Sardine run 2016 preparations with Offshore Africa
Sardine run 2016 preparations with Offshore Africa have begun already as everybody looks forward to that bumper sardine run we all deserve.
Offshore Africa in Port St. Johns take divers right into the sardine bait ball action where every kind of marine perdator can be seen hard at work. Gorging the shoals of hapless sardines, they compete and work together – their common goal – the obliteration of bait balls, one by one.
Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith, who for a decade now have operated boats and dive expeditions in The Transkei, arrange accommodation and meals for punters, and then take them to sea on one of their custom designed and rigged inflatables. The surf launch through the Umzimvubu River mouth warms the adrenalin valve up nice, and by the time you reach the action, you will be well into a state of flow. And that is the way you will stay as you get to jump in with sharks and whales and fish and dolphins and gannets…sensory overload is part of the menu.
Port St. Johns is far enough south and Offshore are normally the first to encounter the huge shoals. Other attractions include great fishing in the river and off the shore, incredible hikes through forests and over mountains – some that drop straight into the ocean, wide open beaches, a quaint settlers town to explore…the list is long.
At this time of the year, bookings with Offshore Africa for the 2016 sardine run, start to fill up fast. But, because of last years fantastic run, Rob and Debbie have extended their Sardine Run 2016 experience availability, adding a week or two on either side of their last years schedule.
Click on over to Offshore Africa Port St. Johns for more information and to make a booking.
Offshore Africa have slots available for the 2016 Sardine Run in Port St Johns.
Enjoy this 15 second clip to get the vibe and see what its all about…
Book your Sardine Run in Port St Johns with Offshore Africa…
Rob Nettleton and Debbie Smith are gearing up for another action packed sardine run, as the season for the migration nears.
Sardines can often be seen as early as April or May, but it is in June that things really hot up. The huge shoals of the little fish stick around until late July and even August.
Offshore Africa are rigged and ready to make sure you are right in the middle of the action, as and when it happens.
Their packages are flexible with a list of options for accommodation and meals.
Catching kob in Port St. Johns with #1 Mydo Luck Shot
Catching kob in Port St. Johns with the MYDO baitswimmer head # 1 used as a powerful dropshot rig. These two are rigged the two different ways (see below), and with paddletails. Note the outsized hook on the orange plastic, for big fish and heavy tackle. The Orca plastic is rigged with the knot buried deep and a short shank hook further back in the lure. Choose your favourite hook!
The original #1 Mydo is turning out to be the choice lure in Port St. Johns as it’s perfect weight – 1.7Oz, and swimming action, works the waters at the mouth and in the surf zone, just right. Read on to find out more about catching kob in Port St. Johns.
The rig is adjustable and allows you to engineer the ideal swimming pattern for you, in the given conditions. The line is tied right through the middle of the baitswimmer head and through the eye of the hook. Using a uni-knot allows for the tiny adjustment needed, to play with the action. There is also a through the bait option – great for sticking a hook far back in the bait. Some plastic baits, like the ones with paddletails, need no adjustment really, they swim just so nice, straight and reliable.
But if you loosen the connection between hook and baitswimmer, and stick a split tail plastic on, you can get that thing to swim like a snake! It really is amazing to see you plastic dead bait darting through the water just like a wounded and fleeing fish would be.
The # 1’s are the budget line of the Mydo, and you get to buy them unrigged so you can choose and rig the ideal hook and leader combination for you. The #1’s come with a pin or without, the following are the adaptations of the MYDO baitswimming technologies, to various fishing applications.
baitswimmer dropshot head with pin: rig your nice soft strong leader through either of the available holes and right through the baitswimmer. Tie on your absolutely favourite hook, even a short shank will work great. Grab ahold of your plastic (anything from 3 inch to 8 inch – the hook just needs to be right for the plastic and prey), and get that hook in there. Bury the hook so far in that the eye of the hook goes right inside of the plastic. Now stick the plastic onto the pin, upright. With longer hooks, get the pin right through the eye of the hook, bend the pin over, trim it off with heavy duty pliers and off you go to the nearest river mouth. Now! The pin keeps the plastic in the right place – on the hook!
