Protea Reef delivers the goods again and again: guest stars Eric (Queensland, Oz) and Neville (‘Toti, KZN) joined us for a very friendly high tide launch two mornings in-a-row. What luck!
Watch the video right here and read all about it below…
Day 1
Brown water extended to the horizon with a stiff but pleasant offshore breeze blowing against a small sea. Luckily, Protea Reef would be comfortable in these cool wintery conditions.
20 Minutes later and we already had live bait. I was counting down in my head. Most times it only takes 10 or 20 seconds to have your live bonito or tuna munched. Hopefully by a scorching fast gamefish, must most times once again, it’s a johnny. A big one. There are just so many huge sharks hanging out on Protea Reef. And they don’t seem to go anywhere. They love it here. Plus there are so many free meals presented by charitable sport fisherman using light tackle! In one day they can each get two or three free meals by hanging on either of the two pinnacles.
But…
Our live baits never had a touch. They were panicking properly but Neville was having far more action with his perfectly tuned plug ‘n play outfit sporting 80lb braid and leaders to match. He was getting smashed and chased and smashed and chased until we lost count.
Then it was Eric’s turn as he held on to the flick stick meant for bonito – which turned out to have another spirited yellowfin on the other end. These little fish on light tackle! What fun! Eric also had a run of yellowfin action, all perfect bait sized.
But the live baits still survived, which is remarkable for Protea Reef. But all of a sudden. A HUGE tiger shark came up from the depths and devoured first the big bait. And then another followed up and grabbed the small bait?! All in a few seconds?! After those baits lasted for hours!
Neville Coetzer tied to a monster tiger shark on Protea Reef recently
Day 2
The brown water lined itself up properly overnight as the Agulhas current hemmed it up against the coastline. Making a really decent seam which we committed to. Bait was easy to get and we did a nice strike that really could have been a dart couta but we will never know as it shook the hooks professionally just before we could see his colour. Got to lose some fish or it will get boring!
The brown water line off Port Shepstone is really hot for dorado and billfish at this time of the year.
The good weather is coming and the Umzimkulu is real friendly and nicely navigable at the moment. Get in touch if you would to either join us at sea like this trip or fish the estuary. Or the Sandspit.
Check out the accommodation and setting of the Umzimkulu Marina at http://umzimkulu.co.za.
I asked Duarte to put together a quick guide on how to accurately and quickly identify the differences between our mighty black and majestic blue marlins. And he sure did!
Starting with characteristically typical behavioural traits…
Like…that first run. Duarte goes on to demonstrate a blue marlin’s anger under full steam – with a video insert. Of a blue marlin greyhounding in literally every direction winding up nearly in the boat tearing off hundreds of metres of line in the process. Just the sound of the ratchet in the video is worth clicking for.
Then Duarte goes on to explain the differences in the way blue and black marlin perform in the air. Subtle differences that when applied to the whole picture, reveal the true identity of what you have on the end of your line.
Biological differences are then detailed, starting with the bill and facial details. Shoulder width and girth. Weight distribution is important.
And then the easy clues. The shape and direction that they point, of the pectoral fins. And the fact that the pectorals of a blue can fold right flat against it’s body like a tuna. Whereas a black’s does not. However. There are differences to this rule, especially amongst smaller fish. And rigor mortis can confuse people even further.
The dorsal is another quick reference clue and will help as you put the picture together before shouting out “Blue!” or “Black!”.
And so is the shape and proportion of the bills. They are vastly different in shape and girth.
The gill rakers too, which have an untypable name – also factor into the equation.
The article carries images to demonstrate, and judging by the strong reactions on Facebook, really is going down well.
Keep up the good work Duarte! This article is a real cracker pal! – Xona
You can stay informed and in touch with the FishBazaruto crew as they ply the waters of Inhaca Island, right at this link. Out the back are some hectic reef and shelf features – in deep water – where the blue marlin can be found this time of the year.
Get in touch if you are keen to target blue marlin, next year though. We are fully booked for the Santa Maria / Inhaca blue marlin bite. An incidental bycatch are the striped marlin, and sailfish, that also favour the conditions and featured found out the back of Inhaca. Not to mention the huge wahoo!
Get in touch with Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com if you are keen on any blue marlin action for next year, February through March. Inhaca and/or Santa Maria. Also available on WhatsApp on +27 79 326 9671.
