National Garrick Day: coming soon to a beach near you! Here is a classic old video shot about 15 years ago at the famous Sandspit in Port Shepstone. So much fun – Raggie nearly got chowed by a Zambie. Two people catching the same fish. And many more hilarious scenes as National Garrick Day unfolds for here you to experience the vibe…
National Garrick Day is a once-a-year spectacle that electrifies the KZN coastline. As the sardines surge northward in their annual winter migration, they bring with them a host of predators—including the mighty garrick (Lichia amia), also known locally as leervis.
These powerful shoaling hunters arrive in force, feasting on sardines and other baitfish with reckless abandon. After gorging themselves, it’s time to spawn. Garrick typically spawn in estuarine and surf zones with structure and baitfish, often triggered by water temperature and baitfish abundance. The spawning is synchronized with the sardine run, and the garrick gather in groups to release their eggs and milt into the current.
Once the spawning frenzy subsides, the garrick become ravenous again—setting the stage for National Garrick Day. For two to three days, the bite is absolutely explosive. The usual hotspots like the Sandspit are lined with live baiters, while others throw poppers, plugs, and surface lures. Hundreds of garrick are caught during this window, and anyone with a fishing rod can join the action.
Garrick are found along the entire South African coastline, especially in estuaries, surf zones, and tidal rivers. They prefer warm water and grow rapidly—reaching about 11 cm in six months. Sexual maturity is reached at 75–85 cm fork length, typically around 3–4 years old. Larger specimens (90 cm to 1.5 m) are 5–9 years old, with some reaching up to 2 m and 50 kg.
It’s important to note that garrick are SASSI Red-listed, meaning they’re a no-sale species in South Africa. Recreational anglers must adhere to strict regulations: a minimum size of 70 cm fork length and a bag limit of one per person per day.
To stay in the loop and maximize your chances, join The Sardine News HOTLINE—a WhatsApp group dedicated to its paying members. We keep everyone informed about where the fish are and what they’re doing. Members are encouraged to contact our sardine spies up and down the coast, and we help arrange accommodation and guiding where needed. We also offer virtual guiding for free to all our members. Just ask, and we’ll chip in to help.
National Garrick Day is more than just a fishing event—it’s a celebration of nature, community, and the thrill of the chase. Whether you’re a seasoned angler or a curious newcomer, this is your chance to be part of something truly spectacular.
Here we have a clip of Evert at the Margate Pier recently, also catching a lekker garrick…
If any of you guys are planning to make National Garrick Day down here on the lower south coast of KZN, and you need accommodation and advice…or guiding, drop us a line on +27793269671 or email umzimkulu@gmail.com and we can hook you up.
The KingFisher Shad Competition Is On — This Is How To Win
The KingFisher Shad Competition Is On — This Is How To Win: The biggest shad showdown in decades has officially kicked off — The KingFisher Shad Competition is live across KZN, with R75,000 in cash and a mountain of tackle prizes up for grabs. From Durban’s piers to the South Coast’s wild gullies, anglers are locked in, and the bite is heating up.
The shad bite has been slow due to the increased sardine activity, but now that the sards are evidently scattering and dispersing, the shad will move in shallow. Just like they did this week at Coffee Bay and Port St Johns where the shad fishing is back to normal there] now that the sardines have swim right past.
Enjoy the gallery of recent shad catches and what we can all be looking forward to…
Renske Massing shad fishing…Shad fishing Anerley…Another huge Shad Lane shad.
But when the bait’s scarce or the bite goes quiet, it’s not just about luck — it’s about movement. That’s where your bait strategy becomes the game-changer.
Moving Baits: The Secret Sauce for Big Shad
The MYDO Baitswimmer Silver Bullet Number Two rigged with a strip bait and pulled with a faster retrieve WILL put you in the game to win the KINGFISHER Shad competition this year.
When shad are shy or scattered, you need to troll your bait like it’s alive. This is how you can also cover ground and locate the shoals. And then capitalise on the highly effective moving bait strategy (image at left shows a MYDO Baitswimmer Silver Bullet 2 Ounce being pulled at a natural swimming speed).
