As we were packing to go home from the story before this one (Protea Reef 16 Feb 2013), we were treated to seeing one of the biggest king mackerel / couta caught on Protea Reef in a while!
With Noel were none other than 3 of the Posthumous clan – Louis, Dawdie and Sean. This fish never stood a chance! The ‘couta weighed 32kg’s and was presumably taken on a livebait (that kind of info very hard to extract from these fellas). Nice fish!
After the usual hectic river mouth launch out of the mighty Umzimkulu (Port Shepstone), we headed out on a bumpy sea, to Protea Reef a few miles out, to take on the yellowfin tuna that frequent it’s pinnacles. The first two drifts at 3.5knots yielded nothing, but on our third attempt, things hotted up fast.
Guest on the Niteshift – Randy Stevens, was the first to have his arms stretched – by a nice yellowfin of 9kg’s. That fish started the rush and soon we were going 3 sticks away. The yellowfin
got bigger and bigger and our last fish – caught by Frenzy, weighed in at 14kgs. She pulled it right out of a shark’s mouth – check the bite mark in the picture!
A huge school of bottlenose dolphin came by – one with a white dorsal fin and white patches all over his body – spectacular. We captured him on video, along with some of the fishing action – see video below…
The Umzimkulu Marina on the south bank of the Umzimkulu River in Port Shepstone is completely rigged for the family fishing holiday. The Niteshift – a Supercat hull with a walkaround cabin and powered by twin 4 stroke Yamahas takes on the launch with aplomb and confidence. Protea Reef is the main attraction and the Hibberdene area (famous for huge king mackerel / couta) is a quick 30 minute race north.
The Umzimkulu – a 25ft cruiser with a roof and seating and licensed for 17 is ideal for parties / events / functions / fishing on the Umzimkulu River. Estuary fishing for Grunter and Rock Salmon (Mangrove Jack) at night is another great distraction. There are also ski’s and a paddle boat available.
Email umzimkulu@hotmail.com or call +27732711694.
Neil Campbell on the South Coast caught this Black Steenbras by mistake whilst fishing for Cape Yellowtail deep off Hibberdene. It won him the bottom fish prize in the competition he was fishing in. Weighing in at 25kg’s – this is a nice Poenskop, Mussellcracker or Black Steenbras – three of the names it goes by. Cymatoceps nasutus is it’s scientific name. An endemic species – we only get them off Southern Africa, and they get to 40kg’s!
A few websites with more information…
http://www.seaworld.org.za/species/entry/black-musselcracker
http://www.wwfsassi.co.za/?m=5&s=5&idkey=880
http://www.aquarium.co.za/species_exhibits/browse_species/black_musselcracker_poenskop/
It is a protected species and cannot be bought or sold, but is highly sought after as a table fish.
Chasing dorado up and down the brown water line created by the seasonal flood waters…has yielded good catches lately…this upsized bull dorado was caught a bit further out though, along with the magnificent Cracker below…
The current on this coast line has characteristically been screaming but every now and then it lets up, allowing for some deeper water bottom fishing. Roger Davidson has been on a roll…with these prehistoric monster Black Steenbras, or Musselcracker, or Poenskop as they are known around here…
Nice fish for Roger Davison! 30kgs!
Thanks to Marc Lange and Ryan Enslin for the photos and story…
After the EN1 road north of Maputo was closed at Xai Xai due to the road simply disappearing last week…the road was again closed on our way south on Monday. Without warning we drove into Xai Xai and were simply turned around. The chaos ensued and after a lunch and a dinner we still could not go on.
These pics are taken a week after the floods yet we still saw many houses underwater as we finally got through at 5am the next day!