Check out our Trips and Travel page right here, for all of our many options, to go fishing, in some exciting place in Southern Africa!
Fishing family takes down proper perch on the ‘Kulu
Acanthopagrus berda Forsskål, 1775 (Goldsilk seabream) goldsilk seabream, sly bream or picnic seabream seems to be the fish we are talking about here. (if you know any better please let us know we have been experiencing some signal loss when identifying certain fish lately) We just call them river perch, or perch.
So the very next session after our fishing family caught that awesome flagtail down at the estuary mouth area (see that video here), the next early morning, literally in the dark, we set out on the river. Navigating north this time, up to the big hole and deeper waters under the cliff.
Along the way, stopping at a recently collapsed tree full of weaver birds. Making nests frantically. After trying for a good twenty minutes we moved on. We need to spend a lot more time at this particular spot. Those big rock salmon will be stopping by there on patrol for sure. Waiting for a chick or two to fall in!
Moored up against the rocks at the base of the cliff, this is real nature. Fish eagles said good morning their own jovial way. All sorts of birds were out and about. Herons. Hawks. We even had a tern fly by?!
But the fishing was slow and aside from a few bites it was almost too quiet for my liking. But then our fishing dad had a huge Mangrove aka Santola crab at the surface. And true to form, as we contemplated how to grab him before he grabbed us, he let go. I was already tasting the curry!
Another slow hour went by and all of a sardine – Bang! Momma fish was bending. In fact, the fish was now peeling line. And with a real tight drag, the fish was literally pulling her down the boat towards the back. The boys all jumped in to help, relieving Momma of her bending rod. All having a go at trying to tame this mean fish. Eventually, the rod made it to Dad. This is a true fishing family!
After a solid and prolonged fight on the light tackle, the tired but angry perch came to the boat and the tiny hook was visibly only holding on by a thread. Luck was on our side and the fish hit the deck with a solid thump!
Perch are superb gamefish. Aggressive and wily at the same time. Those times when you just get a solid thump of a bite, and let’s go immediately – that’s most likely him knocking at your door.
Most times with perch though, you don’t even have to feed to strike. Just hit him back as he bites and hopefully your hook is sharp enough and finds home. Smaller hooks are easier, but if you are releasing most fish, as we all do these days, sometimes the smaller hooks go right inside. Causing complications. I like to use a 3/0 circle hook in the river so that I don’t get tangled with too many smaller fish. And I hook up far better like this too.
Circle hooks are definitely the way to go, whatever size you choose to fish. If you are releasing fish, your survival rate will go right up if you use circles. Many anglers on our trips have not made this revelation out yet, and often the hook sets way down in the fish’s stomach. No good.
Noel Labuschagne and his cute little Umzimkulu perch, about to go back.
Baits for perch are very much the same as you would use for kob or rock salmon. The ever-reliable sardine head with guts hanging out, on a bigger 5/0 circle hook, put’s you in the game for all the trophies you can find in the Umzimkulu River. Fresh prawn. Squid. The fish in the video above was caught on a beautifully prepared bait – a juicy mixed grill lovingly put together by Shaun the fishing Dad, for his wife. Who hooked the fish almost immediately!
Live baiting for perch
Perch are actually aggressive enough to have produced many double and triple header strikes here in the river. They hang out in shoals and are pretty easy to locate and hunt. There are quite a few features in the river, that hold perch consistently. One place is a wall running down the middle of the river, that goes for about 200 meters, they can always be spotted here on the sounder. The other spot is close to Spiller’s, where the old bridge used to be. Some pieces of the old structure are still above the mud – perfect for ambushing perch.
Chuck in a live mullet at any of these spots, on a decent tide, and hold on tight! I like to fish without a sinker when I live bait – makes for thrilling one on one direct feel. But a small ball sinker in front of the swivel means a bit more control for you. Hook in the front somewhere. Ideally thread the circle hook Catalina style (just like for marlin) giving the live bait the most chance of finding a convincing a fish to eat.
