Richard’s GT and other stories from Umzimkulu Adrenalin today
Richard’s GT and other stories from Umzimkulu Adrenalin: Richard and Nina called us up for some fishing on the estuary this morning. They are considering getting a double kayak and heading out together. I began by telling them that kayaks are the number one cause of divorce on any river.
So we took the big boat rather!
The mouth has closed
The Umzimkulu Estuary closed a few days ago this week, and a ginger coloured topping has enveloped the entire place. It’s the fresh water that has been pushed up by the more dense saltwater trapped now in the closed estuary. However, there is a secret underneath the ginger. The saltwater beneath the halocline is clear blue! And it’s along this division between bodies of water that can’t mix, that the gamefish hunt.
Saltwater wedge
The halocline is best represented as a saltwater wedge that moves regularly up and down, or in and out, of the estuary with tides. And seasons. In the wet season, this is pushed out to sea and forms the famous brown water line that we are all eagerly waiting for. It also heralds the beginning of the summer gamefish season. The halocline has many purposes and functions it turns out. But in wintertime, the dry season here in southern Africa, the saltwater creeps further and further up the estuary. As the estuaries flow slows. And along with the halocline, go the gamefish.
The salt wedge, as it goes, also triggers a myriad of vital ecological functions within the estuary benthic region. And even further upriver. Signals to spawn and reproduce are but one of these important functions.
Richard’s baby GT
Richard caught and released his handsome baby GT just a few hundred metres shy of the main traffic bridges. A good three kilometres up the river. And as the water level keeps building up in the closed-off estuary, the saltwater just keeps on heading inland right underneath. Wreaking havoc with civilization these days (rusty pipes). But restoring the Umzimkulu Estuary back to the pristine state it was in when we found it. Before our insatiable appetite for sugar silted it up for so many decades.
For more detailed information on the Umzimkulu River estuary and the state it is currently in, please see our trip to St. Helens Rock (almost), with Professor Anthony Turton and The Green Net crew. On The Sardine News. In video and very informative as Prof Turton gave us all a free lecture.
To join us on the river or out at sea, please contact Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or +27 79 326 9671. Come and see our new spot. Let’s goooooooooooooo!
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