Big shad are aggressive and will take a moving bait over anything that just lies in the water. The traditional style of shad fishing is outdated and has not evolved with technology. These days, we have super-light rods and reels, spooled with casting braid that makes shad fishing an absolute delight. For the whole family. And you won’t look like those old guys striking and striking in vain all day long! Using up so much bait!
Here’s how to build and fish a finger bait rig that mimics real baitfish motion and triggers more strikes:
Bait Construction
Start at the single hook, extend to the back treble.
Use sardine fillet, flavoured with cracker shrimp, with a squid core for shape and longevity.
Cotton the sardine fillet with the juice facing outwards — scent trail is everything.
Mixed bait = mixed signals = more bites.
Sardine bait up with the MYDO Shad Trace
The double hook rigs are meant for bigger baits (whole sardine). They are, however, adjustable to take a half-sardine bait too.
The most important thing is to have that sharp little treble right in the back of the bait. Hook points slightly proud of the bait too.
Here is the adjustable double-dropper trace meant for a bigger bait…
MYDO Telescopic Shad Trace Number One for half or whole sardine baits. The back hook slides up and down for the ultimate fit.
These rigs are not for targeting shad only. We have caught blacktail and kob fishing like this…
Koblet on MYDO Silver Bullet Baitswimmer w Sardine Fillet
Reading the Water
On beaches or easy rocks, visualize the scene in front of you in 3D: find the gutter, pop the baited MYDO onto the sand, and work it down into the strike zone.
Maintain a steady pace, adjusting speed periodically to mimic different prey.
No need to strike hard — the back treble hooks the fish itself. Switch to a single if the bite gets wild.
Cast, Walk, Cover Ground
On longer beaches like the Sandspit or Ifafa (both hotspots for big shad), you will need to spend some time on your own determining where the fish are feeding.
Walk with the prevailing current, gather intel, and fish dynamically.
You’re not just casting — you’re trolling from the shore.
When the Bite Is On — Go Big
If the shad are smashing baitballs and you need to out-throw the crowd:
Load up the 2-ounce MYDO, add a whole sardine, and cast with 3 ounces of power.
Use a top bung to keep the bait off the rocks and keep the bait intact.
This rig flies over the horizon and lands right on the other side of the traffic.
Wind, Distance & Reef Tactics
Middle-sized MYDOs are perfect for light onshore wind or when you need extra reach.
Small MYDOs can get blown off course — use them when conditions are calm.
In gulleys and shallow reefs, rig a top bung at the swivel to troll over the rocks, not into them.
How to WIN the KINGFISHER SHAD Competition featuring MYDO Silver Bullet Baitswimmers #shad #fishing okay welcome back to MYDO Tackle Talk we talking about the SHAD fishing competition put on by KingFisher this year what fun eh biggest competition for decades it turns out and 75,000 bucks is up for grabs for first prize plus a whole mountain of fishing tackle as you would expect from people like Kingfisher right it’s province wide all over the place and we’re gonna talk about catching these big shad my first advice would be to join the SARDINE NEWS HOTLINE it does cost 59 bucks a month but you get to be in the thick of it and that kind of news we don’t dispel out to the public until way after the fact but to the HOTLINE members that’s where the news comes in HOT alright um I’m gonna talk to you about catching Big Shad because Big Shad likes to go mad after a moving bait you can put your big sardine out there and let it sit there on the reef and wait and wait you can it washes around and then something will might bite it but as soon as you move that bait like when you winding in or or like on the camera here look at this see that the shad are just milling about that bait they’re not even looking at it but the minute it moves they just go wild like this it’s crazy and the bigger shad being more aggressive more voracious and and more everything are the most aggressive so they’re all gonna get if you want to catch a big shed use a moving bait it’s quite simple the shad bigger shad take a spoon you know it’s like they’re more aggressive they go faster and they want a moving bait now I’m gonna tell you how to make a finger or pencil bait but I call it a finger bait’cause it’s about the size of your finger that goes on a smaller MYDO Bait Swimmer silver bullets shad trace that is what you cast when it’s really good weather and the offshore’s blowing it was all very nice and the sea’s quite flat but you’re trying to find the shad you start with this little thing and you just have to throw it out and let it go into the water column as you’ve imagined in 3D what the gutter looks like and then get it down the gutter and patrol the whole water column until you find some bites you’re normally just gonna hook up with this lure because that treble at the back and that’s a moving bait you don’t miss you just don’t miss and by the way these things catch all kinds of fish they don’t just catch shad I caught a kob and a blacktail and ugh we’ve been having so much fun with these things anyway so the bait fits on here and off you go