The Sardine News Summer 2021 22 Season featuring the Halocline and Flood Pulse
The Sardine News Summer 2021 22 Season featuring the Halocline and Flood Pulse: enjoy the picture show…!
Starting with homework… Email your comment/objection to Barbara Dallas Creecy’s diabolical attempt to oust public objections in matters of the environment in South Africa.
PLEASE PERSONALISE THE FOLLOWING EMAIL AND SEND IT
Email to: agabriel@environment.gov.za Re: Consultation to amend Section 24h Registration Authority Regulations by DAFF
Attention: Barbara Dallas Creecy / Alvin Gabriel (agabriel@environment.gov.za)
“Good day I would like to register my objection to your proposed change to Section 24h Registration Authority Regulations. Document Number 1655. Dated 31 December 2021. Aside from being a direct threat to our democracy, it is high-handed and arrogant to think you can just shut the public up as you intend. Especially in matters of the environment in which you are very clearly tasked to protect.
Please make sure that I am on any mail list, to receive notifications on future acts like this one.
Regards”
Ok with the important but boring stuff out of the way…onto The Sardine News…Summer 2021 22 Season featuring the Halocline and Flood Pulse Where we have flooding inland and the catchment areas are spilling their wares out down every river possible.
But.
The current is back in full force, aided by the strong winds, and the halocline is presently sitting exactly in the right place. And extends for miles up and down the coastline. Ideal conditions for…
Dorado
They haven’t been wild (yet). But the perfect conditions are just around the corner. All we need is a few days of west winds and it will be ON!
Billfish
Same as the dorado, they love this colour line!
Others.
Big tuna have been coming out. They will also be hunting along the line. Ready to devour your livebait.
There are also couta getting caught.Yowser for real!
Let’s goooooo!
Check out the Single Strike offering from Umzimkulu Adrenalin. A package deal that will spoil you rotten and see you out fishing.
Busting the Spotted Grunter on camera in the Umzimkulu Estuary
Busting the Spotted Grunter on camera in the Umzimkulu Estuary: after a couple of years of using these GoFish underwater cameras now, we are still learning how to get the best results…
Spotted Grunter busted!
But this past Friday saw a revelation, as we finally busted those wily spotted grunter hunting along the first bank on the incoming tide in the Umzimkulu Estuary. It took a lucky cast to land the camera (simply attached to my line) in the crystal clear water, just as the shoal of hunting fish idled past. In full attack formation.
It’s all about learning
Seeing these fish in their natural environment also makes it clear why you are not getting any bites. These fish are in position, completely focused, waiting to ambush the prawns and fry that come rushing in out-of-control, with the tide.
The water is moving so fast here in the shallows of the estuary mouth – you can see quite clearly what you need to be doing, to get these fish to take an interest, and strike.
And about conservation
In fact, as an alternative to fishing with bait or lures, I quite truthfully, enjoy this more. It’s an absolutely thrilling feeling when, after scrubbing hours of video, a gamefish comes into plain view. In its completely natural habitat. Free-swimming!
And I get to watch it over and over again!
It is much better than catching and killing the fish, to me personally. And I do think this is really going to take off and revolutionise sport-fishing as we know it today.
Slow start
The uptake on fishing cameras has been slow. I only know one other guy in this whole country (South Africa) who has one! Captain Digby Smith has been sending his camera down to the depths off Port Shepstone and has a load of video saved up for me to scrub!
However, the cameras on offer today are so smart and capable and produce such amazing pictures, that soon most guys will be sporting a cam in their box.
GoFish Cameras
The camera used in this video was my GoFish camera, which I have been using for a couple of years now. I have caught so many fish with it! Couta, marlin, tuna…actually everything by now. These clips are the foundations for most of my YouTube channels.
I use them for everything! Their size and relative toughness, make them really adaptable to any situation.
And! You can get them right here on The Sardine News. Using the link below…
Fishing family takes down proper perch on the ‘Kulu
Acanthopagrus berda Forsskål, 1775 (Goldsilk seabream) goldsilk seabream, sly bream or picnic seabream seems to be the fish we are talking about here. (if you know any better please let us know we have been experiencing some signal loss when identifying certain fish lately) We just call them river perch, or perch.
