More Rain On The Way #kzn #ocean #conditions #update
More Rain On The Way #kzn #ocean #conditions #update: Check it out. We posted an update on YouTube this morning.
23 April 2025 in da Morning
Thanks to Adam of Township Hyper, we have been getting some great video material to work with each morning. The timelapses and surfing/kayaking/swimming action all combined tell you exactly when to go to the beach. Now! This is April and you ought to to make the most of each day that it isn’t raining!
And we got one out yesterday too.
22 April 2025 Easter Weekend Roundup
This one even has some pukka sardine news as we check some amazing animations from Windy.com that relate t the annual sardine migration.
There is also some biggish wave surfing, shot by Adam in the Crows Nest in Durban.
If anybody has not heard, we have started our Sardine News HOTLINE for the 2025 season. Entry is easy. All you need to do is Join our YouTube Channel at R59 bucks a month and we will add to to the central nerve system of the Sardine News.
This HOTLINE is also where we will publish first each day of the Sardine Run 2025. This is mainly due to logistics. Since the uploading of these HD takes so much time and bandwidth.
So we upload to the Members section on YouTube and announce that in the HOTLINE. Then we can start the other uploads to Facebook and the rest of them…which means that if you JOIN the channel, you will FIRST by FAR!
Sardines and Sightings
Check out our annual Sardine Run Map! Download our app to your phone or device, accept notifications, and you will never miss a single sardine.
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps…
The Sardine News Monthly 31 March 2025: what a month March has been. For ducks. And barrels. For the rest of us it has been pure endurance to get through to the blue water. We did have a few clean surfs and some fish were caught and speared but the brown water plumes of the ANC’s sewage has kept most of us at bay.
Here is today’s video report…
NSRI
These guys have been busy as ever, rescuing people and saving lives. Imagine what would happen without them? However their invaluable efforts can only reach so far. And way too many people are drowning due to basic ignorance. Ignorance as to how dangerous the ocean and rivers can be at times.
The lives lost this March are a stark reminder that our government is totally useless at providing even basic protection to its people. Signage at the relevant hot spots are surely something a municipality would be deemed responsible for?
NSRI Pink Buoy Project
In the meantime, the NSRI fill a huge gap left by coastal municipalities by being on alert 24/7 and even placing pink torpedo buoys at dangerous places like Port Sheptone River Mouth – where nobody should ever be allowed to even stick a toe in.
‘Duty to Warn’
Aside from the torrents of water and the Zambezi sharks, the ecoli is ready and waiting. Freshly delivered by the failed municipalities here in Port Sheptone (UGU and RNM) and upriver like Harding (where their sewerage system has been pumping raw sewage into the river for a decade or more now).
The law ‘Duty to Warn’ must surely apply to the municipalities that pollute the place in the first place. Warning signs should be posted all over KZN’s beaches and rivers. When the ecoli is running down the rivers and into the sea.
(For tourists reading this, all is not lost. When the last floods are washed away and the rains dry up, we are left in paradise. )
The floods have come down strong over this last wet season and most of the sewage and gunk has been flushed down the proverbial toilet (South Africa is a toilet these days, really) and into the sea by now. Then it’s dry season and the good times prevail right through the sardine season. Into September and beyond. All this time, though, the dams and rivers are filled daily with millions of tonnes of sewage from all our failed municipalities (ANC), and the cycle repeats when the wet season starts again, just in time for December holidays and our tourists. Many of whom get sick from the poisonous water. At the expense of our tourism industry and our health. 14 Surfers got sick after surfing the tantalising, perfect waves in Durban this month.
WOWser
The WOW Flying School team in Scottburgh have been wowing us completely away with their super video footage and pilot commentary. We look forward to each and every instalment we can get from the WOW guys. Please visit their website at https://wowflight.co.za.
And if you haven’t already seen it, here is their recent epic coverage of the flood plumes between Umkomaas and Scottburgh.
Brewed Awakening
For that lovely aroma and taste in the morning, pop down to the Scotties car park. Where you can find the Brewed Awakening Coffee Shop. The shop is mobile and does not stay there all day long. So the early bird catches the worm. A big thanks to the Brewed Awakening for the awesome time-lapse and pan clips that we featured in some of our reports this March too.
MYDO
MYDO Lures introduced the IGFA version of their infamous MYDO Baitswimmer range. The new head has a pin with which to insert the bait on and keep it swimming perfectly.
MYDO IGFA Baitswimmer 3 Ounce
MYDO has recently introduced a special on their Shad Pack. You now get three shad traces in the R100 packs. Deliver via Pudo is an extra R30, so R130 and you are in the game. This rig will up your hookup and strike ratio immensely as you are abe to present a moving bait at the exact right depth and with a swimming action. When cut right, this rig also gets you 8 baits from a single sardine. The following diagram shows the cuts. It says 4, but if you split each cut to its fillets, you can double to 8 baits per sardine.
And it’s not just shad that take these juiced up traces, you be surprised what else jumps on these moving baits. All kinds of fish. We have caught blacktail, kob, pompano, kingfish, wrasse and others fishing like this. You just have to cast out as far as you can (use your bass rig or estuary rig with casting braid). Allow the rig to sink to about halfway down to the bottom(where the shad swim), and start cranking slowly. The baitswimmer swims your bait through the bubbles exactly where the fish are swimming and hunting. By sticking to this tactic you will stay clear of snagging in the rocks too.
Sardine bait up with the MYDO Shad TraceMYDO Silver Bullet Shad TraceMYDO Baitswimming is an artformMYDO StripBaitSwimmer dressed with sardine fillet and light pink mini skirtMYDO Baitswimmer #1 Silver Bullet Gamefish TraceStrike!Shad fisherman enjoying the early morning spring conditions on the KZN South Coast
Get in touch with me Sean using the big old WhatsApp button on the screen somewhere, or +27793269671, or umzimkulu@gmail.com to get your own stash of Mydos.
