Fishing News March 2024 featuring Mattski vs Blacktip Kingfish plus #Vilankulos #Northcoast #SouthCoast
Fishing News March 2024 featuring Mattski vs Blacktip Kingfish : Matt Wainright pushed his custom estuary killing machine out off the jetty and started drifting away as he prepared for a gamefish session in the Umzimkulu. He hadn’t even turned his camera on and the kingfish just came up all around him. Right in front of the guests staying at the Umzimkulu Marina lodge. His first two got away, but for the third, he was ready – Insta 360 camera and all.
First cast
Once Matt had upped his leader and tied on another plastic prawn, with the camera rolling, his very first cast produced the BANG he was ready for this time. Alas, it was a small fish, and after dodging the net once or twice, and clearly jumping right of the net once too, Matt brought it aboard for a lecture. And set it free.
3kgs
The next fish, was slightly upriver from the jetty, and once again, in full view of the growing crowd. Matt had cheerleaders!
But this fish was proper. And it took a full 10 minutes to be finally sent to detention for a minute or two. Get given it’s lecture about taking things with hooks on, and set free to avoid lures from now on.
Although we sped up up some sections, it was a long fight. And so, we decided to read the news during the epic battle. Vilankulos. Natal North Coast. Port Edward. Port Shepstone where we are at the moment…
Enjoy the picture show…and the Fishing News…Ides of March 2024…
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Sharks on my Sonar!: we head out to the Noosa River in Australia for this story…where we get to see how Humminbird have perfected their sonar picture underwater.
It is true genius. The machine doesn’t lie. The sharks on the screen are no doubt sharks! As a bunch of Zambezis aka Bull Sharks, are attracted by splashing in the water of this wild river.
And this is all recorded for us ALL to see…that sonar can undoubtedly detect a shark. Especially in calm waters like the Noosa River.
Enjoy the display…
Sharks on my Sonar!
Sharks on my Sonar!
Here is another great article referencing the same fact.
I first approached the sharks board, back in the ‘2000s’, about replacing their defunct killing methods, with sonar detection. It’s the most straightforward solution under the sun. Sheldon Dudley of the sharks board vehemently opposed my suggestion back in the 2000’s. With him was Graham Charter. The other guys just did nothing. Said nothing. Many meetings went nowhere. It was not their idea, and so was not going to be deployed.
The main excuse offered by the team back then, was that sharks have no swim bladders, and so could not be detected with sonar?!
I never wanted anything except some involvement. However, as it turned out – it was not the right channel to go down, to try to effect change.
My Motivation
I had back then recently come across an entire pod of dead dolphins. On the back of a shark’s board bakkie. I was furious. And I still am. Those dolphins died (suffocated to death), in the shark nets of Umtentweni. Whilst there were zero beach users at Umtentweni. It was a Monday morning. None of us were even surfing. Nobody was using the ocean at Umtentweni that fateful day.
During the week there might be a few surfers. And on weekends the weekend warriors. Some families come down on weekends to enjoy the granny pool or the shore break.
Are these enough people, this risk so big, that a whole family of dolphins…must die a horrid death in gill nets?
Sonar alternatives
The Australians also kill bull sharks and the like, willy nilly, with shark nets. Archaic gill nets. That kill everything. They kill whales over there in the nets as successfully as our guys. They also use drum lines to actually catch the sharks, and then drag them away from their homes. Forced relocation. This does not work since bull sharks always hang around their own river mouths.
But the Ozzies have developed something clever called Clever Buoy. I am not sure why they don’t use off-the-shelf available sonar equipment. To mitigate development and deployment expenses. But they are definitely on the right track.
Municipalities and you pay for the shark nets
Yip, you are the ultimate payer of the death nets strewn along the coastline of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. Along with your municipality.
The shark’s board costs hundreds of millions per year. With this money, they kill (annual average):
Sharks Board kill rate average per annum. That is 320 odd sharks per year. Almost one per day.
Harmless Catches
And these they call…”HARMLESS CATCHES”?!?!
