Tag: Inhambane

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East vs West as the Winds Battle it Out in KZN

East vs West Winds in Full Swing

East vs West as the Winds Battle it Out in KZN

East vs West as the Winds Battle it Out in KZN

Adam Kamdar reports in from a blustery Durban morning down on the beach today. It is not a very inviting ocean out there at the moment as the east tries its level best to outblow the west that is coming tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y_cgsdUm7s?rel=0

This is the windy month of August and it doesn’t really get better until we are well into spring.

If you also don’t want to get out there today, but you are out and about, pop into Township Hyper and check out the new kit. Loomis reels are on special. The Warrior and the Shockwave. Okuma have a bunch of new rods on the showroom floor. And there is the practical Mebao range of tackle storage solutions.

You can learn more and get in touch easily on the Township Hyper Facebook Page. Click HERE to get there!

Surfing

We have been mentioning the onslaught of perfect conditions and waves at Jeffreys Bay recently. And here is some hard evidence of the good times.

More surfing at https://brucifire.co.za.

Mozambique

Tofo, Inhambane: The big high pressure sitting over the east of South Africa pushed our long-awaited cold front right out to sea. Where it turned into a powerful onshore wind here instead of the offshore we need.

The divers are out there but surfing and fishing are gonna be tough over the next few days. Luckily we have this report from Duarte further up in Vilanculos, to keep busy with for now.

FishBazaruto.com had some dates to shift around resulting in the 22 to 28 November becoming available. This is peak season big momma fishing, follow the link to learn more.

Peak Season Dates Available – 22nd to 28th November 2024 – FishBazaruto.com

If you happen to be in Inhambane and more specifically Tofo…Wednesday evenings are Timbila Evenings!

Sardine Maps

Having intel to make the right decisions can save you hours and hours of frivolous  sardine hunting. We have taken great care to log the activity of each  sardine run since 2021. These records are available for anyone to look at.

If you study the maps year to year, you will see that right now we are only just in the middle of good  sardine conditions. And that in previous years catches were made right into the summer months.

Sardine Map 2024

Sardine Map 2023

Sardine Map 2021

Channels

https://youtube.com/@Brucifire – highly entertaining  surf reporting

https://youtube.com/@thesardinenews – neva miss a single  sardine

https://youtube.com/@fishbazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

https://youtube.com/@mydotackletalk – highly technical  sport fishing

https://youtube.com/@surflaunchingsouthernafrica – getting out there safely

https://youtube.com/@waterwoes – complain here

Websites

https://umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
https://umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –   sardine run coming up
https://thesardine.co.za – never miss a single   sardine
https://masterwatermen.co.za – news from deep down
https://brucifire.co.za –  surf and conditions reporting
https://fishbazaruto.com – your dreams are out there
https://mydofishinglures.co.za – technical  sport fishing

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Making a concrete whale shark mould

Concrete whale shark mould and friends

Making a concrete whale shark mould

Making a concrete whale shark mould: with a group of local subsistence fishermen, we got stuck in and conducted some solid experimentation with concrete moulds.

Well, I was too enthusiastic again, and I really could have waited at least another few days for it to cure properly, before destroying our first concrete whale shark mould.

But.

Not before we produced five really handsome little whale sharks. And got the local spin fishing brigade completely engrossed in our melting and moulding activities.

Firstly, these guys really appreciated that we were cleaning the beach of plastic. HDPE and LDPE, our primary ingredients these days, float and so wash up on the beach non-stop. Then, when we explained that they could also make their own lures, for spinning with, they really got interested.

Out here on the perimeter, there are not really any shops, let alone tackle shops. But the shops that are here, and the lodges, all pump out plastic bottles filled with sugar and water. Non-stop. All-day – all night. And this is not even the actual problem of the thousands of towns and villages inland that have the same plastic lifestyle. Which leads all plastic to the sea. To should-be pristine Pomene included.

So, in as much as our plastic fantastic initiative is finding purchase, it is no way a solution to the overall huge problem.

What we need is an entire reprogramming of the human race. To care what happens to the garbage we generate.

Right from first use…the plastic needs to be cleaned. Contaminated plastic cannot be recycled. Stickers and other contaminants also have to go. Then the plastic needs to be properly identified and sorted that way.

With these measures in place, your journey to recycling peace-of-mind has just begun.

However, once you have done something like this, and just like the whale sharks above, you will have created value from waste. From nothing. And. HDPE sells for good money. PET not so much. LDPE quite good. PP too. The rest are a pain to deal with. Try not to buy food in anything other than pure and labelled packaging. Check everything you buy, and change brands if you find a brand doing the right thing.

