Author: Sean Lange

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No sardines to report

No sardines to report

Well the elusive little sardines have pulled a characteristic vanishing act. In fact the red eyes are back in the picture causing mild sensation at Park Rynie. Netters bagged a whole shoal on Wednesday.

Shad are also decidedly quiet this morning. Yesterday it was one every five minutes. But the average size has dropped down a few notches.

Its not really the right tides for salmon either at the moment. These quietening neap tides are almost over though…and there is always the hope of a stray garrick.

The biggest news of the season here on the lower south coast of kwazulu natal, was Dean Winn, on a rapala test run, after midnight, on the weekend. He got a certifiable kob smash right in the shorebreak just before he was to pull his lure out of the water. A big fish. And on light tackle, Dean set in for the battle. Which lasted over two hours. Up and down the Sandspit until finally a 150 plus kilogram zambezi lay on the beach, beat. Dean chucked it back after a stern talking to and gave up fishing for the night. Photo to follow…

 

Correspondents Jay Steenkamp and Debbie Smith are also rather quiet this morning. But, this is what the sardines do. Here the one day. Gone the next. Until bang. They come back in force.

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Rock n Surf update: hundreds of live baits for garrick

Rock n Surf update: hundreds of live baits for garrick

From very early this morning, in the dark…the carpark started to fill up. I was car number three and slowly I pulled out my 10ft and SL30 and started to assemble my gear. By the time I had threaded the eyes, five more cars had made their way down the precarious access. By the time I had ties my leaders and started to work my way down over the rocks in the dark, there were over twenty cars.

Those first guys went straight for the shad and one first cast later there was a livey out the back. And so the dawn unfolded. One, two, three, four, five, six…and more, live shad, spread out around The Block like a net.

In the meantime, tier two of the normally deserted carpark started to fill up. More shad anglers, not after live bait, they want shad! And shad they got. One every few minutes. One brave little guy went forward of the crew with a toby spoon and looked to be having the most fun, until the bait guys behind him became a problem. He retreated to the shorey but the fish were concentrated just in front of The Block.

So, another day dominated by shad, and crowds of shad fishermen.

And this scene repeated at every decent fishing spot between the north coast and East London. Must be hundreds, no, thousands of live baits swimming their last swims, this morning.

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Port St. Johns Humpback Whales by Offshore Africa

Port St. Johns Humpback Whales by Offshore Africa

Port St. Johns Humpback Whales
Port St. Johns Humpback Whales by Offshore Africa (c) Rob Nettleton

Port St. Johns Humpback Whales by Offshore Africa.

Offshore Africa whale spotters in Port St. Johns are having a bumper sardine run. Bringing with it the usual suspects. All sorts of whales. Dolphins. Sharks. Seabirds. It’s wild out there right now!

The sardines this year are spread out far and wide and not in concentrated shoals. This has made for more fun for everyone as the little fish elude the nets chasing after them all over the place. Not many successful nets went in so far this year, and although the action has slowed, conditions look great for this next spring tide cycle.

To try for a spot down in Port St. Johns with Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith and crew, click on over to their website, offshoreportstjohns.com.

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Sardine run makes for great deep sea fishing

Sardine run makes for great deep sea fishing

The 2015 sardine run makes for great fishing on the southern African eastern seaboard – as the little fishies light up the lives of reef and game fish up and down the coast.

Here featuring in thesardine.co.za, correspondent Marc Lange and his mates Koos and Andre Viviers reveal their catch from a days fishing out of Skollie Beach, on the KZN South Coast.

Catches like these are associated with the sardine run – this kind of fishing doesn’t happen every day – that for sure!

It’s been a great sardine and fishing run this year. The sardines have not pulled in en masse and their sporadic and widely distributed migration makes humans and fish alike come alive with the sardine fever.

The fish are notably shallower in the sardine run, and many musselcracker are being reported too.

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Deep sea fishing during the sardine run…Andre Viviers and a beautiful musselcracker taken shallow off Shelley Beach.
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That smile is says it all…the Geelbek love the sardine run too. Luckily they stick around for quite some time longer after the sardines have vanished. Geelbek are consistently being caught right up and down the entire eastern coastline at the moment.

 

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Hit the coast for some great shad fishing

Hit the coast for some great shad fishing

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Its all about the shad fishing this perfect morning on the eastern seaboard. The sun rose to greet a multitude of hungry shadders jostling for a chance at fresh fish for breakfast.

This shot was taken at The Block in Port Shepstone where fish were coming out one every five minutes. With many lines in the water, its just pleasurable fishing and everyone seems to be obeying the rules.

The biggest news so far is of a spearo at Pumula yesterday afternoon. Jumping in on lone shoal of sardines he saw and shot kingfish, Kob and grunter, all on one dive.

 

 

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