Offshore Africa in Port St. Johns in the Transkei took to the skies to bring us this radical view of Waterfall Bluff, a few clicks north of their base in Port St. Johns.
Offshoreportstjohns.com have been operating on the Transkei Wild Coast for many seasons now. They offer many different adventures from river cruises on the Umzimvubu to ocean safaris and scuba diving.
But their biggest and most sought after adventure is undoubtedly The Sardine Run!
Each season Rob Nettleton and partner Debbie Smith take to the water and get right involved with the chaos that accompanies the sardines wherever they go. Dolphins, whales, seabirds, fish and of course… sharks.
Every shark with a smartphone knows about the annual breakaway of approximately a tenth of the southern oceans sardine population. This crazy shoal of adventuring sardines just leave the pack and head north into South African waters and get hammered on the way, literally to depletion.
Humans are also in on the action as limited netting is allowed.
But the real action is underwater as baitball after baitball form in a desperate attempt to escape being eastern by something. The birds start from the top, and the predator fish from the bottom until there is literally not one sardine from that baitball family left.
Rob invariably has his camera rolling and captured the spectacle exceptionally well. Working with Rob and Debbie to get the video of your lifetime is a pleasure. Together they have ample experience and are committed to service excellence, attention to detail, and safety.
The Sardine Run 2016 with Offshore Africa in Port St. Johns: bookings open
The Sardine Run 2016 with Offshore Africa in Port St. Johns is looking to be the best yet. With the effects of the biggest El Nino ever recorded going on around us this year, we are hoping for the cooler water to prevail, to entice the shoals north, earlier and for longer.
Even in the quieter years, there is always some show of the little buggers, but from time to time, the stars line up, and a bumer season can be expected. This ain’t no guarantee, but for sure, the effects of the El Nino, and the correlation of past years El Ninos, means we can, according to maths, expect some sardine this in huge numbers, this year or next (howz that for insurance!).
In the meantime, I raided Captain Rob Nettleton’s video archives and pulled out a series of 15 second clips, for us to enjoy, in the lead up to the season….
Here is the first, enjoy!
Offshore Africa, run by Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith, is based right on the Umzimvubu River in Port St. Johns, deep into the Wild Transkei. Their combined experience ensures you get out to the shoals safely, and back again.
Click on over to Offshore Africa’s new website on http://offshoreportstjohns.com, choose The Sardine Run, and really get a taste of what is to come.
Catching kob in Port St. Johns with #1 Mydo Luck Shot
Catching kob in Port St. Johns with the MYDO baitswimmer head # 1 used as a powerful dropshot rig. These two are rigged the two different ways (see below), and with paddletails. Note the outsized hook on the orange plastic, for big fish and heavy tackle. The Orca plastic is rigged with the knot buried deep and a short shank hook further back in the lure. Choose your favourite hook!
The original #1 Mydo is turning out to be the choice lure in Port St. Johns as it’s perfect weight – 1.7Oz, and swimming action, works the waters at the mouth and in the surf zone, just right. Read on to find out more about catching kob in Port St. Johns.
The rig is adjustable and allows you to engineer the ideal swimming pattern for you, in the given conditions. The line is tied right through the middle of the baitswimmer head and through the eye of the hook. Using a uni-knot allows for the tiny adjustment needed, to play with the action. There is also a through the bait option – great for sticking a hook far back in the bait. Some plastic baits, like the ones with paddletails, need no adjustment really, they swim just so nice, straight and reliable.
But if you loosen the connection between hook and baitswimmer, and stick a split tail plastic on, you can get that thing to swim like a snake! It really is amazing to see you plastic dead bait darting through the water just like a wounded and fleeing fish would be.
The # 1’s are the budget line of the Mydo, and you get to buy them unrigged so you can choose and rig the ideal hook and leader combination for you. The #1’s come with a pin or without, the following are the adaptations of the MYDO baitswimming technologies, to various fishing applications.
baitswimmer dropshot head with pin: rig your nice soft strong leader through either of the available holes and right through the baitswimmer. Tie on your absolutely favourite hook, even a short shank will work great. Grab ahold of your plastic (anything from 3 inch to 8 inch – the hook just needs to be right for the plastic and prey), and get that hook in there. Bury the hook so far in that the eye of the hook goes right inside of the plastic. Now stick the plastic onto the pin, upright. With longer hooks, get the pin right through the eye of the hook, bend the pin over, trim it off with heavy duty pliers and off you go to the nearest river mouth. Now! The pin keeps the plastic in the right place – on the hook!