Prawns are plentiful and right on the very top of all the predator fish favourite food list in this estuary. I have been lucky enough to fish a 6 inch long live tiger prawn, which became a trophy grunter in less than a few minutes, down at Spiller’s Wharf on the south bank too. There are quite a few species of prawn here in the Kulu. And don’t put your live mullet and live prawns in the same bucket – the prawns always win! I also like to fish the prawn without any sinker or float, but they can hide away in the mud/sand. So, A small sinker in front of the swivel, and a small float near the prawn keeps the prawn in the water column and not hiding out somewhere invisible. Place the circle hook right in the tip of the tail for best results when fishing a live prawn.
Then this nice fish, was caught right up at the top, in the deepest section that we can get to. It gets down to 12 metres after some good rains. But in this spot, up against the side, it’s about 4 metres deep – going deeper. This spot is also where I caught that little Zambezi Shark on a bass lure. For real! Luckily I have proof…
We are operating down on the Umzimkulu River right now, based back at the Umzimkulu Marina, and it’s on! The ocean has also settled and the colour line looks phenomenal these days as the current sweeps it along the coastline to the south.
We have been lucky with a good run of dorado so far. Check out some recent action on the Niteshift right here. And a double hit of dorado news from http://umzimkulu.co.za right here.
The Port Shepstone lighthouse. Great photo opportunities around here.
We are offering accommodation and fishing trips on the Umzimkulu River. And if conditions allow for safe launching, we can take a few lucky anglers out to sea. To chase dorado, striped marlin, sailfish and beeeeg ‘couta, as the hot season kicks in.
This is what you can expect…
If you want some of this KZN South Coast seasonal action, let’s goooooo!
Get in touch with Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27793269671, to chat about options, tides and dates.
Fresh in from the ORI team, this is the report as compiled last year, for the tagging summary of 2018. The 2019 results are also going to be on their way soon too. But in the meantime, please enjoy the throroughly enjoyable ORI Tagging News #48.
Please see the 48nd edition of the Tagging News attached (results from 2018).
You can download the report as a PDF file by clicking on the following link:
And a short introduction from the tagging news team at ORI in Durban…
As many of you are aware we had some website issues late last year which delayed us in releasing the Tagging News to you before the end of 2019, and for this we apologize. Please note that you can expect the 33rd edition of the Tagging News (results from 2019) to be released later this year as well.
Nonetheless, we hope that you enjoy this exciting edition which shows some very interesting catch trends with some new species making their way into the top 10 list. We also had an exciting fight for top tagger in 2018 which was decided by a mere 7 tags. This edition also has some interesting articles on the new MPAs that have been proclaimed, the largest giant kingfish aggregation on record, and movement patterns of the giant guitarfish.
The Sardine News team aligned with the Oceanographic Institute tagging program, at it’s inception in 1987. Way back then, when Mr. Rudi van der Elst started the program, in conjunction with real cool sponsors, Sedgewicks Old Brown Shery, the unique idea was strange to us all.
But Rudi, in his charismatic style and manner, soon convinced us all. And at a stage, Rudi practically took over our league fishing jaunts, for his tagging programs. Soon there were weight limits on fish. Tagged fish were included in the count. And the Lower South Coast Deep Sea gang started fishing for conservation.
Our best day ever was when fishing in a league event, the Niteshift headed straight for local hangout -The Block, down in front of Port Shepstone. A few boats joined us, and we collectively tagged over 50 garrick, in one day!
And so, a big hats off to Mr. Rudi van der Elst, for conceiving and implementing, this valuable conservation program. And to the many, many colleagues and citizens, who helped along the way. Too many for my memory to mention!
Come and join us tagging and releasing fish up and down the Southern African coastline. Right now, we also have the formidable challenge of tagging huge sharks with sonar tags. This happens up in Mozambique and if you would like to be involved, please get in touch.
And if it’s tagging and releasing gamefish you are after, we can do this right the way up and down. Just recently we have been tagging estuary fish like grunter, kob, and rock salmon.
Casting lesson #1: look behind you before you throw
Casting is integral to your fishing experience. And. It’s sometimes tricky dangerous. Take it seriously.
Early 2018. The Bazaruto Archipelago. Mozambique…
There is a saying…”All the gear, no idea!?”.
And so it was. I was. Cursed with one of these. He was a sponsored angler from Spain. Sponsored by some useless profit-driven corporate fishing brand (yes, another one can you believe it), a really dodgy brand that produced really dodgy copies of Penn Internationals. Terrible drags. Sound like tractors. Not uniform in character between identical rigs. And clothes made of spandex and lycra.
