Colourful wrasse caught at 10 Downing street, Uvongo, South Coast KZN

Went wishing at my favourite spot , 10 downing street, Uvongo and caught this rather colorful fell, a type of wrasse earlier today (Sunday may 24)

used a no 10 hook and prawn bait.  Trace was a standard christmas tree trace with two hooks and a 2 ounce sinker..  caught this fella on the top hook, and he had me tangled in the rocks for a while, but I just held on and he pulled the sinker loose himself.

Surf was small, and there was no side wash at all. I  had a few other bites, but this was the only one that took the bait nicely.







Now on a more serious note, the issue of the proposed marine protected area  (MPA) for the south coast is still happening, but it has moved further north to the area around the Aliwal shoal, apparently some where between Umkomaas and Scotsborugh, but I will need to confirm this.

The guys from the Department of environmental affairs seem a bit too quite for my liking, and nobody is being helpful, which makes me a bit nervous, as the original issue apparently came about because an Environmentalist group in the Scotsborugh area requested this.  Once again things are not clear, and nobody is talking openly so I will need to do a bit of old fashioned investigation...

When I know more I will let you all know whats going down with the MPA for the KZN South Coast.

In the mean time you can check out other fishing stories using the #4u2gofishing hashtag in your favourite search engine, or take a peep see at our Google Plus page +4u2gofishing  or the  4u2gofishing G+ community  You can also follow me on my  personal Google Plus profile at +Frank Gainsford 

or check out some fishing pics that others have shared with us on our pinterest board 

If you want to add a story here, or have your pics added to our pinterest board,  give me a shout, as I am looking for some help with the 4u2gofishing project.

 send any info request to 4u2gofishing@info4u.co.za

Bronze bream set free on freedom day

I have been neglecting this space since the guys who asked me to set up a marketing platform for fishing on the South Coast of KZN changed their minds when they heard that the government was wanting to introduce an MPA (Marine Protected Area) along the lower South Coast, and that all fishing may be banned.

It turned out that the MPA was put on hold, while the issues were being investigated. this came about due to the immense pressure that some local groups put on the department of Environmental Affairs,   who wanted to put this MPA in place.  Finding the latest developments on this MPA is a bit difficult,  as all concerned seem to be very tight lipped at this stage, so I will be asking around over the next few days then make a new post and tell all you guys who read this blog what the latest development is.

In the mean time I went fishing on April 27,  (Freeddom Day) on the rocks just North of Uvongo, but South of Orange rocks, where  I was lucky enough to catch this bronze bream.  I used a combo of crayfish tail and mud prawns,  or as some call them cracker shrimps,  as bait, and used a running trace with both sinker and hook lines at 400 mm (40 Cm or about 14 inches) hook size was a No. 4 old style mustard hook.

This Bronze bream was 310 mm big, but I tossed him back into the water live and healthy after dislodging the hook from the side of his mouth, much to the displeasure of some onlookers who wanted this poor fish for the pot.

Back to the issue of the MPA Proposed for the lower South Coast...   After the meeting held in early January there has been no feed back, besides the minutes of the meeting,  from the conveners of the meeting or the committee elected to deal with the issue,   from a tourism and business perspective.   I will be asking around during the next few days, and hope to let you know more about the issues associated with this Proposed MPA in the near future.

I will also be doing a bit of marketing and post a few pics of the fish caught and the boating that takes place at the SONNY EVENS SMALL CRAFT HARBOR at shell beach. After all this blog was put in place to market the fishing activities along the KZN South Coast, so I might as well get on and do some tourism marketing here.

If you have a story about any issue along the South Coast of KZN that you would like to read about here send me an email at 4u2gofishing@info4u.co.za and I will make it happen.  you may also phone me directly on my cell  0725955111.  Remember this blog is all about getting fishermen to come and spend their fishing time along the KZN South Coast, so tell me what you want to read here and I will make it happen.

hashtags for this post =  #4u2gofishing  #marineprotectedarea

MPA proposed for KZN South Coast

Issues with the propsed MPA (Marine Protected Area) along the hibiscus Coast of KZN South Africa

 I recently heard that the South African Government is in the process of creating a new MPA (Marine Protected Area) along the entire Hibiscus Coast, and need to gather more info about this.  The ICMA (Integrated Coastal Management Act) specifies how this should be accomplished along with the mandated public participation procedure and other formalities that need to be completed during the process. Hibiscus Coast is the brand name for the lower South Coast of KZN South Africa.

We will be using the hashtag #4u2gofishing for marketing the fishing opportunities within the area as well as the issues around this new MPA  ( #MPA ) (Marine Protected area) that has been proposed, which some are already working on. the hashtag #marineprotectedarea will also be used in our efforts to get the public aware of all the issues at stake here

MORE COMING AFTER SOME RESEARCH  

ANY BODY THAT HAS NEWS PLEASE VISIT THE 4U2GOFISHING SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES AND COMMENT ON THE POSTS THERE.

Just as many of the issues were side stepped during the implementation of the 4x4 ban, so many issues are currently being side stepped here, and this blog will be our preferred platform to address these issues and get the necessary public support to take up the issue at the highest level, as this is bad news for business along the Hibiscus Coast .  Most people do not realize the amount of tourism that is connected both directly and indirectly to the fishing industry, and closing the entire Hibicus Coast to fishing will result in many thousands of job losses.

Exactly how many people will loose their ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES (read jobs) will need to be calculated during the PPPM's  (Public Participation Process Meetings) that are mandated by the ICMA (Integrated Coastal Management Act) during the various implementation phases as is prescribed in the ICMA and related legislation.We will be placing links to the various legislation and related public participation   process meetings here and if you want to know more then let us know in the comments of this blog. 

MORE COMING AFTER SOME RESEARCH