ROCK & SURF
Mark from Shelly Beach has just returned from The Hole in The Wall and as always had an amazing trip. They fished the NCAU Postal competition over the week-end and went down to test the area. Fishing at Mpuzi on Wednesday morning using a shad head Mark hooked into a ribbon tail ray of approx 80kg and two hours later unfortunately lost. Small hammers were aplenty with one or two however reaching the 20kg mark. Fishing the following day at Mhlungwana Mark swam a hammer of approx 10kg and four and half hours later a grey shark of approx 150kg was again lost. During the compo fished on Sunday morning most of the catch was made up of shad, small hammers and a couple of grey sharks in the 15-20kg bracket. Neil Arlow was very unfortunate to having lost a huge grey after a 5 hour battle. One of Mac Willow club members who were also fishing at Mhlugwana hooked into a grey shark of approx 120kg and unfortunately after reel failure, this fish was also lost. At this stage Uvongo Angling Club seem to be leading with around 600 points having found the raggies in the Port St Johns area just before the west came through on Saturday evening. Tuna Angling Club also did well in the Port St Johns area with around 350 points, with Lance Grobbler landing a raggie of around 140kg’s at the Gap.
The ESA team is currently fighting many a 'giant' in the Port St Johns area.
They have had the luxury of being flown to their preferred angling spot by chopper, thus enabling them to get from A to B in a hurry without missing out on any angling time! I’m sure Ray, Abel and Lloyd will come back with a few interesting stories of fish landed and a few lost, the weather has not been to kind to them so we will have to wait and see how they did.
Marlin Angling Club fishing local waters also did very well at Southbroom Point on Friday evening getting some good sized grey sharks. A more detailed result will be given as soon as the final results are received.
In the Durban area, Nitesh Rameharose from The Kingfisher landed two brusher of 4.5kg’s and 2.5kg’s from the Umhlanga Lighthouse on the 24th. Both of these fish were caught on whole muscle with 15.9 kg Kingfisher Giant Abrasion line and a Poseidon 3H rod.
Some nice fish were landed along the South Coast over the Week-end. Local angler Martin fishing at Drive-inn Bay on Saturday evening using a shad belly as bait landed a magnificent salmon of 41,5kg’s. Unfortunately this grandpa of kob was badly hooked and while Martin wished to release the fish it would not have survived. A good sized shad of 4.86kg’s was also landed by a local angler along the Oslo Beach stretch. This shad would have been leading The Kingfisher Biggest Shad Competition for the month of August, if the person had of weighed it in at The Kingfisher. Orange rocks is again producing plenty of shad. Terry Nel from Port Edward reports that, August has presented it' self in true form and everyone is bagging shad and as usual, there are many fishermen who have no regard for the law moving shad in relays to their car boots and keeping even the smallest shad that often aren’t even hand size. Otherwise, some garrick have also been taken at Splash Rock and not many other species are being targeted at the moment.

SKI BOAT'S
On the offshore scene, the flying fish have arrived at Protea and with them so have the big tuna. Protea Reef master angler PJ Botha, fishing on his boat Watt 4, landed 2 tuna of 25kg’s and got back a head of another with the guess weight being over 30kg’s. Unfortunately Mr Shark is still plentiful and more fish are being taxed than boated. The gee beck and dagga’s are still feeding at times with anglers and commercial anglers doing very well.
At the time of writing this report, some good news came in of some good sized tuna being caught on Protea, with three boats making an afternoon launch. Looks like the tuna have returned. Let’s hope so.
The commercial anglers are still getting good catches of gee beck and dagga salmon at night when conditions allow.

