Sardine Report 2021: Mayday Roundup (updated with video)
Welcome to the very first Sardine Report 2021: Mayday Roundup on the 1 May 2021.
Well the aloes certainly have not bloomed and we are a dozen cold fronts away from when we can start expecting sardines for real. However, in the past, the early shoals have surprised us as early as April some years.
And as is to expected, this April already has seen the Sardine PR people thumping out news already. Most of it FAKE! Catching everyone (including me at first glance) with a dumb shot of sardines elsewhere in the world, but definitely not in East London! And mainstream media fools reporting on it without fact-checking a thing?! False quotes from false people?!? All for clicks, because, clicks are new currency in this weird new cyber-world we have found ourselves.
And so…a quick timeline of sardine and quasi-sardine reports that have filtered in so far…
Cape Town
Wind the clock back a month, and already Cape Town waters were brewing with rumours of increased sardine and marine wild life activity in False Bay and surrounding waters. This was believable.
UPDATE: found this evidence from two weeks ago, and the baitfish that are being rounded up and devoured into white foamy soup really could be sardines but once again – UNCONFIRMED! I am not sure what else they could be, let’s hope they were pilot sardine shoals that forgot to charge their GPS and took a wrong turn left into False Bay. A bay full of predators!
Jeffreys Bay
Brucifire of the Brucifire Surf Report is perfectly positioned to spot anything that swims by. Here is todays update:
East London
Well that masterful piece of fake news had us all going, didn’t it?
Transkei
The usual mile-long shoal reports have filtered through. Whether they check this out with aeroplanes or not is anyone’s guess. Zero videos or photos so far.
Coffee Bay last week: “Small pockets apparently coming through coffee bay side.”
Port Shepstone
Unbelievably, in the very beginning of April, this happened off Port Shepstone. I was the photographer, and man-oh-man, were those things behaving exactly like sardines. Unfortunately they did not stick around long enough for us to go and check exactly what they could be.
And although these shoals were acting the same, and were being hammered by tuna and things, they could have been red-eye sardines or mackerel. Or mozzies. There were no birds with them either.
And so this first Sardine Report 2021 reveals how eager we all are to believe any good news! Without checking the facts, we all, including me, jump willingly to the same conclusions!
“Saaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrdddddddsssssssss!!!“
The actual first Sardine 2021 report…
There are NO sardines yet. Zero. Nada. Luthu. Aiziko. Niks.
I have feelers far and wide, and they are all asking me about the Sardine Report 2021 goings on?!
But here is something very interesting. The spearos over on https://masterwatermen.co.za have reported their first garrick! Yes, the Lichia Amia are here and so the circus will start. The bag limit is still 2 per person, let’s see how that goes this year. DAFF have promised extra re-inforcements down in PSJ for this year. Extra roadblocks by the cops. And so maybe our tax money will do something to save the kob and garrick from carnage this year. Read and watch more about this ugly scenario by clicking right here.
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