So the very next session after our fishing family caught that awesome flagtail down at the estuary mouth area (see that video here), the next early morning, literally in the dark, we set out on the river. Navigating north this time, up to the big hole and deeper waters under the cliff.
Along the way, stopping at a recently collapsed tree full of weaver birds. Making nests frantically. After trying for a good twenty minutes we moved on. We need to spend a lot more time at this particular spot. Those big rock salmon will be stopping by there on patrol for sure. Waiting for a chick or two to fall in!
Moored up against the rocks at the base of the cliff, this is real nature. Fish eagles said good morning their own jovial way. All sorts of birds were out and about. Herons. Hawks. We even had a tern fly by?!
But the fishing was slow and aside from a few bites it was almost too quiet for my liking. But then our fishing dad had a huge Mangrove aka Santola crab at the surface. And true to form, as we contemplated how to grab him before he grabbed us, he let go. I was already tasting the curry!
Another slow hour went by and all of a sardine – Bang! Momma fish was bending. In fact, the fish was now peeling line. And with a real tight drag, the fish was literally pulling her down the boat towards the back. The boys all jumped in to help, relieving Momma of her bending rod. All having a go at trying to tame this mean fish. Eventually, the rod made it to Dad. This is a true fishing family!
After a solid and prolonged fight on the light tackle, the tired but angry perch came to the boat and the tiny hook was visibly only holding on by a thread. Luck was on our side and the fish hit the deck with a solid thump!
Perch are superb gamefish. Aggressive and wily at the same time. Those times when you just get a solid thump of a bite, and let’s go immediately – that’s most likely him knocking at your door.
Most times with perch though, you don’t even have to feed to strike. Just hit him back as he bites and hopefully your hook is sharp enough and finds home. Smaller hooks are easier, but if you are releasing most fish, as we all do these days, sometimes the smaller hooks go right inside. Causing complications. I like to use a 3/0 circle hook in the river so that I don’t get tangled with too many smaller fish. And I hook up far better like this too.
Circle hooks are definitely the way to go, whatever size you choose to fish. If you are releasing fish, your survival rate will go right up if you use circles. Many anglers on our trips have not made this revelation out yet, and often the hook sets way down in the fish’s stomach. No good.
Noel Labuschagne and his cute little Umzimkulu perch, about to go back.
Baits for perch are very much the same as you would use for kob or rock salmon. The ever-reliable sardine head with guts hanging out, on a bigger 5/0 circle hook, put’s you in the game for all the trophies you can find in the Umzimkulu River. Fresh prawn. Squid. The fish in the video above was caught on a beautifully prepared bait – a juicy mixed grill lovingly put together by Shaun the fishing Dad, for his wife. Who hooked the fish almost immediately!
Live baiting for perch
Perch are actually aggressive enough to have produced many double and triple header strikes here in the river. They hang out in shoals and are pretty easy to locate and hunt. There are quite a few features in the river, that hold perch consistently. One place is a wall running down the middle of the river, that goes for about 200 meters, they can always be spotted here on the sounder. The other spot is close to Spiller’s, where the old bridge used to be. Some pieces of the old structure are still above the mud – perfect for ambushing perch.
Chuck in a live mullet at any of these spots, on a decent tide, and hold on tight! I like to fish without a sinker when I live bait – makes for thrilling one on one direct feel. But a small ball sinker in front of the swivel means a bit more control for you. Hook in the front somewhere. Ideally thread the circle hook Catalina style (just like for marlin) giving the live bait the most chance of finding a convincing a fish to eat.
Prawns are plentiful and right on the very top of all the predator fish favourite food list in this estuary. I have been lucky enough to fish a 6 inch long live tiger prawn, which became a trophy grunter in less than a few minutes, down at Spiller’s Wharf on the south bank too. There are quite a few species of prawn here in the Kulu. And don’t put your live mullet and live prawns in the same bucket – the prawns always win! I also like to fish the prawn without any sinker or float, but they can hide away in the mud/sand. So, A small sinker in front of the swivel, and a small float near the prawn keeps the prawn in the water column and not hiding out somewhere invisible. Place the circle hook right in the tip of the tail for best results when fishing a live prawn.