put the wrong way around the bait fits on there and off you go with the front hook you just put a nice fillet on here the nicest fillet that you can cut wrap it from the very beginning of the hook all the way over here and uh make sure the back hook is just sticking out a little bit all these things are proud and then off you go um this is how you cover ground you just keep walking and throwing with the current and if you got a nice Long Beach like Mtwalume or Ifafa or Sandspit or whatever and you want to find out where the fish are cause they move up and down I promise that’s how it works but you as you walk you’ll pick up clues and you’ll start seeing they could be here they could be here excuse me alright so if however the sea gets a bit inclement and the onshore comes up you’re going to have to go up and notch to a 1 ounce luckily there is a half ounce a 1 ounce and even a 2 ounce now the 2 ounce is a monster it’s a real cool thing it’s for when the crowd is on your back and there’s a casting and the roads are cracking and all that stuff and you need to get a away from the from the traffic away from the marine traffic put this thing on here tie a big sardine on tie it on nicely and launch it over the horizon at 2 ounces plus a sardine you’re nearly on 3 ounces you gotta give it all the 3 ounces of power that you can and you’re gonna get over the back line and past the past the let’s just say the riff raff um alright I think that’s about it there’s the three different things the three different sizes in the in the shad pack you get two big ones and two small ones ready um don’t forget to subscribe the hotline is open like I told you earlier you can uh sign up but you’re a like and a subscribe is all we really need to keep this show going thank you very much for watching and we’ll catch you in the next segment Ciao Ciao
5 EPIC Fishing Battles From This Past Week: enjoy the picture show…! (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou)
good morning welcome back sardine news okay we’re gonna try something different here today we’ve got a lot of fish around a lot of fish and we’re gonna get to see five fights here mainly at the Block in Port Shepstone and also one in Christmas Bay up in Sheffield on Ballito side but what fun to watch these guys some of them get away most of them get caught let’s dive right in and join Alan at the block another guy on here also we think it’s a Garrick it’s the third one now in about half an hour so let’s pull up with Garrick here at the mo still on still playing it I think you had bait what you had bait on there or what sardine spoon okay picked him up on spoon still playing it it’s a big guy there playing nice nice why we that side why we right so not coming here right come around with him Drei link Außen ja Bitte hey vaai for ot sharp here he’s hooked on the gill vaai sharp its hooked on the gill go quickly gaff him gaff him gaff him gaff him whoa well done well done well done what’s your name Naren right Naren Naren thanks Naren well done hey shot Allen for always being on the spot like that and Naren that’s a beautiful fish well done not to be outdone here comes Deez next this is gonna be quite a long session over here there’s two fish coming up which one gets away now there’s a guy onto a nice fish here fishing in the front Ous are saying a Garrick but he wasn’t using a lure is it Dees it looks like Dees huh hey what you got there Dees Dees what you got what you got Garrick what is it Garrick nice fish hey that rock in front there that’s a gotta get it past that what bait you using Dees sardine 4/09 still on here that’s a tricky part this is a tricky part get it over that rock there we go he’s got it past guys got a problem this side if it goes over that rock trying to get it away from that rock huh going over that rock AIBO…came off cut him off over the rock unlucky he’s still on here now the trick is to get it over that rock and before this goes beyond this rock here you’ll see he’s coming starting to bring it in out here that rock that’s probably why they are swinging around that hes kind of got it past that rock Deez Nice Garrick Hey so coming this way coming back coming back coming this way hey nice work Dee’s that’s a great funny now you can see in the background behind Dee’s that’s his wife watch that lady now there’s another fish came out on a on a spoon here very good very nice fishing that morning not sure how many came out all together but then we’re going to check on Dee’s wife and see what she caught the other morning other evening I think it was yes yes yes hey what fun hey well done Zahira that’s a beautiful fish right now we’re going to Christmas Bay to visit Henry our latest contributor to the Sardine Hotline and check what he caught muck big kingie or something come on oh it’s just sitting okay still on yet oh gosh I don’t know what it is solid son oh oh hey what a fish Henry Sheesis man thank you and it’s so very nice to have you as our North Coast correspondent for the Sardine News right we’ve got one more fish to go you might have seen this one before if Evert at Margate Pier about a week ago don’t forget to like and subscribe and if you join this channel you would have seen all these videos long time ago Ciao
Sardines in Port Shepstone: yup, right NOW 07h30 nets are in!
