26 August 2024 Monday Blues in Durban Today: Durban Today by Adam Kamdar 26 August 2024 Adam Kamdar of Township Hyper brings us an unusually not-so-perfect Monday morning report. The east is on the upset sea already. The swell is still running strong. And the water is definitely not clear. On the bright side, these are sardine conditions to the tee. So if there are any leftover shoals hiding in the deep, now would be the time to expect a final flurry of sardine activity in the Durban area.
Over to Adam with the full prognosis and imagery…
Thank you Adam!
Spearfishing
Then we had a late report from The Bear last evening…discussing the huge swells crashing in up and down the KZN coastline.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKBaL74TgH0?rel=0
Mozambique
Well, the waves have been firing here in the Inhambane area. A strong and consistent east swell has been bombarding the coast here for the past few days. This angle gets right into all the nooks and crannies. Videos to follow.
The fishing gets good when the surf gets up in this place. We have had huge GTs swimming around us in the surf at Tofo and Tofinho before. They come right in close hunting in the white water. There are plenty of bonefish swimming along the backline at Barra at the moment too.
Couple boats launched into the shorebreak this morning. We shall see later.
Sardine Maps
Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.
If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.
25 August 2024 Beautiful Buster SW for KZN by Adam Kamdar #surf #surfing #conditions
25 August 2024 Beautiful Buster SW for KZN by Adam Kamdar #surf #surfing #conditions: big thank you to Adam Kamdar of Township Hyper – for another fun report and prognosis of what is happening in the Indian Ocean today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZSYJgLR-DY?rel=0
Durban
Great morning to be a surfer in Durban. The buster SW is almost directly offshore and the town guys are having a ball with the slightly east swell. Crunching waves!
SW Buster SW
The Coasts
This is not the case anywhere else in KZN. Where these strong southwest winds come in sideways and blow the swells all out of kilter. Some places can handle a wind like this one…Saints down south, and Umzumbe, seem to handle it. But most places are gonna be blown out all morning. The afternoon might be ok.
Fishing
Great day to be fishing in an estuary, harbour, or some other sheltered spot. The estuaries are clean and when the waves get big, the estuaries fish well. Flat fish in the basin area in Durban kinda thing. Or rock salmon down the south coast.
This week, a 7.5 kg garrick was caught by a guest at the Umzimkulu Marina. Right in front of the lodge! You can find out more about estuary fishing with the Umzimkulu Adrenalin crew at https://umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za. September is a great month for kingfish, kob and all sorts in the active/alive estuaries we still have left.
Diving
The Bear is gonna be posting later today and his report will appear here. I don’t think there is too much diving in this report though!
Sardine Maps
Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.
If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.
24 August State of the Seas in KZN by Adam Kamdar #sardines #shad #kzn #durban #weather
24 August State of the Seas in KZN by Adam Kamdar #sardines #shad #kzn #durban #weather
Durban
Hells Bells it is windy seas in KZN in August. It is also blowing a gale onshore up here in Mozambique. But uncannily the onshores seem to back off during the day. Unlike KZN where it blasts harder and harder through the day. Today it’s looking to hit 30 knots gusting in Durban and surrounds.
Over to Adam…
And we have The Bear backing this prognosis up last evening’s late show at 4PM…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOsJ6qCDXU?rel=0
Tofo
These onshores do one good thing only. They can change the direction of an existing south swell. Like here in Tofo, the waves were charging past us on the horizon because the swell was so south. But a few days of South East (dominates here like KZN’s North East) and the swell is steered directly towards us here. Not much fun with the onshore but tomorrow looks to be the day for surfing in this place.
There are still many couta being caught every fishable day by the locals. And a few yellowfin tuna have been showing up in the market too.
Bazaruto
These incessant onshores are also what Duarte says brings the really big fish in. He likes it to blow and blow before September. When it all turns peachy again. Spring, the good weather and the big momma marlin season kinda officially starts 1 September.
Duarte still has a booking available due to some existing clients shuffling into December. Get in touch to take advantage of a rare opening during the peak season.
And check this video out…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjUKq5QjuSo?rel=0
Click HERE to Comment.
Please click HERE to Comment, Like, and Subscribe to Duarte’s new marlin fishing channel.
Sardine Maps
Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.
If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.