Then this nice fish, was caught right up at the top, in the deepest section that we can get to. It gets down to 12 metres after some good rains. But in this spot, up against the side, it’s about 4 metres deep – going deeper. This spot is also where I caught that little Zambezi Shark on a bass lure. For real! Luckily I have proof…
We are operating down on the Umzimkulu River right now, based back at the Umzimkulu Marina, and it’s on! The ocean has also settled and the colour line looks phenomenal these days as the current sweeps it along the coastline to the south.
We have been lucky with a good run of dorado so far. Check out some recent action on the Niteshift right here. And a double hit of dorado news from http://umzimkulu.co.za right here.
The Port Shepstone lighthouse. Great photo opportunities around here.
We are offering accommodation and fishing trips on the Umzimkulu River. And if conditions allow for safe launching, we can take a few lucky anglers out to sea. To chase dorado, striped marlin, sailfish and beeeeg ‘couta, as the hot season kicks in.
This is what you can expect…
If you want some of this KZN South Coast seasonal action, let’s goooooo!
Get in touch with Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or WhatsApp +27793269671, to chat about options, tides and dates.
Cyclone Dineo caused serious havoc in a lot of people’s lives, leaving behind destruction that will take years to rectify. But it also left us a proper left-hander. Right in the corner at The Dragon in Tofinho.
After imagining many times that one day a left would magically appear in Mozambique, it would appear out of nowhere – be a top to bottom pitching barreling rip wave that made you work and sweat and surf and surf and surf…well, it appeared. The featured picture is more to show where it is, there was only Captain Gallop and myself in the water AGAIN! So no more pics, but the main factor in this miraculous birth of a wave is very clear in the seascape. THERE IS NO SAND.
Right from Praia do Rocha in the south, past Backdoor, around the point at Tofinho, across the Dragon, into the bay, and all along to Tofo. There is nothing. Beaches have vanished completely. The football pitch sized beach on the wild side (if you can call it that), of Praia do Tofo, is gone. You have to walk half up the dune at high tide. It’s an amazing spectacle. The coastline in Mozambique is so subject to change by the elements.
Back to the top to bottom pitching barreling rip wave that made you work and sweat and surf and surf and surf.
The first day my eyes nearly popped out of my head. I saw it in the perfect blue warm conditions we came here for. It was hammering through. Head high and mean.
What had happened, is that the removal of all the sand scoured out the bay at The Dragon, right back to the primary dune. Exposing a reef! So the waves that come off The Dragon point reef (which is well surfed every high tide every day when this happens), spill into the corner, the water escapes north and drags across this reborn reef and straight out into the oncoming swells. Ok the current was mean, but that’s what makes these kind of waves stand up and go so fast.
We had to stop surfing eventually!
The next day was the same as the tide barely moved being in full neaps. Luckily for the neaps as the current would have been undo-able in spring tides. Water moves so fast with the 4m spring tide range around this area.
The next day was the same.
And the next.
And the next, until it was time to make travel arrangements and go West.
We left it there for any takers. A cooking powerful hollow EMPTY left in Mozambique.
PS except for Tofinho, the other waves are all still operating just fine. Backdoor is a bit wild as the lack of sand means it breaks right onto that shelf. I still cannot get over the power that bay holds. At 10 foot the ground shakes when the sets break – huge perfect a-frames that will shake your bones. The bay in Tofo has many different faces through the tides with the sandbanks producing long running lefts and rights at low tide and playful shorebreaks at high.
For any other surfing info or accommodation or tour options, buzz Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com…or click here for more.
Another informative spearfishing report by our hard working Jason Heyne…story goes he writes these reports underwater!
The diving conditions this week have been pretty average. Garrick have started filing up the north coast and some bigger couta and snoek are around. Saturdaya light offshore blows in the morning switching to a light onshore wind in the afternoon with the swell running at 1.5m. Sunday morning a light south West blows in the morning dying off later in the day with the swell running at 1.7m. So Saturday is the day for a dive if you can find viz. National spearfishing camps will Finnish up on Saturday with the team event. Also on SaturdaySAUFF is holding a free entry comp weigh in at DUC 15h00 prizes for biggest snoek garrick and couta. Well done Carl Werner on getting fish of the week a 20 kg Sangora tail. As always dive safe and straight spears.
This report is sponsored by The Umzimkulu Marina. Very well positioned family and fishing lodge, with slipway into The Umzimkulu River. Or launch at Shelley Beach – just down the road! Too easy…straight into the tail of the Mozambique current. Protea Reef being the main attraction.
