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The Lalaland Favourites Collection

Charl Mikkers sets up a bomb out front of Lalaland in Tofo, Mozambique (c) Lalaland

The Lalaland Favourites Collection

Just a cool little clip portraying Lalaland Africa in Tofo, as it transforms and grows.

http://lalalandafrica.com/2015/11/03/the-lalaland-africa-favorite-collection/

After you’ve seen the show, click on around their website and see what Lalaland has to offer. They are right on the beach at Tofo, just a short walk north along the main beach, and pretty much secluded. Lalaland features self-catering in a shared kitchen that can do anything. And a trio of tropical flavoured double rooms with outside showers and toilets!?

Imagine it!

There are often times waves to surf right out front, but otherwise, Tofinho and the new famed Barra are short vehicle rides away. Scuba and snorkel divers can stay underwater all day if they want – the water is crystal clear and warm as toast, especially now in summer when it gets to 28 degrees or more! And this is when the fishing gets spectacular with huge kingfish swimming in and around the bathers even sometimes.

For my clients and budding video creatives, please give Magisto a try, you can get a version for you PC or tablet or phone device, and it makes life just that much more interesting as it’s algorithms attempt to make sense of the tonne of video and still material we all inadvertently shoot and amass.

It is a great way to keep your content channels a flowing. It is a hundred times easier to get a great result and too bad for all those pimply video editor type creeps who do this stuff for a living and charge a fortune (ok my pimples have cleared up).

It even pops up with a message that its made a video (with your data), as a surprise for you every now and then, and guess what, it just sometimes works! If you don’t like it, delete it, or tweak it until you are happy.

Good practise: The idea is to go in shooting for about 10 really good clips, and one or two tight stills. The editor robot known as Magisto then figures things out somehow, and thumps out an dead awesome edit (most times, sometimes it’s an epic fail, but there is a feedback dialogue for you, but remember, nothing good can come of boring footage).

It even offers sound (choose from the Magisto library, your own music, or no music) and titling options, and many different treatment options. WOW!

Then you can share it to the world on all the usual platforms…right from Magisto, or pop it over to YouTube (they seem to be in cahoots)…better still, embed it in a post on your website! Too easy!

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Featuring: The Outspan Inn

The Outspan Inn

Arriving in Port St. Johns in the early evening, after a big drive in from Port Edward, we stopped above the estuary overlooking the river, to take it all in. As we gaped, a flock of terns treated us to a fly by at eye level in the twilight, and with that, the awesome reality of being in The Transkei, set in.

Welcome to The Outspan Inn - Port St Johns, the Wild Coast

After a magical meal at Steve’s Restaurant, we settled into our home for the next few days – the evergreen and steadfast Outspann Inn. Right on the Umzimvubu River!

The Outspann Inn has a history as long as that of Port St. Johns.

The accommodation is built around a lush indigenous garden and a swimming pool, with beach access to the river bank.
This amazing location has obviously played a part in Outspann Inn’s longevity…imagine back in the days, when trekkers outspanned right here as they tried to get across the temperamental river waters.

Fishing is undoubtedly the biggest draw card for the tourists in Port St. Johns. They come from far and wide, and the guys staying at the Outspan Inn nect to us, caught two walloping kob of about 20kgs each and a night time caught garrick! The garrick have been wild in the river this year – reportedly the best season in decades.

Port St. Johns is filled with things-to-do and places-to-go. The restaurants are top notch – starting with Steve’s right at the entrance to The Outspan Inn. The beaches are empty and stretch for miles, although bathing isn’t really recommended, other than in the swimming pool. There are nature walks, a mini golf course, well stocked shops and no trip to Port St. Johns is complete without a cruise up to the airstrip and it’s majestic views.

It is a great spot that caters for the whole family.

Check out more about the Outspan Inn on outspaninn.co.za

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The MYDO Turtle Killer joke

The Umzimkulu is available for charter at The Umzimkulu Marina

The MYDO Turtle Killer joke

Nudged up on the inside northern side beach under the third bay of the Umzimkulu River Beach, we were able to spread out and fish the entire area around us. The ocean a few yards away, and the pushing tide into the estuary where the water works over and around odd places and ever moving sandbars. Ideal for predator fish.

TheSardineUmzimkuluPanorama

This is where The MYDO Turtle Killer joke occurred.

When guests at The Umzimkulu Marina – Kiran and his crew asked if we could focus on Garrick rather than kob this weekend, I was sure this was to the spot. Plus, Garrick encounters in the Umzimkulu had been on the up. Click here for their kob story…from their last trip. It was a lot of fun and we caught fish!

The neap tides had made the scene very calm and the clear water looked seductively safe. A short while ago a 2.5m Zambezi was clearly identified in the lights at Spillers Wharf, by an experienced crew of local anglers fishing there. Quite a few Zambezi pup catch and releases have also been enjoyed over the last few years, clearly meaning a big momma gives birth her one in a while. Check one here!

