Tag: mozambique

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Catching Kob

Surf fishing during the sardine run for big kob

Catching Kob

Catching Kob: Our fish – the kob – could be a more relevant national fish than the galjoen. We get kob right the way from Mozambique to Namibia.

And everybody loves to catch a kob!

Since kob can be found out deeper, where ski-boats have been targeting them in waters between 10 and 40 metres, and in the surf zone, and in our estuaries – we have divided this Catching Kob how-to into three seperate parts.

  • Deep-sea
  • Rock and surf.
  • And Estuary

But first, a quick kob gallery…

Kob Gallery

Sean Calitz 25kg Kob at Port St. Johns with MYDO and BruBaits
Sean Calitz 25kg Kob at Port St. Johns with MYDO and BruBaits
Just shoot them if you can!
Gerrard-Powell-his-two-daughters-and-a-100lb-Kob
Gerrard-Powell-his-two-daughters-and-a-100lb-Kob
Koblet by Josh Herrison near Port St John
Koblet by Josh Herrison near Port St Johns
A fun little kobbie about to be released down on the Sandspit in Port Shepstone
A fun little kobbie about to be released down on the Sandspit in Port Shepstone
You only need to catch one of these magnificent fish - in your whole life!
The TWO wise men -according to Bruce! You only need to catch one of these magnificent fish – in your whole life!
Brown water in KZN - good or bad?
And it’s Chris Lepan again with another Umzimkulu Estuary kob.
Jos Jantjies with a tasty kob caught down at Kabeljauw’s, down the point, in Jeffreys Bay (c) artsurfer.nl
Simon fish and his first cast MYDO caught kob in The Transkei
Simon fish and his first cast MYDO caught kob in The Transkei

Deep-sea


Kob feed at odd times. And sometimes they don’t feed at all, even when you can see them clearly to be there. I have seen kob underwater – huge kob, lined up in tight formation, wallowing behind the surf zone. Baits all around them. And they won’t touch anything!
And then other times, the kob could bite so hard, commercial boats of old would literally sink themselves loading too much fish. Luckily this heinous practise of hauling out fish for profit, is not really practised any more. And the stocks of kob have stabilised, albeit at a fraction of the numbers of before. Hopefully, the more stringent regulations governing the selling of kob might ease the population back to strength. Unfortunately, it’s up to the current political controls in charge of DAFF. Which does not paint a pretty picture at all.

Back to catching kob…launch anywhere up and down the South African coastline, and kob could be on your target list. They really are literally everywhere.

Live Bait


Some spots are blessed with a constant supply of liveys. Mackerel are by far the favourite. Although a little live shad is close behind. Really serious anglers are keeping live bait alive, in cages and tanks in the harbour. So that when they go fishing, no time is spent gambling on catching live bait. Not sure how legal this is, but it’s really effective. Especially for night fishing, since time is always limited.

IGFA allows two single hooks on a trace. Which is a tad risky when fishing with live bait, since a tangle might be in the offing. So, a nice metre length of soft leader, a good 9/0 hook, two swivels and a sinker – is all you need. Drop that rig rigged with a live mackerel onto a showing and hold on tight. Normally at a bit of depth, and the running trace on the sinker snoot, the fish hook themselves when fished with a live bait.


Frozen Bait

Fishing with frozen sardines or mackerel also works. But only when the fish are hungry. This is when advantage can be taken of the IGFA suggestion of two hooks per trace. But. Be aware you may end up with two big kob hanging onto your line!


Lures

Turns out that kob love a plastic bait. A paddletail. Colour not so important. But weight is. You will need a solid 2 or 3 ounces to get down there. Bounce it around on the bottom and hold on tight!

Rock n Surf

Circle hooks have really changed things for the better. The trace used is simple. A single 8/0 to 12/0 circle hook on a metre of soft leader.
You can throw out a grapnel sinker and slide your bait if the conditions allow. You need a bit of height above the water for that. Or just tie it all up and throw into the channel between the shorebreak and the middle break. Kob hunt in the absolute shallows in the surf zone. You do not have to cast very far at all.

