Surfing, Fishing and Diving Conditions for KZN on the 31 October 2024 at 7am
Surfing, Fishing and Diving Conditions for KZN on the 31 October 2024 at 7am: Another pearler day reveals itself as we seem to be heading out of windy season and into a real spring-type scenario. October has always been an unruly and unpredictable month. And I just can’t wait for November!
Which is tomorrow!
Enjoy the quick report, and thank you to Adam Kamdar of Township Hyper. You can follow the link to their current Black November sales right HERE.
Thank you to Adam Kamdar of Township Hyper…for the video…
Surfing
A gentle open ocean swell of about 3 meters is working it’s way into the piers of the Durban Beachfront. But it only looks like about a metre. The south and north coasts have about double that size.
With a gallery by Adam at 7am this very beautiful morning in Durban Town!
Fishing
These are excellent fishing times as we move into New Moon Spring Tides. This is my favourite time to be hunting fish. Be aware of the big currents and high waters.
Check this video we posted yesterday of a lovely square-tailed kob being wrestled in on light tackle by local Umzimkulu angler – The Nash!
Diving
The divers might be getting in between the dirty patches from some of the rivers that opened out during the first decent rains of about two weeks back.
As the west wind dominates, the Agulhas Current will come in close and whisk the brown stuff away. Down to the Transkei and beyond, where it is actually nutrition for the reef systems.
The west conditions also warm the water which has reached a very comfortable 22 degrees Celsius in some places this morning.
It’s gonna be a good weekend if this set of conditions can hold it all together!
Sardines and Sighting Maps
It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 189,000 times and keeps growing.
Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat!
These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.
BIG Mystery Kob FISH by NASH in the Umzimkulu Estuary
BIG Mystery Kob FISH by NASH in the Umzimkulu Estuary: We just happened to be driving past on the barge on Saturday, with a huge crew on board, when we noticed local angling guru Nash, tussling with something big. He was at Flat Rock down towards the mouth area from the Umzimkulu Marina where we operate from.
Luckily Nash had his mate on the camera and the whole scene was very well-documented. Along with some highly entertaining and exciting commentary from the crew fishing with Nash that afternoon.
There is a possibility that this is a square-tailed kob but we never had a chance to inspect it up close. There is an article about the different species right here…
And a quick gallery of the surf scene in Durban Town this early morning, before the SW got up so strong…
Sardines and Sighting Maps
It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 189,000 times and keeps growing.
Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat!
These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.
Another Beautiful KZN Day Unfolds by Adam Kamdar: and the good times just keep rolling in! Whilst the rest of the country is under threat of doom from the SA Weather Service people bandying the words “cut-off low” about as if they were playthings, here in KZN we have escaped the alarmist rhetoric. And are experiencing first-class Natal weather.
“Waves man!” – Chicken Joe is in Durban at the moment
Surfing
It is cranking again in Durban town. Between the piers at all the beaches there are waves marching in squarely from the east. Being saluted in by another timely offshore breeze that threatens to hang about all morning?! Eventually swinging around to an east wind, today is a surfing day of note.
Fishing
Fish also love the aerating effect any decent swell has on the ocean. And many gamefish move right in shallow when the waves are up. To hunt in amongst the white water patches – this is spectacular spearfishing time and you never know who you might bump into in the shallows. Big kob and GTs are amongst the big wave enthusiasts.
Garrick and snoek! What champions these fish are they get us from one couta season to the next. Any point or shallow reef will out you in with a chance at these shallow swimming fish too.
Diving
Well The Bear has been uncharacteristically quiet and this can only be due to the brown water hanging around on the coast still. The only chance of a dive would be to find a blue patch in amongst the brown sections moving up and down the coast.
It is deffos more fishing time than diving time. But the lovely SW forecast for tomorrow will sweep the ocean clean all over again.
Synoptic
Let’s hope the SAWS people are not tempting fate by calling a “cut-off low”. For there are two little low pressures looking to team up off KZN and the Eastern Cape at the moment. These little guys are flanked by two mighty high pressures. Which have been keeping our area of the globe quite stable since they have formed up and started working together. Pushing the queue of ever-incoming cold fronts way down south and out of the way.
This is the reason we are getting the nice east swell, which is currently coming in at 9 seconds or so. It has travelled miles to get into such good shape and form. And is at the exact right angle to sneak into the Durban town waves. If the high pressures were not there, the swell be from the SW and the waves would go straight past Durban.
Sardines and Sighting Maps
It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 189,000 times and keeps growing.
Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat!
These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.
Lekka Week Ahead for KZN by Adam Kamdar in Durban: The high-pressure systems we have been counting on to keep the rain away are doing their job. And a fantastically mild weather week ahead can be expected. For KZN and the Eastern Cape.
Over to Adam to greet the day in…
Durban Beach Gallery
Today is quite lekker in Durban already. There is a light breeze from the south to start with, and as usual, it ends up with an east angle later.
As a side note, the weather is quite the opposite regarding the onshore winds up in Mozambique. Up there, it starts with an onshore just about every single day. It is quite blustery in the early sun. Then, by about 9 a.m., it just starts backing off, leaving day after day peachy as ever.
The big marlin season is going on up in Vilankulos right now. Plenty fish in the 600 range being release daily. Captain Duarte Rato is pulling a stint on the Great Barrier Reef at the moment but when he returns his usual Bazaruto reports will be back on air.
For us down in the more temperate south, it’s all about garrick and snoek right now. With some lovely kob catches being made recently. If you are out deeper you are sure to encounter yellowfin and amberjack too. The spearos found fish on deeper Number One this weekend with 8m viz on top and down to 5m viz on the bottom.
Summer is marching in fast – our next big attraction – the couta aka king mackerel, will just start featuring on the north coast as their annual migration brings them all the way down to the Transkei in the sardine season.
The first couta of our 2023 season DecemberSKZN Fishing Report 22 May 2022. Shaun Simpson with a croc at Hibberdene earlier this week.MYDO #3 Couta Trace Silver BulletBeautiful couta off Durban by Township HyperMYDO Couta Spread 2023Phillip gets the tides right and a nice tasty couta for dinner off BallitoDiogo Martins and his Mozambique Couta
It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 189,000 times and keeps growing.
Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat!
These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.
BIG Fish vs BIG Shorebreak vs BIG Alan at The Sandspit in Port Shepstone
BIG Fish vs BIG Shorebreak vs BIG Alan at The Sandspit in Port Shepstone: The Sandspit on the north side of the Umzimkulu Mouth is infamous for many things. And one of them is the absolutely monstrous shorebreak that performs there. Getting a garrick or kob or any other big fish through the dumping waves and up the steep beach is a serious challenge.
In this lekker clip we have Umzimkulu Adrenalin’s Pro Fishing Guide Alan showing us exactly how it’s done. Ace out! And what a fish! An absolute trophy but I ain’t gonna let on – watch the video to see what it was!
And then pop on over to Umzimkulu Adrenalin‘s website where you can learn about the recent fishing and catches. Ang in touch to make a booking. Come stay over. Or do a day trip. It is barely more than an hour from Durban. But the place fishes and looks just like the Wild Coast.
It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 188,000 times and keeps growing.
Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat!
These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.
