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Shad attack behaviour in Port Shepstone – the movie

Shad attack behaviour recorded off Port Shepstone

Shad attack behaviour in Port Shepstone – the movie

Shad attack behaviour – the movie was shot on a shallow spot on the backline off Port Shepstone, KZN, South Africa. Near the end of the shad open season this crazy 2020. When they start to congregate to spawn.

The shad, unlike garrick or kob, are given a protected season. This was introduced decades ago when the shad were running out fast. At the end of this month, it is over for shad fishers until 1 December. Somehow this doesn’t make sense since it is the Garrick and kob that the help now. DAFF? Where are you guys on this?

Shad have many names including bluefish and tailor. And its Latin name comes straight out of Asterix and Obelix – Pomatomus Saltatrix!

Anyway, we found a large shoal moving around near the backline at Port Shepstone, and managed to get the GoFish cameras into the water with them. What an amazing amount of fun!

Firstly to have the shad in such a playful mood as they chased our lures from the bottom to the top. We got them on the surface too – like little billfish they mercilessly attacked our lures, often finding themselves cartwheeling through the air and tail-walking. Yes, out here in the blue and flat surface, shad take on a wild new character when cranking a spoon wildly across the top for them to chase.

And secondly, the video material we got out of this session, and some of what features in this video – literally blew our minds!

The GoFish cameras we recently added to our arsenal have completed the mission they were acquired for perfectly…

We can finally see underwater!

The shad follow the lure or bait down too
Shad attack behaviour - strike after strike
This is what it looks like being chased by a shoal of voracious shad!

The only other people who get this perspective are the spearos and bubble-blowers. But now we can drop a camera down, and observe the goings on on and around the reef, without even getting wet!

Working with the GoFish Cameras

It is not in real-time. Wi-fi don’t work underwater. But we have a cute little computer on the boat that powers off a cell charger and its a quick card switch for us to be seeing what just happened downstairs on the reef below us. There is a wi-fi function on the cameras, however. As long as they are floating in their little life rings, and their bums are sticking up out if the water, you can then live stream in real-time the action going on. This is a very limited function but can be applied to certain limited scenarios.

Now if you buy your GoFish Cams from this here website, you will get unlimited email and telephonic support from me and us here at The Sardine News. We have been using these cameras extensively and have made all the mistakes possible. And we are still making them! Learning every day for sure!

So use the link above or below, depending on your device, to get in on this eye-opening way of working things out on your favourite reef or with your favourite fish!

If you would like to join us down here in Port Shepstone for the season, please get in touch. We are based at the Umzimkulu Marina, right in the banks of the Umzimkulu River – and we are fishing flat out!

We have deep-sea options from backline to billfish on offer. We have the famous Sandspit and The Block to fish from the side from. And then the marvelously fun estuary fishing where we encounter so many different species making every strike that much more interesting.

Please get in touch with Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or +27793269671 to work it out. Bookings have come back to normal luckily so think ahead in time.

We are Facebook right HERE and run a full-on YouTube Channel right HERE!

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Bass on fly tackle

Bass on fly tackle! Fly sailing is a great new way of tackling bass and practising for the saltwater! Niki Tilley with a nice South Coast largemouth bass.

Bass on fly tackle

Bass on fly tackle? To the purists and sceptics out there – it’s a great way to practise for the saltwater! – Sean

And as the southerly and northerly winds start their perennial argument, hanging out in the shelter of a tucked-away bass pond – is a great place to be. Especially along the KZN South Coast inland beat, where we are right now. And the wind is scathing our beaches and coastline. Right now as I write this, its literally blowing a gale at 30 knots plus. From the south. And tomorrow it’s gonna be the same but from the south-east. Even worse! Then it turns north. Even worser!

Luckily, many farmers from around here allow bass anglers to hunt fish in their dams. And many dont! But if you are on the KZN South Coast some time, and you want to go bassin’, we can take you for sure. Paddock and Umzumbe hold some secrets and even close around Port Shepstone there are some gems. That do not get fished very often at all.

And who also hold some lunker sized bass. Even just recently, as the bass start to enter spawning mode, some good catches have been made including one of over 4kgs caught and released just south of Port Shepstone.

But ok, a few stories that might get you amped up…the first from Coty in the States who penned up this real cool article on what it takes to bassin’ on the fly.

https://yourbassguy.com/fly-fishing-for-bass/

And this one, also sent in by Coty…

https://www.wired2fish.com/biology/biologists-world-record-bass-potential-in-south-african-reservoir/

…is well worth a read as it analyses the famed Loskop Reservoir where Wayne Naude caught the current SA Record at 7 something kilos!

But ok thanks Coty for the articles, and you can visit Cotys new website at Your Bass Guy dot Com. Click right HERE to check it out. Looking forward to some more technical stuff from the old USA.

And if you want a bassin trip to remember, get in touch with me Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or +27 79 326 9671 anytime and lets chat it out.