Live Bait

A live mullet or shad puts you square in the game to catch your trophy kob. Although, if you could get any other live baits, like mackerel, pinkies or mozzies, you would be in the same game.

If your live bait is going to be battling a current, you will need to rig him from the nose or top of the head. Two hooks can help but a single – preferably a circle hook, with the bait nicely fastened on, is the outright winner for successful hookups. Keeping a big needle and a roll of wax thread is a very good habit for live bait fishing. The fish last so much longer when carefully tied to the circle hook. About a centimetre away from the bait. Much like marlin fishing.
If the water is calm and the sea is flat, with no current, then put the hook in at the tail area, so the bait can swim away from you.

Once again, sewing the hook on with wax thread is so much better all around for everything. And it is a good feeling to let your hard-working live bait go without injury, at the end of a slow session.


Frozen bait

Well you can fish a frozen bait much like a live bait. A whole sardine is the go-to bait and has caught shoals and shoals of kob.

Belly bait


A decent belly, freshly cut from a shad or mackerel, is a deadly kob bait. You might want to master the art of the pencil bait. Highy recommended.


Lures


Kob have been an enigma to many, for a very long time. What would they be thinking, taking a hard plastic clangy lure, in the middle of the night, cast out there from the beach? Sure, I understand the soft and silent paddle tail, relying on its tail vibrations to get the message out there – but those noisy lures – Eish, they work too!

Kob also take a spoon. A very slow spoon. Literally dragged along the bottom. The Sheppy Bomber spoon, an infamous design from down south, has been revered far and wide for catching kob. Similair S-Bend spoons with half bronze and half silver have been reliable over the years.

Estuary

Catching kob in our estuaries here in South Africa is over-the-top fun. Challenging for sure. But catching koblets (kob of up to about 5kgs or so) on light tackle and lures is insanely entertaining.

Check this video of my Dad catching 3 at the same time!

Flicking and trolling lures

Tie up a little tiny paddletail, and off you go. The smaller the better. The lighter the better.

Live bait

These little koblets love a live mullet. Its got to be small though, like 3 or 4 inches maximum. To make them perform properly, I thread my live baits under the skin with a needle. And then tie my circle hook to the thread. And then when the day is over, you can let that little soldier go without having done him harm to his vital bits like his mouth and nostrils.

Fresh bait

You need to master the construction of a pencil bait, to get these fish to take a hook inside. Pencil baits are designed especially for shy feeders. Like these little kob. And the spotted grunter that are found with them.

Use a MYDO Silver Bullet fillet trace made up with nylon to make a really interesting pencil bait. You could use a MYDO Shad Trace made with wire too. Especially if those teethy shad come into the scene. A good compromise would be to use wire between the hooks, adding some rigidity to your pencil bait. And then a nylon leader.

The fish approach the juicy long pencil bait, and start to feed from the sides. They don’t get much and soon enough they get greedy and move down to the end of the bait. Which is easily sucked in giving you chance to set the tiny hook hidden in the end of the bait.

Kob lures by MYDO

These are recommendations from MYDO lures for catching kob off the boat, the beach, or in the estuary…

If you stay with us here at the Umzimkulu Marina in Port Shepstone, you will be right in the middle of all the kob action. We have many secret rock and surf fishing spots in really close proximity. And the estuary right our front for all day fun and fishing. Kids love it here!

Also check out Umzimkulu Adrenalin, for lots of things to do in the Port Sheptone area.

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Double-up Garrick for Team Karl and Candace at The Sandspit

Double-up Garrick for Team Karl and Candace at The Sandspit

Double-up Garrick for Team Karl and Candace at The Sandspit: some trips go better than others.

A LOT better!

Team Karl and Candace

Husband and wife charters are always so much fun. The husband is totally fish-mad. And the wife happily plays along. Gets her all over the globe. Only thing is…she almost always catches the fish!

This time was slightly different…they BOTH got the fish!

