A great example of sensationalism being used to grab attention. This post received thousands of views.
An Instagram feed journal of the activities of The Sardine News activities…
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Twin Tail on SKZN Coast
. Twin Tail by Marc Lange on the KZN South Coast. These are Tropical Yellowtail.
Tropical Yellowtail look just like Amberjack, but their lateral black GT stripe goes all the way through the eye. They are also more tropical and can often be encountered on the KZN coast in the summer months.
The much bigger yellowtail, and the huge amberjack also inhabit the KZN south coast reefs, and in winter months come right in close, sometimes hunting along the backline and in the surf zone.
The world record for yellowtail, held by Ray Bannister-Jones and caught way back when, off Hibberdene, weighing 56kg’s, was actually an Amberjack. The photo is in black and white, and confused the crowd for many years, until finally in 2009, it was corrected. Huge Amberjack – some over 50kg’s have been taken in the last few years, by Mike Lang, Neil Campbell and crew, also off Hibberdene, in deep deep water – 60 to 80 metres! Strangely, for many years, Amberjack weren’t caught in this region.
The world record for Amberjack is 70 kg’s, and some of over 100kg’s have been reported.
The yellowtail we catch in Southern Africa’s world record is 52kg’s, caught off New Zealand!
The tropical yellowtail world record comes in at 59kgs. La Paz, Baja.
Darrell Hattingh dive report
Just in from Darrell Hattingh on the SKZN Coast…
“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 and Pierre de Villers (Cape Town) swam out together at Chakas Rock in Umtentweni this morning. The excitement in Marc’s call about the shad he just shot didn’t really give us a clue as to it’s sheer size. Almost couldn’t look at it when he hauled it out of the car! 8.7kg’s! Thought it was a garrick!
It’s going to be an unofficial record though as Marc is not a member of the relevant association. Details of the current official record: H. Schifflers | 7.9kg Elf | Mzikaba | 1980
Pierre shot two nice Baardman, and Marc also bagged a tasty little Queen Mackeral…they saw a shoal of kob / daga salmon…it’s not often the water is clean enough to dive the Chakas area…talk about making the most of it!
The shad had a karanteen trace hanging out of it’s mouth and was one in a whole shoal of giant shad like this one. Imagine the guy who was fishing for kara’s when this beast took his bait!
For more information on catching shad on the South Coast, buzz Sean on umzimkulu@gmail.com.
Or check out https://thesardine.co.za/mydo/ to read all about catching shad.
Yep it’s him again. Swopping his speargun for a spinning stick, Marc shows us a nice yellowfin kingfish…Caranx Herberi. They get quite big, about 12kg’s the biggest seen around here, great fighters and quite eager to attack lures and baits.
Port Shepstone sits quietly in the background. The water looks like it has cleared up nicely on the south coast.