If you get your head around this cool new hobby and start achieving some cool things you will realise that the only limit really is your imagination. And the mould you can make.

Concrete whale shark moulds can work
Concrete whale shark moulds can work!

Aluminium would be the best moulding material for this project for sure. But properly cured concrete can work too. We also have used timber and logs. And punched stainless steel could also work depending on the shape you are trying to create.

Please check out our Plastic Fantastic playlist on YouTube, and like/subscribe/share where you can. Get in touch if you would like to get involved, there are very many things you could do to help, as we spread the word and methodologies we are learning, to grassroots communities, all over Southern Africa.

You can watch all the action right here on YouTube!

There is more information on The Sardine News at https://thesardine.co.za/plastic/ and you can also stay in touch via Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/.

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Yellowfin Tuna time in Mozambique

It most certainly is Yellowfin Tuna time here in Mozambique

Yellowfin Tuna time in Mozambique

Fresh in from Bazaruto Island: Captain Duarte Rato has been hard at all February, and rounds it all off with a fantastic trip he got together with his Dad and his son. Spanning three generations, the effort was serious enough, but with the help of Duarte Jnr’s mom Gretha, those yellowfin were really in deep trouble!

An exerpt from Duarte’s uber cool post,just recently published on http://fishbazaruto.com…

“As all who fish with us know my Dad, Jose Duarte, is a true salt, a real old man of the sea who spent his life in the Ocean, mostly on commercial vessels. He took me to sea from a very young age and, from a very early stage in my life, when my friends wanted to be Doctors, or fireman, or engineers, I knew I wanted to be a charter Captain. My oldest son, Duarte, who just turned 5, as definitely inherited the passion of the sea from us. Or should I say obsession! The boy dreams fishing, watches fishing videos as opposed to cartoons, spends huge amounts of time looking at my BlueWater, Ski-boat and Marlin Magazines and, at five, can easily identify between a Blue, a Black and a Striped!”

Read the whole post and see the complete gallery…

Yellowfin Tuna Jubilee for three generations…

Quick Mozambique fishing report…

The yellowfin tuna have also made an appearance of Tofo recently. Acres of birds enjoying the feast of small sardine-like fishies all over the place right now. Judging by some of the smashes going on, visible over a few kilometres even, there were some big fish on the hunt. Voracious attacks on the surface!

In the backline at Tofinho were the bonefish again. They looked like they could have been spawning as every now and then one lolled over another and a flash of underbelly was occasionally seen. Very cool to see them all so tightly knit and floating along just shy of the waves. If they were not spawning, then I am not sure what they were getting up to?! And no, they were not lemonfish!

Along the beach at Fatimas the bonefish pros were baiting up with prawn and squid and getting a handful of foot longs each. These guys just seem to know exactly when and where these fish decide to show up. This was a few days ago, as a front came through.

The markets are overloaded with lovely gamefish like couta, kingfish and tuna. The weather has been crappy, but aytime the row boats get themselves out there, they bring back nice fish.

Catching Yellowfin Tuna in Mozambique

Well the biggest one caught up in these tropical waters here so far, has to be this 72kg monster, by Duarte and crew, taken on a marlin rig, a few years ago. This fish caused quite a stir, as on this same day, they were all over the place. These huge yellowfin tuna, out of nowhere! And on a mission to smash into everything they could. Luckily this fish held on right to the end. Quite a few got away!

This is the biggest Yellowfin Tuna caught in mozambique by anyone we know. Yes Captain Duarte Rato again!
This is the biggest Yellowfin Tuna caught in mozambique by anyone we know. Yes Captain Duarte Rato again!

At around the same time, bigger class yellowfin tuna were being encountered up and down the East Coast seaboard of Southern Africa. Even Durban got a fish over 50kg’s. A new club record for all the years of that clubs existence.

Traditionally, yellowfin tuna just don’t hang in these tropical and warmer waters at all. Once they reach sexual maturity, which is 35 to 40kgs, they shoot over the horizon and into the “tuna lanes”.

But, tuna, all of the species, are well known for their feeding patterns. They can stick to a regimen like clockwork, often traversing hundreds of kilometres in a day as they migrate between feeding spots. Feeding spots that these highly intelligent fish know are going to produce at those times. And they can change feeding habits and patterns, completely.

Bluefin tuna used to use False Bay as one of their spots. These fish were most likely Southern Bluefin, which we still get in quite prolific numbers, right off our coast. The Transkei Wild Coast regularly sees legal longliners from Japan, there are two of them, catching Southern Bluefin Tuna, within cellphone signal distance from shore. These ships are based out of Durban and can be monitored on any AIS app, anytime. They catch serious fish. Billfish and Southern Bluefin. but the Bluefin that vacated False Bay in the seventies – have never come back!

