7AM Conditions Report for KZN 21 June 2024 by Adam Kamdar of Township Hyper
7AM Conditions Report for KZN 21 June 2024 by Adam Kamdar of Township Hyper: Adam is up and at it this beautiful KZN Winter morning…
?Good morning, guys. It’s 6:39am on Friday, the 21st of June. Here’s your tide chart for today. As you can see, we’re in the middle of the outgoing tide. Low tide should be in around three hours time. Your wind guru forecast shows moderate northerly winds becoming fresh northeasterly in the afternoon, with partly cloudy temperatures ranging from 18 degrees up to about 24 degrees.
This is the atmospheric pressure. Tides for fishing shows that it’s stable at 127 HPA. Your current data shows how widely it can fluctuate from day to day. Yesterday was almost 0. 7 meters per second. Today’s drop down to 0, 0. 1 meters per second. Next, we look at tides for fishing showing excellent fishing conditions today for one hour around sunrise and close to sunset.
And in the middle of the day, two hours before noon, fishing should really be on. Next we’ll move to your Durban view. And here’s the Durban scene. Absolutely gorgeous morning. There’s a bit of chop on the water from the northerly wind. This wind will freshen in the afternoon and become north easterly.
You can see how the flags are stiff in the breeze. The trees are wavering in the wind. That’s towards Blue Lagoon.
If you’re looking for sardines it should be around the Winkelspruit to Warner Beach area today. Just watch The Sardine News on social media to follow all the latest movements of the sardines.
Sardine Run 2024 might be over already? Kevin answers this question and a few more in today’s edition of The Sardine News.
How’s it everyone? This is Kevin from Qora Mouth, just north of Mazepa Bay in the southern Transkei. So yeah, it’s been a quiet day again for the third day in a row. We’ve heard of one net that came out at Pennington, a very small net, and guys are wondering what has happened to the sardines. So let’s just do a little recap of what is actually happening here.
The sardines that come off the Agulhas Bank, which is where they spend the summer months. It’s off the tip of Africa. And then wintertime, they come off the banks because they are a migratory species. And the whole biomass of the shoal moves as a shoal up the west coast of Africa towards northern Namibia, southern Angola, where they breed and they spawn.
Very nutrient-rich water. And then At the end of winter, they head out deeper and they move back to the Agulhas Bank in kind of a cycle. And the sardine run is just the splinter group that took a wrong turn off the tip of Africa and they moved up the east coast. So the sardine run is actually the splinter group that isn’t supposed to be there.
It was supposed to be part of the main shoal but because of the cold upwellings and the nutrient-rich water that’s brought up by the Benguela current, they move up the east coast of South Africa and what they do is they follow this cold plume and when they get to the KZN waters They actually are reaching extremely warm water.
I got a report today that the water on off Durban beachfront is at 22. 7 degrees Celsius, which is way too warm for these sardines to survive in. So I doubt that these shoals will reach much further than Durban, even though we have seen some minor cast netting happening off of Balito. I’m going to say that.
You know, these sardines have now reached the limit of, of the cold water plume. It’s now dissipating into the warm Gullis current. And they now are going to be starting to head out into the deeper ocean and looking for cold water. And once they find that cold water, they then get caught in the southward current and there’ll be moving back to the Agulhas Bank.
So yeah, that’s kind of where it’s at, but you know, You know, it’s not all dead yet. We have just seen some footage of possible shoal off of Port Edward coming through. I’m seeing, you know, it was just a still photo. I’m seeing some discoloration in the water, but that could also be wind. Wind sometimes plays tricks with the mind.
And people give us false reports. So I don’t see any predator activity. I’m not seeing any gannets And there are so many gannets up in that area right now of the south coast Because they’ve been feeding for the last week or so. So yeah, I’m going to take it with a pinch of salt But let’s hope for the netters sake and for the industry that there is another shoal coming through But that remains to be seen over the next day or so We will then get confirmation that that actually was a shoal of sardines coming through.
And there you are. So let’s hope for the best. Yeah, what I’m thinking is that the sardine run is basically over. That the sards have all moved out into deeper water. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes. And just keep watching Sardine News because we keep things relevant and we keep things current.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. Talk to you guys soon. Cheers.
9AM Saturday Sardine Summary 15 June 2024 by Kevin in Qora, Adam in Durban and The Bear on the Coast
9AM Saturday Sardine Summary 15 June 2024 by Kevin in Qora, Adam in Durban and The Bear on the Coast: The Sardine News Saturday Sardine Summary.
Morning, chaps. This is Kevin at Qora Mouth, just north of Mazepa Bay, in the southern Transkei Let’s cross over to Adam, on the Durban beach front for his early morning report.
All the fish and more. It’s Saturday morning on the Durban beach front. Gorgeous conditions. There’s a wave for the surfers who have patience. Lots of boats on the water today. We’re expecting a southwesterly this afternoon. But at the moment, it’s pretty calm. Lovely settled conditions. Hope the guys get some good fish today.
Right. So thank you, Adam. Thanks for your input. Let’s also have a chat to The Bear, who’s also giving us a little early morning report on how things are going.
Okay, everybody have a good day. Y’all see looking ballistic, uh, from bluff down. Very flat. And it’s definitely bizarre. Sardines will be around. So go and get your game on, peeps. Have fun. As always, dive safe on the straight spears. All the fish and more fish and more fish and more fish cool.
Thanks guys. Thanks for your input always much appreciated Yeah, what we can say is that there are The crews the netting crews are down at Pennington right now. They’re all on the beach. Nobody’s launched things are kind of quiet for a second day in a row and let’s think positive here.
