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Verified sardine sighting 2021 at Coffee Bay in April

Sardines sighted in Coffee Bay by Spearfisherman

Verified sardine sighting at Coffee Bay April 2021

This verified sardine sighting came to us via Jason Heyne of The Master Watermen website. The Master Watermen website can be found at https://masterwatermen.co.za and is updated weekly with a roundup of spearfishing action going on up and down the KZN Coastline.

As you can well have heard in the report above, these sardines were found in a pocket of extremely cold water. That came in to the coastline off Coffee Bay in the Transkei, for a few days in mid-April this 2021 season. So bearing in mind, that the cold waters are where the sardines live normally, and its water below 19 degrees that gets them into the shallows – that the spate of warm water that brushed our coastline recently, is not such good news for early sardines.

This lick of warm water did however bring with it the king mackerel and the odd billfish that are finding their way into camera lenses all over the place. The Master Watermen site team is busy compiling such encounters into their next dive report. Which promises to be another jam-packed source of information right from where it counts – underwater!

You can catch up with the Master Watermen website at https://masterwatermen.co.za or you can read up on their latest report right here:

Bus 22kg Poensie . Bear Report 30-04-2021

And, yes. That is the first garrick of the season. Shot this last week!

So between these guys up north with their intimate network of spies spread out far and wide, to Brucifire and his penguins in Jeffreys Bay, the Sardine News correspondents in the deep ‘Kei, all dialled into The Sardine Newsroom here in Port Shepstone, we have got you covered. With bona fide sardine sighting patrollers, this sardine run 2021.

A quick gallery of typical Master Watermen pics…

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Sardine Report 2021: Mayday Roundup (updated with video)

Sardine Report 2021: these shoals off Port Shepstone are the only actual confirmed sightinmgs of anything sardine like and they were most probably other baitfish anyway.

Sardine Report 2021: Mayday Roundup (updated with video)

Welcome to the very first Sardine Report 2021: Mayday Roundup on the 1 May 2021.

Well the aloes certainly have not bloomed and we are a dozen cold fronts away from when we can start expecting sardines for real. However, in the past, the early shoals have surprised us as early as April some years.

And as is to expected, this April already has seen the Sardine PR people thumping out news already. Most of it FAKE! Catching everyone (including me at first glance) with a dumb shot of sardines elsewhere in the world, but definitely not in East London! And mainstream media fools reporting on it without fact-checking a thing?! False quotes from false people?!? All for clicks, because, clicks are new currency in this weird new cyber-world we have found ourselves.

And so…a quick timeline of sardine and quasi-sardine reports that have filtered in so far…

Cape Town

Wind the clock back a month, and already Cape Town waters were brewing with rumours of increased sardine and marine wild life activity in False Bay and surrounding waters. This was believable.

UPDATE: found this evidence from two weeks ago, and the baitfish that are being rounded up and devoured into white foamy soup really could be sardines but once again – UNCONFIRMED! I am not sure what else they could be, let’s hope they were pilot sardine shoals that forgot to charge their GPS and took a wrong turn left into False Bay. A bay full of predators!

Jeffreys Bay

Brucifire of the Brucifire Surf Report is perfectly positioned to spot anything that swims by. Here is todays update:

East London

Well that masterful piece of fake news had us all going, didn’t it?

Transkei

The usual mile-long shoal reports have filtered through. Whether they check this out with aeroplanes or not is anyone’s guess. Zero videos or photos so far.

Coffee Bay last week: “Small pockets apparently coming through coffee bay side.”

Port Shepstone

Unbelievably, in the very beginning of April, this happened off Port Shepstone. I was the photographer, and man-oh-man, were those things behaving exactly like sardines. Unfortunately they did not stick around long enough for us to go and check exactly what they could be.

And although these shoals were acting the same, and were being hammered by tuna and things, they could have been red-eye sardines or mackerel. Or mozzies. There were no birds with them either.

And so this first Sardine Report 2021 reveals how eager we all are to believe any good news! Without checking the facts, we all, including me, jump willingly to the same conclusions!

“Saaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrdddddddsssssssss!!!“

The actual first Sardine 2021 report…

There are NO sardines yet. Zero. Nada. Luthu. Aiziko. Niks.

I have feelers far and wide, and they are all asking me about the Sardine Report 2021 goings on?!

Sardine Report 2021: Kev got the first garrick of the season!
Sardine Report 2021: Kev got the first garrick of the season!