Check out our YouTube Channel right here…

Catch us on Facebook HERE!

You can buy all sorts of fly fishing tackle right HERE.

The Sardine News (c) 2020

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Video: Evan Phillips baby GT and Chelsea Dog Attack Behaviour

Evan Phillips with his Umzimkulu Estuary baby Geet about to be released

Video: Evan Phillips baby GT and Chelsea Dog Attack Behaviour

In this video shot on a morning fishing trip on the Umzimkulu River – young Evan Phillips gets his baby GT. And we catch Chelsea Dog Attack Behaviour red-handed on camera.

Again!

A few pics of the Umzimkulu Marina, in Port Shepstone, where we are based at the moment.

The river valley woke up freezing this very wintery but beautiful morning. The offshore was coming straight off the mountains and it sure felt like single figures. So when the sun showed itself, departure came about. A nice full boat of fisherfolk. David Phillips and his wife Robin. Evan. And little lady Jordan who took on camera duty all dressed in pink! We also had Arno from Fishin’s Cool Fishing School.

So with three guns firing off the bow, and three in ambush positions out the back, we followed the far channel to the top, and right over the big hole area.

This has been a great place to fish over these past few months. Rock salmon, kob, perch and kingfish of all species have been patrolling here.

Soon Evan was bending on his beautiful little baby GT. Who put up quite an argument or was just acting real good for the camera.

When the fish finally came to the boat, Chelsea Dog leapt out of her own ambush position! But Dave was too quick and she retreated in disgust. Dave got the hook out easily enough and Evan was soon posing. And then justly released the absolutely dashing young GT back into the wild. After a quick lecture about that Halco Sorcerer in Jelly Prawn outfit.

Enjoy the action…

You can buy that guy right here. Both Dave and Johan Wessels independently vouch for this particular model and colour. And I can attest to its effectiveness – we have lost all the ones Johan left for us on his last trip! Actually it was my Dad! He has been tangling with rock salmon and all sorts of bad mannered lure thieves that been lurking around here lately.

A very toothy barracuda eyes my dredge teaser in the Umzimkulu recently. This footage is shot with our new GoFish cameras. Get your own using the link at the top or bottom of this page.

The Umzimkulu Marina has a few open slots still. Weeks and weekends coming up. Please get in touch to arrange your dream estuary fishing experience. For you, your friends or you and your family – this place is great fun – safe – and there really are some good fish be caught. And released. We practice tag and release wherever possible and only take a fish for the pan, in extreme circumstances.

You can get me Sean on +27793269671 or on umzimkulu@gmail.com to get the ball rolling. We have boats for charter or for hire. Self-catering chalets right on the river.

And plenty fish to catch.

And release!

We are Facebook here and we run a kicker YouTube channel right here.

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Captain Matt Wainwright on the Umzimkulu

Fishing the brown water in KZN: Matt Wainwright down on the water at the Umzimkulu Marina with a fresh kob

Captain Matt Wainwright on the Umzimkulu – “It’s my favourite place to fish away from home!”

Matt Wainwright down on the water at the Umzimkulu Marina with a fresh kob
Matt Wainwright down on the water at the Umzimkulu Marina with a fresh kob

Matt Wainwright has been coming down the south coast to Port Shepstone from his home waters off Durban, for quite some time now. He used to just fish with us on the Niteshift, but soon he was towing his own little super fun and totally cool duck around with him. All over the place and to the Umzimkulu Marina in particular.
We had some amazingly fun launches on that ultralight boat with a powerful 40hp behind it. Full speed boogie band through the waves and back again. And we caught some lovely fish together.
But now Matt has upgraded and sports a real well-built and thought out cat. It’s in the 16ft class boat size and once again, is super well powered. Acceleration out of the hole is what is needed the most in surf launching, and that is exactly what Matt has got plenty of.
This last weekend Matt brought his guests back down to the Umzimkulu, where they were lucky enough to get right in on some long-awaited bottom fishing action. Just before the sardines make their appearance, all sorts of fish start to gather along the KZN coastline in ambush formations.
It is kob (daga salmon), that are making the news right now. Very susceptible to over-fishing, we need to protect these fish. By sticking to our bag limits. And kind of keeping the mission a secret – just don’t tell the other boats, let them work it out for themselves. If you help other people onto these vulnerable fish, the damage is done and cannot be undone.
Other fish that get extra active in this exciting time of the year, down deep, are black musselcracker.

A real honour to get a fantastic fish like this black musselcracker.
A real honour to get a fantastic fish like this black musselcracker.

As you can see, Matt’s guest Ziets got himself one over the weekend down at the Umzimkulu Marina.. A cracker of about 20kgs. Delectable. And endemic. Slow growing. Luckily they can really fight back and many get away. Once again, really vulnerable.
The Geelbek have been slow for many years now. They used to come in huge numbers, but fleets of ski-boats would descend on them, in their spawning mode. Huge catches were made. All of us did it. But the damage is done, that’s for sure. Even to catch just two of these delicious fighters these days would be a luck!

