The KZN Dorado Season begun a few weeks back when these nice fish were taken off Port Shepstone. Marc Lange caught these two fish on the drift with bait.
Very exciting fishing when they come around the boat like that.
But the drought has wreaked havoc on seasonal influences. The water down south, which is usually an orange brown this time of year, is crystal clear. Even the water in the Umzimkulu river is to to bottom and blue.
The river mouth is open and coming back to normal after millions were spent trying to alleviate the salt from seeping right up to the pump stations which water Port Shepstone. Salt week! Thanks Bevis, for last week’s excellent editorial in the South Coast Herald!
The KZN Dorado Season begun a few weeks ago with these nice fish
Kob is a mainline buzzword here in Jeffrey’s Bay. Everyone wants one. And I can relate to the regiments of retirees enjoying the bountiful waters this place has been blessed with. On any afternoon, down at Kabeljauws, there are anglers standing proud, fishing all sorts of rigs and baits, waiting for a delicious kob for dinner…
It was a Sunday version of one of these days, the sun was out, light onshore, bathers, surfers…and us…
We pulled up to an empty Kabeljauws carpark mid afternoon. But soon vehicles, some out of mad max and adorned with rods and reels of huge proportions, rolled in and surrounded us. Massive coffee grinders everywhere.
Brucifire had conjured up some squid baits for us from somewhere, which hardly compared to what offerings some of these guys were sneaking out. Cracker Shrimps. Octopus. Red bait…
Our first casts found a shoal of smallies just before the surf zone and soon we were hauling in blacktail and small silver bream things. Our 10ft rod soon had a silver bream out the back and Charl proceeded to haul out smallies, puffers included, and chuck them back, while I settled in. By now, we had camps either side of us. The couple to our south had a trolley-like magody that expanded out into a professional fully fledged bait station with rod holders and all!
There was a young romance going on to our right as a young guy was teaching his girl to surf just behind the mid-break in the deeper channel. And to our left were a huddle of bathers, basically 10 metres up the beach from us. There was the mid break we were fishing over, a deep channel and white water fading in from the outside sets.
Ideal for…you know what…
Bang I felt something and as looked at where my bait might be just before the breakers, a wave lifted and through the wave I saw it. Shark! As it lined up and hit my bait again! The bathers were 10 metres away! I forced fed him a bit and struck, and there I was, standing on the beach, into a decent sized shark, right down from where I been surfing all day!
By decent I mean over a metre and as soon as I had him close, I just pulled and luckily the shark let go and I got my hook back and all. The smallies had gone quiet now so without a live bait, I grabbed my beautiful new spinning stick with 20lb braid and let fly with a karanteen type rig to try snag another livie. The squid bait was proving to be the flavour of the day and all of a sudden I got a heavy bite and was vas. But this fish gave some resistance. It dogged around the waves while it worked out that it was hooked, and then just screamed off out to sea and up the point towards the surfing couple. I stopped it after a few minutes, being loaded with new braid, but soon had my doubts and the pressure increased to more than what my little hooks could take. The fish would stop and let me turn it’s head a bit, fee what I was doing, and just say no. Adamantly NO. And he would peel off 10 or even 20 more metres, until sadly, my audience was disappointed when the tip went slack and the hook came back straight as an arrow.
Wow, we were having fun!
Then the smallies came back so we got a few blacktail, in case we couldn’t find a kob somewhere, for dinner. We had promised Noma and Kurt of JBay SurfView fish for dinner!. Obviously I got one live bait out back as soon as I could, a slightly smaller fish, and no sh$%^t, three minutes later I was into another really large fish.
My little 10ft Assassin and 30SH were buckling under the strain as this much bigger shark gave me the gears. But I have no time for sharks really and Charl point blank refused to go and get the fish out for photos, so when it was close I just pulled and once again, got my hook and trace back (amazing leader material that old style Maxima green).
We had fished out everybody around us and with our little pile of blacktail headed back to Chelsea and Bruce waiting patiently for fish dinner, in the carpark. Bruce didn’t scoff at the small fish, but there were a few chirps.
