Some sardines to report

A patrol of the coastline between Durban and Port Shepstone yesterday made for some interesting news gathering.

The sardines have not left the building. In fact they were netted yesterday and the day before, and have been making surprise appearances up and down the coastline, even further north than Durban. The old south coast road is still buzzing with traffic from anglers, spotters and sardine crews laden with equipment and staring out sea.

Shad anglers are crowding it out everywhere. Although they certainly have slowed, they are getting bigger (maybe all the small ones are caught!).

But the biggest news is that of the natal snoek pitching up and even being caught off the side. Three so far. And many shot on the north coast. Many of the points we checked on yesterday were boiling with gamefish and the birds, although flying south for the most part, were acting very interested.

This lekka cold front about to hit (it’s gonna blast this one), is ideally timed to help the sardines get back into range, but the super warm water might say something else.

One thing is for sure, the sardines reappearance is not out of the question yet!