Weirdly enough, Bluefin started pitching up off Ireland a while back. After a very long absence. Local anglers were amazed to see these huge fish coming right up to them, as they plied their regular fishing techniques right offshore. Soon, these guys were posting online, questions on how to catch Bluefin Tuna. And sure enough, they caught quite a few!

So the influx of bigger tuna to these shallower and more tropical waters, could be seen as an adjustment to their feeding patterns. An adjustment to the adjustments made as so many variables have to line up for natural events like sardine runs to occur.

So tackle up this next season. Keep that heavy duty popper at the ready!

Or better still, a Mydo SS Spoon. Heavy duty…

https://thesardine.co.za/product/mydo-ss-spoon-tuna-127-4-6mm/

Drag UP!

More about The MYDO SS Spoon range can be found here…

https://thesardine.co.za/product-category/fishingtackle/mydolures/mydossspoons/

Catch us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

 

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Surfing Tofinho with Artsurfer.NL and Fatimas Nest

Surfing Tofinho is best started real young. This kids got it down. Yomo!

Surfing Tofinho with Artsurfer.NL and Fatimas Nest

Surfing Tofinho in summer can sometimes be a little slow. But not this year – the sand has filled right back into our favourite little bay. The waves are peeling from the very top right through to the Dragon – if you dare to try run that gauntlet!

There has been a crowd from Durban as usual. But they are not really a threat – there are waves enough for everyone.

Here is a small clip we put together with ArtSurfer.nl. Guest photographer Moyez Ismail also clicked away…

Fatimas is right on the beach at Praia do Tofo. and Tofinho, her little sister, a click south. The fabulously pretty headland that is Tofinho, hosts the waves we all dream about surfing all the time. It’s a quick right-hander that really can growl when she wants to.

But these summer days, it is just plain fun, as you can see in the video. Girls literally take over these waves when they are like this.

Staying at Fatimas, in the bay at Tofo, puts you smack bang in the middle of all the surfing action. You can go up to Tofinho on low tide, or surf in the bay the rest of the tides. There are some real fun shorebreaks that pop up almost randomly. And often, when the stars line up, there are peeling right-handers as good as any hot doggin’ waves you ever saw.

For more options on getting on up to Tofo and the warm clear waters there…check out the following options…

https://thesardine.co.za/product-category/surfing-experiences/

Catch us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za/

Enjoy the gallery…

Thanks to Moyez Ismail for the gallery shots.

Stay posted for what is coming up this December at Fatimas Nest, Praia do Tofo. The festive season is on the boil and pretty soon it should be chaos everywhere. And if you are lucky enough to have flung yourself as far as Inhambane in Mozambique, see you at Fatimas, for the Ocean Fest 2017!

 

 

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Fatimas for breakfast in Tofo

Fatimas for breakfast in Tofo starts at 7am

Fatimas for breakfast in Tofo

“Matabichu”, as breakfast in Tofo is called (in local Inhambane language Bithonga) – starts at a spritely 7am as Fatimas Nest’s kitchen staff stand ready to serve scrumptious breakfast and meals daily. And in the fast pace of Tofo life – diving, surfing, kayaks, fishing, partying – this meal is ever important.

Fatimas from the beachBreakfast in TofoOutdoor seating area at Fatimas Nest in TofoThe view to Tofo Point on a pleasant overcast dayIndoor seating and chilling area, and where many a great party has been known to take placeOutdoor seating area at Fatimas Nest in TofoFatimas for breakfast in Tofo starts at 7am

Sitting out on the deck to welcome the day with a coffee and a chow. Breakfast in Tofo.

News from Tofo

Tofo has become business as usual since the Cyclone Dineo swept through earlier this year. Most damage has been repaired, but there are still scars about showing the devastation. Local business and community banded together to take care of the most vulnerable – the aged and the very young. The rest of the community were able to adapt and survive just fine, but the extreme age groups needed special attention. Fatimas, as usual, was very involved in these community rebuilding projects.

The tourists have been ever supportive and understanding. And basically, all the places that were damaged have received complete facelifts, and all look great.

The whale sharks and manta rays, co-hosts to divers and snorkelers, along with the dolphins and whales and all sorts of marine life have been very obliging as of late. Many encounters with these beautiful marine animals are being experienced daily. It is a great time of the year right now. Not too hot yet. And the sealife is abuzz. Bait balls can be seen all day. The market is full of fresh fish. Smiles on everyones faces!

To learn more about Fatimas in Tofo and in Maputo (conveniently connected by daily bus), click on over to their comprehensive and informative website…

https://www.mozambiquebackpackers.com/

 

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