So we headed back to town to shop, Charl and I left Bruce and Chelsea car guarding, and went in. When we came out, there was a crowd around the car as Bruce was showing off our Mydo Luck Shots to a local angler he knows – to startling results. I told the guy, Morne, a well know hot shot angler in these parts, that he could have a few lures. His face lit up and he opened the back of his bakkie and presented us with a freshly caught kob he had nailed on paddle tail at a secret spot of his, just before!
We got home to a standing ovation, cooked the fresh and delicious fish as follows:
Kob for dinner Jbay style…
Firstly, we had to remove the head and tail to fit in the baking dish, after it was cleaned and scaled.
Then we made a concoction up of all sorts available in the kitchen that afternoon. Grated garlic. Lemon juice. Finely chopped onions and green peppers. A little soya sauce. Some sweet chill sauce.
Incisions across the breadth of the fish were then filled with this concoction, both sides until it was dripping and then wrapped in a single layer of foil and the rest of the juice poure all over it.
Into the oven at a nice 200 or so, and leave it be!
30 minutes in and we turn the fish (bigger fish, longer cooking time), and give it another 20 or so.
Serve!
The meat falls off the bone in chunks formed by the deep cuts across the fish.
PS the next day, this same fish, mixed with finely chopped onions and mayonnaise had us biting our fingers off!
Enjoy the video…Pooven Naicker wowed the crowds with this punchy hammerhead shark at The Block, this morning…
The fish was taken on a live mullet and screamed off on it’s first run, steam train style. The outsized wintery waves proved to be a true challenge as some were breaking right over Pooven – as he had to stand and just take it on the head, whilst he negotiated a truce with the grumpy shark. A crowd had gathered by now and support was being shouted in from all sides – world cup fever spilling over…
When Pooven put the fish on the rocks, the crowd errupted with applause and Pooven’s smile got even bigger.
Pooven was not targeting sharks, no, rather he was after the Garrick which are running nicely. This time of the year is when the garrick go absolutely wild for a few days, having spent their energies on spawning – they need to replenish for their long swim back to The Cape.
The Umzimkulu Marina and Shonalanga Fishing Adventures have teamed up to offer the following mid week, or weekend fishing packages:
There was one beach buggy in the carpark before me at The Block in Port Shepstone, this morning. The guy went down to the rocky pool at the base of the point, and threw his cast net. One decent mullet. He moves on up to The Block and launches his 8Oz grapnel with the wind right over the backline. He slides his mullet down and waits patiently. Not for long. The rod starts bouncing in it’s holder and Rudi Smit sets the hook with a few pumps. Vas!
He fights the fish expertly and after 10 minutes has the fish right up the rocks at The Block. Very dangerous situation with all those sharp edges. His fishing buddy has rocked up and climbs down to get the fish…and almost loses when he pulls on the leader and it comes loose!!!
Yesterday: “When the fish aren’t here, the fish aren’t here”, goes Lawrence Wurznip, as the two of us lament at the lack of action, here at The Block, after endeavouring for weeks now, with lures. Frustration sets in.
Rumours have also been abounding regards a certain angler around here who has caught upwards of twenty Garrick this season, on lures, mainly that Ice Cream plug thing. It’s an easy lure to fish and casts a mile…but obviously, I am intent on catching fish on the Mydo’s which we make here in Port Shepstone.
So day after day, we have been meeting at odd times, and throwing our new 9ft long casters with coffee grinders and 20lb braid (the in thing), towards Chakas Rock, to no avail. Ok not completely. Lawrence had a chase on the Ice Cream plug nearer to Chakas, and I had a good fish on at The Sandspit (the beach on the north side of the Umzimkulu River), for a few seconds, on a Mydo SS Spoon (more about those coming up). I think my drag was too loose for the huge single I was fishing with.
I have a theory that when fishing blind like this (ie not sight fishing where you cast to visible fish on the surface), it takes 200 casts for an average fish, and 400 for a trophy. Well I, at this point, am on a good 200, since I got my new spinning outfit.
Today: I woke at 4am, got a coffee on the go, did some emails, and before long wound along the river road and towards the spot- “The Block” (is a large remnant of the old harbour wall, nicely positioned for live-baiting into the backline, at Port Shepstone, south side of the river mouth).
