kiran Archives - The Sardine News

Another great Umzimkulu fishing story by Kiran Ramjiawan

Friday, 21st October, was the day we took the short journey with plenty of food, beer and a variety of bait. We booked in with our fantastic hosts Brian and Geraldine Lange, and met our friend Elvis, the always smiling river’and qualified barge skipper.

We quickly tackled up and headed down to the river, only to find that we had to wade through the water to get to the dock. The recent rainfall and the closed river mouth had risen the water to what seemed like two meters higher! We rigged up our light rods and threw Mydo Luck Shot Minis in all directions, creating chaos like only we can. We also had some fresh baits out adjacent to the reeds – sadly no takers.

By the afternoon, Ravie, a new recruit to our Umzimkulu Team, had arrived. With the river mouth closed we grabbed Elvis and his boat and headed down, docking near the third bay of the bridge. With a short wade through knee height water we were on the beach. Seaweed everywhere! I must have teared a little, but rigged up with 6/0 hooks anyway, and we sent Chokka/Red Eye Sardine belly combos flying into the ocean. After a while I reeled out the untouched bait, along with plenty seaweed, renewed and attempted to send it back in, but this time I casted an overwind on the Torium. I was furious with myself, but that’s the fishing life.

Before long Ravie was on with a decent fish. He made short work of it and out came a beautiful 5kg Kob. It swallowed the hooks so we kept him for a good meal. With a renewed bait back in the water and a few minutes of waiting, line started peeling off the Diawa Saltist BG50 at the rate of knots. This was war with a shark, but homeland won this time with the main line sheering under the extreme pressure against seaweed. We were lucky to have even hooked a shark without a cable trace anyway.

It was dark and deserted so we decided to get back to ‘headquarters’ but Elvis probably wanted us to get some exercise – the boat was stuck in sand and he instructed us to jump in the water and push it free. It took the wind out of us!

The next morning, we borrowed Sean’s cast net and threw for mullets right on the flooded river banks – we got four Salmon-bait-size ones. We kept them alive by a make-shift live bait well which we tied to the banks, keeping them for the perfect afternoon tide. After breakfast we were aboard the boat, armed with live Cracker Prawns from the Durban Harbour. It was slow and we got nothing except a tiny Kob (maybe the excessive rain water had something to do with it?). Lush released his baby Kob full of life, and Brian took us on a cruise. I could not miss the opportunity to trawl lures, so Lush and I rigged up and we took off.

I had the first strong bump on the Assassin Amia near Spillers. The Kob smashed my Luck Shot Mini but released himself a few seconds later. It was not to be my greatest fishing weekend! We caught a glimpse of gushing water flowing out of the now dredged river mouth, rapidly decreasing the water levels back to normal. On the return trip Lush’s SS spoon got smashed by a shoal sized Kob, and it was almost on the boat when it shook the hook free. What was going on this weekend???

We returned to the Marina, only to find just one of our captured live baits still alive. The water levels decreased so fast that we didn’t get back in time and the live bait well was out of the water! I ask again, what was going on with us this weekend??? At least the next best thing to live bait is a super-fresh dead mullet.

A quick dash to Lucky’s tackle in town for some shopping and back on the boat again, it was just a few of us on a boat trip. Spady, one of the resident fishing dogs, was with us standing at front waiting for mullet to jump into the boat, when all-of-a-sardine, a mullet jumped right in front of his nose and he leaped forward to catch it, falling into the water and under the boat. By the time we realised what had happened and switched the engines off, he was already about 30 meters behind us. He just took a cool swim back to the boat as if nothing major happened. The heart attacks we all had though! Fishing remained slow all afternoon through.

Sunday was our last shot at it. Ravie and I were the only ones awake so the two of us drove to Umtetweni beach for some light tackle rock fishing. We had immense fun with catch-and-release feisty blacktails in the rainy weather. We started to head back for breakfast when one the locals had a good take on the surf. He battled the Garrick left and right, and we saw this pretty nice specimen come out of the water wow! Oh wait, that was actually a bus Shad!!! I have never seen a shad that big in my life.

After breakfast the rest of the boys joined us on a trip to Oslo beach, where the water was brilliant. We were sure of fish here. Don rigged up his light tackle with Cracker Prawns and out came a baby Lesser Shark. Second throw and on with a Toby! Ravie slid a 35cm frozen mullet on cable for a shark and I sent out a fresh chokka for a Kob. We reeled out our baits intact after a while.

As luck would have it, while packing up to go back home we see chases and splashes all over in the river – the game fish had returned. We left them to get strong enough to fight us on our next trip to the beautiful and serene Umzimkulu River Marina.

The Hibberdene Fishing Getaway by Kiran Ramjiawan

The Hibberdene Fishing Getaway was written for us by Kiran as he and his devout crew of shore anglers do their best over the last weekend, down on the south coast of KZN, South Africa.

Thank you Kiran!

It’s been almost seven months since our last weekend getaway and the boys and I were feeling the pressures and stresses of our jobs. We needed some rest and recharging ASAP! This time around we wanted accommodation directly on the beach to capitalise on the Shad and Garrick frenzy that has been hitting the South Coast over the past few weeks. With heavy hearts, we felt like we were betraying our Umzimkulu First Love while searching the internet for beach units down south. After countless of disappointing “sorry, we’re fully booked” speeches we almost gave up when we came across a wonderful little six sleeper in Hibberdene. Smack bang in the middle of the July school holidays, we finally beat the Joburgers to a holiday home!

