ROCK & SURF FISHING - Transkei
Weather patterns seems to have returned to normal and week end predictions are looking favorable with light variable winds although there is a Cyclone battering Madagascar. Hopefully that swell does not reach our shores. With the weather getting better the fish on the other hand seemed to have gone off the bite. Anglers willing to travel down to the Transkei should see a bit of shark action in places like Port St Johns and Hole In The Wall areas. Some fair size kob have been reported from the Poenskop area as well as the odd shad.

ROCK & SURF FISHING - South Coast
News from the lower South Coast is that there seems to be a few large sharks around and some sad stories came in from Splash Rock about breakups and being picked up by 'steam trains'. However, a visiting pro' angler from North doing a safari with a group of foreign visitors managed to find a number of hound sharks in the area mainly Southbroom during their stay here. Dropshot enthusiasts here have had a good time with wave garrick and those in the estuaries have taken small kingfish. On chokka bait at the Umtamvuna estuary a young fisherman, Anton Combrink landed a size Kob of 7.4kg. Thanks Terry Nel from Tacklenet for the info.

ROCK & SURF FISHING - North Coast
Locally fishing has been very slow and all the shad that have been around also seemed to disappear for the time being. Hopefully fish turn on this week end. Even reports from Zululand are a bit sketchy and no positive results have been received.
On the competitive scene, the KZNCAU fished their 2nd round of their postal competition from the 8th to the 10th Feb. unfortunately for all the Clubs the trek north to find diamond skates this season has come to zero. Although there had been some fish up north, the weather has not played along when it comes to competition dates. Never the less most clubs have a plan B and the last round certainly scattered clubs around. The bulk of the weight was made up from fish in the Transkei where mostly sharks and skates were caught. New kids on the block, Umkomaas A.C., certainly made their presence felt as the outstripped and out-fished all leading opposition by a massive margin. The traditional leading clubs are going to have their work cut out this year by this dynamic new South Coast side. Results for the top 10 sides 1) Umkomaas 308.1; 2) Glenmore 230.5; 3) Leviathan 134.7; 4) Benders 132.0; 5) Marlin 131.3; 6)Trevally 122.0; 7) Warnadoone 110.8; 8) McWillaw 110.1; 9) Flying Fish 109.6; 10)Old Boys 109.4.
The KZN Senior team is off the Southern Cape to fish in the Nationals from the 3rd March to 7th March and everyone from the KZNCAU wishes them well.

TOYOTA ANGLING CLUB
Nat Govender from Toyota sent in this report .Toyota Angling Club had our 14th Annual Meet. which took place from 15/02/2008 until 17/02/2008. We had a total of 134 anglers attending. A total of 44 weighable fish (Anything over a kilo) was landed, 14 being Edible and 30 Inedible. Our Annual Meet boundaries from the South side of the little river in Hibberdene to the rocks at Thompson Bay past the Wild Coast Casino. All of us stayed at the Port Edward Holiday Resort. Here are the results of the 14th Annual Meet.
Largest edible - Toyota Member - Dawie Spohr representing Engine Plant with a Bronze Bream of 1.6 kgs.
Largest edible - Visitors - Charles Reddy with a Banded Galjoen of 3.2 kgs.
Largest inedible - Toyota Member - Ugen Govender representing TSD with a Hound shark of 19.2 kgs
Largest inedible - Visitor - Dave Reed with a Lesser Guitarfish of 1.3 kgs.
Most Fish By Individual - Toyota Member - Abdul Omar with 4 fish.
Most Fish By Individual - Visitor - Charles Reddy with 2 fish.
Top Team - Went to TDM with a total of 89.8 weight points.
Most Fish By Team - Went to TDM with a total of 17 fish.
Top 3 Individuals - Toyota Members
1st - JP Sharrock representing TSD with a total of 32.1 weight points.
2 X Hound sharks, 18.3 kgs and 12, 3 kgs and a Honeycomb Ray of 1.5 kgs.
2nd - Anban Reddy representing A Plant with a total of 27.9 points
2 X Hammerhead Sharks, 18.5 kgs and 9.4 kgs
3rd - Rakesh Harilal representing TDM with a total of 23.4 points
3 X Blue Stingrays, 11.0 kgs, 9,0 Kgs and 3.4 kgs
Top 3 Individuals - Visitors
1st - Charles Reddy with a total of 8.8 points
Banded Galjoen of 3.2 Kgs and Kob of 1.2 kgs
2nd - Hassen Basheer with a total of 4.6 points
Bronze Bream of 2.3 kgs
3rd - Malcolm Pillay with a total of 4.4 points
Bronze Bream of 2.2 kgs
Over 50 Toyota Members Only (Bullies) with the Most Weight Points
George Simpson representing TSD with a total weight points of 20.9 points
Hound shark of 18.3 kgs and a Blue Stingray of 2.6 kgs.

SKI BOAT FISHING
Ski Boats are still having a very good season as far as Game fish are concerned. couta are the main target specie and they are being caught all along the KZN Coast. Aliwal Shoal has for the past week been a little slow as reports coming from there suggest the fish have tapered off somewhat. Further down the coast the Protea Banks are still fishing well with some good catches of tunny in particular.
This is the time of the year when there are a couple of great ski – boat competitions being held.
The Pennington Couta Classic is on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd March 2008 and first prize is the Explorer 465 Ski – Boat on a trailer with 60hp Yamaha .There are thousands of Rands worth of prizes: average weight, top lady, top junior, heaviest bag, smallest couta ,etc. Entrance is R350.00 before 29th February2008.
The Hibberdene Ski – Boat Couta Classic is over the Easter weekend – 22nd & 23 March 2008.Main prize is A Kosi Cat 16 centre console with 2 x 40hp Yamaha motors on a trailer and a Lowrance GPS / Fish finder. Many more other prizes to be won. Pre Entry is R300.00 before the 8th March and Paddle Skis are welcome. Phone Mike on 082 373 1753 or Brett on 083 493 3667 for more info.
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.

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.
The 5th New Hanover Farm Dams Bass Competition is to be held on Saturday the 8th March 2008. The cost is R70.00 per angler and R50.00 per junior (13 and under). There are twelve well stocked dams to choose from and a variety of accommodation available in the area. For more info give Jurgen a call on 082 785 8166.
Entry forms for all of these competitions are available at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter St., Durban, of phone the sales guys on 031 368 3903.

ESA FISHING PROGRAM
Herewith your front seat view on the action this week on Extreme Sports Angling. We kick start this week with Extreme Bass Angling premiering on Super Sport 1 Tuesday night. We are back at Craigieburn with Xavier and Silan Naiker as they have an in depth discussion on using your fish finder looking for bass. Then we take a look at the ESBA Pro Series tournament that took place at Njaka in the Far North. On Thursday night we join the ESA Saltwater Team on Super Sport 1. Abel, Raymond and their quest Werner Libbinge visits Sodwana Bay on the Elephant Coast where they get some bonefish, garrick, a giant sand shark and a black fin in LBSA. We then visit the North Coast Zone of the ESA LBSA Pro Series at Tinley Manor where we see some good catches coming out despite the big sea conditions. We discover the DSSA team’s secret Drop Shot spot in Sodwana where they have an absolute blast on the light tackle landing kingfish, wave garrick, catface rockcod. Heading out from Shelly Beach with Dean, Mark and PJ Botha we once again explore the diversity of the South African Coastline as they land yellowtail, yellowfin tuna, bonito’s and rainbow runners.

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