Staying calm on a really big fish can make the difference.
We were patrolling the shallows on a slow, beautiful day off Barra. So clean we could see the bottom. All sand with the odd rock or starfish dotted about. We were riding a front console boat – a Cobra Cat, splashing down a few coldies and staring into the aquarium in front of us – as we cruised with the sun behind us.
At about 6 knots, hoping for a Natal Snoek in these waters, lo and behold, a young marlin appears in front of us. We are literally riding straight over it. The three of us at the front simultaneously errupted into our infamous war cry – maaaaaarliiiiiiin!
That fish got the fright of it’s life and literally tail walked away from us – leaving us in hysterics, but no marlin.
It is well established that fish are sensitive to sounds and the goings-on about them. Staying calm on a big marlin is one of the secrets to getting the fish away nice and easy and after a short fight. Rather than a long protracted ordeal which we don not want.
You can see how the professionals do it, right here on this video…which Captain Duarte Rato, dug out of his video archives, and sent to me to make something with…as we navigate through this idiotic Lockdown.
So there you have it. Stay as calm as you can and try to impart some of that calmness onto your crew, and onto the fishT the featured fish above was very well behaved for an animal so very green. Staying calm on the boat certainly contributes to the overall situation.
Once again – a testament to the talent and experience that this crew have amassed whilst spending decades fishing for beasts like that black marlin – and other fish in that class. In the absolutely insane waters of the Bazaruto Archipelago.
Duarte Jnr at 7 yrs old release his first Mozambique Marlin
Duarte Jnr at 7 yrs old release his first Mozambique Marlin: just please don’t ask if it’s black or a blue?!
Congratulations go out to young Duarte Rato Jnr, who, all on his own, and on his spinning outfit, caught and released his first Mozambique Marlin!
At age 7!
If a marlin can live to about 30. And a human say, 75. Then that marlin and Duarte Jnr would be about the same age! Cool stuff Duarte Jnr, I’ll start changing all the search terms to you instead of your Dad!
Yip, the FishBazaruto.com team took advantage fo a super-flat and calm day, to get out there and drag a bait or two around the inshore reefs and banks. And unbelievably, Duarte Jnr hooked up and fought the feisty little guy to the boat for a good few pics and a great release.
It’s been great watching these two kids growing up. Duarte Jnr has a little brother, Dario, who was just so amped about Duarte Jnr’s fish and was super-stoked to pose along with Duarte’s third kid, this one adopted – the ever-enthusiastic newbie angler – Diogo Martins (45 yrs young)! Otherwise knows as Diablo!
Anyway, it’s a helluva team that FishBazaruto.com present during the lockdown and other recreational times – or when customers are just simply not in existence!
That said…Mozambique’s absolute and outright victory at the Covid Competition might see people heading up to Bazaruto, correctly, as a safe-haven.
Just got to wonder when those borders are gonna be opened up?!
Get in touch if you like heading up thataway for a real escape sometime when it’s possible again. Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27793269671.
See you there!
We run a YouTube Channel jam-packed with as much video as we can make, and we are on FaceBook too.
Rock salmon, river snapper, red roman, mangrove jack…
Tis’ the season again! We need clean water to fish lures in the Umzimkulu and the other bigger estuaries on the KZN coastline. And thankfully as of this weekend, it’s clean!
We spent the night out on Saturday and came back with these photos. None of them were rock salmon. Although we had some massive strikes during the middle of the evening, we never got anything out until the morning light.
Thats when Chris Woodley got into a lovely perch on a live mullet. And then a few more baby koblets, some real tiny ones too. The river is full up of baitfish and fry. Check the babiest shad we ever have seen! Unfortunately Chelsea dog got to it before us?!
But no rockies on this trip!
Rock Salmon
Video recap of this time last year.
Last year this time – pro angler Shaun Begg joined us down in the hibiscus mangroves, channels and mud-banks in the Umzimkulu Mouth area, last year this time. To increase his already substantial species list. Before Lockdown 2020. And the rock salmon, grunter and perch were there.
Here rolls on one of the videos we were lucky enough to make when Shaun was getting really busy meeting up with the rock salmon down at the jetty, at the Umzimkulu Marina.
Shaun Begg having all the fun with that light tackle and fiesty rockie…
Flicking lures
And it’s smack bang in the good rock salmon season right now. Not too cold in the river valleys yet. And the water is crystal clear in the rivers. Making for great lure fishing – casting or trolling along the channels is endless fun when the time is right.
This time of the year at the Umzimkulu is also very interesting in that the river slows with the dry season. And it actually shuts eventually! Trapping the shoals of marauding gamefish therein. Garrick. Kob…all sorts of gamefish that use the rivers in winter!