For short shank hooks, or when you want to rig a hook right in tail, keep burying the hook to where you want it. Put the nose of the plastic onto the pin, and stick a toothpick through the plastic through the eye of the hook, break off protruding ends. Now you have two anchors for the plastic, a completely flexible bait with the leader running right inside it, and a hook right back in the bite zone – far more hookups, no more tail-bite-offs.
baitswimmer dropshot head without pin: This is the other options (some shops sell #1’s without pins especially for this rig). Leader through bottom hole, up through eye of hook, back through top hole, and tie a uni-knot. Everyone should know this knot by now. Quick and painless, and very reliable. Use you own initiative for keeping the plastic on, when it eventually starts to fall off. I use cable ties. Toothpicks. Superglue. A slow bouncy retrieval for the kob, gives a totally different swimming pattern than a faster surface crank for the garrick. The Port St. Johns crew get their fish at a more medium pace, and when they change pace and bounce completely – that’s when they get the bang most times.
baitswimmer: the #1 was one of Brian Davey’s first patents, and all the other baitswimmers were based on this lure. Even at it’s size, it can give swimming lessons to the biggest shad, and even tames a bonito of a kilo or so. Amazing, considering how hard it was to swim those baits ,before Brian came along with his invention and rocked the fishing world. Walla walla, half beak and jap mack all started swimming upright and true – no more spinning baits. The Vaalies finally started winning some comps!
live baitswimmer: #1 baitswimmers are ideal for putting som order into your spread when dragging a bunch of errant little live baits behind you. The bit of weight just puts them away from the surface guys, and you can then play deeper with the #4 and #4 Mydo Baitswimmers safely under them. Running 6 or 8 livies takes some serious planning and execution, and the baitswimmers help you do just that
But here in Port St. Johns, shoulder to shoulder with the pro’s, I am stoked to report that everyone here is using #1’s with great results. Many kob so far, and many garrick. Getting photos out of the team is nigh impossible – they don’t want anyone to know where and what they are catching!
Click here for more about the MYDO Luck Shot #1’s and here to take advantage of our price promotion on MYDO Baitswimmer # 1’s.
Dealer enquiries to umzimkulu@gmail.com, there is a reward of a huge MYDO hamper offered out to for people who can hook us up with dealers, in their areas.
ASAP – Anti Shark Attack Projects featuring a shark exclusion barrier
ASAP – Anti Shark Attack Projects specialize in the deployment of shark exclusion zones and shark detection systems. ASAP activities and projects are completely environmentally friendly and are designed to not interfere with the marine environment in any way.
The image featured is a rendering of the shark exclusion system that could be easily applied in Port St. Johns, at the infamous but breathtakingly beautiful 2nd Beach.
Stakeholders within the tourism arena here in Port St. Johns are excited at the prospect of a shark safe place to swim for visitors. The deployment of this system will also greatly reduce the drownings at this beach – there have been 4 in 4 weeks which just go unreported, like the shark attacks.
ASAP – Anti Shark Attack Projects featuring a shark exclusion barrier
Shark exclusion barrier (c) ASAP
The cost to run such a system easily falls within budget constraints of coastal municipalities, who can look forward to greatly increased tourism revenues, once people grasp the idea that it’s safe to back in the water!
Please contact Mr. Clint Marx on clint@lmsurveys.co.za, for further information.
The Bobalong Barge in Port St. Johns has been smoothly operating on the waters of the Umzimvubu for some months now, and after passing her sea trials with flying fish, is now hard at work.
Brucifire and I gatecrashed a birthday party cruisade and lemonade bash, as stowaways. Niknaks and candy had everyone fired up on sugar and msg in no time as we journeyed right up past the main bridge into the wild.
The Bobalong is well equipped and thoughtfully put together – there is even a head, or WC, at sea. Toilet to most. Tables run the length down the middle, and there is some serious sound aboard – even one of those really tequila funny hooters for when the sugar kicks in. LED lights and beaitiful wood finish wraps up a neat riverine party package. Completely safe, and can handle groups of up to 30! Pickup and dropoff can be from any of the lodges or slipways in the area, when the tides agree.
The river itself is one of the main attractions to Port St. Johns. It is a really big piece of water (full of fish btw), and easily navigable until up past the bridge where sand miners operate with ropes and cables across the river. In days of old, boats could go 18kms! Nature envelopes as the cliffs tower above, cliff faces dotted with caves that lead to dangerous speculation – did people live there?
Fish eagles and herons and terns and all sorts patrol the skies and finches and ducks and hornbills supply nice backing music for toasts and cheers. Food can be arranged from any of the many water fronted restaurants.
The banks are lined with river lodges that feature well honed facilities, and always seem to be busy. Fishing is obviously a major tourism attraction, but it’s diving and sardines that Bobalong’s owners get really excited about.
Their business, Offshore Africa Port St. Johns offer extreme experiental diving experiences in The Sardine Run. Sardines and the animals that follow them. Including, sharks! It’s a highly specialised business but the sharks do seem so preoccupied with the shoals of sardines, that you really do just get ignored. And the sharks hardly feature when the dolphins arrive. They are just so slick and intelligent and just seem to be having an endless sardine party. Then the Brydes Whale might swim past and eat the whole baitball! And keep an eye (and an ear) out for them humpbacks. They just come out of nowhere!
Talk about extreme! Bookings for 2016 are now open, click on over to http://offshoreportstjohns.com for the whole shpiel. Videos and all…
