Gamefish available during the 2023 sardine run
Gamefish available during the sardine run 2023: All the gamefish come around KZN for this party.
But they ain’t easy!
They get so full of sardines the best way to get ahold of them is to jump in with a goggle and snorkel, and a speargun, and shoot the hell out of the slow moving ones. But that ain’t easy either.
Sharks
There are sharks. Everywhere. And totally unpredictable as they instinctively try and fill themselves. With anything small that moves.
Luckily, they get full. So full, in fact, that they beach themselves and all sorts. But they never stop gorging themselves. And they happily take any bait you can get in front of them.
Shad
Shad just eat through shoals of sardines much like piranhas would. Those sardines are no match for the speed and agility of the shad. Or the teeth!
Because of recent stormy seas and conditions, the sardines were driven deep. Taking most of the shad with them. But certainly not all of them. As can easily be seen at many of the hotspots recently.
Garrick
Well if you need to add a sporty Garrick to your list of species – now is the time!
Rock Salmon
Aka River Snapper spend a lot of time in and around river mouths that are open, as the sardines cause so much fuss.
If you like estuary fishing in the winter months…when the water is clear and you can see top action for miles it’s so still…get in touch, we have all kinds of plans to fish waters like above.
Spotted Grunter
As can be seen by George’s smile in this posts featured image, spotted Grunter spread delight wherever they go. Very hard to catch but they are all over at the moment.
The Kob
Yes you can fish for big kob if you haven’t caught a big one before. There are some lovely fish around at the moment.
Our most recent guest on tour got the fish of a lifetime when he hooked into a monster fish on ultra light tackle.
Queen Mackerel
Aka Natal Snoek hunt right in the shallows along the backline. They swim in the surf zone ambushing prey in the cloudy water. Sand and foam is where these guys are to be found.
So they come right within reach. From the rocks and even the beach in some places. You need a powerful casting outfit to get that little spoon right out over the waves.
Or just learn to spearfish. Natal diver Bruce Brauteseth, shot this outsized specimen very recently.
King Mackerel
These top level predators also come right on into the shallows during the sardine run… you are going to need some serious tackle for this job. Firstly to cast out that far. And then to deal with that blistering first run and subsequent antics.
Join us for a week of pure couta fishing. North or South, winter months are best for really big couta.
Get in touch with Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or +27793269671. The big green WhatsApp button on the screen somewhere is a hotline to me too.