Live-bait
Using a well presented and rigged live-bait is surely the easiest way to bag a nice rock salmon. Circle hooks increase hook-up ratios by some margin and we have converted totally to them now. The circles trake some getting used to but once you get the hang of not striking, it al;l comes together nicely.
Otherwise, a well-placed sard-head is almost as good as a live bait and like a livey, anything serious will take it.
Trolling
But the most fun has got to be slow-trolling the channels and casting in towards the hibiscus trees on the shoreline, And watching a 5lb swirl turn into a volcanic eruption as the fearsome rock salmon lets loose on the surface.
Ferocious in the strike. Is what made the fish legendary and deserving of yet another name – bestowed upon as an honour by the locals in Kwazulu Natal – ‘Nkulu-nKulu’.
Ok…over to the gallery of rock salmon / mangrove jack / river snapper etc…to entice whomever thinks they are up to a rock salmon, to get in touch.
As you can well see, we are well obsessed with these fish and we just cannot wait for guests to join us down on the Umzimkulu River estuary mouth waters this winter season.
Where the nights are coooold, but the fishing is HOT!
Get in touch to arrange a weekend or a mid-week break. Contact Sean on +27793269671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com.
There is more information right here. We have many options – we can just day fish on the river cruiser. Or night-fish. But it’s real cool when you stay with the team at the Umzimkulu Marina. Since you are able to dial in much better and quicker. You can also fish non-stop from the jetties out front, which is honestly where most of the fish we catch, come from. it’s also where we net bait – prawns and crabs and things. And mullet! Almost every mullet turns into a fish.
Get in touch!
We run a YouTube Channel full of fishing action, and you can stay in touch with us on our Facebook page.
The Giant King Mackerel we are referring to does not live in South Africa. Or Mozambique for that matter. Oh no, you will only find this guy hanging around the China Sea.
And man, does he get big.
Giant King Mackerel 72kgs by Voyages de Peche
This fish looks just like a giant version of our king mackerel, In fact, it could be named the goliath king mackerel, in the vein of the goliath tiger, because these fish get double the size of our regular king mackerel – the old Scomberomerous Commerson. The new guys is called Scomberomerous Sinensis.
Yes…double…the size!
And so this collection of articles from China and Taiwan, is all about these monsters and finding a way to getting to them ourselves…
Chinese seerfish live in the pelagic-neritic, amphidromous, freshwater, brackish, marine, in a depth range of a mere 10 m or less environment. They go up rivers!
Other names: Chinese seerfish, West African Spanish mackerel, Sarawa. More
The giant of the Mackerel, the Chinese Seerfish is found in the China Sea! Monsters Chinese Mackerels have been caught, some weighting 100 kgs or more!
Related to the Chinese seerfish and American king mackerel, this fish is always caught close to reef systems.
These guys are charter fishers out of South Korea. They just take this in their stride as they jig up the Giant King Mackerel for guests. The fish don’t even make it to top spot as all sorts of other species preceded it in the post?!
Article 4
Some pics, and a YouTube video, of an 89kg, 2.31m fish being landed from a rock pier?! On a coffee grinder!
89kgs. 231cm. This fish is a beast. And you can really see how the crowd appreciate the show. According to the prices gathered from Article 1 above, this fish is worth R200 000?!
This article could also be referring to our king mackerel which they also catch in China – called ‘Platinums’! But judging by the size of the fish in this market, the jury is gonna be out forever.
Article 9
Summary
??HOLY MACKEREL ?? 37 years ago today, Boo-Il was trolling the waters off Kwan-Tall Island, Korea, when he hooked into this 131kg (288-lb, 12-oz) Chinese seerfish. After a 52 minute fight, the fish was officially weighed and still stands as the IGFA All-Tackle World Record today. pic.twitter.com/b5DBlPczGU
Lockdown 2020 Fishing Report: some people are allowed to fish!
As it turned out – some lucky fish are allowed to fish!
This from the powers-that-be…
FROM FACEBOOK:
“My response below remains the same. The only persons allowed to fish in KZN are registered commercial fishers with long terms rights and recognized and registered small-scale fishing cooperatives who have been allocated small-scale fishing rights. No one is allowed to fish on a recreational permit during lockdown
I cannot make this any clearer“
Reply from Acting Deputy Director Sea Fisheries Sue Middleton . Just for info! This was as a result of an enquiry forwarded to DAFF of issues as clarified in her response!
And so…with that cleared up…
Other lucky anglers who are able to fish are those who are fortunate enough to be living at a place where fishing out front of their house or apartment is possible. Richards Bay and a few places in the Cape come to mind.
Lucky fish!
