Our 25 July 2017 Sardine report is also about mackerel, as Rob Nettleton of Offshore Africa off Port St. Johns reports on a bait ball of mackerel they had loads of fun with today!
Now you got to ask, did the tinned mackerel you just bought from the supermarket come from our own waters? They are the self-same species! And the tin says Made in China!
How are our mackerel ending up in tins in our supermarkets? Read my conspiracy theory here…
Further north, at Umgababa, sardines were netted successfully. They are spread out everywhere up and down the KZN South Coast. Generally the shoals are moving north, and there have been predators on their case too.
The fishing in the Port Shepstone area and south, has been really hot. Epic tales of huge daga salmon in the 30kg range. Garrick feeding on the surface and in the shorebreak. Buckets of shad being poached, with no more Ezimvelo on the beaches to stop the wholesale slaughter of yet another fish population?!
It really is up to us, the fishermen who care about what goes on, to step in and try stop the madness. The custodians of the mantel that protects our ocean and beaches, are ill-equipped and very inexperienced. In fact, they are asking us for help – to report in bad fishing behaviour! Shore anglers annihalating shad, or trawlers hauling out our mackerel.
Numbers:
079 773 6514 for Inspector Teyise who is at sea most times, on trawler patrol
Senior Marine Conservation Inspector Mr. Bongani Pitoyi is on 071 765 2533, and is extremely helpful.
Deputy Director Mr Moshani on 076 780 5049
So do your bit, contact these guys whenever and wherever you see illegal fishing activities going on.
Sardines netted at Margate, Ramsgate, Saints and Umkomaas
There were small pockets of Sardines netted at Margate, Saints and Umkomaas this very morning, the 24 July 2017! They are certainly making their way up north right now.
The sea is amazing, the visibility extending for miles on such a clear day, so the pockets are easier to spot too. The sardine mesher gangs are all over the place as they jostle for position closest to the fleeting shoals. This is typical of a good sardine run. These are called pilot shoals and are characteristically quite small. We just need the weather to keep switching like it has been, the water to stay colder than 20 degrees – and we may be in for quite a surprise this year. These sardines always come when no-one is expecting them! Like right now!
The Tackle Box in Shelley Beach carries all your fish hunting equipment for the KZN South Coast and surrounds
A big thank you to Craig from The Tackle Box, who submitted the photograph from Margate this morning. The Tackle Box in right in the middle of all the action – Shelley Beach, just above the ski-boat base, carries the full range of tackle you need to get at your shad, kob or garrick. This is the time. It only happens once a year.
This years sardine monitoring report was brought to you by http://fishingsfinest.co.za who distribute Pelagic Sardine Hunting Gear ;-). You can pop in and visit in Pretoria, or you can log on and purchase directly from their really cool and busy website.
And if you are looking for the ideal spoon to target shad and garrick with, click on over to https://thesardine.co.za/mydo/ or use the the menu at top.
There were a few crates of sardines netted at Mbango yesterday.
The wild ocean this past week, the cold, and the weather have all played along, and so – it is realistic to expect some sardine action further north up the KZN Natal coastline, this week.
The crew from Offshore Africa in Port St. Johns had their biggest day out yesterday. The baitballs they have been encountering are becoming shoals, as more and more sardines make their way up the coast.
Check out one of the latest video posts from Offshore Africa…
So it’s definitely not the time to be losing hope. The fish in this video are headed our way. And it seems that the ocean patrol dudes have got their game on, as no more trawler reports have been coming in.
Now the sards just need to get by all those angry looking gannets!
The Sardine Report 2017 was sponsored by…
Sardine and Shad Report 2017 sponsored by Pelagic available at fishingsfinest.co.zambango
Richard Colyn takes the Wahoo Winter at Vidal this year
The prestigious Wahoo Winter Gamefish, held every year up at the beautiful Cape Vidal, went off this weekend. More results and detail to follow, but fortunately we got a great shot of the winning fish – a 29kg wahoo.
For any spearo, the infamous and legendary competition, hosted by Wahoo each year, is the holy grail of hardcore. The wahoo are found deep off the back of Leven Point, along with sailfish and marlin, and of course, Zambies. Loads of them. They even swim in shoals there. In the shallower spots, sometimes a Giant Trevally takes the first prize.