After a long morning of catching nothing on over-sized live mullet, we drifted back to the Umzimkulu Marina for coffee and things. And entered phase 2 of the trip. Which on this day was to be the favoured incoming high tide down at the mouth. This is our tactic generally, at the end of a low tide, we head up to the bridges, about 2kms, and set up a drift back downriver. This takes us down through Kingfish Corner, and over the big holes. There are three deep spots, sometimes down to 12m. At the bottom are huge boulders and rocks. And…clean water!

The halocline (fresh vs salt water line), even when the top water is brown, sits like a big wedge under the water. The point of the wedge being right up the river at high tide. When the tide recedes, this dense and beautifully clean and aerated water gets trapped in these deep spots. The tide and the river flow move happily overhead on the surface. But down here in the depths, there be monsters lurking and hunting.

Anyway, none this particular drift.

We gonna have to count on Phase 2. Which today included a braai on the beach at The SandSpit. Karl had a decent 30lb spinning outfit and so I easily convinced him to walk over the spit and throw a few luck shots into the channel behind the shorebreak.

The beach was lined with live baiters. But the Garrick had been chowing sprats in the river earlier during the week. I gave Carel the exact right lure to use. Evidently…because on his fourth cast…

BANG!

“Sean! Sean!”, I hear that distinctly urgent but cheerful call. Without believing me and Chelsea hop off the boat and run up the dune. What a scene that unfolded before us. Karl was VAS! His little fishing rod bending in a circle from the strain as he followed instructions. From BigZ, local garrick legend, who happily came to Karl’s assistance. Freeing me up to do the filming.

Pulling a big garrick out of a big shorebreak on a big day is immensely difficult and dangerous. BigZ lost his hat as waves knocked him right over a few times. But eventually, after 45 minutes of truly heart-stopping moments, BigZ grabbed the monster by the tail.

The tagging kit was all the way up the beach and the fish had put on quite a show. So we decided to hurry it back into the water. Karl’s very first garrick (he had asked me earlier to get him one), and he releases it healthily into the very same wild shorebreak. Garrick are very strong and this guys was in perfect shape as he swam away.

Mombakkies Af

So now I have one helluva happy charter. He is beaming. Levitating. And so am I at this stage…the pressure for me get the “mombakkies af” is completely gone. I can really now enjoy this lovely arvo down on the spit.

And so Chelsea and I meander down the dune back to the boat. To start the braai! Next thing…

“Sean! Sean!”. Again!?

So we turn around and gallop back up the dune. This time it’s Candace! She is VAS!

In a disbelieving daze, the whole process gets repeated. BigZ comes to the fore and gets the fish by the tail. But only after another gruelling 45 minutes. He is exhausted by now – after risking the huge Sandspit shorebreak for two in a row! Luckily BigZ also releases every fish he catches and this time the tagging kit was brought to hand. Tag in…Candace into the shorebreak with her first Garrick. Also released!

Every anglers dream - releasing a healthy Garrick at The Sandspit in Port Shepstone with Umzimkulu Adrenalin
Every anglers dream – releasing a healthy Garrick at The Sandspit in Port Shepstone with Umzimkulu Adrenalin
Candace Engelbrecht repeats the stunt immediately after with her very own tagged and released Garrick with Umzimkulu Adrenalin.
Candace Engelbrecht repeats the stunt immediately after with her very own tagged and released Garrick with Umzimkulu Adrenalin.
Karl, Sean , Candace and Wouter - Under the Bridge
Karl, Sean , Candace and Wouter – Under the Bridge
Karl Engelbrecht about to let his very first Garrick go free.
Karl Engelbrecht about to let his very first Garrick go free.
Double-header garrick on The Sandspit in Port Shepstone...every fishing guides dream!
Double-header garrick on The Sandspit in Port Shepstone…every fishing guides dream!

I am not sure that it can get better than that! Enjoy the saga in video…

Today

As of today, the recent rains have certainly muddied the waters. If that halocline is still around I’d be somewhat surprised. But at those 10 metre depths at Royston Bend area, there just may be clear water still. Someone will have to swim down there and check for us!