Note the lack of whales in this chart. I have interviews, photographs and video to prove otherwise…
Please see the following irrefutable proof that the shark nets have been killing baby whales…here in South Africa. And in Australia.
So all these animals must die…and nobody is swimming anywhere. The water is chock full of ecoli and other nasties right now too. Nobody should be near the ocean. And nobody should be killing sharks in these wayward flood conditions. Brown water to the horizon.
These conditions prevail for months at a time. The nets should be OUT!
More alternatives
Yes, there are more ways to stay safe…
Exclusion nets: deployed perfectly at Fish Hoek (Cape Town) recently, these are proven winners. And these were deployed successfully long before there was even a sharks board. At Umtentweni Beach, and most other popular tourist spots along KZN, still have remnants of the infrastructure used. Concrete pillars with poles set into them. And tennis court netting stretched across them. Stopping any access for sharks. All the while allowing nature to continue along around them unimpeded
Shark shields: for a tiny fraction of the cost of running the entire sharks board, they could equip all ocean users with shark shield devices. They are proven to work and are really cheap nowadays. Get it from the lifeguards and return it after swimming. They could even be rented out.
Tracking devices: many great whites have already been tagged with devices that track their activity in real-time. Right now you can go to the Ocearch Project, and see where the whites are congregating. Let’s just tag the tigers and Zambezis too? I notice some Tiger Sharks, and even whale sharks have been tagged and can now be tracked too on that website. Go check it out, incredible technology applied so well. Some data is old. But new pings are popping all the time.
I have given up on trying to convince the sharks board to stop their heinous acts. We need to get rid of them ourselves somehow. Working with municipalities directly or something.
Please get in touch with Sean on +27793269671 or umzimkulu@gmail.com to discuss any of this further. Especially if you work at a municipality and want to save the people’s money from being used to kill marine life. The backbone of our tourism industry here in KZN.
Catching Kob: Our fish – the kob – could be a more relevant national fish than the galjoen. We get kob right the way from Mozambique to Namibia.
And everybody loves to catch a kob!
Since kob can be found out deeper, where ski-boats have been targeting them in waters between 10 and 40 metres, and in the surf zone, and in our estuaries – we have divided this Catching Kob how-to into three seperate parts.
Deep-sea
Rock and surf.
And Estuary
But first, a quick kob gallery…
Kob Gallery
Sean Calitz 25kg Kob at Port St. Johns with MYDO and BruBaitsJust shoot them if you can!Gerrard-Powell-his-two-daughters-and-a-100lb-KobKoblet by Josh Herrison near Port St JohnsA fun little kobbie about to be released down on the Sandspit in Port ShepstoneThe TWO wise men -according to Bruce! You only need to catch one of these magnificent fish – in your whole life!And it’s Chris Lepan again with another Umzimkulu Estuary kob.Jos Jantjies with a tasty kob caught down at Kabeljauw’s, down the point, in Jeffreys Bay (c) artsurfer.nlSimon fish and his first cast MYDO caught kob in The Transkei
Deep-sea
Kob feed at odd times. And sometimes they don’t feed at all, even when you can see them clearly to be there. I have seen kob underwater – huge kob, lined up in tight formation, wallowing behind the surf zone. Baits all around them. And they won’t touch anything! And then other times, the kob could bite so hard, commercial boats of old would literally sink themselves loading too much fish. Luckily this heinous practise of hauling out fish for profit, is not really practised any more. And the stocks of kob have stabilised, albeit at a fraction of the numbers of before. Hopefully, the more stringent regulations governing the selling of kob might ease the population back to strength. Unfortunately, it’s up to the current political controls in charge of DAFF. Which does not paint a pretty picture at all.
Back to catching kob…launch anywhere up and down the South African coastline, and kob could be on your target list. They really are literally everywhere.
Live Bait
Some spots are blessed with a constant supply of liveys. Mackerel are by far the favourite. Although a little live shad is close behind. Really serious anglers are keeping live bait alive, in cages and tanks in the harbour. So that when they go fishing, no time is spent gambling on catching live bait. Not sure how legal this is, but it’s really effective. Especially for night fishing, since time is always limited.
