Fantastic Fishing Conditions for KZN by Adam Kamdar in Durban

Fantastic Fishing Conditions for KZN by Adam Kamdar in Durban: another lovely summer day unfolding in KZN. The rains seem to be holding off!

Over to Adam in Durban…

“It’s gonna be a real scorcher” – Adam

Another blustery and hot KZN summer’s day in Durban and throughout KZN. Stay in the shade!

Gallery Durban Today

Synoptic Chart Analysis

Those Guardian Angel high pressures spread out so nicely along 35 Degrees South are doing their level best to keep the impending summer rains at bay. The next cold front is aeons away in the west. It might have plans to join forces with the one below it, and together set an assault on sunny and dry Cape Town. This will only reach us here in KZN in about a week or more..

Until then we look to be blessed with fantastic early summer weather here in KZN.

Spearfishing

The Bear of The Master Watermen website yesterday posted his weekly roundup of spearfishing catches and news updates. In this episode, we have a huge wahoo shot up north. Over to The Bear…

Online YouTube report available here…
https://youtu.be/dN7J4COHtnU?si=tPxMIOweIWao9caw

So yes the water has warmed up to proper summer temperatures! 24 to 25 degC off Umkomaas and Durban bouys.
Summer fish are coming out Dorado, Wahoo, Couta, Snoek and Yellowfin tuna!

However, viz has been scarce to say the least! Guys dived the Shoal on the weekend and were back on the beach by 8am… only 8m viz and shakanado (shark) problems of note!

The Salties area was cleaning up yesterday but the SW last night did absolutely zero to help it out! Meh!

We have a NE wind blowing tomorrow and maybe that pushing against the inshore reverse current will bring that warm 25degc Moz water inshore.

Tide’s are heading towards neaps on the weekend and low is at 12h10 and high is at 06h10 and 18h12 tomorrow.
With the NE blowing tomorrow the fish should be on the feed in the morning so go get your fish on!

There is viz though… just put petrol and cruise up to Zululand and get yourself a bus Wahoo! Well done JP on a very long Wahoo on the weekend!

Aweh!

Fishing

Fishing in the sun! Well, you most likely gonna catch since the fishing has been so good recently. Everything is biting. The water is calm and warm at 22 degrees Celsius. And we welcome the gentle sea-breeze promising to blow all day.

Kob, garrick and some out-of-season shad are the main attraction. With 10 days to go for the shad season to open, we may aswell get rigged up already. MYDO Fishing Lures make a hybrid shad trace that catches all kinds of species of gamefish. In the surf, the estuary or along the backline. A moving fillet bait dressed in a duster and swum by a MYDO Silver Bullet Baitswimmer.

All you do is fillet up, wrapped in cotton, and cast. Gently retrieve and watch your bait swim through the water. The shad love a moving bait. This MYDO offering is a hybrid between a traditional drift bait and a moving artificial lure.

The traces are designed to hook right in the scissors with a small treble, at first bite. There is no striking foolishly whilst fishing with moving bait. All you need to do is lean into the fish as it hits. One bite, one hookup.

You can apply the principle to trolling in an estuary. Just set the drag at about one kilogram and off you go. Same for backline fishing. Watch out you don’t hook a snoek or something else bigger than you were expecting. The trace will handle it however.

This fillet bait presentation is a light version of the exact lures and baits we use to target big gamefish like king mackerel and sailfish, out at sea.

The following are the goods we sell to catch shad with…

https://thesardine.co.za/product-category/fishingtackle/mydo-lures/mydo-fishxfish-packs/shad

You can see the entire catalogue at https://thesardine.co.za/mydo or just get in touch on +27793269671 or umzimkulu@gmail.com. We like to work with you closely on your fishing requirements, please feel free to contact us with any enquiries you have or information you might need.

MYDO Silver Bullet Shad Trace

Surfing

We have no surfing news with no surf on any horizon near you. But if you are missing the waves that much, you can head on over to Brucifire Surf Retorts at https://brucifire.co.za and watch the best of the 2024 winter surfing season in the Jeffreys Bay zone. There is also some Mozambique surfing and travelling action there too.