Up in Mozambique licensed boats are also allowed out there, and you can see a magnificent day’s light tackle fishing with Captain Duarte Rato and his boys right here…
And so then there are the commercial and semi-commercial deep-deep sea fishing boats here in South Africa, this one in Shelley Beach to be exact…
Fishing Report Lockdown 2020: Darren Poole with the biggest king mackerel taken this year so far, down on the KZN South Coast. 40!
The fish that really brought this report about, is the featured fish – a 40 kg couta, taken out of Shelley Beach yesterday! Darren, of the Poole family, who have been fishing commercially down on the KZN South Coast since the 1980’s features as top weight this time! Glen, the old man now, is renowned for his penchant for wafty mono-hulls. Centre consoles. That ride really well and we can always spot Glen and crew for miles bow up as they ride back up against the current for another drift across Protea drifting for yellowfin. Or couta!
More details of this fish will follow but in the meantime it’s the biggest of the year so far. In what has turned out to be some kind of yearly hunt for the out-sized king mackerel that visit this time of the year. In KZN waters.
These are really big fish – we are talking 30kg’s and up. And they are here to breed. Which is another reason this virus can definitely be seen as mother nature at work. At least these breeding fish, that normally get hammered each year, will also be getting a break and next years fish should, or could be a lot more plentiful. And the big ones who escaped the traces this year will be one year older and bigger too next year!
This breeding pattern of these fish is observable, but also really difficult to explain. Since the prevailing currents winds it non-stop down to the cold south. Theoretically taking the spawn and then larvae with it. To the chilly Cape waters. Well also, nutrient-rich Cape waters.
So, perhaps, the tiny fishies, make it to the surf zone and estuaries as fry (as the scientists attest), where there is a reverse current, heading northwards. Perhaps this is how they make their way up into the Mozambique waters, where is there is a lot of bait, and one year later, they are just about catchable (1-2kgs). And would have made their way all the way up to Somalia and beyond. Where small couta are plentiful. 90% if the couta caught there are tiny.
What a mystery!? In an attempt to unravel it…some science…
King Mackerel growth and life cycle
Female king mackerel get bigger than males, as is the case with most fish. But not so much bigger, it looks to be about 10%. So the following graph can be applied to both sexes. Plus many couta are either skinny or fat – it’s wild how much a fish of the same length can actually vary at the scale. It is a graph that I made up from various sources on the internet, which I will list at the end of the show.
As you can see, a couta like Darren’s, is about 20 years old. Meaning that, at 50kg plus, Roger Davidsons (52kg gutted) fish from a few years back, might have been 25, or more! And the odd 70kg specimen, yip – recorded by commercials, well, how old could that fish be? But these really big fish escape the census that scientists in the East conduct. In that area, as I said earlier, the fish are predominantly 1 to 2 years old. About 1-3kgs – I have seen these fish – so much fun on light tackle. The only other place I have seen them, is behind Paradise Island in the Bazaruto Archipelago. Where these tiny little couta shoal and hunt together. They take a well-presented spoon and can represent hours and hours of fun on ultra-light tackle. Why they come here and not anywhere else in the Archipelago is anyone’s guess. Ask Duarte maybe.
But way down south here where we are, we seldom get a fish under 4 or 5kg’s. 5 Years old or so. And as of late, the average size of the couta taken down south where we are – is waaaaay above that size. I would estimate that the average-sized couta taken down here these days is about 20 something kilograms?!
Breeding stock.
We ought to leave them alone. But, when these big fish have just spawned, they literally go crazy and smash anything you put in the water…you try and lines up and head home. A tagging kit comes to mind.
Some pics…from seasons gone by…
Kicker
And now, the kicker…who ever heard of a Chinese Seer Fish? Or Giant King Mackerel? A close relative of the king mackerel that we know and love…
This one went 72.5kgs and was taken on light tackle…just recently during the Phuket Angling Tournament. Click the image for the link to the original story.
The world record, is drum roll…131kgs!
83kg Chinese Seer Fish or ‘Giant King Mackerel’
And guess what else, these monster mackerel cruise right up river to hunt. In fact one was caught 300kms up the Mhekong Delta!!!
“The Chinese Seerfish or giant king mackerel (Scomberomorus sinensis) it is the biggest of the king mackerel family. Seems to grow up to 150 – 170 pounds but fishes well over 180 pounds have been taken. This monster mackerel lives in Pacific Ocean from Sea of Japan throughout the Yellow Sea and south Vietnam. Like other mackerel this fish is a voracious predator and can be found in small schools. Very little is know about this big pelagic predator.”
Full story about the Chinese Seer Fish to follow on The Sardine News…!!!
A few of the many sources I have drawn information from for this report:
