Rock Salmon: how far upriver do they swim?: In this quick study, we get a few numbers wrong…but you get the picture at the end.
This day, we were doing some 3D work at the very top of the Umzimkulu Estuary. We were on the St. Helens Rock stretch, and were returning to base after a few hours of scanning.
In the video I said 10 kms. Then 13 kms. But when I measured accurately, the fish was caught at about 9.7 kms upriver. That said, a fish can still swim a long way further. Right up to the steep rapids at the corner to the cement factory. Another 5 km more.
Flowing river
The river was flowing. It had been in full flood just before this trip. And now it was backing off just enough for us to scan. But trailering the boat was a challenge in the current. On my third and last attempt, as I killed the motors, here goes local subsistence fisherman Sandile, vas with a big fish.
Who could it be now?
On handline, I thought it must be a big carp. Sandile gets them quite often right here where he fishes plenty. Takes them to town and sells them in the rank. But this was no carp. As it came out of the water the unmistakable sheen of a rock salmon reflected in the sun. This was a good fish too, maybe even 3kgs or so.
How far?
I measured 10 km if you followed the river channel. But it could be slightly less. Either way…
the river was flowing with floodwater
the water was brown and fresh as can be
the fish took a live bait in that current and in that murk
Gallery
Jimmy with Rock Salmon lightie on the low-level bridge over the Umzimkulu RiverSean Lange releases all his rockies tooLiam van der Merwe releases all his rockies tooBens first Rock Salmon in the Umzimkulu EstuaryCaleb with his prize estuary gamefish the Rock Salmon aka Magrove JackChris Woodley Rock Salmon December 2020Chris and rock salmon MpenjatiThe MYDO Estuary Pack contains all you need to target estuary gamefishDejan Vujevic and his Umzimkulu Rock SalmonRock Salmon by Greg DefillipiRock Salmon Rory ReenSharene Rock Salmon SlayerA tiny cute baby rock salmon caught in my cast net and let go healthily. Great release!
Umzimkulu Adrenalin is standing by to take you hunting for these formidable fish. Use the big old WhatsApp button floating about somewhere or contact Sean on +27793269671 or on umzimkulu@gmail.com.
The two most effective estuary baits by far: live baits are sure to be the most fun on any estuary excursion. BUT. You got to catch ’em first! This article focuses on the two most effective ways of fishing in an estuary, with dead bait.
Recently I was teaching a guide some tricks in the Umzimkulu. The dude had caught himself a live mullet. And a live prawn. So he had one on each side of the fallen tree we were fishing against the steep bank. After a few minutes, something felt off. We needed that sardine head out there. Took me less than a few seconds, and the sard head was in position.
It wasn’t enough time for that sardine to defrost – and the rod went in the way that only a rock salmon knows how!
Bulelani’s first rock salmon release
The Sardine Head
Break a sardine in the middle. So that it’s guts hang out a bit. You are gonna use the tail section to make pencil baits in the next paragraph. But that sardine head – well, that’s the way to catch rock salmon. Just insert a 3/0 hook through the lips, bottom through to top. The sardine head needs to swing freely on the hook.
How it works is – that almost immediately, the smallies start. They chip away at the oftentimes frozen bait, creating a could of commotion and odour down there. This then attracts more smallies and before too long it’s a veritable bait ball down there.
Then out of the gloom come these big guys. To see what this commotion is all about. And it doesn’t take long for one of the gang to see your sardine head lying there and break the party up for good.
When you fish a sardine head, put your drag right up. Rock salmon don’t bite first. They are snappers and simply inhale and swallow anything that moves close to them. They lie perfectly still in ambush waiting for some hapless prawn to walk past. Bang! These are the explosions we hear at night time.
The Pencil Bait
This is something you learn the hard way. But when you get it right, can increase your hookup and catch ratio in estuaries, remarkably. Aside from the rock salmon, perch, shad and malabar, most other estuary fish, are highly timid eaters.
And the most difficult fish to hook by far, are grunter. Tiny mouths. Fussy nibblers. The best way to target grunter anywhere is with cracker shrimp. BUT. And it’s a big BUT, they are just so hard to find and catch.
So the pencil bait then…is your next best option. For the shy guys like – Koblets. Blacktail. Zebras. Grunter.
How? Fillet your sardine tail into 4 loins. Grab hold of a prawn tail. And some squid. Anything you got really. Take a thin stick (or a pencil), and start to arrange all this lekka bait you got, along its length. Small sharp hook on one end. A slightly heavier leader is totally advisable for pencil baits. Start to cotton as you go. Just keep adding strips of bait and cotton, making the bait as long as possible. When you have a juicy-looking pencil bait – remove the stick (or pencil) by sliding it out. Tension up with a little more cotton and off you go.