It is a difficult place to access, there is a gravel/sand track to the beach. You need to come in from Durban side, along the old road, just before the closed Umzimkulu Bridge, there is a turn to the right (Port Shepstone Country Club), then turn left onto the dirt immediately and travel to the end.
DO NOT PARK ANYWHERE NEAR THE MUD! On the right as you get to the end of the road, do NOT go in there.
Your car will go down to the bottom. It is a dangerous place for carpark sharks, too.
PLUS, there are earthmoving machines trying to renegotiate the course of the river to the sea. So that they can try and fix the errant pylon that has stopped the traffic over the bridge completely.
Crazy days on the Sandspit!
Sardines and Sightings
Join the Sardine News HOTLINE for 2025 and Neva Miss a Single Sardine! We first upload to YouTube, and then progressively up to the rest of the social platforms (Facey, X, etc) as the bandwidth allows.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN as a Member on YouTube, and receive all these perks too…
Member of WhatsApp Sardine News HOTLINE, access to restricted content on thesardine.co.za, LIVE Broadcasts from the Beach during the sardine run. And direct contact with the Sardine Spy network team.
You can also get around the season in a real fun way by checking out our annual Sardine Run Maps. This is a real groovy way to follow the progress of the sardines each year.
You can even 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…
Sardines Analysis: in-depth with Windy.com #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration
Sardines Analysis: in-depth with Windy.com: our meteorological partner – Windy.com – are endowed with a set of tools that make detailed analyses of what is going on with the sardines this year, so much more fun!
Weather
Let’s start with the weather…we have another whole week of low-pressure systems battling it out with any high-pressures they can find. And that big high off Durban (lives there most of the time) has been doing a great job fending off the cold fronts so far. But this next week has a lot of red and orange in it. And many, many close-together lines on the charts. These close-together lines mean big swell is on the way. And the prevailing low-pressures will produce nice big rolling swells from the south (just like the sardines like it) painted with an early morning offshore, delivered with coffee each day.
Sardines Analysis with Windy.com
Currents
The ocean currents analysis from Windy.com tells a few secrets. You can clearly see that the normal straight-driving Agulhas Current has lost attention and is now meandering all over the place. Looks like it is trying to avoid potholes. It’s causing vortexes and counter currents in all the weirdest places. There are two easily identifiable warm-water barriers playing havoc with the already panicked sardines. Of which there are plenty. In that slightly colder patch from Coffee Bay to Port St Johns, there are pilot shoals. And some much bigger shoals coming up behind them. South of that, however, is warm water right to the coastline. And this extends right past Kevin in Qora towards Kei Mouth and Morgans Bay. Then it gets cold again and this is the water in which the GoDive operators are having so much fun. Further south, there is another warm water barrier that might be keeping some of the sardines down there for longer than they would like.
Is the Agulhas trying to avoid the KZN potholes or what? You can see where it veers out to sea from about Port Shepstone and then back in again at Kevin in Qora, bouncing off from there and making contact with land again at Port Alfred.
And as per programme…Adam on the ball in the Township Hyper Crows Nest, this early morning…
Sardines and Sightings
Join the Sardine News HOTLINE for 2025 and Neva Miss a Single Sardine! We first upload to YouTube, and then progressively up to the rest of the social platforms (Facey, X, etc) as the bandwidth allows.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN as a Member on YouTube, and receive all these perks too…
Member of WhatsApp Sardine News HOTLINE, access to restricted content on thesardine.co.za, LIVE Broadcasts from the Beach during the sardine run. And direct contact with the Sardine Spy network team.
You can also get around the season in a real fun way by checking out our annual Sardine Run Maps. This is a real groovy way to follow the progress of the sardines each year.
You can even 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…