Let’s cross our fingers and hope that the sards haven’t moved out into deeper water yet. But that very well could have happened. You know, they’re reaching, as we said yesterday, very unfavorable conditions. They’re now in the KZN waters where they were following a cold plume up the coast, very nutrient rich water, and as they get towards where they’re at now, they start getting a little bit confused because it should be actually staying cold and it’s actually getting warm.
So at about now, these sards will all move out into the deep and Yeah, look for cold water. So let’s hope that hasn’t happened already. The netters are still positive because they’re on the beaches. So yeah let’s see what the day brings and we’ll get back to you as things change. Cheers.
Sardine Run Update 13 June 2024 by Kevin in Qora: Another fantastic sardine run 2024 day…let Kevin sum it up for us…
This is Kevin at Qora Mouth, just north of Mazepa Bay, in the Southern Transkei. The sardine run is truly underway. We’ve been very closely watching the movement of the sardines once they went through Port Edward and the netting started. Plenty nets coming out as this shoal just moves its way slowly north any day now.
It’s going to be reaching the Durban beachfront We’ve heard of big nets coming out this morning at um, kamas. A lot of people are asking is It’s very early in the season. They’re expecting another bunch of big shoals to come through. Let’s really discuss that and look to what we can expect to come through.
And to understand this, we have to go right back to the beginning of where this shoal actually started. And if you were watching our previous videos, these sardines come off the Agulhas Bank, which is off the southern tip of South Africa. And. They’re a migratory species. The biomass of those sardines moves up towards Angola and Namibia on the west coast.
That’s their migration. Every year, they come out of the Agulhas Bank and they move up the west coast of Africa, where they spawn and they breed. Next summer, they move back. They turn around and they move back to the Agulhas Bank. So they have a cycle that they complete. And a certain Percentage of that biomass when that migration happens, splinters off and because of a variety of factors, that little group moves up the East Coast by mistake.
This is only once a year that this whole biomass moves up. So the shoal that was sitting off the East Coast, deep in the Cape, normally gets held up a lot longer than it did this year. But due to very favorable conditions, big south swell, And that front that came through, moved them up the coast extremely fast.
And they came through about a month early. Chaps, this actually is the mother load. The sards that they’re netting in Durban. We shouldn’t expect another big shoal to come through because down south off the Cape, they only do this migration once. The big shoal that’s off Durban right now, this is the shoal of sardines that came splintered off from the main biomass that went up the West Coast.
A lot of people are saying, no, it’s still early and we’re going to get more big shoals coming through. Chaps, it’s not going to happen. There are still some splinter groups and some lagging. little shoals that are moving through the trans sky right now. They’re up past Ports St. John’s up towards Mdumbi and Ports St Johns.
Brazen Head’s got a couple shoals, but these are just minor little shoals, pretty much the same size as the pilot shoals that come before the major shoal. So enjoy it while you can. This is the 2024 shoal that’s now off Durban, just south of Durban, and this will probably be it for the year. And yes, about a month early, but you know, there is no timing.
It’s all based around the current conditions on the year that this happens, even though they’re very early this year. It seems like it’s a bumper crop and the guys are really capitalizing on it. Lots of netting going on. Enjoy it while you got it, but this is it. Let’s see how successful it is for the netters.
So far so good. It’s a wonderful sardine run again. We’ll be back next year for another one. We’ll keep you updated in the, the days to come of where the sods are just for those people that want to go and experience it and, and watch it once they get past Durban, this whole shoal starts reaching very, very warm water, which they can’t survive in.
And even though they might venture up the north coast just a little bit more, they generally will then start dissipating. And those that remain will head out into the deeper water off the shelf just to escape the warm water. They will go back to where the current is. They will dive much deeper, where the water is colder.
And those that remain We’ll probably head back to their Gullis Bank at some stage. That’s all I got for now, and keep it real. I’ll keep you updated if there’s any changes. Cheers.
11 June 2024 Sardine News Report HUGE Sharks: Kevin gonna do today’s report…
Morning, chaps. This is Kevin from Qora Mouth, just north of Mazepa Bay in the southern Transkei. Well, that huge shoal of sards that passed us two and a half weeks ago is the same shoal that’s now on the KZN South Coast. Another wonderful day of netting went on today. We’ve heard reports of a, big net came out and Sezela saw a video of that.
Lots of sardines right in the shorebreak, guys throwing throw nets, cast nets, and just pulling out huge nets from the beach. But we’ve seen also on some videos, some extremely large sharks right on the seashore. They’re in the shore break in water that that actually is way too shallow for them.
And this is where the, the public are going in to, to scoop up sardines. So guys, just keep in mind that there are lots of predators in the water. And they’re not necessarily gonna be attacking you, but they could bite by, by accident and because they’re in a feeding frenzy. So just remember safety, safety first, stay out of the water at all costs.
It’s not worth it to go and run in and try and scoop up sards with your shirt or with a little net. And, um, anything more than ankle deep or knee deep, you’re looking for trouble. So safety first.
I’m giving these sards about two to three days and then they should be coming around the bluff onto the Durban beachfront and the shoals big enough to definitely make that passage possible.
They do start moving a lot slower once they hit the KZN waters and mainly due to predator activity. So yeah, they don’t have far to go, probably 40 to 50 kilometers and, and there’ll be on the Durban beach front. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. Except us here at Sardine News Would like to offer our sincere condolences to Goolam’s family one of the netters who unfortunately had a tragic accident today in their rubber duck and so far probably two casualties So, yes we’re very sorry for that Anyway chaps, keep it real conserve and protect and Let’s look after the marine environment Have a good time with these sards, but be careful.
And as I said, safety first, stay out of the water, lots of toothy critters out there. That’s all I got for now. I’ll keep you updated as things happen. Cheers.
