Herald Fishing: Protea angler returns from world champs
In other fishing news the month of August has been all over the place in terms of weather, but some anglers have managed put out a line.
Liam van der Merwe from Umtentweni has just returned after a hectic two weeks of fly fishing.
He was part of the Protea Youth Fly Fishing Team that participated in the 18th Cortland World Youth Fly Fishing Championships held in the Czech Republic.
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The team did their preparation on the Otava river near Rozenburgh and the championships was held on the Vlatava River near the town of Vyssi Brod.
Liam placed 15th overall in the championships and was the best performing Protea team member, ranking him South Africa’s number one junior fly fisherman for the 2019 annual period.
Other team members came from KZN, Gauteng, Limpopo and the Western Cape.
South Africa placed sixth overall.
Liam’s parents are extremely proud of him and would like to thank the South Coast community for its overwhelming support and the sponsorship received.
A big thank you to Mervin Curnow of Curnow KZN, and Luckys Sports for their valuable support and contribution to Liam over the years and for assisting him in fulfilling his dream of representing his country at worlds.
They thanked Renasa Insurance and the Brand Family for the fantastic hamper they donated, with raffle ticket purchases contributing greatly to the costs to send him to Czech Republic.
Liam’s next big tournament will be at the end of September when he will be joined by local boys Justin Ashington and Pieter Stroebel to compete in the South African Junior Fly Fishing Nationals to be held in Barkley East.
In other fishing news the month of August has been all over the place in terms of weather, but some anglers have managed put out a line.
The rock and surf scene has seen the arrival of some of the summer fish. These are early season fish so look for the north east wind and go throw a bait.
Reports of plenty of shad action. Places like Splash Rock in Port Edward and Margate Pier have seen the bulk of this frenzy with plenty shad being used as live bait for kob and garrick.
Some of these have been picked up but no big catches have been reported.
Reports on a lot of bronze bream and rock cod being caught in the Manaba and Trafalgar area in the pass week.
There have been garrick at most of the usual spots. These fish have all gone for the large number of live baits in the area.
The garrick can also play the spinning game and leave the live baits to attack the plugs and lures so spinning is also an ooption to get stuck into a garrick.
Kob are still around, reports of a lot of kob being caught on the Sandspit in Port Shepstone.
Most of the kob being caught on paddle tail and rapala. A good bait for the kob would be an octopus leg, chokka baits or shad belly.
The geelbek and daga have been keeping the offshore anglers busy while the amberjacks have made some interesting sounds come out of the guys attempting to wrestle them from the depths.
The trout, bass and carp have all been feeding well with the onset of warmer ‘spring’ weather.
Tight lines and screaming reels.
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