Posted on Leave a comment

Why you should know about the Shark Angels

Why you should know about the Shark Angels

We are really leaving the future of our species, and that of all species on this planet, to the tiniest minority. Volunteers.

Yes, we do have governmental institutions in place, but no, they are not doing their work. Instead, they facilitate the continued destruction of our natural resources. In every country on the planet.

It’s all very simple actually. The current governmental system, is what’s to blame. It allows for the manipulation of laws and measures. And in some cases, total ignorance of them. Money buys the whiskey, and money can bend the rules.

And the scientists allow it to happen. It is what they are paid to do. Validate bullshit and develop new ways to extort the planet and it’s oceans. Paid for by the governments and corporations. Never trust a scientist (Ok ok, there are some good ones out there).

It’s the volunteer groups. They are the people interested and concerned enough, with the environment, to do something. Greenpeace, Sea-Shepherd…the list, fortunately, is extensive.

Introducing the Shark Angels . An international team of volunteers committed to saving sharks, around the world. Including, and especially, here in South Africa. Where our sharks swim under severe threat, of being strangled and drowned, in the gill nets, of the Kwazulu Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB).

The KZNSB have been cruelly drowning sharks in their nets for decades. At the cost of hundreds of millions of Rands. This year alone, expenditure will reach a hundred million Rand or more. Paid by us. The government takes our money and uses it to kill our sharks. The very sharks that tourists spend their cash to come and see. And even swim with.

Check out the following link to get to know the Shark Angels better.

http://sharkangels.org/media/press

 

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Banana Beach Pistia update

Banana Beach Pistia update

Whilst on a goose chase one morning this week, we swung in at Banana Beach to see what it had on offer. It also gave us a chance to give you a Banana Beach Pistia update.

Well, the accompanying photos still show that the stuff is full up in the corner at the mouth, but exists now at a fraction of what it was, when we first raised the alarm. Most of the blind estuary on the inside of the bridge is clear, pistia can only be seen skirting the edges.

So whatever bug the guys in the know distributed for us, worked wonders. Now we just got to help that the pistia did some good and filtered out some of the raw sewage being dumped into it.

Sometimes the shit flows over the main road on it’s journey down into the estuary. The expansion of population and the increased development in the area has pressured the current, very old, and small system, way into redundancy.

Sound familiar?

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Yellowfin Tuna off Port Shepstone

Yellowfin Tuna off Port Shepstone

The yellowfin tuna off Port Shepstone on the southern KZN South Coast, often come and chase the hapless shoals of red eye sardines and mackerel in the Umtentweni area, this time of the year. I think they also need a break from the sharks out there on Protea. Imagine those okes cruising your favourite restaurant all day and night? Anyway, from the whale watching platform at Tweni we saw some action, and in the late afternoon, decided on a quick ambush.

The launch out the mouth has been unruly as of late, so it was with fluttering pulses we cleared the backline and set lines. Catching bait is so much fun and it wasnlt too long before someone shouted “full line” and the game was on. They leave as soon as they start so in the break we got a live bait and a lure out the back, the live mackerel with a condom attached to keep it “safe” and in position behind the boat.

The mackerel went almost immediately and a nice 5kg bonito did a great act of convincing me, and then me in turn, everyone on the boat, that it was a couta. But the bonito went back as is, but with an extended live bait trace, looking healthy. Not for long.

Then we got a second mackerel to join him, also with a condom for “safe” tangle free fishing, and we settled into a nicely aimed drift across our favourite bricks. The east was up and the current has returned to normal and we were heading south at a knot or two when bang bang bang the Saltiga rig starts to get bashed about in it’s holder. No sooner than I had got that free, did the other rod absolutely scream. And scream. I cunningly handed the Saltiga to Roosta and backed the drag off the 50H. Different coloured layers of line were peeling off the reliable old Daiwa, punctuated by my knots like commas in a fast sentence. Luckily all the knots amounted to hundreds of metres and it all got spent out by the time Roosta and Elvis had cleared the decks and started to give gentle chase.

The fish kept going but we closed the gap in about 15 minutes. This time nobody believed that this fish was anything but a ‘couta somewhere hopefully in the class of Roger Davison’s huge couta caught at Hibberdene a month or two back.

The fish we were fighting gradually came closer and then got very energetic and started to dart left and right and under the boat. Not big ‘couta behaviour at all, unless he was foul hooked. Which he was, but that still did not make him a ‘couta. No, it was a lovely yellowfin tuna that gave us such sport. The hooks had him down the side for extra speed on that first run but the adrenalin was not a waste, and I’ll eat tuna any day!

Join us when the weather and tides give us a gap. Call Sean on 079 326 9671 (good luck) or rather email on umzimkulu@gmail.com for a prompt response.

 

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

MYDO Luck Shot #2 “doubling up” as a sinker

MYDO Luck Shot #2 “doubling up” as a sinker

Fishing for bait with a conventional sinker is fine, but replace that with a juiced up MYDO Luck Shot and you have a double functioning killer rig. You can merrily hunt around for bait all the while knowing that any self respecting rockcod cannot leave these “special sinkers” alone!

Bait jig rigs are actually really strong, they use 0.40mm diameter line for the mainline and 0.35 to the beefy little hooks. As you know, hooking up on the bottom with a bait trace always makes for a tug of war to get it off – you really got to pull to break the trace.

So if you hook a really big yellowbelly rockcod or something, you are well in with a chance, and when fished on light tackle – its’ just so much fun!

We have caught and released a bunch of smaller catface and yellowbelly rock cod so far fishing like this and I don’t think it will be long when an unsuspecting tuna or couta bangs that shiny looking thing chasing those yozuris all over the place!

More about Mydo’s here.

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Queen mackerel at the Block

Queen mackerel at the Block

We finally caught a queen mackerel at the Block after the divers from last weeks competition reported seeing a few around Hibberdene. It was chock full of red eye sardines aswell – I am surprised he even took notice of the tiny Strike Pro lure but he did, putting on a helluva show on the estuary tackle. When the fish are so shy like this, fishing ultra light is a good way to increase your fun quotient.

And a few shots of the pre launch and post launch moments…

Share