If it stays dry for a little while longer, the brown water will eventually run off and the tides will come back in the river. Hopefully one more time before it really starts to rain.

To get in on the upcoming summer gamefish action, get in touch and lets put together a cool weekend of fishing and relaxing for you. You can stay at the Umzimkulu Marina. Umzimkulu Adrenalin can take you fishing, surfing, or diving. You can learn all about fishing at the official MYDO web page.

Shad season opening on 1 December! Check out some of our Shad fishing kit right here (perfect gift for fish hungry girls).

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Champagne Breakfast at St. Helen’s Rock, KZN, Port Shepstone

St Helen's Rock 2021 Expedition

Champagne Breakfast at St. Helen’s Rock, KZN, Port Shepstone

Champagne Breakfast at St. Helen’s Rock, KZN, Port Shepstone: Sian and her friends visiting the south coast down from Jhb had pre-booked a ride with us quite some time before. But we had a surprise in store. For Sian and her enthusiastic crew.

St. Helen’s Rock expedition video

They were going on an ancient tradition this time round – a river ride from Port Shepstone harbour – up to St. Helen’s Rock. 14 Kilometres of winding river and deep nature. Starting early and not without the usual confusion and chaos of a big crew, we were soon racing with the tide and current. In order to get under the low-level bridge but up the first rapid, or Berm ONE as it is affectionately known, we had to time it just right. Berm TWO was easier but took a while as we skirted sandbank and reef to get in and around the corner. But then it’s plain sailing and we cruise past the pump station and onto the bend that hosts St. Helen’s majestic piece of Africa.

The champagne was soon flowing and the breakfast was spluttering on the skottel. There is a helluva lot of exploring to do up at St. Helen’s Rock. Just about where the Umzimkulwana and the Umzimkulu come snaking out of the Oribi Gorge. We are actually able to go even further up into the Oribi Gorge. But that is going to be for the next boundary-pushing adventure. We did bring a kayak and next time we will bring even more, to enable even more exploring of this historic site.

Blazing an old trail upriver and into the historical hinterland at St. Helen's Rock
Beautiful smile!
Yes it was rather icy cold at this stage. But we had coffee and rusks.
St. Helen's Rock in KZN, South Africa
Your Captains are good to go this winter season. St. Helen's Rock in the background

History

There was certainly trade and business going on here back when this was the commercial junction from Durban to all of southern Natal and beyond. This exact spot! There are ruins everywhere. And rumours of a complete village settlement on the north bank still need to be verified. There is the wreck of a beautiful European looking boat half-buried into the mountain bank. There are railway tracks and even sidings strewn about by the floods, at the confluence of the two mighty rivers – the Umzimkulu (comes from the Berg) and the Umzimkulwana (comes from Lake Eland).

This wreck we encountered whilst surveying the upper reaches of the Umzimkulu Estuary
This wreck we encountered whilst surveying the upper reaches of the Umzimkulu Estuary

And just wait ’til you hear what St. Helen did to get that beautiful big old rock named after her.

Forthcoming attraction!

Let’s gooooooo!

So please get in touch anytime on umzimkulu@gmail.com or call me up on +27793269671 although WhatsApp really works best. If you like this type of adventure. Rates are roughly R100 per person per hour. And we can cater and bring loaded coolers.

BTW we run on solar power and electric engines. SILENT! And you are welcome to bring a fly-rod.

There is a lot more to see and do on The Sardine News website at https://thesardine.co.za and the MasterWatermen at https://masterwatermen.co.za.

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The last Brindle Bass…

The last Brindle Bass – will go something like this…

If only life were that simple. Do this. Don’t do that…

For most of us, living within the law comes easily enough. But what happens when our livelihood – and an honest one at that –  handed down over generations – a noble and admirable occupation – gets made illegal? Due to the depletion of the very resource your living depends upon? And you never depleted it or exploited it at all, in the first place?

