Category: Port St. Johns

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No sardine report 25 July 2016

No sardine report 25 July 2016

Jay Steenkamp patrolling down south to Port Edward and beyond reports that the surfing has been fantastico and they have all been getting shacked. Roosta in Umzumbe reports the same clean powerful swells gracing their underground. But no mention of sardines. Scattered baitballs of other types of smallies up and down, but no sardines.

He also reports that the hard rains that have been falling, have flushed out all the smaller rivers and that the ocean is now a mess. The featured image was shot by Jay at St. Michaels a few minutes ago.

No sardine report 25 July 2016
No surfing, fishing or diving today. No sardine report 25 July 2016

Check out Jason Heyne’s comprehensive weekly spearfishing reports to really learn what is going on under the water off our coastline. He reports in every Friday and we usually have it on thesardine.co.za by Saturday morning, depending on the Friday night :-).

Debbie Smith reports in from out on the edge off Port St. Johns, that their sardine run is still running and that they were encountering baitballs and predators on almost every launch. But the weather has brought the team at Offshore Africa a well deserved chance to regroup and recover from their high adrenalin activities.
More about Offshore Africa, and Diving With Sharks.

And below is Debbie Smith’s Instagram feed portraying the lekker life they are all living right now in and around Port St. Johns as the sardine shoals get them and their guests right into the thick of it.

http://divingwithsharks.co.za/dwsblog/instagram-feed/

Keep checking back on thesardine.co.za and sign up to our mailing list to get a free compilation of the weeks news, right in your mail box. The form is up top of the right on thesardine.co.za website.

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4th July Sardine Report

2017 Sardine report

4th July Sardine Report

Independance day 4th July Sardine Report…

Having Debbie Smith and Rob Nettleton down in Port St. Johns and right on the sardine front is great news.

This just in from Debbie…

“Rob is on their 2nd bait ball of the morning. The waters are teeming with sharks, including one big Zambezi”

“Finally, the predators have started working together. Sharks and dolphins teaming up to form the sardines into bait balls. The birds, however, have not been getting involved.”

Chatting to a few people today, it is a well accepted fact, that everything seems to be late this year. This means we could even see sardines in August again, as has happened many seasons before.

The baitfish were late, The dorado were late. The couta are always late these days, but yes, they were late. The shad were late. The geelbek are late. As are the kob. Only the garrick are well on time!

“Patience…is a virtue” – Sardine chaser circa 2016

Offshore Africa

Diving With Sharks

 

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Sardine Run Report 1 July 2016

Sardines at Sunwich Port, on the lower south coast of KZN Natall

Sardine Run Report 1 July 2016

For a Sardine Run Report 1 July 2016, we have a few tidbits of encouraging information, from our undercover Sardine Agents, way down in the Transkei.

Robbie van Wijk is the deepest undercover, way down in Mdumbi. Where he has reported sporadic sardine activity, coming right into the bay at times. And then at Luandile around the bluff, and at Presley’s, sardines really put on a show for two days in a row, coming right in close, but not beaching. Shad and garrick were hammering the shoals and fishermen were hooked up all along the beach simultaneously. The staple breakfast of fresh shad has not stopped in the Mdumbi area for a while now. Robbie has also noted some great garrick and kob catches being made by locals and visitors alike.

Then moving up the coast, we have Debbie Smith and Rob Nettleton of Offshore Africa, in Port St. Johns. They are out to sea and in the water every day possible, and are having a great Sardine Run once again. It pays to be so far down the coast – getting in on the action so much earlier. Debbie reports that there are many, many shoals of sardines, but that they are scattered far and wide – all over the ocean. The predators seem not to be too interested, so maybe it’s that moon again. It’s not ideal for fish activity right now, but as the moon disappears this weekend – the stars may line up. She also reports 22 degrees water, with visibility varying between 6 and 10 metres, on their dives with sharks.

Then Jay Steenkamp works the area from Margate into the Transkei, connecting the dots for us. He has reported the usual shoals and shoals of baitfish. Mackerel, red eyes, and maasbanker, big and small, just everywhere. He has not reported in any sightings of sardines yet, but he feels the conditions are coming right day by day. He gets to fly in the NSB plane. Nothing gets past Jay. Not even the waves.

The Roosta in Umzumbe reported also that shad fishermen up and down were having a great time breaking the law and making a mess of the beaches. And the only sardines he saw were the ones strewn about the beach and rocks, still in plastic and boxes. Sies man.

Jason Heyne in the greater Durban area, also has his ear to the reef. Check out his informing and invaluably inspiring weekly spearfishing report, right here on thesardine.co.za, every week. Nothing to report. Yet.

And there we have it, as far as the sardines are concerned, we are on it with accurate and reliable reporting from all over a wide coverage area.

Check back soon…

And in the meantime – this is how we do The Sardine News, when it all goes down…flying with Captain John Marshall…Click HERE for fun!

 

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Sardine Report from Port St. Johns

Sardine Report from Port St Johns

Debbie Smith of Offshore Africa is right in on the action down in the Transkei every day, and has kindly dropped us another Sardine Report from Port St Johns, this morning.

“Great Day. Loits of baitballs on the snorkel. Small red-eye sardines plentiful. Few birds but we had sharks and dolphins with us for 20 minutes. Then we had Manta Ray on two seperate sightings. Water temp a steady 20 degrees and viz a decent 6 to 8 metres.” – Debbie Smith

So it is all going according to plan. Sardines have in the past come out as early as May, but the water really has to drop below 19 degrees to create the ideal conditions.

The wild waves generated by the ongoing cold frontal invasion are also a pre-requisite for the sardines to come in close.

2016 Sardine report from Port St Johns
2016 Sardine report from Port St Johns – featuring dolphins, sharks and red-eyes – by Debbie Smith

 

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Sardine Run 2016 around the corner!

Sardine Run 2016 around the corner!

“The red hot pokers have bloomed” – Louis Wolmarans (uttered every year, over and over, like a chant).

Louis, long time surfing guru on the KZN South Coast, is amping for the waves each year. When the aloes bloom in their red splendour each year, it marks the beginning of the surfing season. And the sardine run 2016 too! An odd combination of events considering their mutual denominator – sharks!

The hills through the Transkei and surrounds are covered red with the flower of the aloe. Temperatures have dropped. And the swells have been coming through huge! Few surfers made it out at the big waves spots, and it looks like more to follow as cold fronts line up across the Atlantic, marching methodically and with purpose.

But big swells and sardines do go together. The ocean in its wild eastern seaboard state, confuses the little fish as they make their way north. Often the sardines beach in the wildest conditions.

But the ocean is still very warm, and even though confirmed reports of sardines have been made deeper into the Transkei – we still have a while to go.

In a month or so, things should be really humming!

In the meantime, enjoy this spectacular underwater video clip of a bunch of gannets, completely at home underwater, swimming from aisle to aisle as they load up in the gannet supermarket, 5 metres down. They are competing with common dolphin – beautiful with their contrasting colours, and of course sharks.

If this kind of thing gets you going, hop on over to offshoreportstjohns.com or divingwithsharks.co.za and login with Rob or Debbie for some up close and personal sardine action. They do specialised sardine run diving trips and ocean safari style outings, right from where all the action is – Port St. Johns.

 

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