But we were after Garrick. We were throwing the Mydo LuckShot #1, A GT Icecream Headache and one of our new MYDO Spoons, soon to be released (still in testing).

After a while, we also had three live baits lolling around in the slack water, and we were throwing the lures for miles in between the baits. I really wanted to keep up my reputation as before, when Kiran asked for a daga salmon, he got two.

Next thing. A very strong fish bangs the Mydo Luck Shot and starts peeling braid from the reel of self proclaimed newbie – “G”. Of all the guys on the boat, he was the only one fishing for fun! The others were seriously amazed! Me too! I hugged “G”!

And the fish screamed off really hard and then but the hook pulled after a few exciting seconds. I hardly believed it but then the same lure got smashed again! The fish screamed past us now and headed up river in front an astonished looking crew, fishing for grunter from the bank. This fish went and went fast, until finally up popped the head of a –  50 metres away – huge turtle! Head like a rugby ball!

TG the hook sprang loose and the lures came flying back at us! Forced release! Love those!

Now we all finally discovered how turtle catch fish! This thing was so fast. And then when pulled the hook it came back again and smashed the self-same lure a second time. Imagine it!

We never got a Garrick that afternoon, but we definitely, for a few amazing seconds, thought we had a huge one.

Thanks guys!

Til next time…

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Bazaruto fly-fishing mayhem

Bazaruto Baby Black Marlin bite

Bazaruto fly-fishing mayhem

Bazaruto fly-fishing: chuck a fly in here and see what happens!
Bazaruto fly-fishing: chuck a fly in here and see what happens next!

Early season in the Bazaruto Archipelago sees shoals of baby black marlin on the hunt in the shallows. Often this Bazaruto fly-fishing opportunity happens only a mile from the lodge! Captain Duarte Rato and crew of fishbazaruto.com are geared up for this ultimate type of fishing. Years of experience have seen many fish successfully caught and healthily released.

At these small sizes, from 20kg’s and upwards, the fish are far more resilient and hardy – and man can they jump to heights way out of proportion to their small size.

As this recent report just in from Captain Duarte Rato shows, the fly is deadly fun up there, and a wide range of gamefish are prepared to gorge them…

“On the first day they had an absolute ball at 25 mile releasing several different species including king mackerel, indian mirrorfish, GT´s, golden trevally, talang queenfish, prodigal son and yellowspotted kingfish. On the second day they found a crazy mayhem of game fish just north of the lighthouse and spend the all day in the area catching and releasing few different species but mostly YFT and lots of nice size cuda.” – Thanks Duarte!

This big couta was the only fish not released, it was not able to be revived, after a long fight on such light gear. All the rest of the fish fought that day, are alive and swimming...
This big couta was the only fish not released, it was not able to be revived, after a long fight on such light gear. All the rest of the fish fought that day, are alive and swimming…

For more information on how to get tangled up wto a mean tempered baby black marlin, head on over to fishbazaruto.com and get in touch with Captain Duarte Rato.

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Mydos available at Gremlins in Margate

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Submitted by: Sean Lange

Report:

Mydos available at Gremlins in Margate

Robbie Gavin has been assisting local and visiting anglers to the south coast, catch their dream fish, for 3 decades now!

Gremlins is just up from the famed Margate Beach, famous for it’s fun-in-the-sun vibe and great fishing.

From the Margate Pier south towards Ramsgate you can find numerous spots that are very comfortably fished all the while surrounded by beautiful nature and scenery as the bays and points unfurl. Kob and shad are well fished in this bays and gulleys.

If you are planning a trip down further south, into the Transkei, Robbie knows all the secrets and good spots, so stop by for a chat and an update on conditions and places that are fishing well.

The Mydo Luck Shot Mini #1 available at Gremlins is super fun in the plentiful estuaries and lagoons on the lower south coast. Work a Luck Shot in any of the bigger ones and you are sure to get well excited. Sometimes lures outfish livebaits so it’s great to go prepared for both.

MYDO-MCARTHY
Gremlins in Margate have long been the go-to guys for rock and surf tackle, bait and advice, from the KZN South Coast and way into the Transkei. Gremlins have a strong dropshot section and it is in here that you will the Mydo and MacArthy range of dropshot baits and baitswimmers.

Southbroom, Mpenjati and Umtamvuna are full of gamefish ready to be stalked with these small 0.7 Oz lures.

But the big news this time of the year is the kob run! Expected to happen any time soon now, and already pre-empted by some great catches off the side, including Mike Stubbs big fish on a Rapala, weighing in at 32.7kg’s, caught on The Sandspit in Port Shepstone…

wpid-screenshot_2015-06-15-09-54-17.png

 

The MYDO Luck Shot Mini #2 has also seen some kob action, here is Simon Fish with his MYDO caught kob in the Transkei. He got it on his very first cast with a green glow McArthy 6″ Paddletail.

Simon fish and his first cast MYDO caught kob in The Transkei
Simon fish and his first cast MYDO caught kob in The Transkei
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