A very Grey day at Zinkwazi Beach.
It was one of the few KZN Fishing events where, for a change, the thread did not run into several pages. Paul started the thread on the upcoming social and very soon few members suggested some of the famous South Coast venues. Nischal then suggested something from the NORTH Coast. It wasn’t too long before Zinkwazi started to look like a firm favourite. On 11 Oct Cameron and Jackie offered to do a little recce. Once the photos were posted it was decided that our last league event was definitely going to be held at Zinkwazi. The normal thread of who was attending was started and a few days before the event there were still only 15member’s names down to attend. At that week’s MANCO meeting the guys were forecasting that we would be unlikely to see more than twenty members on the beach for this event. Several MANCO members, Ronald, Selvan , Imraan and Calvin had indicated that they too would not be attending due to other commitments.
Bright and early on Saturday morning we arrived at the beach. Jace made some frantic phone calls just before 6 am to establish whether he was in fact at the right place as David, with whom Jace was travelling, had seriously miscalculated the travelling time and had got them there well before anyone else arrived. Soon enough though, a few familiar faces started to roll in, and as is now becoming more and more common, a couple of new friends too. The formalities were quickly completed and then Jace held a quick briefing.
As this was our last league event we decided to make the boundary as wide as possible. About 30% of the guys opted to stick around the more rocky area in front of the car park. The balance of the guys took a LONG walk to the far side of the ski boat launch site and bathing area. Uncommonly, Jace had managed to close registrations 5 minutes before lines in at 7am in his eagerness to wet a line after the long fasting period. Little did he realise that it would still be well over two hours before he actually did manage to get a line in the water.
As the bigger group approached the bay area they were greeted by some locals who were reeling in a Grey shark. The KZN Fishing members, seeing this, quickly dived into their gear. Paul and few of the others decided to move 100 metres further down the beach. Within minutes Paul got pulled twice. And on the third take he managed to land a Grey of 80cm.
Then the Grey shark smash began in earnest. Before Jace could get a chance to tackle up there were shouts of “ Jace camera..., “ coming from various points on the beach. Over the next two hours Jace developed a serious dislike for those words. From the minute he got the camera rolling more and more shouts rang out. With the recorder running there were often two or three hook-ups at the same time. Even in this mayhem, Jace found the time to send a message to the members still fishing in front of the car park, telling them that 10 Greys had been landed and that they should come and join the main group.
By this stage Nic was running around educating anglers on the proper handling of the Greys and how to “sleep” them or to calm them right down by holding them upside down. Joe was also in on the frenetic action, running from landed shark to landed shark with the pliers to help remove the hooks as soon as possible and handing of the job of still photographer to his son Jasveer. It would actually very difficult to sequence who caught what shark when. For Jace the hard work continued.
Every time the Godfather managed to get close to his tackle box to start rigging up he was almost instantly called away again to do more filming. Eventually though, Joe managed to bait up for him and he could finally get a bait in the water. With his line in the water at last Jace decided to give Selvan, (who is working,) a quick call to bring up-to-date with the situation on the beach. Ten seconds into the conversation and Andy goes on with his second shark for the morning. Jace immediately cuts the call and goes back to his new calling with the camera. After the fish is landed he calls Selvan back to fill him in on the morning. Nic is asked to please go and call the other guys from the car park rocks as they haven’t responded to the earlier message.
Minutes after Nic makes it to these guys and delivers the message they almost all pack up and head for the main beach to get in on the action leaving only Cameron and Cornel fishing on a dead quiet south side.
Jace’s rod gets a good pull but sadly he loses his fish and a few of the guys advise him that his hooks may be too small prompting a quick tackle change just as the second wave of Grey sharks hit. With all the non-stop action there are many crossed lines on the beach but in the spirit of KZN Fishing everyone courteously gives way to the guy fighting the fish. Lines are cut and traces lost so that a comrade can land a fish. It wasn’t long before Buds found himself a new niche in the grand scheme. Buds has taken to tailing and releasing sharks like a duck to water. Jace’s role as cameraman continued and he was still busy capturing yet another hook-up when someone screams, “Jace ...your rod.” Finally in the dying minutes of shark feeding frenzy, Jace got his moment of glory as he managed to hook and land a Grey of 74 cms.
Eventually some of the friends from the car park rocks completed the long walk to the main beach but as they finish baiting up the Greys went off the bite.
Meanwhile, back at the car park area, at about 11o’clock the Greys finally come out to play too. After Cornel missed a good first run some nice greys were landed by himself and Cameron. Cornel eventually managed to get one to stick and was rewarded with a nice grey of 73cm. Cameron then managed a pair, both measuring 74 cms and one of which had been previously tagged, proving that fish do survive after being released.