So this is my guy. A sun-sensitive European full of ugly tattoos and weird tan lines. Dressed in a clown suit. And knows nothing about big game fishing.
Our casting clown in full glory
Sponsored?!
And yet, now here he is and he has all this sponsored gear. But he doesn’t even know what a bimini twist is?! His reels are filled with rope strength braid removing all the usefulness of a large capacity spool. His outfits are all completely unbalanced. And with no knowledge of leaders or knots required to hunt big game fish in these wild waters, huge swivels clang about on every rig.
Now. Do you know? That it is legal for recreational fishers, to sell their fish, in Spain?! So when I asked about these completely unbalanced and incorrectly rigged outfits, he replied, “We’re fishing for money, to cover the petrol cost of the boat?!”.
He goes on to say that they target small bluefin tuna miles and miles off the Spanish coast, trolling, and this costs a fortune, so they sell their fish to cover costs? And it’s allowed?!
Even in South Africa it is not legally allowed for any recreational fishers to sell their catch. This right is reserved for previously disadvantaged communities and those with relevant licenses and permits in our third world. Not for first world greedies. Sponsored greedies at that.
And so…
I’m stuck with this absolute clown show. He wraps himself up like a warring desert mercenary, cakes the rest of his sickly pale skin with petrol derived suncream, and starts to fester. His attitude is so bad. I really don’t think he enjoys himself doing anything. When he casts wrong (most times), he cusses. When he loses a fish, he goes mental, trying to blame my skipper and crew. He has cameras set up all over the boat. To capture his follies? I mean really.
And then on this particular day out with the Spaniard, something happened…
Some background to the day first…
My favourite casting rig
I had just recently received a new outfit from one of my sponsors – the Fishing Pro Shop. A 9ft two-piece. With a perfectly balanced little coffee grinder filled with 20lb casting braid. I had my favourite Mydo SS Spoon running on a metre of fluorocarbon, and now trying to ignore my guest, and in my favourite waters, I was finally in the zone!
Unfortunately, I had this utter idiot with me.
We were skirting a sandbank out of Benguerra Island. I call this one the “Bait bank”. I had my new casting rig out and was just loving the braid flying through the guides so smoothly. Not an air-knot in sight. A beautiful scenario. Sometimes a cast emptied half my spool?! But I had a good 200m and was very confident in my brand new equipment and brand new tied knots and leaders (check the figure-of-eight leader system from Mydo, right here).
Bang! Right at the boat, the couta came charging in. Full attack mode!
But the little guy missed my erratic retrieve. But it’s this retrieve that I count on to excite the water I’m fishing in. And excited this little couta was, since, as I placed my spoon in the same place on the drop-off. This time he grabbed my spoon and held on tight. Very tight!
What a strike! What an experience! It’s really like a long bass outfit I’m casting with. But it’s got guts. I chose this rod very carefully. Designed exactly for fishing these shallows. King and Queen Mackerel. Snapper. Kingfish.
The sleek little fish tore off on its first run. The tiny single hook was holding just fine. I backed off the drag allowing the fish to go. At the same time reducing all that fresh new line drag from all that speed pulling the braid through the water. We were too shallow for sharks here – this fact I was counting on. I got some line back just in time for the angry little couta to make a second dash for the horizon. The super-clean water behind Benguerra Island that we were fishing allowed us all a first-row seat into the underwater action playing out.
Characteristically, the couta came quickly after its second run. And it wasn’t a total of ten minutes before my trophy light tackle catch was on the deck. Man was I stoked! I mean I love catching marlin and things. But. A fish like this, on such a light rig…is special. Well, especially to me anyway.
Look before you cast!
As I admired my dinner for that evening…there is nothing much like a freshly caught couta in the skillet…I heard the gut-wrenching sound of my idiot clients pole, smashing right through the middle of my delicately poised 9 footer, in the rod holder.
Crack!
He simply destroyed my rig. In half.
I never looked up. I just told the skipper to take us home.
The idiot never apologised. Nor did he offer to replace my rig.
But ok. I still had my fish. And this story to tell. Which I enjoyed thoroughly and hope the foolchild from Spain reads this too.
“LOOK BEFORE YOU CAST!”
Enjoy a little collection of pics taken on and around Benguerra Island during the season of 2018…