Dejan has also joined the Niteshift as crew and is loving it
Dejan has also joined the Niteshift as crew and is loving it. Here he is super stoked with his two geelbek salmon a few weekends back.

But it is the dusky kob that is hurting the most. These guys look just like daga salmon, but are smaller and very slow growing. Hardly any of these fish get over 1000mm, which is almost their sexual maturation size, before being caught. Very rare now, it is thought that if fishing for dusky kob was banned, it would take 40 years to restore the population.
But ok, enjoy the sardine season and let’s hope for a good showing. The red hot pokers have started to fire up with that gorgeous red colour and the waves are starting too, with the desirously warm offshore winds.

Roosta with his catch of the day! Hope he ain’t paddling around with lot in tow?!?


In the meantime, if you would like to join us, and Captain Matt Wainwright at the Umzimkulu Marina, drop us a line on umzimkuklu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27 79 326 9671. We can fish for kob outside, we can load surfboards on board and catch the low tide somewhere with nobody anywhere, we can fish the estuary at night for rock salmon, and we have the world famous Sandspit Beach for night time and lure fishing.

The very same weekend, Matt’s other guest was more into catching kob on lures, and being right at the Sandspit he rigged up took the delightful walk along that amazing beach. And look what he got!


And then another one!

Dallas with a groovy little kob at the SandSpit in Port Shepstone
Dallas with a groovy little kob at the SandSpit in Port Shepstone

More about the Umzimkulu Marina right here.

Catch winter kob or dagas on Mydo Luck Shots, available here.

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Fishing Mozambique: Durban to Maputo to Inhaca Island waters in no time flat

Fishing Mozambique: The easiest way to distinguish between the two is that the Blue Marlin can fold it's pectoral fins right up against the marlins body, much like a yellowfin tuna, while the Black's pectorals always stick out...(c) Duarte Rato

Fishing Mozambique: Durban to Maputo to Inhaca Island waters in no time flat

Fishing Mozambique: The new bridge over Maputo Bay is spectacular. And features all sorts of claims like being the biggest suspension bridge in the entire southern hemisphere?! But the biggest thing for us, is that from Durban, you are straight into Mozambique and into Maputo, avoiding the old Swaziland route completely.

The border at Kosi Bay is small and reasonably not busy. The tar road connects from the South African tar to the new Maputo side road now too. 2WD all the way (not to Ponto yet though). It’s another spectacular feat as the road takes you through a game park and animals are all over – just like travelling in Botswana.

The elephant reserve is well stocked with elephant. Some are known to be in a bad mood from wartime still and many encounters have been reported. So, keep your distance if you bump into one or two.

You can either turn right at this point, which will take you meandering through ancient Africa in your strictly 4WD vehicle, to the mythical Santa Maria. Another contender for best of Mozambique, Santa Maria offers it all, even surfing if you have a boat to get to the breaks with.

BUT. It’s the fishing at this time of the year that is most exciting. Blue marlin just love the deep water out behind Inhaca Island. And it’s not far at all, if you launch from Inhaca or Santa Maria. Striped marlin and black marlin also frequent the attractive underwater features out there, sailfish too, but it’s the big Blue’s that we are after in February and March each year.

Captain Duarte Rato is down there right now, preparing for the action.

The following video is kind of what started it all. This one being of a 1000lb Blue, Mozambique’s possible first, and definitely Inhaca’s first grander blue. It was caught by Duarte and crew (angler Carl Jankowitz), way back in 2015, after Duarte insisted they would find a big blue in those waters. Which he certainly did! Unfortunately the fish tail wrapped itself and the crew were unable to revive her enough for a good release.

You can get in touch with Duarte via his highly entertaining and informative website – http://fishbazaruto.com, where Duarte keeps a log of each and every trip he does.

If Duarte is busy, drop us a line…we have some very nice boats lined up and ready to go. We also can arrange accommodation on Inhaca Island or at Santa Maria.

There is a helluva lot to do between Inhaca Island and Santa Maria. Spinning from the beach is excellent. You can chuck a bait right from the beach bars. Snorkelling is world class. Fun for everyone everyday!

Pop me an email on umzimkulu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27 79 326 9671, anytime, and we can work something out. With self-drive Durban to Maputo, now being an option, in 2wd, and a few hours lopped off the journey, one of the main barriers to fishing Mozambique has been well and truly conquered, for Durbanites!

Julio Rito with a fiesty green jobfish caught on the jig somewhere between Inhaca and Macanete about exactly.Fishing Mozambique:A really good Golden Trevally or Golden Kingfish, taken on a Gummy Squid JigA nice Inhaca GT about to be released during the Inhaca Challenge in 2014Inhaca Island waters are full of fish species

You can see more options by The Sardine at out Trips and Travel section.

Catch us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

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