Elton of GoDive Sardine Baitball Report from Cintsa #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration #sardine #news
Elton of GoDive Sardine Baitball Report from Cintsa #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration #sardine #news :another crisp wintery morning down here in southern KZN. The offshore winds are blowing daily and this whole week is dominated mainly by south systems swinging across the country. Causing this offshore drift of air every morning – you can see the smoke from bush fires, cane fires and people whisping out over the sea. Makes for spectacular sunrises and seascapes.
We have a gentle southwesterly blowing later this morning, aiming to top out at around 12 to 15 knots as it takes over from the offshore from about low tide onwards. Later in the day, as the tide pushes in, the wind will swing even further to the east to become a proper onshore.
The ocean recovers really fast in this place at this time of the year. And often a bit of east in the afternoon will pull the prevailing SSW swell into the bays and coves for surfing for the next morning. Many nuances in the atmosphere are at play right now that produce these perfect conditions.
Meanwhile, down south in Cintsa…sardine baitball report by Elton…
all the fish and more fish and more fish and more fish Hey morning just an update from Cintsa uh week 4 has just kicked off yesterday was a little bit quiet didn’t really find much at all um and then today all of a sudden in the cold wet windy um weather there was there’s quite a lot of action right from in front of Cintsa in the bay 20 meters deep water nice clear water uh lots of sardines lots of gannets and then some of the videos are also from the East London side so one of the boats went all the way down to East London found great action in front there yeah the other boats in Cintsa all the clients on both boats are in the water at the moment uh I think um the last update I heard is that the one boats on their third or fourth bait ball for the morning yeah and they only launched at 8:00 so it’s really really good conditions at the moment lots of sardines coming through lots of gannets lots of dolphins and I will update further when uh when I hear more wow guys it’s bait fish all over the place Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike
Sardines and Sightings
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GoDive Following The Sardines to Cintsa Today: the sardines are on the move. They are still busy congregating and as we move north, tighter and tighter shoals and baitballs will form. As the predators line up and set their ambush strategies. Lotsa co-operation between the sharks, dolphins and gannets as these main players jockey and jostle the sardines into order.
Over to GoDive Dive Master checking in with Elton…following the sardines today…
“How’s it Elton um so winds picking up today um I don’t think we’re gonna gonna launch today um so we’ll be doing uh wheel bearings brakes everything get the cars and trailers uh ready for for Cintsa um yeah it was it was a lekka PE trip but uh just wish we had some stable bait balls um yeah sardines were quite scattered um I think going up to Cintsa is gonna be a good idea have them funneled funneled into a smaller search area that would help a lot as well um but yeah we had some brydes whales uh humpback dolphins uh common dolphins bottlenose dolphins and uh actually first time that I’ve ever seen uh two pilot whales um so we’ve spoken to the other guys around here sometimes they they do come into the into the bay um so yeah my first time um and I’m pretty sure quite of a quite a few of our clients first time ever seeing one as well um so yeah that was quite awesome but I do think uh since it’s gonna be a bit better um just hoping for some some stable bait balls that stay inside instead of the the kind of scattered deeper sardines so just a quick update thanks man”
Thanks for the update, team, and we are so looking forward to hearing about your first dive in the Cintsa area!
First Garrick of the 2025 Season!
And we got our first Garrick of the season I’m pretty sure you get them before April and I’ve shot them in February by mistake once but the main thing is this is the beginning April the 30th it’s a lovely Garrick caught at Port Edward Splash Rock I think Port Edward Splash Rock that’s what the source told me and I haven’t got a name but it was definitely today so gear up it’s on it’s on there are sardines at Cintsa it’s all happening don’t forget to like and subscribe and check out the membership offer join the hotline Ciao Ciao
Sardines and Sightings
Join the Sardine News HOTLINE for 2025 and Neva Miss a Single Sardine!
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Kevin in Qora Flabbergasted by HUGE Shoal of Sardines TODAY 30 May 2024
Kevin in Qora Flabbergasted by HUGE Shoal of Sardines TODAY 30 May 2024: listen to this very exciting voice note from Kevin in Qora as he reports being flabbergasted by the size of the shoal of sardines out front of his cottage in Qora today.
Words like motherload and early season show the severity of Kevin’s sardine fever-laden report. Makes me want to jump in a vehicle and head south right now!
? “Morning, everyone. This is Kevin from Qora Mouth. Just north of Mazepa Bay in the southern Transkei. Well, we’ve had those pilot shoals that came through over the last couple weeks. Which was a very good indicator that we’re going to have a wonderful sardine run again then we had a bit of a hold-up where sardines washed up in Haga Haga and we heard of a bigger shoal that was off of Sinsa And the water had warmed up a bit.
So that’s why I think that that shoal got held up and Now, today, there are literally thousands of birds out in front of me. I’m also seeing lots of predator activity whales breaching and I wouldn’t say it’s a super pod of dolphins, but plenty, plenty dolphin activity. But I’m talking thousands of birds stretched over probably a two-kilometer stretch lots of separate diving action So, what I’m going to say now is that this is a much larger shoal.