After running through the tackle shop for bait and last minute supplies, Mo and I took the cool drive from Durban to Hibberdene at 10am on Friday, 8^th July, with the rest of the gang trailing us by two hours. After what seemed like a ten-hour drive, we finally reached the lovely, comfortable Sea LaVie holiday home, where we kicked off our shoes on the porch and took the 10 steps down to the beach sand eagerly scanning left and right for coves and gullies on the rocky shore-break of the low tide ocean. The crystal clean waters and sand banks didn’t deter us from cracking open our tackle bags (and beverages) to kit up while the four slow-pokes were making their way to us.

When the rest of the guys finally arrived we commissioned Vish and G to the braai while Lush, Mo and I threw the first baits in the water in search of live bait to no avail – fishing was going to be slow this weekend. We decided to head back over and chill on the porch with beer and braai till the sun lowers into the evening.

After the late lunch we were properly warmed up with braai meat, beer and whiskey, but we togged up with double pants and double jackets for extra precaution, and headed to the water’s edge with the fishing rods. Mo was the first to get hit by a nice 35cm blacktail which swallowed a 4/0 kendal round hook! That one was headed straight for the pan. Half an hour later Mo gets another big blacktail and now we had plenty for tomorrow’s fish braai. After a while of peckers nibbling on our baits it all but stopped and things were dead in the darkened night until my Shimano reel started screaming in the rod holder. With the whiskey taking effect, I was slow to react but I managed to get up in the nick of time and pulled hard to set the hook and fought what seemed like a decent sized Kob in the little cove I casted the Sugar Mackerel fillet into. Mo and Lush quickly reeled their lines out to give me the best chance to land the fish – thanks guys! A few minutes later, I was battling with the fish on the steep bank of the shore when Mo screamed BLUE RAY, BLUE RAY! He pulls at the line to get the ray out of the water, and after pulling the hook and a quick measurement we safety released the 8kg beauty to fight another day. We took special care not to hold it by its nostrils or turn him over. I was happy he swam strongly away.

Amped now with the ray, we baited up again, with me trying a Sugar Mac and Chokka combo on the Mustad 6/0, we casted into the cove and waited, keeping occupied and warm with the whiskey. The biting cold weather got to Lush after a while and headed off back to the home to cheer us on from the porch, leaving the super excited Mo and I with the whiskey. Forever goes by then suddenly Mo’s rod gets a solid knock, and the Blacktail-King reels out another blacktail! While he’s unhooking his catch, my reel starts screaming again! I’m quick to action this time to set the hook on a powerhouse. The heavy head shakes felt crazy and I saw my line heading towards the rocks! It was now time to lock the drag and test my knots and biceps! After fifteen minutes of serious punishment I almost had him, with a final few turns of the reel he would be on the sand, but he had other things on his mind with a last ditch effort to escape me, he swam like hell to the rock set right on the shorebreak and that was it! The 0.90mm Maxima leader sheers on the rock and loses the fight to the mighty 16-18 kilo Kingfish! With jelly for arms I called it quits and sat a little while to keep Blacktail King company while he tried for another bite in the now empty waters of Hibberdene. The 2am hot shower and comfortable bed had me a great sleep.

At 6am the next morning my sleep breaks to Lush’s snoring and I get out of bed to catch the sunrise. I thought of trying for some Shad live bait but my now painful arms made it impossible – respect to the mighty Kingfish! After few photos of the sunrise I headed back to bed, after taking Grandpa pain killers, for an hours of rest.

After the rest and less painful arms, Mo and I headed out far-right to a rock point we spotted for some gully fishing. We managed a Karanteen and Stone Brim which we slid out for Garrick, but there were no takers. The almost gale-force winds that started forced us to retreat to the house for breakfast. The South-Wester troubled us the entire day so we chilled out a while, hoping the wind brings some colour to the water, but that wasn’t the case.

That evening turned out beautiful and still though, and we all relaxed under the stars on the sea sand, with Whiskey’s in one hand and roasted marshmellows in the other. There was a side-wash but that didn’t stop Lush trying his luck, and eventually got rewarded with a decent sized blacktail. After the evening fish braai and Sam’s awesome mushroom sauce, we headed to sleep.

On Sunday morning, I woke up early again to catch the sunrise. Mo and I went leftwards with our spinning kits rigged with Mydo lures and spoons, casing into every cove we could find. Slow, medium, fast, jerky – no technique worked. There were just no predatory fish to take the lures. We passed a section of beach with many fishermen called Shad Gully, but there too, only one or two palm-sized blacktails were caught. We decided to call it quits and went back for G’s breakfast while watching a hump back whale in the water. I really wanted to try out the Mydo lures again, remembering the awesome fight the turtle gave after smashing the realistic looking Mydo luck shot and plastic, but there’s always a next time.

Soon after, we had to pack up and leave the lovely little holiday home on the beach to head back to reality, energised and refreshed. Hibberdene fishing is beautiful and gets a thumbs up from me.

Kiran Ramjiawan