Tag: KZN south coast

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Dean Sinclair with more Daga Salmon taken on MYDO’s

Dean Sinclair with more Daga Salmon taken on MYDO’s

Well it’s great to have Dean Sinclair and his mates testing the MYDO Luck Shot Mini out – I don’t even have to go fishing?!

Once again, here he is with not one, but TWO Daga Salmon, taken at a not so secret fishing spot, night before last.

Night time is the right time – at any of the south coast’s longer beaches – with that bountiful channel running along the shoreline. Casting just over the channel is too easy…the daga salmon / kob like to hang out in the white water that flows off the sandbank at lower tides.

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Dean Sinclair has consistently been catching goos sized daga salmon / kob, with the MYDO Luck Shot Mini # 2 Green Mamba colour. Very good Dean!

Dean uses various paddletails and jerkbaits, and the same as Simon Fish in East London, has been getting all his fish on the lime green # 2 MYDO Luck Shot Mini, with a clear / white / silver plastic paddletail or jerk bait. 6″ to 7″ and even bigger paddletails are the go – the fish the team have been catching have all been in the 6 to 10kg range. But it’s chilled again here on the Kwazulu Natal South Coast, and the front that has dominated the weather the last few days, has left us with a sterling ocean with stars lined up all over the place. So we can expect a few bigger fish by the hardcore blokes who weather the freezing cold offshore as it belts down the river valleys, all the way down from the Drakensberg ice and snow!

Watch a video of the MYDO Luck Shot Mini in action on the surface and under water. Note how the action changes at different speeds, and how versatile you can be, with the weedless hook configuration and roll over action upon hitting an underwater obstacle. You can throw the Luck Shots for miles, in any wind conditions that we encounter.

The smaller # 1 sized lure, is just great to have with you all the time…to target estuarine gamefish, bonito swimming by, bass in a dam or shad in the surf. Replacing the jerkbait or paddletail is very simple, and some plastics have been coming out at more reasonable prices.

The MYDO range of dropshot lures are available at Lucky’s, Gremlins and The Tackle Box, on the south coast, or right here online…

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Proven to be reliable, versatile and effective lures – the MYDO Luck Shot Mini(surf) and Luck Shot (boat) are almost in a tackle store near you. Dealer inquiries to Sean on +27 79 326 9671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com
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Musselcracker by Mike Stubbs and other KZN South Coast stories…

 

Musselcracker by Mike Stubbs and other KZN south coast stories.

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Musselcracker by Sardine Correspondent, Mike Stubbs…

Check out this tasty Musselcracker caught by Mike Stubbs off Saint Michaels. On a shallowish reef, a fresh sardine fillet bait coaxed the musselcracker to bite. The deep sea fishing has been really good…reports of yellowtail off the deeper spots behind Protea, geelbek all over, and the odd amberjack in the mix.

Sharks are still everywhere, as soon as the geelbek start feeding, the tax man pitches up. You can see them on the echo sounder, swimming up and down the water column waiting to ambush your prized salmon on the end of your line. It’s a matter of getting one or two, up lines and move somewhere else, repeat the maneuver.

Off the side it’s been a bit quiet, the shad only making early morning appearances…and the garrick are staying shy for the moment. Daga salmon at night is the in thing to do right now – grab a paddletail and patrol the channels behind the shorebreak…

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A great catch by Saturday’s charter crew on the Niteshift. These guys (shoes shown above) drove down on Friday night, fished The Block until morning, got on the boat at first light, returned after the fishing through the entire low tide…and drove back that night?! Now that’s commitment!
Young Nathan Boddly from Paddock spent a weekend at Fishin's Cool Fishing School, learning to tie knots, untangle overwinds and pose with other guys fish!
Young Nathan Boddly from Paddock spent a weekend at Fishin’s Cool Fishing School, learning to tie knots, untangle overwinds and pose with other guys fish!

Fishin’s Cool Fishing School is about to fire up again…stay posted for more information regarding times and tides and slots available.

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Umzimkulu Marina: August 2014 family fishing offer

Umzimkulu Marina: August 2014 family fishing offer

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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…

Exploring the Umzimkulu and a square tailed kob by Sean Lange

 

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Geelbek Salmon at night

Geelbek Salmon at night: with umzimkulu.co.za

A great evening out on the Niteshift, with John van Reenen and Elvis Olimpio as crew…

“Winter time is Geelbek time, and although the ‘Bek do feed during the day time, night time, is the right time.

