Category: Report

Beware the Tiger

Beware the Tiger: I woke in the dark as you do in the deep bush. Surreal surroundings on the border between Angola and Namibia somewhere. No place for city slickers. Was a warzone for decades. No people for miles. I had permission to fish off the pontoon boat of the 5-star lodge we were at. Because it was a good metre up out of the water and away from the average reach of the bigger-than-average crocodiles that swim here. Never mind the hippos.

The lodge staff had just started work. I traversed the huge lodge lounge and restaurant past the pool. And took up the post overlooking the confluence. It was still dark and taking in that particular first light, out here in the wild, was mesmerising.

The coffee came, I drank it quickly, and ventured forth down the gangway to the boats. It took me a good few minutes to scan the bush to make sure nothing was lying somewhere close in the ambush position. Waiting for me! I had been in the bush for three months by now and my survival instincts were fully deployed at all times.

I had two rods with me. I stupidly chose the small guy.

Crocodiles

I do not have any confidence in crocodile-infested waters. Sharks I’m kinda okay with. But crocodiles, and their stupid friends, the hippos, are a permanent death threat to fisherfolk. Not to mention the cats. Huge lion. Cunning leopard. All over the damn place.

They know all about ignorant anglers and take a toll each-and-every year up here in these places.

Tigers

But the very toothy encounter that unfolded on my very first cast in this place, will haunt me for the rest of my life. I came under severe fire, from a fish!

The clear river was flowing foamy. There was a little waterfall at the far end of the pool in front of me. Perfect setup. It was obvious that the fish would be hunting just where the waterfall was spilling over – but on the top side. So as smallies were gonna get rolled, they would swim out of the current, and into the waiting tiger brigade.

My little tiny Mydo Spoon was rigged with 30lb fluoro, this had been working fine on the small fish in the Okavango system the last few weeks. I got many more strikes this way. After settling my nerves a while to the point that I could operate, and accepting this weird feeling that very clearly something mighty was going to happen this morning, I unclipped the spoon.

The spoon plopped exactly in the right place and I moved it away from the waterfall, and down into the pool. A couple of jerks and twitches, and my leader came into view. It’s a very slow fluttery spoon so you don’t have to crank fast. And in the current and in the current configuration, this thing was looking so good.

Explosion

This absolute slab of a golden red dragon-looking tiger fish exploded into my little tiny spoon. The little single hook grabbed onto something. But my heart knew one thing, this giant fish was never coming to this boat. Ever. Not even with my other power rig. It went straight down and the hook pulled. The lure shot up and out of the water into the air, and as it landed that fire-breathing reptilian tiger fish was there to meet it. They both flew into the air in front of me. The hook never held again luckily, and I got a full eye-balling as the fish came eye-level to me! It was massive. Like nothing I had ever seen, or imagined. It did a full 360 cartwheel in the air in front of me. Everything fell back into the water with a huge splash. The fish turned on a tick and hit the spoon AGAIN.

All of this happened within one or two seconds. Luckily the spoon never held one more time, and I got that lure to safety.

Then I got myself to safety!

And never went near that ferocious piece of river ever again.

Pongola

Tiger fishing is amazing fun, with many variations to the theme. Somehow, every few years, another tiger lure gets a cult following. But in Pongola in northern KZN, South Africa, they take sardine baits! That’s how I fished there and caught a few little guys, just to get acquainted.

What I never tried, and what Mydo Teamrider Bradley “Braid” Eliot is going to try on Pongola this December, is slow trolling strip baits. Just like for couta and snoek in the salt (just over the dunes). With a little Mydo Number One weighted at a quarter and a half ounce. Some very deep canyons must be hosting monsters so we are packing in some heavier models too. Even up to two ounces.

We are rigging with a tiny single up front, that just carries the load of the neat little fillet. The leader goes to the head, but the dropper to the main hook – a tiny 5x treble hook, does all the work – and is adorned with wire. Mean teeth. But if they are hooked in the scissors with that little treble…then the single hook up front, and the leader, are actually away from the fish as you pull. Well that’s the theory! But we will fish at strong drag so that we get the hookup immediately the strike happens.

Looking forward to the results Braid!

The following is kinda what Brad will be taking with him to Pongola…

Baby Great White Shark caught on Camera

Baby Great White Shark caught on Camera: the only way any great white should be captured is on camera. Enjoy a high-level presentation by the Malibu Artist. Watch to the very END!

Public indoctrination

The problem here in KZN is very similar to the problems that Africa’s beautiful snakes give rise to in the Transkei, right next door. A prevalent fear of being bitten. Plus, there is a lack of education. And ignorance. The people there burn every tree and bush throughout. For fear of snakes. This ash and topsoil is then blown away, and washed away, into all the rivers. This sediment wreaks havoc on the environment. Sandy rivers, became muddy. Clogged. The balance of the ecology in the benthic and estuarine zones are now upset completely.

