Margate FLASH FLOOD! In another mighty display of nature’s anger at the system, Margate on the lower south coast of KZN received an absolute hammering last night. With a fantastic accompanying light and sound show – the storm was extremely intense. But, not lucky for Margate, but lucky for the rest of us, the storm concentrated on the beautiful coastal town.
Update: lives have been lost and we sympathise with families and loved ones.
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The Umzimkulu River that runs onto the ocean at Port Shepstone (20 kms north) never even came down. It is calm and serene this morning (15 April 2024) as it has been for the past few weeks. The kingfish are back by the way. And the water is ginger beer, not too dirty at all for fishing.
No Swimming!
However, this water is absolutely no good for swimming in. It will get into your ears and give the most diabolical ear infection you could imagine. And if it gets up your nose you could end up with a staph infection in the brain. And if you get wounded and your open would comes into contact with this water, you might lose that limb.
This is because for all the years of load shedding, the Harding sewerage works upriver, has been failing. And failing. The sewage of the entire town runs into the Umzimkulwana River. Which runs into the Umzimkulu River right at the exact point where Port Shepstone’s drinking water is extracted from.
This sewage is untreated and contained in it are all the drugs and medicines that people have been taking. Anti-retrovirals. Oestregen. Anti-biotics…you name it. If you take it, it goes into the nearest river these days (directly due to load-shedding).
And in this same sewage, are also the pathogens and bad acting bacteria, viruses and the like. Which the drugs are meant to counter. But, and it’s a huge BUT. If you allow these evil pathogens to interact with the drugs that are meant to kill them, they will develop immunity. Becoming superbugs. Like the things that will get you in any public hospital here in South Africa. Superbugs develop in hospitals for the exact same reason. They are allowed to interact with the available medicines and become immune.
We are playing with fire by allowing any of this to continue. And the fact that load-shedding has been turned off, really begs the question…
Did the ANC do this on purpose all along? Or are they this inept?
And what really superbugs me, are the colluders. Who work with the devil and actively promote our coast as a tourist destination with safe bathing beaches. When they should be doing everything in their power to be rid of the ANC and the problems they have created since their rule.
Nathan Warlosz 52kgs King Mackerel 15 kg line: this fish might be 25 years old! Or more! Imagine what it has seen and learned during all that time in the ocean.
But it certainly ain’t gonna get bigger any more. Taken on a light spinning stick, this is as big as a king mackerel can get. A few weights are being bandied about the place like 58, 54 – backed up by photos but not official registered scale weights.
You can see more of the fish on Facebook…
South Africa
It is way into big fish season here in South Africa. Most of the big fish as usual are coming from the north. Where there are no river mouths to foul the water like there are here down south. The weather also always seems to play along a lot more friendlier the further north you fish.
Sodwana Bay and Cape Vidal are two perfect escapes from the depressing water and weather we have prevailing down south. Ocean is a mess and has been for weeks. But the beautiful west wind blowing right now, is said to stick around for a week or so. We gonna get big waves. But after the tantrum has been thrown, this should depict the beginning of the good weather.
Winter weather
We just got to get through April, and we are in the pound seats again. Finally. After the last two years were complete washouts. Floods, and more floods. The spearfishing department still has not recovered fully. But thankfully the future is looking bright.
El Nino is also on our side. Meant to bode well for fishing and spearfishing as the dry conditions allow the water to clean up. With less river flow, the prevailing Agulhas Current will more easily be able to approach the beach and bring us those purple conditions we all have been dreaming of for the last few years.
Big fish gallery
These are all the best pics of all the biggest king mackerel (these are all Scomberomerous Commersoni – the Americas get a slightly smaller version – Scomberomerous Scevalla) I have been able to collect since we re-started the Sardine News.
As soon as the weather starts to play ball, the boats will be out along the Southern Kwazulu Natal backline. Hunting specidically for these huge fish. The further south you look, the bigger they seem to get. That reef south of Port Edward, and that spot just north of Tweni, are magnets for big couta.
MYDO “First Couta” Prize
The first decent couta (as judged by us here at The Sardine News) of the season, will receive a FREE MYDO Couta Spread. Worth a grand and packed full of lethal traces and kit. The allowed zone is from Aliwal southwards – otherwise, Guy Bishop gets it every time.
Death by Shark Net? Before we embark on this quick journey into the operations and goings-on at our very own Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board, we have a questionnaire for you! You don’t have to make public your answers. Your answers, are for you to digest.
Questionnaire
How many times have you swam in the sea this year so far?
How many whales, dolphins and other marine animals have to die of asphyxiation in the gill nets set by the sharks board per year, so you can go swimming? (Spoiler – it’s 500 or so)
How come the entirety of the Cape has not one single shark net?