So when conditions do play along, and the surf is small…and the tides are right, and the Umzimkulu Mouth acts like a harbour…and it lets us out for a 3 or 4 hour window.
The night previous had produced nothing but an Englishman, and we had a lot of trouble with the anchor at Boboyi…there must be so many anchor ropes and chains down there, after all these years!
But the current did turn out to be be very slack…so this last night we used the conditions to buzz around all the spots we could, sounding around…and dropping baits, to see where these Geelbek have been hiding.
There was heaps of bioluminescence in the water, and fishing on the seaward side of the boat, John Fever and I both clearly saw a white mushroom cloud burst up silently into the total blackness, some distance in front of us?! All sorts of thoughts. And then the sound…it was a whale exhaling, the cloud of air illuminated with bioluminescence. The things you see at sea at night?!
But no fish at this stage. Nothing. So after scouring the Port Shepstone reefs, the Old Man, on a hunch, took us 4 miles south through whale infested water…to one of his very first Geelbek stomping grounds.
The new Garmin CHIRP system on the Niteshift, is so powerful, it picks out our baits! So when we we got our first showing of red, the anchor went straight down.
And spot on. Dad goes away immediately. We found them!
I got one next, but on my next down something huge took my middle bait, and after a huge tug-of-war, my trace broke on the snootie?!
Then Elvis starting making weird noises as the biggest Geelbek of the night tried to pull him overboard.
By this time my Dad had his quote of two, so he helped Fever catch two more. I had more trouble, this time with a shark, and that’s how I ended up. Then just before our safe window of conditions were up, Elvis’ rod doubled over…but he made short work of the fish this time…which turned out to be half a fish. Tax.
Then the huge shape appeared around the anchor rope…milky white in the ultra clean and flourescent, phosperous water. It might have been a great white for it’s size, and it leered up at us circling underneath…breaking the water with it’s tail a few times, in some sort of defiant  gesture.
The whales had also been barking at us some more, we were surrounded on a few occasions, so we pulled anchor and hightailed it into the outgoing tide at the Umzimkulu River.
Total fish – 7.5!
A hard days night!”

For more information on the Umzimkulu Marina…click here.

Or check out their current promotion…

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Check out the catch and cook series on thesardine.co.za for how to best savour the flavours of Geelbek Salmon…

And a gallery of photos…

Fish braai!
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Portuguese Party in Port Edward this weekend

PORTUGUESE PARTY IN PORT EDWARD

The Portuguese Mariners Food, Wine and Family Festival is set to take Port Edward by storm when it is hosted by Mac Bananas from July 19-20.

 

The festival, which has free entry, promises to be a fun-filled event for the entire family and commenced with a “Shipwreck Dinner” on Friday evening at Fazenda’s. Dinner tickets will cost just R150.00 and include a scrumptious Portuguese feast, as well as shipwreck costume accessories such as fish netting and pirates’ headgear.  Fazenda’s will host a seafood buffet throughout the weekend.

For all the food fundis, the Mariners Food Market will be hosted at the Mac Lifestyle Centre Gardens on Saturday and Sunday from 09h00. There will be tantalising Portuguese home-made and take-out food, as well as traditional breads and fresh produce on sale. There will also be a craft market at the Lifestyle Centre.

 

A highlight of the festival will undoubtedly be the Fazenda’s Portuguese Fish Festival and the Cheese and Fresh Cut Flower Festival on both Saturday and Sunday, and the Three Cellars Wine Festival.

There will be various artists at the Festival, including Izidro Duarte, a freelance illustrator and sculptor, Billy the Skit, a one-man band playing popular, classic pop, reggae, country as well as golden oldies. Popular Portuguese singer Tony Almeida, the Rancho Folkloric Regiões de Portugal and APN Dancers will entertain the crowds with their skills throughout the weekend.

 

For the fashionistas, there will be a fashion show on Saturday afternoon, and “The Miss Mariner Queen” competition .

Sunday mass will be held at 12h00 at Mariners Monument in Port Edward with visiting dignitaries from the Portuguese embassy.

Additional parking and free shuttle service will be available 800m past Mac Banana’s at the Munster runway.

 

“This event is one of our key cultural, lifestyle and leisure events along our coastal paradise,” Justin Mackrory, Chief Executive Officer of UGU Tourism South Coast, said. “We envisage that visitors and residents will thoroughly enjoy the interesting meld of activity, cuisine and entertainment within the rich Portuguese culture and its historic links to the lower South Coast.”

“This amazing mix provides an ideal outing opportunity for all ages and families and should not be missed.”

For parents with kiddies, there will be no shortage of entertainment. An animal farm opens daily between 08h00 and 16h00. Entrance into the farm will be free.

Children visiting the farm can also enjoy trampoline jumping, kiddie’s quad rides and pony rides. There will be a butterfly dome at the animal farm. Kids seeking thrills can tackle a bungee jumping tower and a climbing wall. Visitors can also enjoy a game of adventure golf or paintball. All these are at separate costs.

There will also be a treasure hunt taking place on Saturday, 19 July, members of the public can take part by purchasing a flag for R50 at the treasure gazebo. The flags placed closest to the treasure will win prizes which include a 1st prize of a holiday and R5000 spending money, 2nd prize of a holiday prize and R2000 spending money and many more.

Weather-permitting, the event will boast a quad bike trail for thrill-seekers older than sixteen. Bookings need to be done a day in advance with costs ranging between R200.00 and R350.00.

The Banana Tour is a must on the to-do list. It includes a fun banana tour, with a taste of home-made banana bread, banana juice and bananas. Tour prices are R45.00 for adults and R25.00 for kids under twelve. Tours need to be booked a day in advance.

With so many activities crammed into one weekend, there is sure to be something for every member of the family. So be sure not to miss out on this action-packed weekend at the Portuguese Mariners Food, Wine and Family Festival.

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