The Week in Video By The Sardine News: we start with today’s news in video. Then, we will move back in time as we go through the week.
Sunday 23
Another carbon copy of the day before and the day before and so on. March is famed for it’s beautiful weather. And beautiful ocean. Except that this year the heavy rains have lasted way longer than usual and as of today, the Umzimkulu and other such rivers are pumping out brown water.
The good news is that the forecasters have finally admitted that a west wind is coming. They have put it down for later into the evening tonight in Durban. So South Coasters will get it during the day still.
Saturday 22
Another manky, hot and humid day in KZN. These conditions are always the precursor to a buster south-west but the weather forecasters are having none of it.
Friday 21
Typical March conditions a re prevailing with the arrival of early offshore winds and balmy hot days. The easterly breeze is welcome by everyone except surfers, divers and fishermen. Surely a west is gonna blow sometime soon?
No video report to be found?!
Thursday 20
Somehow I think we missed reporting on this day. Ah! It was Emilio and Shazzas housewarming in Tweni! Welcome to the family newly relocated from Cape Town!
Wednesday 19
Meet the real abalone poachers – featuring Anton Kruger
These time lapses are proving to be a lot fo fun. ANd they reveal more than can be imagined by showing all the many cloud movements happening in their different stratas.
Tuesday 18
Absolutely nothing going on so we went to Harding to see a Type 1A Natal Flash Flood as documented in video by Harding Farmer Bertie Strydom.
King Mackerel Attack Behaviour: it is BIG king mackerel time aka ‘croc couta’ down here on the south coast of Natal, South Africa. In the olden days we would have been shining spoons, making traces and loading our KPs with Maxima Green. These days it is every jig imaginable, ready-to-go traces and 50lb braid on Stellas!
Technology!
But way back then we also used MYDOs. Invented by genius fishermen and designer Brian Davey in the mid 80s – the innovative baitswimmers made it possible for anybody to swim a bait – beautifully.
The lures work using hydrodynamic principles of alternating high and low pressure zones creating action that is transferred to the bait as a swimming motion. As you can clearly see in the little video above.
“Putting life back into your bait!”
The MYDOs and traces are infinitely adjustable and adaptable to all kinds of bait in all kinds of fishing situations. They also swim live baits just great and you can use the relevant weights to keep your baits away from each other as you work the entire water column. MYDOs range from 1/4 ounce to 5 ounces and even more in some use cases.
Enjoy the particularly clear water in this video…!
You can buy your own MYDOs right on this website in the online shop HERE. Or if you are of a foreign land, please use the MYDO International website at this LINK.
But the all-time best MYDO experience for you is to get in touch with me Sean either on WhatsApp or cell +27793269671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com. That way we can chat through your target species and the areas that you are gonna be chasing them in. If you like, we can prepare an analysis of the area you are going to. We monitor warm patches, haloclines, thermoclines and between Captain Duarte Rato and myself, we have been on the ocean in enough places to know where to look for what.
Join the MYDO underground network easily by subscribing to our YouTube Channel ‘MYDO Tackle Talk’ at this link HERE. Here we post videos on recent catches and experiences. Plus regular how-to videos about making traces and catching fish. It is a great place to interact with other MYDO board riders. To share information and ideas. And to get advice if you need.
Gallery
A collection of images to give you a perspective on MYDOs and how they are deployed…
Sardine bait up with the MYDO Shad TraceMYDO StripBaitSwimmer dressed with sardine fillet and light pink mini skirtSouthern Bluefin Tuna caught on MYDO Bluefin Bomber by Marc White off St. Frances South AfricaMYDO #3 Couta Trace Silver BulletJustin Campbell is a MYDO teamrider and caught this recently, on the 27 November 2020.Sharene Berry again. She ties her own haywire traces btw!This fish was also taken on a double dropper trace. You just cannot take chances when trophy fish of a lifetime like tese guys are around. Get a MYDO Haywire tarce to be sure.Dorado Weather! I thought it was a marlin; I thought this GT was a marlin as I saw a huge sickle shaped fin during the strike – but no, twas this 65kg plus GT!MYDO Baitswimmer # 1 inside!Jannie Griesel with his Mydo caught couta at Sodwana this last weekend.
On The Edge: KZN Floods Update featuring Umhlanga, Tiger Rocks, The Cutting, Black Rock, Scottburgh, Umzumbe, Sunwich, Umtentweni…presented by The Bear, Chelsea Dog and the Usual Suspects.
A massive thank you to Cliff Bamber for obtaining permission for us to use some of the fabulous WOW (World of Wings) material the guys shot on Tuesday. These perspectives tell all as the brown water and the salt water argue it out as they are pressed against each other by the currents and counter-currents.
Dodging Bullets
Although here in southern Kwazulu Natal – we are far from out of the woods yet, we can so far breathe a sigh of relief that we were not dealt the same treatment as inland of Port Edward, to Umtata and beyond, were over the last few days. They got hammered. Trees breaking and all sorts. The Umtamvuna flooded The Pont completely as a result of this torrential storm weather inland. You can see some of that craziness in the video too…
We have started the 2025 Sardine Run Map! Download our app to your phone or device, accept notifications, and you will never miss a single sardine.
2024 was a thrilling year for sardines. All the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. The 2024 map has been viewed 200 000 times and just keeps going.
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. Last year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! This year we have had two sailboat incidents already. PLUS, we have already logged some sardines!
Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps…