Do you know that your taxes pay for the endless killing spree of the KZNSB?
Shark food for thought?
Funding
Yes, you pay for it all. With your taxes. You pay the salaries of the people who go out and do the killing. You pay for the nets and machinery that lays to waste marine life day in and day out. You pay for the fuel that those boats burn up. You pay for the administration of all this blood.
This is from Microsoft…
“The KZNSB services a combination of shark nets and recently-deployed drumlines, spread at intervals along 320 km of coastline in KwaZulu-Natal, thereby providing protection against shark attack at 38 localities. It employs about 170 staff members, most of whom put to sea on 15 boats to service the equipment.”
Purposefully laying waste to marine life. Every single day.
Dwarf Sperm Whale
Well, one thing is for sure, if not for the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board nets allegedly achieving this result, I would never have ever come across a Dwarf Sperm Whale. Unbelievably, there are two of these weird incarnations. We also get a Pygmy Sperm Whale.
Both are incredibly rare. And yet, here is a dead Dwarf version washed up in the East London area recently. It is one of four reportedly, that have died this way lately.
The original post came from a conservation group known as The Green Ripple…the animal came ashore on an East London beach.
How the whale got there is simple. The animal got free of the nets that it was entangled in. There are no pieces of net left trailing as would be the case if the animal powered itself through the shark net. It may still have been alive when it was cut free. Common practise of the KZNSB is to drag sharks or other live animals caught in the nets, a distance out to sea, and let them loose. Allegedly, this was the case with this animal.
Either way, the Agulhas Current is super-charged. It can read 6 knots at times. And when the North-East wind cranks, the surface waters can move even faster. 6 Knots is 6 miles per hour, equating to 11.11 kilometres per hour. From Port Edward (the southern-most KZNSB killing field), to East London by sea is 300 km. This means it takes barely 30 hours to drift its way out of being found beached up north.
Although many cetaceans, after death by shark net, also watch up right in KZN still.
Shark net characteristic lacerations again visible on this baby dead Humpback whale’s body washed up at Trafalgar a few years back.
You can read all about this little whale guy right HERE.
And here is a list from the other bunch of ignoramus on the planet – who also deploy this archaic and brutal practise. Yip, you guessed it – the Ozzies.
Check their list of recent and well-documented achievements…
At least their press over there is wising up. There are so many stories. It turns out they have killed double the marine life than us here in South Africa.
Selling Shark Meat and Fins
Yes, they have practised it all. And they still want to do more of it…enjoy this read and clear admission of guilt. Admission of no understanding whatsoever. Of the fact that remove a shark, and there isn’t another to just take its place.
This is a clear and present rogue government-sponsored organisation.
Sharks are the slowest growers out there. A White Shark matures at 30 years old or so. The Zambezi, or Bull Shark, takes 15 years to get 2 metres long and able to reproduce. There are hardly any of either of these fish left either. The population is down to a fraction of what it should be to balance the oceans out.
The Law
There is a thing called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea aka UNCLOS.
Article 65 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) addresses the conservation and management of marine mammals. Here’s a summary of its key points:
States are required to cooperate for the conservation of marine mammals.
In the case of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), states should work through appropriate international organizations to ensure their conservation, management, and study.
I guess we better ask Greenpeace or Sea-Shepherd for their help at this stage. Sea Shepherd have started picking on the Ozzies finally. Hopefully we will be next.
Facts and Figures From Co-Pilot (AI)…
The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB), which operates a “shark control” program using shark nets and drum lines off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, has been involved in the killing of marine animals. Over a 30-year period, the following numbers of animals were killed as part of their program:
Remove the shark nets! Save everything that’s left!
Here are the same ‘alternative solutions’ I presented to the then ‘Natal Sharks Board’ in the 1990s. They would not listen to me. Four scientists and Graeme Charter did everything in their power to continue the slaughter rather than look at these technologies.
Used together these systems will protect the bathers. And the marine animals. And only when and where they are needed. There is no need to be killing marine wildlife tonight.
Rock Salmon vs Estuary Perch Showdown feat Matt Wainright at Mgazi
Rock Salmon vs Estuary Perch Showdown feat Matt Wainright at Mgazi: Matt Wainright is on a mission this year. To make up for the last two years of lost fishing time. Due to the flood conditions that virtually wiped all fishing out for months on end. This time last year was flooding. And the year before.
El Nino
But El Nino is gonna be our salvation this year. It’s written in the stars that this is gonna be a dry year. And so far, so good. Have been keeping an eager eye on the charts and we are looking good. The cold fronts are being forced back by the easterlies of summer. Sometimes they even went backwards! These incessant east winds push the cold fronts out to sea and away from us.