NEW FISHING PROJECT
Request from Dave Nisbet who is the secretary of KZNCAU. Here is a change for our members to have some input. Please circulate to all your members encouraging them to participate. The Endangered Wildlife Trust's Marine and Coastal Working Group have launched a project working with recreational and sports anglers across South Africa with a view to developing some angling best practice guidelines, with the help of the angling community. The research consists of a survey which is available online at http://www.anglingsurvey.ewt.org.za and we are encouraging as many anglers as possible to please complete the survey. The survey is available online until 31st August 2008, it can also be downloaded and e-mailed to mcwg@ewt.org.za The research has been discussed by members of the SASAA Executive Committee at the meeting in Port Elizabeth last week and it was suggested that Dave contact the regional secretaries for help with the promotion and distribution of the angling survey to the angling community. If you have any comments please do not hesitate to contact Linda Downsborough who welcomes any feedback. Endangered Wildlife Trust, Marine and Coastal Project Executant.
E-mail: lindad@ewt.org.za. Phone: 011 486 1102 ext 232. Cell: 072 373 2340
URL: http://www.ewt.org.za

FISHING COMPETITIONS
Also from Dave, Warnadoone Angling Club has advised him that they will be hosting a Shad Bonanza on the 20 September 2008. 1st prize R1000-00 for the biggest shad. 2nd prize R500-00 for the second biggest shad. R250-00 for the biggest edible other than a shad. Plus several lucky draws to be won. Open boundaries. Times: 5h00am – 12h00pm. Weigh in at the club house at 13h00 sharp. Cost: R30-00 per person. Tickets available at the Fishing Tackle Shop Tel: 031 916 6348. Parks Board rules apply.
Boerewors rolls & refreshments will be available at the club house.
All KZNCAU clubs are invited to join Warnadoone Angling club’s Shad Bonanza.
The UHTFC are holding a river fishing challenge on 31 October, 1 and 2 November 2008. This is limited to 50 entries, entry fee R2500 without accommodation, R3000 with accommodation. First prize R30 000 to angler with greatest accumulated total length of trout caught. Limited to beats on the Umzimkulu allocated by lot, with 1 beat per rod. Other prizes and auctions etc. Full details and entry forms as well as commercial opportunities on Club's Website: www.uhtfc.co.za. Thanks Bill Simson from UHTFC for the info.

KINGFISHER'S BIGGEST SHAD COMPETITION
Don’t forget The Kingfisher is running their “Biggest Shad Competition”. This year it will be run over a three month period, July, August and September, with three prizes each month. The heaviest shad for each month will receive a 14’ Kingfisher Poseidon 5pc Graphite Rod, valued at R1,585.00, the second heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa SL 50SHK Reel, valued at R998.00 and third heaviest shad will receive a Daiwa Opus Plus 6000 Reel valued a t R448.00. Please note that all shad (fresh) must be weighed at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street, Durban during trading hours and please remember there is a bag limit of four and the minimum size is 30cm.The biggest shad so far for the month of August is a shad 4.17kg’s caught by Muhsin Shaik on the evening of the 12th at Issipingo Beach. Second is a shad of 3.83kg’s caught by Dylan Naidoo at Sezella on the !9th and third is a shad of 3 kg’s weighed in by Verej Ramharak for The Kingfisher “Biggest Shad Competition”, we will have to wait and see how these fish will feature in the top three shad for this month.

ESA
Join the ESA team this week for the following exciting episodes: In the bass side, Xavier takes us to Inanda dam with Ryan Kankofski and Jean Deysel where they compete for the biggest bag. We then join the KZN Pro Series anglers at the Inanda dam Pro Series. In the LBSA on the guys are at Splash Rock on the South Coast targeting shad. Dean shares his knowledge on the different methods of catching shad. The guys continue their fishing adventure up the Zambezi River in search of tiger fish. We then cross over to the DSSA Pro Series at St Lucia. To finish off the show the OSSA team takes us on a Rodman’s adventure off Durban where they target snoek.

KINGFISHER FISHING CLINICS
The Kingfisher hosts free fishing clinics on their premises, 53 Hunter Street, Durban once a month. They host a Paddle Ski Fishing clinic by Markham Pollard, a Rock and Surf clinic run by Ivan Stopforth and a Drop Shot clinic by Lloyd Pereira. These Clinics are very informative and covers all the basics, including equipment, knots, bait presentation, and tactics. These free clinics are there to help beginners and experienced anglers to see what the sport is all about and how to target certain species of fish. It also shows anglers what equipment to use and also elaborates on safety. These are very popular so book early to avoid disappointment. To book for one of these free clinics phone the Kingfisher on 031- 3683903.