Mike Harrington’s mullet was caught on fresh sardine bait meant for a grunter or a salmon. Known as a bull mullet or a flathead mullet, they are very common in Africa and make a great bait for the big time.
Mike and Savannah van Reenen enjoying the moment together…on the Umzimkulu River in Port Shepstone…
Early winter mornings down on the Umzimkulu River are crisp and still…it’s just before first light that you got to stalk down to the river bank, and get in a few quiet casts.
The flatheads are aggressive estuary feeders and put up a great bucking bronco type fight, using that big flat forehead to present drag. The strike was a solid thud and the fish immediately headed for the bottom and sulked their for some time. When I finally moved the fish, he took off upstream against a kilo of drag?! Eventually he got tired and I pulled him onto the floating dock, much to my shoal of dogs’ delight! And mine.
So it’s called a Bar Tail Flathead, a River Gurnard, a Sandfish, a Flagtail or a Dusky flathead…actual name… Platycephalus fuscus. Great to catch and to eat…but this guy went back as part of the fishtube.tv initiative, otherwise I would’ve eaten it!
The MYDO Luck Shot Mini, available here for now and soon in tackle shops, is a versatile and fun lure for everyone and for many fishing styles, fish species and applications. This time I was moving it along the bottom much like I would be for bass, the head feeds back and gives me complete control of the action over the flat mud bottom. That flathead just pounced on what he thought was a flailing injured baitfish.
When we were in Barra, Mozambique a few weeks back, we trolled the small Luck Shot Mini with the Rapalas and the yellowfin tuna could not leave it alone. It actually breaks the surface at higher speed, and creates a smoke trail much like a kona or a plug?! Unfortunately we were acting in a TV show and couldn’t use any of the material shot that day.
I was lucky enough this morning to be joined by two guests staying at the lodge, who had some experience with the camera…and they got this great one off…many thanks ladies!
This is a repost, since the first version was victim to some bugs…
Oxe-Eye Tarpon in the Umzimkulu: Reposted – With a boat full of tourists from Mantis ‘n Moon Backpackers in Umzumbe, we stuck two lures out, a Mydo Luck Shot and a imitation Rapala, by StrikePro, and in the darkening evening the imitation rapala screamed and in the distance we could just make out a violently jumping very fast and acrobatic fish. Garrick was the first guess, until the unmistakable flurry of a tarpon tail walking came clear. Oxe-eye Tarpon. The real deal (Megolops cyprinoides)! We had caught a small one years before, on a jig fly…and heard of a few being caught down under the bridge on flies…but had no idea they got this big in the Umzimkulu at all. And at about 4kg’s, it would have become the new Oxe-eye Tarpon world champion – the current record stands at 2.99kg’s! Anyway, after a magnificent fight we released it healthily after a few photographs and a good bye kiss.
After checking things out a bit further, and finding that although the biggest one weighed officially was 3kg’s, some 18kg specimens have been reported. But this is the crunch line. In Zimbabwe! This raised all sorts of eyebrows, as all of a sudden it dawned upon us, that these tarpon live in the river! They do not go into the sea, they go upriver, and down. They love the brown water, they love fresh water, and they spawn in saltwater! They are very, very hard to catch and to exploit, without nets. They are tough as nails, and aggressively attack anything! They might even survive the holocaust! They can even survive stagnant water by gulping air into their lung-like bladders?! Talk about a superfish. And in Australia it is rated as a higher prize fighter than marlin and barramundi (Australian National Sportfish Association) !!! Right here in the Umzimkulu River. As luck would have it…a camera rolled and the catch was caught on tape…
To join us for some serious fishing on the Umzimkulu River, call Sean on +27 79 326 9671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com…or click here for more information. It’s great entertainment, all kids love fishing, it’s safe, it’s fun…the boat is also available for parties, corporate celebrations and team building type activities. We cater with delicious seafood and other Mozambican delicacies from Bela’s Mozambican Restaurant at Spillers Wharf, or we take a braai along.
It was a beautiful afternoon and with our crew of 6 tourists from the Mantis and Moon Backpackers in Umzumbe, were in high spirits as we trolled two little Strike Pro Rapala imitations through the rising and jumping fish on the Umzimkulu River.
At one stage, a huge tarpon, about a metre in length tailwalked across the bow of the boat. After getting a few chases and a missed strike, we stopped off at the big hole up near Roystons Hall, and started to cast the lures around the place. The water was clean but the river still flowing quite strong. After a hundred casts, and much egging on from the travellers, the green and yellow Strike Pro got hit. A strong fish that fought well, doggedly staying out of sight until at the last minute it broke the surface and showed itself to be a beautiful little Zambesi Shark!
Luckily the boat was full of camera wielding touro’s and we got a heap of great pics and a video clip (coming soon), before releasing it with a kiss, very alive and well, back into the Umzimkulu River. Since this is the second similair sized Zambezi caught in the river this year, with many more of the same shape and size being encountered, we can only deduce that a big momma might still be cruising up and down, after having given birth in the estuary. Maybe there are a few!
To fish with us on the Umzimkulu River, email Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or call +27 79 326 9671