For short shank hooks, or when you want to rig a hook right in tail, keep burying the hook to where you want it. Put the nose of the plastic onto the pin, and stick a toothpick through the plastic through the eye of the hook, break off protruding ends. Now you have two anchors for the plastic, a completely flexible bait with the leader running right inside it, and a hook right back in the bite zone – far more hookups, no more tail-bite-offs.
baitswimmer dropshot head without pin: This is the other options (some shops sell #1’s without pins especially for this rig). Leader through bottom hole, up through eye of hook, back through top hole, and tie a uni-knot. Everyone should know this knot by now. Quick and painless, and very reliable. Use you own initiative for keeping the plastic on, when it eventually starts to fall off. I use cable ties. Toothpicks. Superglue. A slow bouncy retrieval for the kob, gives a totally different swimming pattern than a faster surface crank for the garrick. The Port St. Johns crew get their fish at a more medium pace, and when they change pace and bounce completely – that’s when they get the bang most times.
baitswimmer: the #1 was one of Brian Davey’s first patents, and all the other baitswimmers were based on this lure. Even at it’s size, it can give swimming lessons to the biggest shad, and even tames a bonito of a kilo or so. Amazing, considering how hard it was to swim those baits ,before Brian came along with his invention and rocked the fishing world. Walla walla, half beak and jap mack all started swimming upright and true – no more spinning baits. The Vaalies finally started winning some comps!
live baitswimmer: #1 baitswimmers are ideal for putting som order into your spread when dragging a bunch of errant little live baits behind you. The bit of weight just puts them away from the surface guys, and you can then play deeper with the #4 and #4 Mydo Baitswimmers safely under them. Running 6 or 8 livies takes some serious planning and execution, and the baitswimmers help you do just that
But here in Port St. Johns, shoulder to shoulder with the pro’s, I am stoked to report that everyone here is using #1’s with great results. Many kob so far, and many garrick. Getting photos out of the team is nigh impossible – they don’t want anyone to know where and what they are catching!
Click here for more about the MYDO Luck Shot #1’s and here to take advantage of our price promotion on MYDO Baitswimmer # 1’s.
Dealer enquiries to umzimkulu@gmail.com, there is a reward of a huge MYDO hamper offered out to for people who can hook us up with dealers, in their areas.
ASAP – Anti Shark Attack Projects featuring a shark exclusion barrier
ASAP – Anti Shark Attack Projects specialize in the deployment of shark exclusion zones and shark detection systems. ASAP activities and projects are completely environmentally friendly and are designed to not interfere with the marine environment in any way.
The image featured is a rendering of the shark exclusion system that could be easily applied in Port St. Johns, at the infamous but breathtakingly beautiful 2nd Beach.
Stakeholders within the tourism arena here in Port St. Johns are excited at the prospect of a shark safe place to swim for visitors. The deployment of this system will also greatly reduce the drownings at this beach – there have been 4 in 4 weeks which just go unreported, like the shark attacks.
ASAP – Anti Shark Attack Projects featuring a shark exclusion barrier
Shark exclusion barrier (c) ASAP
The cost to run such a system easily falls within budget constraints of coastal municipalities, who can look forward to greatly increased tourism revenues, once people grasp the idea that it’s safe to back in the water!
Please contact Mr. Clint Marx on clint@lmsurveys.co.za, for further information.
If you are smart enough to run a smart phone, then you just can’t be dumb enough to get bored…ever again.
Take this ship for example…
Just buzz on over to marinetraffic.com, zone in on your carpark, and see the names and even missions, of all those hunks of metal cruising the horizons. Even yachts!
You may get bored after a while and have to switch on over to some other entertainment stream, but you will definitely find your self loading up all this cool ship data again and again – especially in that carpark with an afternoon onshore and a quart in your hand.
Even some some ski-boats are equipped with AIS transponders, but for the most part, its mainly large vessels travelling trade routes that use the system to obviously avoid collisions. There is the pirate drawback, but you can turn the transponder off of you like, but for the most part it AIS has become a valuable all-round source of cool data.
Wikipedia is gonna be much better at explaining it than me, this morning…
“The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships…”
Marine Traffic (http://marinetraffic.com) even have a really cool App that you can get for free from the Play Store or equivalent, on your phone. Or just access through a browser – any browser will do!
Big news today is the launch of Offshore Africa Port St. Johns’ Web 3.0 website. Rob Nettleton and co’s IN YOUR FACE photography will get you checking that your wetsuit is hanging nicely, and ready for next year.