IGFA allows two single hooks on a trace. Which is a tad risky when fishing with live bait, since a tangle might be in the offing. So, a nice metre length of soft leader, a good 9/0 hook, two swivels and a sinker – is all you need. Drop that rig rigged with a live mackerel onto a showing and hold on tight. Normally at a bit of depth, and the running trace on the sinker snoot, the fish hook themselves when fished with a live bait.
Frozen Bait
Fishing with frozen sardines or mackerel also works. But only when the fish are hungry. This is when advantage can be taken of the IGFA suggestion of two hooks per trace. But. Be aware you may end up with two big kob hanging onto your line!
Lures
Turns out that kob love a plastic bait. A paddletail. Colour not so important. But weight is. You will need a solid 2 or 3 ounces to get down there. Bounce it around on the bottom and hold on tight!
Rock n Surf
Circle hooks have really changed things for the better. The trace used is simple. A single 8/0 to 12/0 circle hook on a metre of soft leader. You can throw out a grapnel sinker and slide your bait if the conditions allow. You need a bit of height above the water for that. Or just tie it all up and throw into the channel between the shorebreak and the middle break. Kob hunt in the absolute shallows in the surf zone. You do not have to cast very far at all.
Live Bait
A live mullet or shad puts you square in the game to catch your trophy kob. Although, if you could get any other live baits, like mackerel, pinkies or mozzies, you would be in the same game.
If your live bait is going to be battling a current, you will need to rig him from the nose or top of the head. Two hooks can help but a single – preferably a circle hook, with the bait nicely fastened on, is the outright winner for successful hookups. Keeping a big needle and a roll of wax thread is a very good habit for live bait fishing. The fish last so much longer when carefully tied to the circle hook. About a centimetre away from the bait. Much like marlin fishing. If the water is calm and the sea is flat, with no current, then put the hook in at the tail area, so the bait can swim away from you.
Once again, sewing the hook on with wax thread is so much better all around for everything. And it is a good feeling to let your hard-working live bait go without injury, at the end of a slow session.
Frozen bait
Well you can fish a frozen bait much like a live bait. A whole sardine is the go-to bait and has caught shoals and shoals of kob.
Belly bait
A decent belly, freshly cut from a shad or mackerel, is a deadly kob bait. You might want to master the art of the pencil bait. Highy recommended.
Lures
Kob have been an enigma to many, for a very long time. What would they be thinking, taking a hard plastic clangy lure, in the middle of the night, cast out there from the beach? Sure, I understand the soft and silent paddle tail, relying on its tail vibrations to get the message out there – but those noisy lures – Eish, they work too!
Kob also take a spoon. A very slow spoon. Literally dragged along the bottom. The Sheppy Bomber spoon, an infamous design from down south, has been revered far and wide for catching kob. Similair S-Bend spoons with half bronze and half silver have been reliable over the years.
Estuary
Catching kob in our estuaries here in South Africa is over-the-top fun. Challenging for sure. But catching koblets (kob of up to about 5kgs or so) on light tackle and lures is insanely entertaining.
Check this video of my Dad catching 3 at the same time!
Flicking and trolling lures
Tie up a little tiny paddletail, and off you go. The smaller the better. The lighter the better.
Live bait
These little koblets love a live mullet. Its got to be small though, like 3 or 4 inches maximum. To make them perform properly, I thread my live baits under the skin with a needle. And then tie my circle hook to the thread. And then when the day is over, you can let that little soldier go without having done him harm to his vital bits like his mouth and nostrils.
Fresh bait
You need to master the construction of a pencil bait, to get these fish to take a hook inside. Pencil baits are designed especially for shy feeders. Like these little kob. And the spotted grunter that are found with them.
Use a MYDO Silver Bullet fillet trace made up with nylon to make a really interesting pencil bait. You could use a MYDO Shad Trace made with wire too. Especially if those teethy shad come into the scene. A good compromise would be to use wire between the hooks, adding some rigidity to your pencil bait. And then a nylon leader.
The fish approach the juicy long pencil bait, and start to feed from the sides. They don’t get much and soon enough they get greedy and move down to the end of the bait. Which is easily sucked in giving you chance to set the tiny hook hidden in the end of the bait.