This was not the case last year as every front that came through brought with it moisture-rich air that drenched us.
Wild Coast
After a couple of hugely successful sessions here at the Umzimkulu Marina earlier this year, Matt has set his sights on the wild waters of the Transkei.
Enjoy the picture show…
Rock Salmon vs Estuary Perch by Matt Wainright in Mgazi, deep Transkei Wild Coast
Mgazi!
This infamous estuary is host to countless and many untold fishing tales of a mighty calibre. There be monsters here. In a way, it is another perfect and pristine estuary as it meanders its merry way inland for quite some distance. All kinds of pools and features along the way.
Matt may aswell be the Transkei Navy with all the kit on his boat. And in a place like this, he get’s to use all of his toys. Note the wifi engine controlling watch on his wrist! Yip, whilst he is playing tug-of-war with these crazy fish, he can adjust the position of the boat! Mid-fight! And ace-out!
Transkei Gallery
The Transkei is full of rivers and estuaries like this one…Pic by artsurfer.nlThe Sarah Baardman on patrol in the TranskeiThe TSLA Turtle is now also solar-powered, along with the Umzimkulu in Port ShepstoneTranskei scenes as we wait for the sardine run 2021 to kick in properThis is Mdumbi, just south of MgaziWaves too!This is Mdumbi, just south of MgaziFreedom O Clock Views – This is Mdumbi, just south of Mgazi
Rock Salmon
This one hit Matt out the park. For about 5 seconds or so it was game on. But then that rockie realised something fishy was going on and simply spat the lure.
The MYDO Estuary Pack contains all you need to target estuary gamefishDejan Vujevic and his Umzimkulu Rock SalmonLiam van der Merwe releases all his rockies tooSean Lange releases all his rockies tooBens first Rock Salmon in the Umzimkulu EstuarySharene Rock Salmon Slayer
Estuary Perch
This most beautiful species of fish is also aggressive around trick baits. Matt has perfected the skipping paddletail trick and demonstrates exactly how it’d done. To maximum effect.
Umzimkulu River Perch
Trick baiting
No sinker or jighead. A very strong bass hook. Weedless.
Chuck it to the edge. You can skip this rig under foliage to get maximum penetration. Let the plastic flutter its way down to the bottom. Give it some motion. Believe that the fish is now checking your bait out.
“Be the bait you wanna be” – is my best advice.
Imagine you are pulling the puppet strings down there. Twitch. Crank a few times. Pop. Jerk. Drop. Miz all of these actions up and it won’t be long before you annoy that fish enough to pounce (just like bassin’).
While the going is this good – we best get fishing. Join us here in Port Shepstone for the estuary game fishing season. Stay with us and we will take you out on the water.
Mattski getting worked by the Kingfish of the Umzimkulu
Mattski getting worked by the Kingfish of the Umzimkulu KZN, South Africa. We don’t even take photos of the grunter and kob we catch at the jetty anymore.
Clean water
This was mid-March and the early dry season conditions that we are experiencing look to be holding. The water has been as clear as it ever gets and our cameras have been rolling. We are mainly filming action in the shallows. These hyped-up Kingfish swim incredibly fast and are challenging to get on tape.
Insta 360
But Mattski’s Insta 360 does a fantastic job of documenting the action from up top of the water. This camera captures everything that happens all around you. And you choose the angle during processing?! This thumps out an editable movie file. But you need never edit?! Matt gets it always just right.
Enjoy the picture show…
More Kingfish coming up
This was the first blacktip kingfish Matt got for the weekend. He had lost two before this little guy.
Then he hooked a bomber! At 3.2kgs, this fish put on a spectacular show for the guests staying and fishing here at the Umzimkulu Marina. They lined the bank and cheered Matt on. He tussled with this trophy fish for nearly ten whole minutes.
Blacktip Kingfish are tough as rubber. They release perfectly every time. It does say a lot for you as a gentleman if you fish for these fish with a single single. Rather than a treble. Or even two. Trebles damage fish. Sometimes beyond repair. This is not acceptable in an estuary.
More fish by Matt…
Matt and his wagon wheelMatt Wainwright down on the water at the Umzimkulu Marina with a fresh kobMatt Wainwright epic Weekend at the Umzimkulu with his Insta350 CameraMatt Wainwright and his 15kg ‘couta caught with a live mackeralAnd a shot of the Umzimkulu Marina swing chair…
Join us
If the rain holds off, we will be fishing. Contact Sean on +27793269671 or umzimkulu@gmail.com. You can also check out https://umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za for all kinds of fishing experiences to choose from.