Here in KZN, we have shark nets. And drum lines. Right near the surf zone. Designed to hinder, and capture, great white sharks. And other beautiful marine predators. For fear of being bitten. When nobody hardly goes swimming anyway (nets kill 24/7 – even at night and in bad weather when there isn’t a soul anywhere near the water).

The Malibu Artist

Is one of the very best channels on YouTube. This guy is so talented. And so well informed – his passion comes right through his lens and to your screen. His narration is calm and professional. Soothing almost.

He has drone footage of the many Californian great white sharks that frequent the shallows in his area. The interactions between the sharks and humans will leave you gobsmacked.

Please Like and Subscribe to encourage more of his brilliance. Visit his channel right here.

Interactions

It’s not just the humans that great whites run into at the beach. Dolphins interact with the sharks non-stop. Size plays a rather big part in who gets to dominate. And who flees the scene.

Seabirds also don’t escape the attention of the sharks. But the clean water and their wings give them a fair enough advantage.

Seeing a handful of California Yellowtail harassing a small great white and actually using its skin to rid themselves of parasites was incredibly cool! The sharks do not like this harassment at all, they are visibly annoyed in this scene.

Seaweed is surprisingly interesting to great whites?

But unfortunately, so is plastic. Those milar birthday balloons are a real problem and quite prolific too. Please stop putting plastic in the ocean!

No shark nets

But the big news here today on The Sardine News, is the fact that there is not a single shark net deployed in all of California. Not one. No drumlines either. Sure there is the odd attack. But this too can be avoided using modern technologies like sonar. And ancient technologies like exclusion nets. Neither of these systems kill sharks like the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board does.

This is their thinking, by none other than professional shark killer Sheldon Dudley – “Although there were insufficient data for a quantitative comparison of catch rates between nets and drumlines, the results indicated that an optimal solution may be to deploy a combination of nets, using the existing 50.8 cm mesh, and drumlines, using 14/0 shark hooks.”

These guys kill like this…

“Sharks Board statistics suggest that about 500 sharks are killed in the KZN bather protection nets every year, including about 22 great whites as well as 50 ragged-tooth, 30 tiger, 12 Zambezi, 115 dusky, 70 blacktip and more than 150 hammerhead sharks.” – Wiki

This is abhorrent behaviour by a rogue state organisation. That operates like a fishery. And openly is proud of what they do – they even cut their victims up in front of school kids to keep the indoctrination flaming.

As of this moment, their website, which carries these statistics year-by-year, will not load. We absolutely trashed their Facebook page with the truth. They turned all comments off!

So I would like to ask any of you who see some truth in the work of the Malibu Artist as above, to reconsider your fear and hatred of the great white shark. And its cousins. Like the beautiful tiger shark. The bull shark. The mako…all such sleek and beautiful marine animals.

Killed for what?

I sure hope that cute little baby great white shark so well-documented by the Malibu Artist, never comes to South Africa to die with the other 20-odd white sharks that the Kwazulu Natal sharks board KILL every year.

Post and SEO by The Sardine News.

Join us over on YouTube at The Sardine News.

Fighting, landing and releasing BIG Garrick in PSJ

Fighting, landing and releasing BIG Garrick in PSJ: This was a tough video for me to put together. I was hanging out with the recently late Senhor John Costello. Absolute legend. And great friend.

We were in Port St Johns. In about May or so. John was still going strong. Very strong. And we were getting visitors…

Crack Team

Colm, John’s youngest son, had assembled a crack team. To hunt garrick. Kob are boring. There was Chad. Jeff was the newbie. I sure hope he enjoyed the privilege of the company we were ensconced in, as much as I did.

We were staying at John’s quaint and historical residence. Down on the beach. John was tying up affairs. He was always doing this it seemed.

And so I was lucky enough to jump in on the impending action. Conditions were right. Gut feel was screaming loud. The house is right in the tropical coast jungle. Ancient milkwoods. Surrounded by nature and animal screams all night long.

Could hardly sleep with excitement.

I was so stoked to be getting in that car that morning. Sooo many rods and reels. Loads of extra braid and leader. Carefully chosen terminal tackle. Nothing left to chance with these mean fish.

Arrival at the Beach

Nobody was about. The jiggers lie in wait until one of the recreational guys goes vas. Then they storm the beach with their ugly fishing style. Pathetic.

We started to hook up. Colm was first – his fish was so big it snapped the hook of his bucktail. Then Chad started to feature. And did not stop until we had a handful of fish released together.

Jiggers

This video features two of the fish that Chad tussled with that day. There were many, many more. The jiggers pulled in but we mocked them and their stupid fishing style. And weirdly enough not one of them hooked up?!

Chad’s death stare also might have put paid to their ambitions this particular day.

I have recently heard that this immoral and illegal fishing technique has been spreading. Even some of the pristine Cape rivers are being hammered. This has got to stop. Please let us know if you see jiggers at work. We can involve DAFF and put a stop to it. But only if we know…send pics or video to umzimkulu@gmail.com.

A word from our sponsor…

You can buy your own Mydos at https://thesardine.co.za/mydo and you can learn all about Mydos at https://youtube.com/@mydotackletalk.

Catch and release!