But here is something very interesting. The spearos over on https://masterwatermen.co.za have reported their first garrick! Yes, the Lichia Amia are here and so the circus will start. The bag limit is still 2 per person, let’s see how that goes this year. DAFF have promised extra re-inforcements down in PSJ for this year. Extra roadblocks by the cops. And so maybe our tax money will do something to save the kob and garrick from carnage this year. Read and watch more about this ugly scenario by clicking right here.

But ok, stay in touch by joining our Friday newsletter so you don’t miss a thing. Or better still join our YouTube Channel for absolutely FREE by clicking HERE!

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KZN estuaries alive with fish

JJ Gallagher and his brace of birthday roick salmon caught over a long weekend at the Umzimkulu Marina in Port Shepstone

KZN estuaries alive with fish

KZN estuaries: What a weekend! 3 for 15 on rock salmon. A shoal of baby grunter. A couple of small koblets. Some outsized perch (by Marius at Spillers). A massive eel. And one zambezi sighting!

Bait

JJ Gallagher and his brace of birthday roick salmon caught over a long weekend at the Umzimkulu Marina in Port Shepstone
JJ Gallagher and his brace of birthday rock salmon caught over this long weekend at the Umzimkulu Marina in Port Shepstone

Buckets of live baits. Prawns and mullet. Only on low tide though, and quite often they disappear completely. Not easy but our little aerator works great and we kind of never ran out the whole weekend.

The cast net never stopped working!

It was young JJ Gallagher’s (featured pic) birthday down at the Umzimkulu Marina, in Port Shepstone. He had a crew of fishing mates join him down on the estuary. It was a lot of fun with kayaks, houseboat and us all getting in on the action.

Conditions in the KZN estuaries right now

The rivers are all in perfect shape right now for the rock salmon and kingfish (greenspots and GTs) to return. They are wide open and flushing with the tides beautifully. Especially on these massive tides, that the current super moon is delivering. Many top-water smashes were going on all during the weekend and although none of us caught one, the general consensus is that they were top feeding kingfish.

Umzimkulu Estuary in Port Shepstone at low tideKZN Estuaries April conditionsKZN Estuaries enjoying huge tides at the momentEstuary game fish season is on! JJ Gallagher and his Umzimkulu Rock SalmonKZN Estuaries are fishing red-hot right now

We were catching perch and the odd rock salmon, in the mud even, as the salt started creeping back up the river a month or so ago. The barbel have luckily left for home, but we still have the odd eel to content with. Some real monsters at a metre or more!

Small kob have found their way into the estuaries too. Great tag and release candidates and enthusiastic enough to take a live mullet or a well-placed and well-worked lure. The kob favour the deeper channels.

KZN estuaries on for rockies right now!

But it was the rock salmon that had all our attention this weekend. Some huge trees fell off the cliff during flood conditions a few years ago. And they are perfectly positioned sticking right into the depths of the main channel under the mountain. And man-oh-man are they holding fish.

The birthdaying teenagers drew first blood with a spritely 1.5kg sized rock salmon. They kept this one for a birthday braai planned for Sunday. Then the mayhem started and fish after fish dealt out various degrees of punishment. Three of the fish actually bit the kids leaders through. These guys are actually veterans in this corner of the woods. With real tackle and leaders. And yet the fish were having none of it.

This went on for session after session. Loud stories echoed from chalet to chalet all afternoon and evening!

Scotty!

Then it was the turn of visiting angler Scotty Roebuck. We had been trolling lures up and down past the teenagers when Scotty picked up my casting rod, fitted out with a Dirty Prawn bucktail by Evan Phillips. He expertly flicked the bucktail between the trees and next thing – bang!

And this was a real fish, it went straight for the obstacles! But the seasoned fish-fighter Scotty put the brakes on and turned it with the 30lb braid. Mandatory tackle around here. The fish fought mean and dirty, trying to escape under the boat and all sorts of things.

But Scotty got his rock salmon! Not one of us had a phone with us so no pics. But man oh man memories!

The Umzimkulu Special by the Dirty Prawn guys is available on it's own or as part of the MYDO Estuary Pack
The Umzimkulu Special by the Dirty Prawn guys is available on its own or as part of the MYDO Estuary Pack This is the lure that Scotty caught his fish this weekend with.

If you like this kind of stuff, get in touch and we can work it out for you and your family or mates.