When a grunter comes along, and he is hungry, he will peck at your pencil bait. You will feel these baits and you cannot strike. Let ’em eat. Soon enough he will work out that if he grabs the one end, he can get that bait down. You might feel this happening. And then when it’s all right down, he will swim off to look for more food.
This is when you strike!
You gonna need to have long-nosed pliers with you when fishing with pencil baits. Or use a circle hook.
Summary
All you need to be dangerous in a KZN or Eastern Cape estuary, are two rods, and a few sardines. If you had a cast net you would be even more lethal. But that’s the point of this story. You don’t need live bait if you fish with these two estuary baits as presented here today for you.
NO FLOOD Warning: things are looking up! -Yes ok the water is still mostly brown…but the tides are fighting back! And the east wind is drying everything out with gusto.
Yesterday’s delightfully cute little cold front painted the ocean into a perfect picture on the surface. Deep-sea fishing and possibly even surfing (check Umzumbe and Southbroom) will be on the cards today and this week coming up.
Secret spot near Banana Beach looking absolutely beautiful for bronzies and things
Tides and Time
Wait for nobody. And they are both hard at work flushing the pollution from out of the rivers. The sewage and sediment get washed away out to sea in the rainy season. And then in the dry season, the municipalities start the pollution cycle all over again.
This happens in every town and in every river in the country. And is how they get away with it. The cyclical nature of nature is what ALL our municipalities hide behind.
It is possible to run a town without a sewage system in place – by allowing the sewage to rather run in the street. Across the town. Into the stormwater drains. And into the Mzimkulwana RIver, in the case of Harding in UGU’s part of KZN.
The water in some bigger estuaries has started to clean up. With the slowing of the flood pulse from last week’s rain (and the rain before that). This weekend features a lovely high tide. And so loads of saltwater will make its way into the estuaries where it can perform its host of biological functions.
Free-flowing
Now that the rains have backed off, the predominant fresh water has done many of its duties. One of which is the balancing of the acidity of the ocean.
The other has been the conditioning of the rivers – to be able to handle the next rains (which are coming have no doubt). The strong waters clear out obstacles and scour out the channels. These defined edges and channels can handle a deluge of water far better as the wet season progresses. When it all dries out, the rivers clog up again. Sewage and sediment. Rinse. Repeat.
The week coming up
Tuesday sees some cold front action in KZN again…once again it does not look too bad but we might get some lightning and thunder. Inland up towards the Drakensberg is gonna get pelted. More brown coming down!
But mostly… it’s day after day of the prevailing Beasterly Easterly. And the sunshine that comes with it. Bathing is still dodgy at most places but you can definitely find some clean water if you try.
There are a few flashes on the cyclone radar way up north, but as of today, we are seemingly in the clear. But as you all know, this is a volatile time of the year…and yes…anything can happen. And fast. We will endeavour to let you all know again, but in the meantime enjoy the sunshine.
Sharks on my Sonar!: we head out to the Noosa River in Australia for this story…where we get to see how Humminbird have perfected their sonar picture underwater.
It is true genius. The machine doesn’t lie. The sharks on the screen are no doubt sharks! As a bunch of Zambezis aka Bull Sharks, are attracted by splashing in the water of this wild river.
And this is all recorded for us ALL to see…that sonar can undoubtedly detect a shark. Especially in calm waters like the Noosa River.
Enjoy the display…
Sharks on my Sonar!
Sharks on my Sonar!
Here is another great article referencing the same fact.
I first approached the sharks board, back in the ‘2000s’, about replacing their defunct killing methods, with sonar detection. It’s the most straightforward solution under the sun. Sheldon Dudley of the sharks board vehemently opposed my suggestion back in the 2000’s. With him was Graham Charter. The other guys just did nothing. Said nothing. Many meetings went nowhere. It was not their idea, and so was not going to be deployed.
The main excuse offered by the team back then, was that sharks have no swim bladders, and so could not be detected with sonar?!
I never wanted anything except some involvement. However, as it turned out – it was not the right channel to go down, to try to effect change.
My Motivation
I had back then recently come across an entire pod of dead dolphins. On the back of a shark’s board bakkie. I was furious. And I still am. Those dolphins died (suffocated to death), in the shark nets of Umtentweni. Whilst there were zero beach users at Umtentweni. It was a Monday morning. None of us were even surfing. Nobody was using the ocean at Umtentweni that fateful day.
During the week there might be a few surfers. And on weekends the weekend warriors. Some families come down on weekends to enjoy the granny pool or the shore break.
Are these enough people, this risk so big, that a whole family of dolphins…must die a horrid death in gill nets?
Sonar alternatives
The Australians also kill bull sharks and the like, willy nilly, with shark nets. Archaic gill nets. That kill everything. They kill whales over there in the nets as successfully as our guys. They also use drum lines to actually catch the sharks, and then drag them away from their homes. Forced relocation. This does not work since bull sharks always hang around their own river mouths.