There is a really skinny old little guy who breezes through the Tofo Mercado every so often. I first met him on the dunes on the Tofo Point – just next to the rocks on the north facing dune. He was shivering to his little old bones trying to warm up in the scant winter sun, from his hours long, and fishless dive. As puny as this guy is, he swims on his own for these solitary hours, and hours. As I got to know him better over some years, I started recognising him out at sea. Miles out at sea. Always a smile – and hardly ever a fish. Despite the sheer physical and emotional effort. Most spearos know what I am talking about, when I say – emotional.

Since the tourism scene exploded like a bomb on certain East African havens, there has been a huge increase in the demand for protein, in those areas. Meat. This is what happens all over the world, all of the time. As the tourist dollar gets spent, the dinner bell rings far and wide – attracting many, many migrant labourers, and gold chasers. All hungry.

Our guy used to shoot as many fish as he and his family could eat. Every day. But not anymore. Now the fish are few and far in between. They have been eaten.

Ecotourism?

As a tourism mushroom blows up over a newly found East African treasure – first the close by reefs are plundered. Completely stripped of their fishy dignity. Then the destruction extends. By fin or by boat – but steadily, and like the wave from an atom bomb – it spreads and kills. Reef after reef. Shoal after shoal. Mile after mile. Ony the far reaches are not attained – 30 kms or so away.

So our hapless full time spearfisherman, who for years has been plying these Tofo waters for subsistence and survival, is faced with an interesting quandry, with which to fill his head as he swims the blue currents, all alone.
Does he shoot as much as he can, when he can, braving the odd shark or current, and returning with enough to eat, and sell the rest? Making some profit. Pay his kids school fees?
Or does he maintain the subsistence way and just keep on keeping on. Well I am sure our guy would choose the latter, if but one thing. Where are all the fish? They have just simply been eradicated. So he survives on pelagics mainly, and their seasonal visits. And nowadays, he shoots what he can…

Lottery vs Starving

So this is what our guy is thinking, as he forces himself on, diving to 20 metres and more, up and down, feeling dizzy, cold and very alone. Where have all the fish gone?

Then all of a sudden, a huge brindle bass swims along the side of the ledge he is plying. It’s big enough to swallow our guy whole – but it doesn’t see him above and away. It’s one of the last. A pure marine monster of the depths. A survivor. Fifty years old. A national treasure. He most likely came in from deeper waters, or a neighbouring reef up or down the coast. A hundred years old – probably had a name – like “Clive” or something. Either way, he was here now, and our guy had not seen a fish like this for a very long time. He was doing the maths in his head. How much did it weigh? At 150 Mets a kilo for prime grouper like this, even more to the Chinese buyers…that is a lot of money swimming just under the ledge.

And so our guy takes a few deep breaths. He swims away at a tangent and down, skinny legs pumping, hands checking and rechecking his gun. It’s a 1.4 m Rob Allen that I gave him a while back and is in good nick. And so is he. He is built for this shit. As small as he is. He is honestly barely 5 feet tall. He bails over the reef adjacent and around from where he saw the huge fish. And starts to edge around towards where his finely honed gut feel tells him to be. He knows this reef, and this fish doesn’t. It’s just moved in here a while to look around. Our guy edges closer, slow metres, slow seconds. He has been down a half minute now but feels nothing from his depth hardened lungs. Closer. Yes, closer.

The fish has made it’s way around the reef and, big enough to eat the man waiting for it, warily patrols toward him. Around a boulder. They practically swim into each other! The huge fish reacts. With a sound like a sonic boom, he pounds the viscosity around him and goes into a massive 180…as our lone spearo pulls the trigger. The spear enters exactly right for him and not for the fish. Under the pectoral, but angling upwards – right through the old warrior’s heart. It almost dies instantly. But groupers don’t.
After a struggle, our guy subdues and ropes the dying vagabond. And with a feeling of euphoria, at the huge financial feat he has achieved, starts to drag his huge prize, home. It’s a long swim, but he makes it eventually.