Thanks

Shoutout to The Bear. Check his website at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

Alan of NPS Fishing…

Prof Tony Turton…

Cliff Bamber…

Mannie Joreiro…

Big thanks to Adam of Township Hyper for the daily reports from Durban…

Save time and money by checking out Township Hyper’s Facebook page. Full of fun, knowledge and promotions!

Sardines and Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 191,000 times and just keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and on
mydofishinglures.co.za – for international orders
masterwatermen.co.za – news from down deep
brucifire.co.za – surf retorting

Warm and Overcast KZN Summer Weather 19 Nov 24

Warm and Overcast KZN Summer Weather 19 Nov 24: Now this is the Natal summer we know and love. Overcast days. Glassy seas. Flat surf.

And fish!

Over to Adam with today’s early report from the Durban Beachfront…

Rock n Surf

It’s been a helluva week or so. Some dodgy weather and waters. But in between, some dialled-in anglers have been on fire. Kob is the name of the game right now. The discoloured water does not bother the kob at all. They actually love it. So along with the grunter, there is plenty motivation to be having a good pencil bait bobbing around a channel or a gulley near you. You don’t have to throw far!

Margate Pier has been fishing really well. The Sandspit too.

Deep-Sea

And on the backline, we even have a November couta caught. By kayaker on the North Coast – Aldeen! Nice fish man!

Mike Kemp out off Durban was ready and waiting to invite this pretty sailfish to the KZN summer gamefish season. Catch made off Durban, rumoured at Number One.

Dorado! Plenty. Along with the sailfish, swim the dorado. And just behind the dorado are the crazy striped marlin. That swim in shoals! These fish all love the halocline and so you don’t have to empty your fuel tanks to be in on the billfish action. The black marlin season up off Bazaruto in still in full swing. These fish also hover down to the halocline and shallower waters of KZN at this time of the year.

This video is a bit old; it is from about two seasons ago. It was taken on a day when we hooked 3 marlin and this lonely sailfish. Only the sailfish eventually got boatside.

Nice work Phillip!

And one more video, this of Professor Tony Turton, talking about his beloved halocline…

Estuary

Even with the brown water flowing, the fishing in the estuaries has been excellent. I can’t divulge much more than that!

Thanks

Shoutout to The Bear. Check his website at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

Alan of NPS Fishing…

Prof Tony Turton…

Big thanks to Adam of Township Hyper for the daily reports from Durban…

Save time and money by checking out Township Hyper’s Facebook page. Full of fun, knowledge and promotions!

Sardines and Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 191,000 times and just keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine

What a Day to be Out There KZN Cooking Conditions by Adam Kamdar. Plus Catch Report!

What a Day to be Out There KZN Cooking Conditions by Adam Kamdar. Plus Catch Reports Plus Catch Report!!: Yep, another beautiful KZN day unfolds. Light winds. 23 Degrees water. The beginning of a good spring tide. Conditions are great for fishing. And the fish are around.

Over to Adam with today’s ocean conditions report PLUS the recent catch report…

Catch Report

Summer has started without even giving spring notice. It is a bit chilly today, but warming fast here on KZN South Coast. And well, the catches…and this catch by Kyle and mate recently, tells a very cool story!

Wahoo, tuna and dorado!

Some rivers, including the Umzimkulu, have blasted out plumes of brown water. Almost orange really.

But!

Some fish love the brown. Check out the inshore catch report collection…

The halocline, where the brown meets the blue, is where the Dorado roam. Aswell as billfish, and the toothy critters like wahoo and couta. And tuna!

This incredible phenomenon occurs right on our doorstep. The halocline normally lives upstream in the river. Where it moves in and out with the tides (tide pulse). This is what we chase in the river all day long. It is blue down under the brown since salt water is more dense than fresh.

Then it starts to rain about this time of the year, and the halocline is expelled out to sea (flood pulse). It is this movement of the halocline that triggers off so many important biological instances. And has been happening forever.

A trick is to find a spot that is brown – but that has clean water underneath it. This is where to chuck a bait.

Thanks

Shoutout to The Bear. Check his website at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

Alan of NPS Fishing…

Big thanks to Adam of Township Hyper for the daily reports from Durban…

Save time and money by checking out Township Hyper’s Facebook page. Full of fun, knowledge and promotions!

