Julian Ruthnum caught this beautiful Blue-tailed mullet fishing near Spillers Wharf on the Umzimkulu River in Port Shepstone, today. These big and powerful fish are quite plentiful in the Umzimkulu right now…plenty coming out.
Contrary to popular belief…they are delicious…in Mozambique they sell for the same price as king mackeral!
Karl Gouws, diving his local beach near Seapark last week, encountered a big shoal of Natal Snoek and before he took a shot was surrounded by hundreds of large garrick aswell. Taking his time he shot two of the more heavies – the bigger one weighing in at 15kg’s! With the bag limit at 2 Garrick, Karl swam back in and again was surrounded by free swimming fish right into the shallows!
Fishing from the south wharf of the Umzimkulu River in Port Shesptone – quite close to the bridge, on a strong incoming tide – Sonny Mhoan hooked this 2.5kg (approximate) Spotted Grunter. The water pushing in through the mouth was clean and turbulent – ideal for these wily and strong-fighting fish. Further up the river, grunter were also coming out, aswell as some decent sized perch.
It’s a great time to be fishing the Umzimkulu as it warms up, and with no rains to speak of really, the water is still winter clean. There has been plenty spawning activity this year, and millions of tiny fish can be seen looking for cover around any structure.
Brothers Dylan and Joshua’s dad Barry took a day charter on the Umzimkulu on Tuesday. The high tide was magnificent as it pushed clean blue seawater right up the estuary – we could see the bottom in some places – very rare conditions indeed.
As we approached Spillers Wharf to collect them, a young chap was screaming and signalling for help. It wasn’t clear what he was going on about until a rod and reel sped past our bow! The kid had left his drag on too tight, a grunter had taken his sardine bait, and the rod and reel went flying off the bank! We gave chase, rescued the rig, and gently towed the fish back to bank, where the kid took the rod and promptly slack-lined and therefore lost the very nice fish?!
So. We started trolling 2 small rapalas and a MYDO baitswimmer #1 with a fillet, around the mouth area. As we passed the mouth on another circle – 2 rods went at the same time – a foul up must be! But no, after the first line broke, the other kept screaming as we turned the boat and gave chase against the huge influx of water. Eventually we got over it only to find we had hooked another line, which had a fish on it!
With no choice, crewman John van Reenen had to handline the fish as it zigzagged across the sandbank – the hook eventually pulling out?!
With such an otherwise start, as the tide moved into slackwater, we decided to head up to the deep hole near the haunted house – Roysten’s – and settle in for the water to start moving back out. We fished really hard, changing baits continually between prawn, sardine and chokka – but nothing came our way.
However, after many hours of fruitless toil, as it got dark, the fish came alive. Joshua’s dad hooked him a square-tailed kob which he carefully released after the photo…Barry almost got another one…and then it was home time. With Joshua at the helm, huge swirls from big fish and even dorsal fins cutting the glassy surface had us inspired all over again. Watch this space!
To charter our boat The Umzimkulu, licensed for 19 passengers and ideal for fishing or cruising – call Sean on 079 326 9671.