The wind was(is) howling and Chelsea (assistant editor Jack Russell) and I were the only fishers down there. We sat in the car and watched 6ft waves come peeling down the point – the spring high tide putting us at eye level with these spectacular swells. But in between sets, were the usual south swell lulls, and soon I just had to have a go. “It’s always those times you least expect it…”, I recall Lawrence telling me during one of our *fisholosophy discussions.
I can hardly see close up at all, and changing lures can be a ordeal especially in the twilight zone. And I had no leader with me so yesterday’s Mydo Luck Shot Mini #1 with a 6 inch MacCarthy white pearl jerk tail/bait was going to have go straight on. The westerley wind pumping from behind would help me get the One Ounce lure far enough to fish happily. It’s a very comfortable lure to fish as its nice and light, and you can slow troll it with the intermittent twitch, or crank it up to the top where it makes a plug like commotion but with much more realistic action. I would have liked to fish one of our new Mydo Tarpon SS Spoons, weighing in at 2 Oz and casting like a bullet. But on my third cast with the Mydo Luck Shot Mini #1, retrieving a tad faster as I was preparing for the lure’s surf in over the rocks, bang something took me properly! Beautiful surface strike a few metres in front of my disbelieving eyes! Garrick!
My adrenaline reserve exploded. “What to do?!?!” – so being a total newbie at rock ‘n surfing (ok it was a long time ago!), I did all the wrong things starting straight away! On the boat, we really work our fish. But with rock and surf fishing, it’s all totally different. The fish is always in charge. Anyway, the fish screamed off taking line easily – Â I pulled back, at about 2kg’s of drag, and still tightened up more. The fish pulled back at me, and we had a huge argument right there and then as weed and sand-filled waves washed over the line wreaking havoc with my plans and leaving the fish with all the advantages. I pumped the drag some more, and eventually had the fish up against the wall, and after a few risky attempts, got the fish to surf a huge foamy right over the bricks and into that treacherous pool of whitewater at the inside base of The Block – another completely wrong thing to do, and now I had 50 metres of negotiating this fish through girders and bricks and concrete – all sharp-edged! And still on my own in the near dark.
But this fish was hooked well, we rig the Mydo Luck Shot Mini # 1 with a 7/0 stainless O’Shaugnessy for big fish, and as I negotiated the length of the wall back to the bridge, I was able to keep it’s head uppish and guide it all the way to the beach, where I ran in and got completely soaked, but pulled the fish out by it’s tail. With no-one to witness (ha ha). And because the river mouth is closed so we can’t launch, this Garrick came home to be enjoyed as all sorts of meals. By the family and guests at the Umzimkulu Marina. It is also my one and only garrick from the side.
When I got back to the car to show Chelsea, she wasn’t even interested, all curled up in my wetsuit on the back seat. It was still too dark for photos, but I snapped one, and then noticed, that the braid had let go at the lure. Amateur. And very lucky! You can cut any braid by dragging it back and forth on the edge of a brick and in no time it’s gone. It must have been the Garrick’s sharp little grabbing teeth that went through it like that.
As I left, one of the real Garrick catchers from around here – Vinod, came down the hill in his custom beach buggy with built-in live bait well, past the lighthouse and I couldn’t resist showing him my fish. And telling him the story. He laughed a lot and then advised me – next time – let the fish run away from the bricks and into the bay. Then holding the rod up high and keeping light tension, get yourself to the beach where you can handle the fish without the risk of the line touching the rocks. Vinod was very surprised that the fish made it to the beach at all this morning – and with no leader?! Thanks Vinod!
Tomorrow: Buzz me on umzimkulu@gmail.com or +27793269671 if you would like to join us for this awesome 2015 Garrick season. The fish are everywhere right now, but haven’t spawned as of yet. When they do, it’s absolute madness, check out National Garrick Day for an idea. After they spawn they will all head back down the coast into The Cape where they hang out for summer, and then again next year in April/May, start trickling back up the coast for The Sardine Run and the cycle continues.
* fishing and the philosophy behind catching fish (refer Wurznip/Lange 2015)