Back on the north side after a break of around an hour the Greys come back on the bite. Jace surveyed the land and noticed Lucky, who had come all the way from Pietermaritzburg , just sitting there and looking at the fun. When approached, Jace discovered that that he had no idea about how to go about tackling these fish. Assisted by Buds and armed with a bite trace form his own tackle box Jace quickly rigged up Lucky’s rod and got his line in the water before tasking Craig and Leon with assisting him further. Almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth Leon’s reel begins to sing. At this stage Jace has had enough of the camera and so, leaving Leon to his own devices he finishes helping Lucky. Within a few minutes of Lucky’s bait hitting the water he gets picked up. The smile on his face was worth a thousand Greys. Not being used to fighting a shark, he manages to keep it on the line for about 5 minutes before sadly losing it , complaining about how sore is arm is from all the reeling and pulling. Even so, it’s the best pain he has had for a long time.
At one point Shaun gets a fish on his line but with all the lines in the water he gets burnt off. Not one to give up easily and with the fish still on the line he drops his rod and grabs the broken line, shouting for his jacket. Wrapping the jacket around his arm he now pronounces that he has a new reel and proceeds to reel in the not too playful Grey by hand. The Grey seems to know that he is being pulled by hand and not by a mechanical device. After a good battle, Shaun finally lands the 72 cm Grey. After a quick foto and measurement the fish is safely returned to the water to fight another day and Shaun has ensured that there is that much less line being dragged through the seas by this shark which could make its life difficult or ensnare other creatures. Well done Shaun.
Meanwhile the line is so tightly wound around his arm that a sharp scissors is needed to free the jacket.
The next few hours see more Greys being landed but not with the frequency of the early morning. There were literally close to twenty runs where the fish got away. Several discussions ensued on the merits of bait size and hook size.
A short while later and there is another run which again gets everyone scrambling as this one is different. Joe pulls out a nice 4 kilogram Shad. A quick photo and release. What a beautiful specimen. As the clock draws closer to 1 pm reels are still screaming. Just while Jace is in the process of calling lines out, the Greys have the last word, and Shaan lands the last Grey of the competition. After the close there still some guys landing Greys.
While we slowly pack up, the realisation dawns that for many it was a dream come true. In these uncertain fishing times it is great to actually fish in the scenario that we did. It was almost all non-stop action and a truly fitting end to our league calendar.
After the event, everyone made their way to our customary bring and braai. It was great to see some new faces joining in the post-event festivities. While the fire was burning down to coals the winner of the species competition was announced. Due to the fact that besides one Karanteen and one Banana fish only Grey sharks were caught, with no one getting more than one species, the prize went to the angler with the highest number of catches. Once again Andy was called up for his superb effort which saw him land five Greys for the day. This is the second time that Andy has taken the species competition.
As usual David and Joe took over the braai and soon were feeding everyone. The braai was one of the quieter ones of the season, possibly some said as a result of a couple of the usual faces not being present to stir things up. Cornel stood in for Nic with the OBS duty but his absence was still notable. Another glaring indication that things weren’t as they traditionally are was the fact that there was no “sauce” for the first time a very long time, and certainly this year.
Still a great time was had by all, new faces and old, leaving no doubt that next seasons league will be even bigger and better than this year’s.
In total there were over 25 Greys landed, one serious looking Shad. The total weight for the event was 170kgs. Definitely the best for one our events.
Written by Jace Naidoo.... Cameraman par excellance.
Edited by Cameron Johnston. The results of this past weekend, really shuffled guys around on the Log Positions, but we are now proud to announce the official Top 10 Contestants that will now battle it out for Top Spot on the 12th & 13th November. | 1 | Andy | 46.6 | | 2 | Freddy Parasuramen | 40.4 | | 3 | Selvan Parasamen | 35 | | 4 | Shaun Suthergoon | 23.2 | | 5 | Avesh Kuwar | 22.8 | | 6 | Rishi Neepal | 22.6 | | 7 | Cameron Johnston | 19.4 | | 8 | Jace Naidoo | 15.7 | | 9 | Shaan Mohanlall | 15.4 | | 10 | Dhireshan Gramany | 15.1 | Please note, that part of the criteria to fish the finals is that you had to fish a minimum of 4 events. There were a few other anglers that scored enough points to be in the finals, however they did not fish enough events. KZN Fishing would like to congratulate the Top 10 Finalists, and wish you the best of luck in the finals. Gallery:
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