He hits the beach and 8 guys help him drag the fish to the market. Like a funeral procession. It’s a protected species but those rules are never enforced here. The new lifeguards here in Tofo, in full battle garb – shoes, longs, collars and berets are right there, admiring the fish as it finally dies.

So who do we blame the demise of the brindle bass on? NOT on my underprivileged spearo friend! No ways.

You can blame it on the development of unchecked tourism in this area.

Directly.

Read: another example of government incompetence and greed

DSCN7988
This is not our guy from the story, but it is the Brindle Bass featured in this story…shot yesterday (2014) – way off Tofo Beach (c) All rights reserved thesardine.co.za

We are on Facebook at http://facebook.com/thesardine.co.za, we run a jam-packed YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/umzimkulu1/

Post by The Sardine News.

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Mozamboogy!

Mozamboogy! And the adventure of getting there! This festival rocked through the end of August ending on the most beautiful Spring Day of 2019.

RIOTS!

We lumbered around the circle just outside of Hluhluwe. Came out the other side to find another procession of vehicles. Then another. And another. All stopped on the side of the road. Police had cordoned the exodus off, right on our journey to our first Mozamboogy.

Gave it a try, stating our SASRIA riot insurance would get us through. Nada. Then all of a sudden, around the same circle comes an FJ sported by the dude who owns Kosi Bay Lodge. He has clients also jammed and so sought out a route through. And we were invited to follow him around the riots. So now our procession was real impressive. Thirty or so cars and bakkies and trucks now took up position behind us and the FJ and off into the dust of Africa we went. And got through.

BORDER

The border was reasonably quiet because of the riots hemming them off, but in an instant, it became very busy with all the new arrivals, and the queue rolled out for miles behind us. But the operation was slick and we only heard of a few people who could not make it across for that first night.

PONTO DO’ OURO

Bustling. The new bridge and road have this place cooking now. If you rock in from Jhb, there is so need to turn left up to Tofo or Vnx anymore. Punters can just turn right rather and in less than an hour, you are in the delightful Ponto. The gateway to Molongane. And the Elephant Reserve. And so much more Mozambique. So from Jhb to the border, might be 5 or 6 hours. Plus an hour south. Wow!

PONTO MOLONGANE

This always a favourite place for me. The tropical forest could just keep me there forever. Milkwoods. Ancient. One of the mornings a dewy air rolled in off the ocean. The forest went misty and mysterious. The animals were loving it, as were we.
Our campsite was delightful with electricity and close to amenities. The staff were friendly and funny and everything about the toilets and showers worked great. Clean was the word. Nothing ran out. The water was hot most times. The power stayed on!

MOZAMBOOGY!

Is a collection of fun and eccentric party people who hail from all corners to celebrate.
The organisers have done a great job. Again and again. The resort is so perfectly suited to the application. Punters went out diving and on ocean safaris. Others were kiteboarding and surfing. Fishing even. The beach. The beautiful empty pure beach. Was filled with pretty people each day.
The venue sucked up the 1000 plus guests easily enough, with space for more next year. And so next year. There is always a rumour around that another big new development might make a problem for Mozamboogy, but in this place, the last thing you bet on, is a rumour. And so next year, Ponto Molongane will definitely be hosting the Mozamboogy another time.

DJs

Trance: wow this music can get heavy but with no lack of takers, this dance floor thumped the entire time.
Beach Bar: DJ Tushi stole the show. He performed! And luckily kept the standard very high in the face of a few more mellow performances by some others. I observed, that if a DJ does not look up at his audience, and make at least some eye contact, the dance floor empties rapidly. Especially if the music is changed too far from current stuff that everyone was digging already. And so many exoduses up and down the beach bar stairs could be observed.

And a little Ponto Molangane market gallery…

NEXT YEAR

Mozamboogy run a really decent online show – with website and facey pages. The facey group dedicated to the festival was real enertaining too! Like a running commentary! But either way, it was easy to book and pay online, even choose from the many options available for things-to-do in Ponto Molongane, and find out all you need to know.

Check it out at http://mozamboogy.com

Post by https://thesardine.co.za

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