Baby Whale Tantrum on the Rocky Bay Backline #humpback #whales #sardinerun2024
In this fun clip we see a baby whale interacting with it’s mother in the shallows just behind the Rocky Bay backline yesterday. Enjoy the antics…
As humans, we are fundamentally flawed in many ways. And the fear of sharks (being eaten), caps off these flaws. Since hardly a dozen people worldwide get killed by sharks each year?!
We compiled this list of nasties which should add perspective:
Mosquitoes are on more than a million per year Snakes have a death toll of 100 000 Rabies kills almost 60 000 per year, 15 000 or more from dog bites, many from monkey bites Freshwater snails 20 000 Tsetse Fly 10 000 Roundworms 2700 Tapeworms 2000 Crocodiles are on a healthy 1000 Hippos take out 700 Elephants are on 500 Lions only 250 Cape Buffalo account for 200
Sharks are not even near these gangsters. Sure there are unreported attacks which we do know of. But for the most part, mostly all the more dangerous sharks have been netted by the KZNSB. Or like here in Mozambique, they all got eaten. And sold. Fin by fin.
Very few sharks are left anywhere along the backline reefs along the eastern seaboard of southern Africa. North of the Transkei, that is to say. There are still plenty sets of angry teeth down that away. And out deep off KZN the population seems quite healthy too.
So maybe this little baby humpback up here in KZN and just recently born, is having a tantrum because just a hundred metres away lie the lethal shark nets. Indiscriminately, silently killing by suffocation – dolphins, whales, turtles…the whole lot are impeded and often killed by the shark nets.
Let’s simply remove them from most beaches, until the whales leave? By November the whales and their newborns are mostly long gone. The east winds would have wound down by then. And the tourists are arriving. Chuck the nets back in because it’s great marketing to the hoards who believe in sharks so devoutly.
Take them out again in May or so, when the sardines and whales start their massive show up all over again?
BTW, there are so many alternative solutions to this massive problem of being bitten by a shark. Exclusion nets. Repellent devices. Detection devices. Sonar tags.
Check this out…all these great whites have tags in them and you can see exactly where they are at any time.
There are ten sonar-tagged and tracked great whites between Durban and Tofo today.
OCEARCH Shark Tracker is the link to the online app. It has got to be one of the most fun apps on the entire internet! They even got turtles and all sorts of extras. And it’s worldwide.
And another whale and calf clip to enjoy…from a short while back…great footage!
Mozambique
With the sardines finally running out of steam, The Sardine News changes gear to bring you fishing, surfing and diving news and views – from all around Southern Africa.
In this next insert, we get to surf Tofinho. Way up in the Mozambique version of the Indian Ocean – this fickle wave finally put on a small show. Small being the operative word. But some decent sets did come through and not many of them went unridden. There was quite a crowd of foreigners. Crusher and Dusty led the charge as usual…
Tiny Tofinho
Mdumbi in the Transkei
Then we swoop down into the Kei where CB takes us through the visuals she captured for us a short while ago…
Blustery Mdumbi
There might be a few more reports today still. But we are 5 already! Brucifire is threatening a report, he is going to the beach now.
Jeffreys Bay
Brucifire checks in as the SW howls through. Painting the Indian Ocean smooth and mean at the same time. It’s not too small, but hopefully, Brucifire will get down and grab a few frames for us this afternoon.
Brucifire checks in from Jeffreys
Sardine Maps
Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.
If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.
East Winds and East Swells Prevail 20 August 2024: Yip, the wind is turning around and aiming south with a healthy blow freshening in the afternoon. This will definitely drop the temperature in KZN even more. It is down to 19 already and might plummet further. 19 Degrees Celsius is the upper limit of comfortable water conditions for the visiting sardines. They normally live in water right down to 14 degrees on the Alfard Bank area where they come from each year, right down deep off Cape Agulhas.
Durban this bright morning!
Durban Sunrise Gallery
East Winds and Swells 20 August 2024East Winds and Swells 20 August 2024East Winds and Swells 20 August 2024
The netters have had a good run recently and if you check the Sardine Maps below, you will see that sardines hang around right into spring each year.
The current map has been updated and is a great reference for anyone after sardines.
Great memories!
Jeffreys Bay
And we have Brucifire Surf Retorts to back us up in the onshores! Featuring music by Unified Theory in full swing back in the 90s…
Sardine Maps
Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.
If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.