Sardines and Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 191,000 times and just keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
masterwatermen.co.za – news from deep down

Early Report from Adam Kamdar in Durban 12 November 2024 at 6h30

Early Report from Adam Kamdar in Durban 12 November 2024 at 6h30: Well, it’s not raining! Light drizzle may be in some places. But for now, between Durbs and Sheppy, we have a lovely day unfolding. The east is gonna blow later, but let’s pop on over to Adam on the scene on the Durban Beachfront.

Thank you Adam!

Synoptic Analysis

That was a mean burst of rain and many rivers either went brown or actually broke out into the ocean. The Umgeni River in Durban broke though and discoloured the ocean in the area. Creating great conditions for Natal Snoek who love the greeny/brown.

For now, the high-pressure systems (dry) are doing their level best to keep the low-pressure (wet) systems at bay. But that next cold front, a day or so away from squaring Cape Town, looks the business. More rain for KZN next week when that thing arrives!

Sewage Report

Luckily, this early stormwater seems quite clean. The really tepid water waiting patiently inland will make its way down to the coast with the first decent floods. Just in time for the tourists. In the meantime, we are in good shape and ocean users can be happy with the water quality in KZN for now.

This cyclical nature of the wet season and dry season is what the politicians use to exempt themselves of any blame. They also use the tides. By the time they get to the beach or lagoon to inspect, a few spring tides have gone by and most of the visible and smellable sewage is long gone. This is where the currents are also used as the sewage is spread up and down the coast, it’s difficult to pinpoint where it all came from in the first place.

So they all just do the ANC shrug and look in a different direction. Even the DA have perfected the ANC shrug. Our DA councillors are literally ineffective as raw sewage crosses Sugar Mill Rd in Port Shepstone all day every day. The DA councillor says that the municipality does not have the money to pump the sewage to the works and so it spills out over the road. Is that his job? To report back to us the ANC excuse?

What has become apparent, is that the ANC put cadres in power, who do not have the technical ability to keep a sewage system working. They are all in trouble, dysfunctional or hardly working. There is a chemical that comes in drums (neutraliser), that is supposed to get mixed in the raw sewage at the plant. To nullify its potency as poisonous. Then, this neutral water is meant to go back into the nearest river. Where it makes its way to the next town. They suck it up, treat it. And put it back. For the next town. And so on.

What happens if the town at the top, doesn’t put the drum of chemicals?

And this is why our vice-president Paul M finally has something to do. To prove that he is a good guy. Check it out!

This next video is by a local from Umkomaas who seems to know a thing or two about the sewage and how it is supposed to treated. A big thank you for this submission. It is now processed and logged and shall be used as evidence by Afriform and the The Public Protector – who have both already been using this ever-growing database of misdeeds and neglect by the ANC run UGU, to do their work with. And now even the vice-president is going to benefit from this community-driven movement against non-service delivery.

Thanks

Shoutout to The Bear. Check his website at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

Big thanks to Township Hyper for the daily reports from Durban…

Our Umkomaas local caring dude…

Save time and money by checking out Township Hyper’s Facebook page. Full of fun, knowledge and Black November promotions!

Sardines and Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 191,000 times and just keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
masterwatermen.co.za – news from deep down
fishbazaruto.com – your dreams are out there

11 November 2024: KZN Rainy Season has Started by Adam Kamdar in Durban

11 November 2024 KZN Rainy Season has Started by Adam Kamdar in Durban: the rainy season seems to have snuck in. The weather can be really weird and adverse as this happens.

One person I know who gets it mostly all right is Adam Kamdar in Durban…

Thank you Adam of Township Hyper, link to Facebook Promotions page HERE…

Gallery

Synoptic

After all the authentic (and also bogus) weather warnings circulated over the weekend, we seem to have gotten away with it just fine. Some rain. Some wind. Even some thunder and lightning. But no winds of 120 kmh! What makes people circulate this crap is beyond me. Because these days, between the commercial websites and the government ones, if they contradict themselves…who do we believe?

Rainy Season

I got a message from my stalwart friend in Harding last night. It sent chills down my spine. It read, “Raining proper now really winding it”. In a skrik, I went down to the jetty here at the Umzimkulu Marina and checked the boats. In the soaking rain we were having here in Port Shepstone at the time. And put more mooring lines!

