FISHING REPORT 30TH MAY 2009.
Settled weather and sea conditions have produced some good angling along the coast. Shad although some still on the small side are being caught on a regular basis along the coast. The Winkle and Illovo stretches are producing some excellent results lately with shad being the most common target. Anglers using live bait are getting steady catches of good size garrick. Amongst the garrick a few yellowtail kingfish and ignoblis kingfish are also being caught. A specimen of 16 kg was caught here during the course of last week.
Further down the coast the Umkomaas, Green Point and Scottburgh area are also producing some good results. Anglers fishing in the Transkei are finding that shad are almost at all spots and some very good size fish are being reported.
The Port St Johns area has produced numerous big fish over the past week or so. These are mainly sharks and some big diamond skates. A few raggies have come out and there are reports that some in the 200 kg mark were landed recently.

Brendon Claesson landed a good size black fin shark of 95kg’s at Light House, Port St Johns on the 23 rd May. Brendon hooked this fish at about 1pm on a yellow tail head as bait and it took about four hours to land. The rod that Brendon used was a Poseidon 3XX Heavy with a Daiwa Saltist 50 reel filled with 0.55 Kingfisher Giant Abrasion line. There was bite marks all around this fish, that would suggest that this fish had been mating. Hammerhead and dusky sharks are also being caught at most deep water spots down here. Scattered shoals of sardines have been spotted off the Umgazana River but these shoals are not the big dense shoals that everyone is waiting for. Bigger activity is being reported from the Bashee River mouth and East London areas where there is bird and dolphin action. All the conditions so far are right for us to have a decent run but as with every year there is a lot of speculation and theories going around. In Cape Town and surrounds they had the first of their winter storms for winter, last weekend. They were bracing themselves for 7-8 meter waves!!! Nothing!! On Saturday 16 May they had a lot of rain, which discoloured the water quite a bit. A couple of undersized galjoen and one small spear nose ray came out in Strand. The weather was so bad the Tuna Nationals that was fished from Hout Bay, could only fish for two of the five days and only five fish were weighed!! That should give you guys an idea of how bad it really was!!

Eastern Province
Eastern Province came first and they caught three of the five fish, the biggest being 82kg’s. Along the mountainside in Gordons Bay, a few “die hards” fished last Friday and only got pulls, but, no fish were landed. As you can see there is not much to report about. Maybe next week!! Thanks Brian for this report.

News Western Cape
Things on the North Coast are a little quiet but it should not take to long before the shad start appearing and then things should liven up a bit.

The preliminary results of the KZNCAU Postal round four can be found here

Ski boat fishing
Ski Boats are busy changing their focus as there are some geelbek and daga salmon around. Boats fishing off Durban and the Bluff have had some good catches of geelbek during the past two weeks and there are reports of some shoal size daga salmon as well. General bottom fishing has also picked up with good catches of ‘Reds’ and the odd big musscle-cracker coming out. Game fish are still a little scarce and there are reports of the odd couta being caught but there are still quite a few snoek around particularly in the Umgeni and Umdloti areas.

ESA
This week you can look forward to an action packed Saltwater show. Don’t miss your session with ESA Saltwater at 7:30pm on Super Sport 1. Next week Tuesday catch Xavier on ESA Bass. This one is an educational one where Xavier teaches enthusiastic bass angler and Sharks Academy player the basics of Bass angling. Watch this one with the keen bassing youngsters.

Trading times
The Kingfisher’s 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.

Clinic
Shane from Freedivers is holding a clinic on diving (spear fishing and cray fishing) at The Kingfisher, 53 Hunter Street Durban on the 25 July. This clinic is free and like all of the clinics, booking is a must. The Kingfisher at 53, Hunter Street, Durban also 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. 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. 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.