Competition is fierce, as are the hangovers, and usually, the conditions too. The launch at Vidal is tricky on any day and often it’s too big and wild to dive one of the two days. The shore divers take extra strain, but soldier on regardless. It is usually the boat guys who get the better fish. Usually, as we remember Clive Kenton wheeling his massive winning kingfish along the beach on a borrowed bicycle one year way back then. He shot it in the pools down at Oscar Reef, a few clicks north of Vidal.
Thank you to Darrell Hattingh for the photograph and details. Check out Darrell’s amazing sculptures from the deep…
And get in touch by clicking below, to order your own underwater memories…
I found this beautiful old balsa Rapala, handmade three decades ago, in our lockup in Mozambique. Stashing it in my bag (in it’s box still), I dragged it all over on my work travels, until finally, I got to the KZN South Coast, for the winter estuary season. It was here, that I had in mind, for that Rapala.
Since we make the Mydo Luck Shots here upstairs in the old boathouse at The Umzimkulu Marina, I always fish with other lures too, to act as benchmarks. And this lure turned out to be a real hot performance benchmark!
The first charter I had for July, Yousef, caught his kingfish after only a hundred metres of fishing! On the Rapala! It was a good fighting sized baby GT, spirited as only one hook held him by the top of his head. Making for some serious negotiating. Luckily that skin on top there is tough as hell, and the fish came to the boat eventually. Still throwing a tantrum! But we soon had the photos and him back in the water. That was the only kingfish on that trip. The rest of the evening we targeted spotted grunter successfully. Even taking a nice big one back to be curry for Yousef, my guest.
The next trip was with Neill Campbell, who got to the rod on two amazing strikes in a row. Both on the Rapala! Both times the fish took enough line to create enough drag to straighten the ancient, but very sharp hooks. I was feeling rather bleak about the Luck Shots not going away. The Rapala was the furthest out, and the closest to the mangroves too…but so we persevered. In fact, Neill was so amped, he went back home and searched his garage for a very similair Rapala he had had for decades too – this one a bit smaller, and it swam even shallower. But with that same lazy classic action that made Rapalas so cool in the first place. Both were duly rigged with new 4X super sharp and powerful hooks. They hamper the swimming action slightly, but we had learnt our lesson!
So now we had two Rapalas of the right colour and swimming motion. And two Mydos. One tiny #1 with a milky split tail on a 3/0. And the other with a 7 inch split tail with a 5/0. The spread was working wonderfully and looking perfect. The next charter were three clued up dudes from Johannesburg. They booked an early morning trip. They casted and casted. I trolled and trolled. Nothing. Nothing at all. The tide was outgoing. Timing is everything.
Then The Roosta took a cruise, two stoked families also down on holiday. He took the first old Rapala, and put it back a bit. Next thing he was vas! So he called up on a young kid on the boat, and coached him in on his first Rock Salmon. Check the stoke on this kids face!
When I got back on the boat with my next guests – Sean van Tonder and his son, we only managed one baby kingfish on a fly…another species though – a tough littleblack tip kingy this time. We got some fun video…
My next guests were commercial diver guys on leave and really in the mood to fish. I reset the Hawaain Diamond spread I was using, putting the tiny drop shot on the port side in my new out-rigger style holder – putting that lure way out the side. Then I put the next Mydo, and the two Rapalas making up the starboard points. It was amazing as the little Mydo, now in the right position, just never stopped getting all the strikes. And the Mydo next to it. A little fire-tiger paddle-tail model. Fish after fish. And nothing on the Rapalas!
And so the benchmarks met their match.
It really has more to do with where you set your lures, and where you fish them, than which particular lures to use. As soon as I put the Luck Shot out the side, it was the closest to the mangroves. And then the next one way back but also within fish sight from the mangroves, where they ambush from. These two lures got hammered and the plastics replaced a number of times.
And then when Andrew van Biljon and Matt Wainwright rocked in to get in on the action, they had an absolute blast flicking and trolling the little Mydos, all over the river. Andrew’s kids Dustin and Tristan having ALL the fun!
You can watch how to fish the #1 Mydo Luck Shot on this video…
