Hooked on Fishing: All set for the big catch

THE Umzimkulu SAPS Angling Club, consisting of two teams of 22 anglers, will represent the Umzimkhulu district in the annual SAPS KwaZulu-Natal rock and surf championships.

The championships takes place on the South Coast from August 31 until September 5. The officers are stationed at different police stations including Port Shepstone, Hibberdene, Southport and Scottburgh.

Teams will meet and register at Port Edward holiday resort and the provincial team will be announced on September 5. Colonel Allen Grainger from Port Shepstone cluster is the team manager and Sergeant Rudi Smit, from Port Shepstone, is the chairman. A team captain will be announced soon.

Cluster commander of Port Shepstone, Major-General Thembi Ndlovu, congratulated the team and wished the officers well for the upcoming championships. The team wishes to thank Golden Glo in Marburg for sponsoring the shirts for the championships.

Regular fishing

Garrick have made a very welcome appearance with some good catches of these fish being made along the entire coastline.

Margate pier produced five garrick over the weekend, with another fish of around 16kg on Tuesday. All these fish were taken on live shad.

The Southbroom area has also been producing some good fishing, with some decent-sized kob being taken off the beaches at night.

Ski-boaters have been having their fair share of good catches of quality bottom fish.

Some yellowtail have also been accounted for and these extremely strong fish will test most anglers’ capabilities.

Some good catches of tropical yellowtail have also been made, especially on live bait.

These fish have also been eating the vertical jig, with Brendon Kohler having 13 fish on Friday using this method. Most of these fish were returned to give pleasure to other anglers in the future.

Yellowfin tuna are still feeding freely on Protea Banks but the sharks remain a major problem, with some anglers reporting that they managed to boat only two fish from around 20 strikes. All the larger fish hooked were being eaten almost instantaneously.

Unfortunately, it does not look as if we are going to see a sardine run this year, which normally assists in ‘sucking’ the sharks with it and, with these fish realising an easy meal is to be had on Protea, only mother nature knows how this matter is to be rectified.

Mark Bennett, Tackle Box

Port Edward

All week, the rocks have been crowded with fishermen peeling the shad out on spoon and bait. The shad are still small, which is unusual for this time of the year when larger shad are biting. A reason for such a crowd most of the time is that the bag limit is forgotten or ignored by many and those who have their four shad stay for more. It is a fact that, because shad fetch such a good price, many are transported out of town, especially over the weekends.

Garrick are still around but not too much news of other fish here as shad are being targeted by most fishermen at this time.

Terry Nel, Tackle Net