A Zambezi Shark freshly caught and released in the Umzimkulu River
It was a beautiful afternoon and with our crew of 6 tourists from the Mantis and Moon Backpackers in Umzumbe, were in high spirits as we trolled two little Strike Pro Rapala imitations through the rising and jumping fish on the Umzimkulu River.
At one stage, a huge tarpon, about a metre in length tailwalked across the bow of the boat. After getting a few chases and a missed strike, we stopped off at the big hole up near Roystons Hall, and started to cast the lures around the place. The water was clean but the river still flowing quite strong. After a hundred casts, and much egging on from the travellers, the green and yellow Strike Pro got hit. A strong fish that fought well, doggedly staying out of sight until at the last minute it broke the surface and showed itself to be a beautiful little Zambesi Shark!
Luckily the boat was full of camera wielding touro’s and we got a heap of great pics and a video clip (coming soon), before releasing it with a kiss, very alive and well, back into the Umzimkulu River. Since this is the second similair sized Zambezi caught in the river this year, with many more of the same shape and size being encountered, we can only deduce that a big momma might still be cruising up and down, after having given birth in the estuary. Maybe there are a few!
To fish with us on the Umzimkulu River, email Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com or call +27 79 326 9671
Bonito Bolognese: Catch ‘n Cook series – this was written in 2014 – The Sardine News has been publishing since 1986.
But ok, if there are any fish out there plentiful enough to be harvested, it would be the many bonito. Eastern Little Tuna. Skipjack. Sarda Sarda. Kawa Kawa. And others. They are all tunas. And in fact, skipjack tuna is the guy you buy in a tin from the shops. A practice I have stopped completely. Every time you buy a tin of tuna, you are directly filling the diesel tanks of the hated trawlers and long-liners we see even plundering along our very own coastline.
Bonito Bolognese
Bonito Bolognaise is a super healthy version of your regular beef bolognese spaghetti meal.
Step 1
Catch a bonito…
Step 2
Bleed, loin and grate/grind the bonito into mince form. A cheese grater does the job just fine. And removes most of the sinew efficiently. But a real mince maker if you have one…will save you some time and effort.
Step 3
The morning after the storm. An incredible place is Pomene. (c) Boa Gente
This is my simple campfire method. Since at the campsite is where and how we invented bonito bolognese. We had just sunk at Pomene. For real – the boat we had just purchased from a complete drunk for USD 1000 (sporting twin 115hp V4 Yamaha 2 Strokes) had some latent defects. The boat just couldn’t stay afloat for extended periods. Her name was Nikita, she sank right in the holding area on the point at Pomene. With me and Paul asleep in the cabin. We woke up in the early hours. Pitch dark and storming hard. Both soaking wet as the high tide filled the boat and our sleeping quarters.
We had travelled by sea from Tofo the day before. Wild sea. One motor spun a prop halfway. So we arrived in the dark. Sinking but not quite sunk. Yet. Paul and I took watch and slept on the mostly floating boat.
Captain Paul Cook on the helm for the first 6 hours to Pomene (c) BoaGente
6 AM the next day- it was cold that eventful morning. Soooo cold. Mid-winter cold front and exposed on the beach. And we were soaked. And sunk. Paul and I escaped the sunk vessel and tried to make a fire on the beach. Our victims (read guests) – most of our friends from Tofo, had all scuttled the boat upon arrival in the dark the night before. And eagerly settled in the beach camp. About 200 metres from where the boat had just sunk.
Luckily with first light – Chad from Tofo was also awake and saw our predicament. He brought us coffee and helped to recover all the flotsam and jetson strewn about the beach. Once the tide had turned to go back out again, and we had anchored the sunk boat and put her in recovery position (on a steep piece of beach to drain her out again), we left our post and headed to the salvation of the beach camp. Camp was buzzing when we finally made it across the beach.
I stumbled into the kitchen area, found a spot under a table and made a little bed. And cleanly passed out. It was an exhausting evening and morning. Sinking is never fun. Paul found himself a spot somewhere too and we got some deserved shut-eye.
The boat was a big old Interceptor from Invader and somehow we had gotten 9 people on board. And a helluva lot of stuff. There was so much food. Cooler boxes. Crates. Bags. BUT! Someone had forgotten the 2kgs of mince we had brought along for our first big meal together. A spaghetti bolognese.
Chad Leavitt’s first sailfish, released off Morrungulo, on the way to Pomene (c) BoaGente
When I woke at about 11, the mince was a big issue. And that’s when it came to me! Grate the tuna! We had caught so many fish (including Chad’s first-ever sailfish) on the drive from Tofo to Pomene, that we had been filleting some of them along the way. And keeping some beautiful tuna loins for sushi or sashimi. This stuff was perfect. And the cheese grater made short work of the loins. Soon we had far more than 2kgs of mince. Which was a very good thing.
Because, out of all the hundreds of bonito bolognese’s I have made thus far, every single one has sold out. There has never, ever, been leftover bonito bolognese.
Bonito Bolognese Recipe
Fry some onions a while…add the tuna mince about halfway to brown
Tomatos etc…
Garlic etc…
Done!
Big Meal
Making a huge bowl of gourmet bonito mince is my best plan. It fridges and freezes well, so you can make a whole bonito’s worth and stash it away for things like Spaghetti Bolognese, Mince on Toast, Samoosas and even Vetkoek!
Make a heap and live good!
Sardines and Sighting Maps
It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 191,000 times and just keeps growing.
Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…
These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.
Brian Moulang, up from Port Elizabeth, booked a charter with us on the Niteshift, for some Yellow fin Tuna action. It was a long hard day, but eventually a tuna showed itself after the entire day and many, many miles. Starting on the backline catching livebait, we saw Lawrence Wursnip and John Collinson show off two over 30kg tuna, taken just as we got there…and so the struggle ensued. It even took a trip out to Protea Reef, where we found the usual, big sharks, and big current!
So back to the backline. Luckily the bottomfish reefs kept us entertained while we waited for that elusive tuna strike…when that live maasbanker went away it sounded like U2 cranking up!
“Some gamies around at the moment,25 kg couta monday from Uvongo off the rocks,Wayne Bosman and Gary Schreiner got good fish tues. at Mtwalume,Igg,prodigal and couta and Wayne got a 29kg prodigal off mercury home yesterday.also a 20kg plus dorado on Herman Pienaar`s boat.”
Thanks Darrell!
And from Marc Lange also down on the Hibiscus Coast…
Marc Lange found this baby dorado in a rock pool on the KZN south coast…
