FISHING REPORT, 16TH MAY 2009
The word on everyone’s lips at this time of the year is sardines.
Nature is strange and there must be hundreds of theories of why there will or won’t be a run. Four years ago these fish surprised us and we experienced one of the best runs ever and last year when conditions seemed perfect there was a dismal run due to the heavy flooding in the middle South Coast just as it started to get going.
Until we receive confirmed reports from reputable authorities could we possibly report that a run is imminent. Sardines apart, anglers fishing along the middle South Coast areas had some good garrick angling. These fish are the pilot shoals and they can disappear as quickly as they came so anglers should take this opportunity to see if they can get one or two of these great game fish.
As far as bait goes, live shad does the trick but anglers should be aware that a lot of shad at this time of the year are undersize but unfortunately make excellent live bait.
A plug might be a very good option if you find live bait hard to come by, the Strike Pro Plug by The Kingfisher works particularly well.  Anglers are urged to heed the law of two garrick per angler per day. The authorities have recently been ruthless on offenders and it is just not worth the fine and above all the hassle of not obeying the law.
The same applies to shad, you may only catch four of these fish per angler per day. Other than the garrick and shad, there is still other edible fish on offer. A lot of good size pompano were landed in the upper South Coast. The main bait that was working was whole mussels but anglers that used small strips of chokka were also successful.

Terry Nel from Tacklenet in Port Edward reports that he would call this a weakly fishing report as there is nothing to report except for activity at the bigger river mouths and a number of shoal salmon are being caught at night from these spots. North Westerly off shore winds have begun, as normal this time of the year in the early mornings and we'll soon be talking about blooming Aloes as Natal's sardine run begins. Let's hope we have a bumper one this year.
On the ESA side, Mark is off to the Seychelles whilst Ray keeps it real and heads off down the South Coast with Dean to wet a line in search of some early winter action to bring home to the screen. Xavier has had his hands full with the Bass Nationals Zim vs SA and Rob and Howie are back to their old tricks, floating about the water luring in bass after bass with their tenacity, wisdom and charisma (really…)!
The International Test between Zim and S.A draws to a close this week and the conditions for the duration of the test have been tough. Zimbabwe got good points winning the biggest fish, weighing in at 3.570kg but when all the points were tallied up South Africa were in the lead.
See results below:

SOUTH AFRICA                                                                     ZIMBABWE
55.840                                                                                    52.075
(Plus 60 points for reaching the limit)

*Best working baits were the horny toad, frog and watermelon senko mostly fished weightless although some good fish were also caught on jigs.

ESA
This week on ESA Saltwater on Super sport 1, we learn how to prepare and utilize an octopus slide and throw bait. In DSSA the team targets edibles in Sodwana, the OSSA team head back to the Cape where the two oceans meet.
On Tuesday next week ESA Bass is back with “To The Top With Howie and Rob!”
They give their secrets and trade tricks at Inanda Dam for fishing in pre frontal conditions. Want to know how it’s done?? Don’t miss it!
Next week Thursday catch ESA Saltwater on Super sport 1 @ 7:30 
Ray takes our angler makeover winner Gerrie Van Der Merwe on a fishing expedition to Kosi Bay and Abel targets the ever feisty and sleek Cape Snoek on Dropshot!
The offshore team continues trying their hand at wrestling some of the giants that habit the waters of the Cape off a Riviera.

"Hier Gaan Ons Alweer" is airing on Thursday evenings on Kyknet, channel 111 at the following times:
Thursday 7th of may18:30hr.
There will be six rebroadcast as follows: Fri 13:00, Sat 9:00 and 0:00, Mon 13:30, Tue 9:00 and 1:00.
This series will run for three months. 
“Hier Gaan Ons Alweer” is in "Stywe Lyne” as well as "Fish" magazine.
Both magazines are doing a series of articles on this fishing series.
Petri and his team fish all over Southern Africa, fishing in salt and fresh water and will be fishing with The Kingfisher products, reels, rods, lines lures etc.

Trading times
The Kingfisher’s trading times for the public holidays during April / May are as follows, 27th April closed, 1st May open from 8:00 to 13:00. Our normal trading hours are Monday, Wednesday to Friday 8:00 to 17:00, Tuesday 8:30 to 17:00 and Saturday 8:00 to 13:00.

Fishing Clinic
The Kingfisher at 53, Hunter Street, Durban hosts a free Fishing Ski Clinic on their premises once a month by Markham Pollard.
These monthly 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.

Rock & Surf clinic / Drop Shot clinic
Over and above this they also hold Rock and Surf clinics 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.
To book for one of these free clinics phone the Kingfisher on 031- 368 3903.
We are looking for guys or girls to help us with clinics in the bass and fly fishing fraternity if anyone would like to get involved
please give Mike Pereira a call on 031 368 3903. 

Photo of Lloyd Pereira from The Kingfisher who managed to land a good zambezi of 125 kg’s at Hlangwane (Hole In The Wall). In the pic are Vinesh, Lloyd and Nirosh.



Any info about fishing, fish caught or competitions in your area please send to
kingfish@iafrica.com or fax 031- 368 4137, attention, Mike.
For the latest KZN fishing news presented by O.J.,
tune into East Coast Radio
at 5.40am Monday - Friday.