Kob lures by MYDO
These are recommendations from MYDO lures for catching kob off the boat, the beach, or in the estuary…
If you stay with us here at the Umzimkulu Marina in Port Shepstone, you will be right in the middle of all the kob action. We have many secret rock and surf fishing spots in really close proximity. And the estuary right our front for all day fun and fishing. Kids love it here!
Also check out Umzimkulu Adrenalin, for lots of things to do in the Port Sheptone area.
SKZN Fishing Report 22 May 2022: the sea finally returned back to a normal state down here in Southern KwaZulu Natal. Only after weeks and weeks of that ugly poison soup brown water being hemmed in close to the shore – did the current return last week.
With vengeance.
The water shot back up to 23.8 Celsius (from 19) and was full-up with ‘couta lights (bio-luminescent plankton that signifies the presence of hunting couta). When this current kicks, it really kicks. At about 4 knots offshore, makes things tricky for navigation and fuel consumption. But this is the gamefish water. Purple ink.
Unfortunately, more mud is on its way so we can just hope that the current is strong enough. Mhloti is out of bounds BTW. More flood destruction as another little cut off low hit Durban last night. Out of the blue!
Croc couta at Hibberdene
But a croc’ ‘couta came out this past week! Featured image. By local kayak angler Shaun Simpson. Off Hibberdene. Really nice fish looks like 25kgs or so, maybe more?
Hibberdene does clean up faster than most places down here since there are not any major river mouths north of the place. And those pinnacles and backline rock formations are exactly the turf that the couta like to hunt in. Many, many outsized couta have come from these reefs.
Including these two monsters, taken along while back, in June, 2007. When the sardines had just arrived that season. From the rocks!!!
You can read all about that incredible day right here…
There are NO sardines yet. Don’t believe anything you read in the mainstream media. And watch out for false sardine news on the social shark nets too. It’s unbelievable how stories grow and get completely out of control as the Dunning -Krueger effect kicks in.
As The Sardine News (marketing for Umzimkulu Adrenalin), we have sardine spies stationed up and down the entire coastline. Make sure to be a part of this community to never miss a single sardine this year and every year to come. Since 1987, we have been doing this. Back then we were a printed tabloid!
Anyway, sardines don’t do brown water so we are gonna have to wait until the current takes it all away.
Shad
The shad have most definitely arrived. But we have only been catching them out deep. Away from the poison soup. Some magnificent chases out there along the backline reefs too. Things are getting back to normal. And the shad will come in close with the effect of the current’s long overdue return.
Rock Salmon
Ian Logie cracked the first decent fish of the Umzimkulu Estuary winter season. The water clears up and these fish are available on artificial. Or live bait. As what felled this guy, down in the mouth area.
Ian Logie strikes again! 4.5kgs.
There has been a big Zambezi Shark terrorising everybody at night time here. ALso spotted during daylight hours, this aggressive fish has been making huge splashing noises as he chases the plentiful perch, mullet and whatever other fish, that have come back him into the estuary recently.
The other estuaries that still function, like Mpenjati and Mtamvuna, are also going to be hot as the dry season sets in.
Get in touch if you would like some of this action!
Sean on +27793269671 or umzimkulu@gmail.com to arrange some fishing. Or check the menu above.
Casting lesson #1: look behind you before you throw
Casting is integral to your fishing experience. And. It’s sometimes tricky dangerous. Take it seriously.
Early 2018. The Bazaruto Archipelago. Mozambique…
There is a saying…”All the gear, no idea!?”.
And so it was. I was. Cursed with one of these. He was a sponsored angler from Spain. Sponsored by some useless profit-driven corporate fishing brand (yes, another one can you believe it), a really dodgy brand that produced really dodgy copies of Penn Internationals. Terrible drags. Sound like tractors. Not uniform in character between identical rigs. And clothes made of spandex and lycra.
So this is my guy. A sun-sensitive European full of ugly tattoos and weird tan lines. Dressed in a clown suit. And knows nothing about big game fishing.
Our casting clown in full glory
Sponsored?!