But the Ozzies have developed something clever called Clever Buoy. I am not sure why they don’t use off-the-shelf available sonar equipment. To mitigate development and deployment expenses. But they are definitely on the right track.
Municipalities and you pay for the shark nets
Yip, you are the ultimate payer of the death nets strewn along the coastline of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. Along with your municipality.
The shark’s board costs hundreds of millions per year. With this money, they kill (annual average):
Sharks Board kill rate average per annum. That is 320 odd sharks per year. Almost one per day.
Harmless Catches
And these they call…”HARMLESS CATCHES”?!?!
Note the lack of whales in this chart. I have interviews, photographs and video to prove otherwise…
Please see the following irrefutable proof that the shark nets have been killing baby whales…here in South Africa. And in Australia.
So all these animals must die…and nobody is swimming anywhere. The water is chock full of ecoli and other nasties right now too. Nobody should be near the ocean. And nobody should be killing sharks in these wayward flood conditions. Brown water to the horizon.
These conditions prevail for months at a time. The nets should be OUT!
More alternatives
Yes, there are more ways to stay safe…
Exclusion nets: deployed perfectly at Fish Hoek (Cape Town) recently, these are proven winners. And these were deployed successfully long before there was even a sharks board. At Umtentweni Beach, and most other popular tourist spots along KZN, still have remnants of the infrastructure used. Concrete pillars with poles set into them. And tennis court netting stretched across them. Stopping any access for sharks. All the while allowing nature to continue along around them unimpeded
Shark shields: for a tiny fraction of the cost of running the entire sharks board, they could equip all ocean users with shark shield devices. They are proven to work and are really cheap nowadays. Get it from the lifeguards and return it after swimming. They could even be rented out.
Tracking devices: many great whites have already been tagged with devices that track their activity in real-time. Right now you can go to the Ocearch Project, and see where the whites are congregating. Let’s just tag the tigers and Zambezis too? I notice some Tiger Sharks, and even whale sharks have been tagged and can now be tracked too on that website. Go check it out, incredible technology applied so well. Some data is old. But new pings are popping all the time.
I have given up on trying to convince the sharks board to stop their heinous acts. We need to get rid of them ourselves somehow. Working with municipalities directly or something.
Please get in touch with Sean on +27793269671 or umzimkulu@gmail.com to discuss any of this further. Especially if you work at a municipality and want to save the people’s money from being used to kill marine life. The backbone of our tourism industry here in KZN.
HUGE illegal dumpsite in Port Shepstone: this is quite a remarkable achievement on behalf of whoever might be in charge of the beautiful – but abused, piece of land, right under Port Shepstone’s main CBD. Authorities have been notified and have promised to do something about it.
On-site meeting logged today 22 January 2024…let’s see how this goes…good luck Transnet (yes it is their land) UGU and RNM.
This could be a tourism haven – but Transnet refuse to allow positive developments here – only negative
We need to remove the inept from having the responsibility not to allow this type of thing to happen. It must have taken quite some time for the accrual of such tonnage of trash as is lying all over the beautiful and natural piece of land.
There are some spots where there is no space left to dump along the road!
This is what the mess is made up of…and is a glimpse into the minds of the kinds of people, that dump illegally like this.
Foodstuffs
The first item on the menu, which is so obviously so wrong, is the tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables strewn all over the place.
How many people are starving?
Sacks of potatoes. Rice. As the commentator in the video says – “enough to make a pooitjie!”.
Building rubble
Freshly dumped. All over the place. Plus tonnes left over from recent stormwater repairs carried out in the Port Shepstone CBD.
Furniture
Toilets. Cupboards. Furniture. So much recoverable stuff. School desks?!
Plastic
Of every shape and form. Everywhere.
Body parts
Of vehicles and other mechanical wrecks. Tyres. Fans.
Asbestos
And all kinds of ceiling boards and dry-walling.
What can we be done?
It would be so straightforward, to set a patrol through this lovely area. Twice a day? Too much to ask? Eventually, if not recovered, all this pollution will be washed into the river. And into the ocean. Two of our most important natural resources, the ones we live off, generate an income from – the river – and the ocean – trashed.
And this is what we try to sell to our tourists. Pollution. Illegal dumping. Sewage. Dubiously covered up with Blue Flags.
Tourism
If we continue to neglect the experiences of our tourists – feeding them pollution and sewage rather than clean water, sun and sand, they will stop coming.
Full stop.
Lucky for some tourists…like this very happy guest out on Digby Smith’s boat recently. Way beyond the pollution and the brown water, on Protea Reef (about 5 miles out) he caught his best fish yet – a Giant Trevally, affectionately known to anglers as a ‘GT’.
Very happy chappy fishing with Captain Digby Smith on Protea Reef – way beyond the brown water
Umzimkulu Adrenalin in Port Shepstone will be available to get you out there and into the blue, as soon as the rains back off and floods ease. Floods may be the wrong term to be using since this is just the wet season being gentle with us.