This just isn’t a little pilot shoal fractured off. This is something big. And being end of May, this is extremely unusual, but This is Big Chaps coming through here now, unfortunately my iPhone camera doesn’t do much justice to action that’s a couple kilometers out same as taking a full moon photo and all you see is a little yellow dot in the sky, but The evidence is here right in front of me.
It’s a very, very big shawl movement. I mean, this is on par with like the mother load that comes once a year and it’s way too early for the mother load unless it is the mother load. I don’t know. But Yeah, all I can say is I’m actually sitting here flabbergasted by the amount of activity and feeding going on.
I mean, I can’t even reiterate it more. Thousands and thousands of gannets big rafts everywhere where they’ve gorged themselves full and just others taking to the wing and diving. It’s just, you know, 20, 30 peeling off at a time, boiling the water. So yeah, this is good. This is good. Let’s see how fast they move.
This is the kind of shoal that definitely will reach KZN. So, yeah, keep your fingers crossed. Port St. John’s is the next port of call. There’s not much between here and there. There is Navaja where there’s some cottages. But it’s generally a quiet area, so the next major sighting and confirmation of this shoal is going to be Port St.
John’s Coffee Bay area, and that depending on how fast they move, let’s say we give them five to six days to get to Port St. John’s. But this is a big one. Cool buzz. Over and out. I’ll keep you updated. Cheers.”
Port St Johns
Is the next major port-of-call is gonna be Port St Johns. However, our sardine spies in Mdumbi might be up for some excitement this afternoon and in the morning.
The fishing has been rocking in Port St Johns the last few days.
Shoal sized kob on paddletail near Port St Johns
KZN
Fishing in KZN water and other nearby spots however has been dismal. When the sardines shoal northwards from the deep south like this, it causes chaos with the local fish populations. They also follow the food around the place.
Even the shad have been really slow up in KZN.
The exception being the couta up on the north coast at the moment. They are also here for the sardines but don’t dig the cold water down south at all. Port Edward is roughly their southern limit. And at the limits of the couta’s range here like this, these are the big fish. Only the really big couta make it this far south.
All if these fish were caught down that way, over the years…during the sardine season.
Louis Posthumous and team have been using Mydos for decades. Port Edward.Another huge couta catch down on the KZN South CoastAnd a beautiful healthy looking 28kg crocodile couta by Mark SnymanMark Snyman in Port EdwardKing Mackerel – 8 of, plus a hefty GTKarine van Rensburg of MYDO gives us some perspective standing next to Andre Laubschers magnificent 36.9kg ‘Couta taken off Port Edward
Cintsa Sardine Show 28 May 2024: Elton from GoDive reports a spectacular showing of sardines and predators off Cintsa yesterday.
Which was duly photographed by Nicolene Olckers. From DANSA as can be seen below…
We also were lucky enough to receive some video from the GoDive crew. Mark Graham took a video camera down under the sardines to get some radical shots of common dolphins doing what they do best. Obliterating a baitball of sardines with cunning and teamwork.
This is real wild life!
Sardine Sightings Map
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Sardine News 26 May: yacht run aground at Mdumbi, warm water, beached sardines at Haga Haga
Sardine News 26 May: yacht aground at Mdumbi, warm water, sardines beaching at Haga Haga: yesterdays sardine news todayt! We were meant to upload this report yesterday, but today will have to do. Luckily in this report we have Kevin and our other secret sardine spies on hand to explain what is going on this year, with the sards.
This sardine run 2024 has been off to an early start with a good bunch of sardines finding a chute of very cold water to catch up north. Then that cold water ran out. The ocean warmed by 5 degrees. And bang! We have sardines beaching themselves. Kevin explains this very nicely in the video for us.
Mdumbi
Mdumbi area as reported by Robbie. Yacht Tipsy ran aground 2 am in the morning. The NSRI got the crew of four off safely. The boat is a wreck, unfortunately. More at https://thesardine.co.za.
There have been sardines at Mdumbi. Sardines love the place, along with Coffee Bay, a few clicks to the south. The sards bring the shad. ANd the shad are going mad. Blue shad is the buzz word being bandied about by all and sundry at the moment.
Port St Johns
We get quite a comprehensive report from the Vegan Fishing YouTube Channel. It’s become a complicated place to be fishing. The sand is still going the wrong way in the bay. Rendering many of the best spots completely unfishable.
Luckily there is a garrick or two, on bucktail, in this segment. If you want to be right on the edge of uy7our chair when you watch YouTube fishing videos, check out this Vegan Fishing Channel and hold on tight. Like and Subscribe to neva miss a single garrick!
Kevin in Qora
Backs us up with a detailed and technical analysis of what has happened to those first pilot shoals of sardines. With some cool animations, to really explain the point.
At Haga Haga and its surrounds, sardines were washing up everywhere. All the beaches were flooded with patches of beached sardines.