And yet, now here he is and he has all this sponsored gear. But he doesn’t even know what a bimini twist is?! His reels are filled with rope strength braid removing all the usefulness of a large capacity spool. His outfits are all completely unbalanced. And with no knowledge of leaders or knots required to hunt big game fish in these wild waters, huge swivels clang about on every rig.
Now. Do you know? That it is legal for recreational fishers, to sell their fish, in Spain?! So when I asked about these completely unbalanced and incorrectly rigged outfits, he replied, “We’re fishing for money, to cover the petrol cost of the boat?!”.
He goes on to say that they target small bluefin tuna miles and miles off the Spanish coast, trolling, and this costs a fortune, so they sell their fish to cover costs? And it’s allowed?!
Even in South Africa it is not legally allowed for any recreational fishers to sell their catch. This right is reserved for previously disadvantaged communities and those with relevant licenses and permits in our third world. Not for first world greedies. Sponsored greedies at that.
And so…
I’m stuck with this absolute clown show. He wraps himself up like a warring desert mercenary, cakes the rest of his sickly pale skin with petrol derived suncream, and starts to fester. His attitude is so bad. I really don’t think he enjoys himself doing anything. When he casts wrong (most times), he cusses. When he loses a fish, he goes mental, trying to blame my skipper and crew. He has cameras set up all over the boat. To capture his follies? I mean really.
And then on this particular day out with the Spaniard, something happened…
Some background to the day first…
My favourite casting rig
I had just recently received a new outfit from one of my sponsors – the Fishing Pro Shop. A 9ft two-piece. With a perfectly balanced little coffee grinder filled with 20lb casting braid. I had my favourite Mydo SS Spoon running on a metre of fluorocarbon, and now trying to ignore my guest, and in my favourite waters, I was finally in the zone!
Unfortunately, I had this utter idiot with me.
We were skirting a sandbank out of Benguerra Island. I call this one the “Bait bank”. I had my new casting rig out and was just loving the braid flying through the guides so smoothly. Not an air-knot in sight. A beautiful scenario. Sometimes a cast emptied half my spool?! But I had a good 200m and was very confident in my brand new equipment and brand new tied knots and leaders (check the figure-of-eight leader system from Mydo, right here).
Bang! Right at the boat, the couta came charging in. Full attack mode!
But the little guy missed my erratic retrieve. But it’s this retrieve that I count on to excite the water I’m fishing in. And excited this little couta was, since, as I placed my spoon in the same place on the drop-off. This time he grabbed my spoon and held on tight. Very tight!
What a strike! What an experience! It’s really like a long bass outfit I’m casting with. But it’s got guts. I chose this rod very carefully. Designed exactly for fishing these shallows. King and Queen Mackerel. Snapper. Kingfish.
The sleek little fish tore off on its first run. The tiny single hook was holding just fine. I backed off the drag allowing the fish to go. At the same time reducing all that fresh new line drag from all that speed pulling the braid through the water. We were too shallow for sharks here – this fact I was counting on. I got some line back just in time for the angry little couta to make a second dash for the horizon. The super-clean water behind Benguerra Island that we were fishing allowed us all a first-row seat into the underwater action playing out.
Characteristically, the couta came quickly after its second run. And it wasn’t a total of ten minutes before my trophy light tackle catch was on the deck. Man was I stoked! I mean I love catching marlin and things. But. A fish like this, on such a light rig…is special. Well, especially to me anyway.
Look before you cast!
As I admired my dinner for that evening…there is nothing much like a freshly caught couta in the skillet…I heard the gut-wrenching sound of my idiot clients pole, smashing right through the middle of my delicately poised 9 footer, in the rod holder.
Crack!
He simply destroyed my rig. In half.
I never looked up. I just told the skipper to take us home.
The idiot never apologised. Nor did he offer to replace my rig.
But ok. I still had my fish. And this story to tell. Which I enjoyed thoroughly and hope the foolchild from Spain reads this too.
“LOOK BEFORE YOU CAST!”
Enjoy a little collection of pics taken on and around Benguerra Island during the season of 2018…
