Posted on Leave a comment

Umzimkulu Marina: August 2014 family fishing offer

Umzimkulu Marina: August 2014 family fishing offer

wpid-20140729_173059.jpg
The Niteshift and The Umzimkulu…standing by at the ready, to take you fishing, surfing or cruising…call Sean on 079 326 9671

For the month of August, we are running a Family Fishing special offer. R200 per adult per night get’s you in and a kid under 16 free…plus a host of free activities and discounts for deep sea fishing and salmon fishing. August so far…

“We’re having a great time down here on the Umzimkulu River, as quiet as this August month gets. The river water is crystal palace and the river is teeming with fry – all shapes and sizes. You can also see prawns walking around on the bottom, and grunter have been tailing across the sandbank on the north side. The river valley is finally warming up and conditions for fishing the estuary are at a high. Live bait is everywhere, bring your cast net or yozuris, and some heavy tackle. Those big momma kob have to be curious enough to cruise in and out of the deepened mouth at night time…or even the daytime.

The waves out front, in the mouth have been absolutely flawless, but with no takers so far. It’s peeling down from way out back….where the sand has filled to connect to the inside bank – waves peeling for 100 metres or more! Clean water so you can see the stupid thing coming!

Shad are still dominating most anglers’ attention, filling the huge void left by the complete lack of sardines, who are apparently being harvested by the thousands of tonnes, off Cape St. Francis and adjacent ports. I mean, there are only so many available in a year, so if they get taken before they even get past Coffee Bay – then what’s the point? Obviously the fat cats that be put more value on a tonne of dead sardines, than on a tonne of tourists here to see the sardines alive?!

Luckily Garrick and Daga Salmon are also dead on time. Smaller kob in the 5 to 12 kg range are the rage right now…the bigger ones ought to show up soon enough…but the smallies are keeping people up very late (or early) as the fish readily devour a paddletail or jerkbait in the Witch’s hours.

Geelbek Salmon have gone on the boil off Durban, but our catches down south here have been limited to 8 or 10. Since the quota has come into play, that’s great fun for an hour or two, and we are back home. But we are having to travel far and wide searching for the elusive fish.”

So call us on 079 326 9671 if you would like to experience this great fishing spot in our quietest month. The R200 per night special includes one child under 16 free of charge. There are also discounts on fishing trips and other activities. The Umzimkulu Marina Family Fishing Offer expires 31 August 2014…

Click here for more information…

 

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Winter fishing roundup by Mike Stubbs

Winter fishing roundup by Mike Stubbs

Sardine correspondent Mike Stubbs pulled this 5kg Catface Rockod off his ski recently
Sardine correspondent Mike Stubbs pulled this 5kg Catface Rockod off his ski recently…

“It’s been a tough but overall good winter fishing season for rock and surf anglers on the KZN south coast. The rays have been providing most of the fun…and rumours of some beautiful daga salmon on plastics at night, keep surfacing.

A nice little kingfish came out off Orange Rocks, Uvongo, where the shad have been really active, mostly just legal size fish.

A nights fishing earlier this month produced a ray, a Moray Eel…and a crayfish, all taken on shad belly, which has been working much better that sardines or squid.

A few days later, two more blue skates were caught at Uvongo, and further down south, at Ramsgate, a 10kg steenbras!”

wpid-wp-1406618864687.jpeg
Beautiful Rayne and beautiful rainbow trout caught in the Kokstad lakes area…(c) StubbZ

“Meanwhile, anglers inland fishing the crisp lake waters around Kokstad, have been having a great run with the rainbow trout.”

wpid-wp-1406619624914.jpeg
Tye Redinger is a promising young angler who, with a 8lb leader on a floating line, dressed with a Black Willy Bugger and a sparke of blue…landed this huge rainbow trout in the Kokstad area. Nice catch pal! (c) StubbZ

“And to top the report off…this amazing Carp, caught by Johan Redinger abobe the Oribi Gorge on the Umzimkulu River…”

wpid-wp-1406621720344.jpeg

 

 

 

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Welcome to Mike Stubbs – new Sardine correspondent and photographer

Welcome to Mike Stubbs: Sardine Correspondent and Photographer

Yellowtail...
Yellowtail…Mike spends time in both salt and fresh water…

As of this month, Mike Stubbs is joining us a writer and photographer, covering various aspects of the fishing world, as he travels around the South African tournament calendar.

wpid-wp-1404885486482.jpeg
Stubbs catches freshwater and saltwater fish the same…and on all sorts of tackle – this tiger fish on a fly!

 

Rosy Jobfish...
Rosy Jobfish…out in the deep…

Aswell as being dialled in an in the know, Mike is handy with a GoPro camera, as can be seen by this video of a tiger shark being subdued and released…

 

Meet all of our correspondents and contributors here…

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Flagtail on Mydo Luck Shot Mini

A Mydo Luck Shot Mini caught flathead aka flagtail in the Umzimkulu River

Flagtail on Mydo Luck Shot Mini

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.

A Mydo Luck Shot Mini caught flathead in the Umzimkulu River
A Mydo Luck Shot Mini caught flathead in the Umzimkulu River

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!

 

Share
Posted on Leave a comment

Amazing fishing with Mydo’s at Chidunguele

Amazing fishing with Mydo’s at Chidunguele

Len Matthews with his boat Mafuta, and crew were in Chidinguele, in Southern Mozambique, in May recently. The reports and photographs are astounding.

Mafuta-in-Chidinguele
l-r: Riaan Kruger, Len Matthews jnr, Gerhard “the Goose” Gouws, Len Matthews snr.

From Len…

 

Hi Sean,

Thanks for your quick reply.I have taken a quick look at your MYDO Luck Shot
and I agree, you have a winner!!

You are most welcome to use the pic (I will send more) in your mag. This was
from a trip to Chidenguele in Moz from 23 – 30 May ’14. We caught a ton (yes
a TON) of fish in 5 days!!!, Most of them on no 2 and 3 MYDO’s.

The pic shows 17 Couta caught in 3hrs, 1 under 10kg and 11 over 15kg, ALL
caught on MYDO’s!!! We also got a saily and snoek on MYDO’s, and hooked an
estimated 220kg Blue Marlin on the same no 3’s.

One of the 5 days we parked on a shoal of cob and got a bunch n 2 1/2hrs!!!

Regards,
Len.”

Now that’s a fishing trip!

 

Share