm junior fish that were caught in the early part of the morning. Let us not forget the ladies and gents in the wings as it were, for to have such a well run and organised competition does not come about by having idle hands but by dedication and a passion for what you are doing......be it selling tickets, cooking and serving food, running the registrations desk, weigh master, or even the gofer...you know the guy that has to gofer this and gofer that.

To each one of you on behalf of all the anglers, parents, New Hanover Schools, and your committee a very big thank you for a job well done. Top three seniors were Andrew Lessing with a bass of 61cm’s, Noshad Mohammed with 57.5cm’s and Dwayne Freese with 52.5cm’s. Top three juniors were Calvin Oellermann with a bass of 55.5cm’s, Chris Cullen with one of 50cm’s and Brady Smith with a 42.5cm bass.”

Still on the bass side this info supplied by Tim Steyn on The Midmar Two Man Challenge held on the 2nd and 3rd February.1st in boat no 48 was Glydd Dell with 15.535 points, 2nd was Kenneth Ground in boat no 57 with 15.170 points and third was Gavin Richardson on boat 10 with 13.93 points. A total of 82 anglers took part in this challenge”.

Feedback from Chris Digges from Antalis who hosted a very well run tournament at Jozini Dam. “We have just completed the 2008 11th Antalis Tiger Fishing Competition and I am sure I speak for most of the anglers when I say that it was a resounding success. Indeed, this was only possible through the participation of the sponsors and for this I say thanks on behalf of Antalis and all the anglers involved. Your support is, as always, greatly appreciated.

Thankfully the weather played along again this year, and a record number of fish, 777 to be exact, were boated, recorded on the score cards and where possible, released back to the water live. A water temperature of 28° - 29°, I am sure, contributed to the high catch rate. The following are the top prize winners. The overall winner for the largest fish, with a weight of 4,370 kgs, went to Graham Rice. For the first time this year, we had an ‘Individual Most Fish Prize’. This was won by Daryl Scott with 31 fish. First Boat Team Prize with a combined length of 26.0 meters (i.e. 78 fish) went to the Fishwick / Raflatac boat skippered by Gavin Le Roux and crewed by Ricky Lazenby, Daryl Scott and Jimmy Yates. Second Boat Team Prize with a combined length of 21.7 meters (i.e. 48 fish) went to the Group Graphics boat skippered by Craig Galloway. Third Boat Team Prize with a combined length of 17.1 meters (i.e. 45 fish) went to the GCG 4 x 4 / Festo boat.”

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