But what worried more than an early flood, was his next message. And it read, “Ok I see the Umzimkulwana starting to rise now it’s been flat whole weekend”. For the Umzimkulwana is what brings the sewage water from Harding town’s broken sewerage system, to Port Shepstone. And the rest of the coast. And makes tourists sick and go to hospital.

My friend in Harding is Mr. Bertie Strydom. A seasoned cattle farmer in the area. He farms along the edge of the Umzimkulwana. And has lost a terrifying number of cattle and calves, to Anthrococcis Fikkilis. From drinking the water out of the Umzimkulwana River. The one that joins the Umzimkulu at St. Helens Rock. About one kilometre from the drinking water abstraction plant for the entire Port Shepstone area.

Recently, UGU and some other municipalities have finally conceded and has issued warnings about rather boiling the tap water from your municipality, before using it. Because it is most likely contaminated. And the ANC vice-president David Whatever has issued a statement about laying criminal charges against certain individuals and municipalities responsible for their respective roles in their relative debacles.

Back to Harding…

Basically, the sewerage works has been neglected and is not able to process the sewage coming from the town. During load-shedding, the pumps that move the sewage down and under the highway to the sewerage plant just stopped working. And now the whole place has sewage everywhere. It stinks. Same as every other town or city in South Africa at the time. The sewage overflows and runs down the streets. Across parks. Through schools. Hospitals. Harding is a prime example of how the ANC are so incapable corrupt and dishonest.

When a group of children gained free access to the unattended sewage plant in Harding, a 4 year old fell into the raw sewage and drowned in it.

When the Farmer’s Dam meant to service the water requirements for local Harding farmers went green due to eutrophication, the municipality inspected and said it was green paint. I don’t think they realise that if you pour raw sewage into a holding dam, the organisms that try to process the sewage (green-coloured algae) consume all the oxygen in that water. Then everything dies. And the water goes that black inky colour. In this water, all kinds of pathogens and germs thrive.

AND!

They get to interact with the drugs and medicine that are part and parcel of human sewage. Anti-retrovirals. Oestrogen. Anti-biotics. And can form variations of themselves that are immune to these treatments. A cesspit of super germs becoming ever more resistant to modern medicines.

No, they can’t see this. Because nobody ever showed them. And they never took the time to find out. ANC Municipalities are based on Cadre deployment. Not engineering prowess.

Anyway, this tepid poisonous water has been sitting in the Harding Farmers Dam, for the entire dry season of 2024. It’s been the same all the many years of neglect before this. I was up there with Afriforum a few months back, we visited the dam, and it was bright green in one corner.

And the rest had that black lifeless look and colour. That comes after eutrophication (green). Really bad water doesn’t really have ripples or little waves. And is black or dark brown in colour. The surface tension is so high so it looks calm. Beware of water like this. In fact, do not swim in ANY dam in this country right now. Even Albert Falls is falling victim to sewage-induced algal blooms (bright green) right now. And this is exactly where people in Durban and surrounds, receive their drinking water from.

The entire country is a toilet under the reign of the ANC. Even without load shedding, the sewage still flows. ANC sewage. And it does not just evaporate or disappear. It comes straight back to haunt in the form of sick tourists and other ocean users.

Duty to Warn

Is a law. So if you run a ratepayers association – like they do in say Ramsgate on the KZN South Coast. And you test the water in your lagoon or beach for e-coli and any other dangers. And the results are bad. So bad in fact that your little committee decides not to make the results available. They keep the information from the press and the public.

This is a criminal act.

As a citizen, your social contract demands from you, that if you see a fellow human walking into danger that you know about, you have a duty to warn that person.

Or you are breaking the law.

by Sean Lange

Dive Report

From the Bear earlier when the internet was working…it has been broken all day hence the late posts!

Viz Report at Cave Rock in Durban by The Bear …

The ever-optimistic Bear Report broadcast from Cave Rock on the Bluff in Durban, KZN. Where the water seems clean. And getting cleaner. We just gotta hold out on the hope that this soaking rain will remain just a soaking rain and not come bucketing down. Making the whole place brown!

Thanks

Shoutout to The Bear. Check his website at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

Big thanks to Township Hyper for the daily reports from Durban…

Save time and money by checking out Township Hyper’s Facebook page. Full of fun, knowledge and promotions!

Sardines and Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 191,000 times and just keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
masterwatermen.co.za – news from deep down
fishbazaruto.com – your dreams are out there