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Brucifire Surf Report Mid April 2021 (with some board reviews)

Bruce Gold styling at Seals

Brucifire Surf Report Mid April 2021 (with some board reviews)

After 6 takes, it’s finally a wrap! I really have to thank both Bruce and I for not losing our cool in 48 hours of retake after retake. The one shot move is the holy grail of YouTube video making (according to some), and I think we might get the hang of this thing.

Albeit with a few more practise runs. It’s actually a helluva lot of fun and I am sure internet broadcasting like this will soon be very normal for everyone. Buzz me if you need help! It is so much quicker to publishing than the old ways of editing and rendering. And then uploading huge files?! This is nothing short of revolutionary!

Relying on cellphones and networks adds to the challenge, and so we dropped sound quite a few times in the beginning of the broadcast. Luckily the report is about 9 minutes long so you shouldn’t even remember the glitches.

Surfboard reviews

After Brucifire reviews four seriously original surfboards 1. A Zulu, 2. A STU Kenson, 3. an Alaeia and 4. a very ominous looking Mikey Meyer, we move onto a pre-packaged insert that Bruce shot all by himself!

Cork topped Zulu surfboard on the Brucifire Surf Report Mid April 2021
Jaco: Cork topped Zulu surfboard on the Brucifire Surf Report Mid April 2021
David Nuhiiwa, Joel Tudor and STU Kenson...on the Brucifire Surf Report
Brucifire surf report mid April 2021: Mikey Meyer 8 footer with a history
Aleia on the Brucifire Surf Report Mid April 2021

Remains to be Seen

Remains to be Seen, the surf museum run by Brucifire, is getting a new home. Made of bricks and concrete and sporting a sprinkling of decidedly glamorous features. Like a juice bar! Watch this space! It’s quite a big space and should be a helluva lot of fun to visit once it’s all set up. Two months or so for that party. No-invite only! The entirety of the currently quaint Remains to be Seen surf museum, plus a whole lot more scatterlings all about the place, will be finding a home here. Courtesy of Aloha Guesthouse and the Rossouw family. Wowser!

This is where Brucifire and the team will be chronicling as much surfing history as possible, in these surf reports. And then pumping it up onto YouTube for posterity and profit! Ha hahaha, yes, selling out finally Brucifire! About bloody time!

There is a lot more like this on https://thesardine.co.za which is the home of The Sardine News. A tongue-in-cheek attempt at avoiding bad news completely. And a great place to market your goods or services.

You can find all the Brucifire surf reports, and a helluva lot of other surfing, fishing and diving content, on YouTube at our Channel right HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/user/umzimkulu1?sub_confirmation=1
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Mdloti SHARK ATTACK this afternoon. All the details!

Mdloti SHARK ATTACK by Jarid Norman

Mdloti SHARK ATTACK this afternoon. All the details!

Mdloti SHARK ATTACK this afternoon. All the details! Well some sharks pick on the wrong people. And today at Mdloti, on the northern KZN coast, this happened!

Jason Heyne of the Master Watermen spearfishing website, has just posted the video and pod cast. Of his mate Jarid Norman, having the sharks teeth pulled out of his skull! Plus a real entertaining interview!

Yip!

Check it out right here and now!

Well it is just so uber-cool that Jarid survived. Things could have been very miserable this very evening. But. They are not! And all we can do is learn more from these encounters.

I am really not sure what the lesson in this one could be for us – maybe this one is for the shark! Jarid is reputed to be one tough S.O.B.

Evidently!

Shark tooth in the head: Mdloti SHARK ATTACK by Jarid Norman
Shark tooth in the head: Mdloti SHARK ATTACK by Jarid Norman

The Master Watermen website is barely a year old and is growing daily. Jason is doing a superlative job creating weekly dive reports. And in-depth (ha ha) tutorials on the very many aspects of spearfishing that need to be mastered. Some news items break too, and man-oh-man it’s real cool to be able to be light-hearted about what could have been really bad.

The lesson then, for all of us, is, SPEND MORE TIME IN THE WATER! Before it’s time up!

Much better to be eaten by a shark than by a taxi.

And then a few real cool parting shots…featuring some really real people…

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31534163

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2019/04/17/shark-attack-survivors-emerge-as-unlikely-allies-in-conservation-efforts

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2014/09/shark-attack-survivors-unite-to-save-sharks

These links refers to shark attack victims, who have sided with the sharks!

Yes, these guys, they have gotten over the incident. Realised that it was not the animals fault (more likely their fault). And learned all about how cool these apex predators are.

Lions of the oceans!

An encounter with a shark should surely hold the same awe and fascination levels that a big male lion does.

It is to me!

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