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What is going on with the SARDINES by Kevin in Qora?

What is going on with the SARDINES by Kevin in Qora

What is going on with the SARDINES by Kevin in Qora?

What is going on with the SARDINES by Kevin in Qora?

Hi everyone this is Kevin from Qora Mouth
uh just north of Mazeppa Bay in the Southern Transkei
well um
things are maybe quietening down a bit in KZN
I mean there are nets coming out
but you know um
I think it’s getting to that time of year where it’s uh
beginning of July and uh
the sards are kind of petering out a little bit
the shoals that came up already through
and the ones that they’ve been netting
but I can say
that we had those two large shoals
that moved through the Transkei
within the last two weeks
and I’m pretty sure they’re gonna reach KZN
but we just don’t know where they are right now
nothing in shore
no reports from Port ST Johns of the guys diving
there was was a small report from the Haven Hotel
which is at the Mbashe River
that there was some action there
but smaller shoals just a fractured shoal
so yeah we just don’t know chaps
we don’t know if those are gonna reach
KZN or if everything is kind of going out now
into the current but what I can say is down here
we got a huge swell on the horizon
big south swell generated by that cold front
that came through the Cape
uh the ships are rocking and rolling out there
so yeah let’s hope that uh
things change and that some of these shoals
make it up to KZN and fill things up
and the netting can resume again
anyway we’ll keep you updated as things happen and um
yeah
keep it real don’t forget to like and subscribe cheers

Thanks Kevin!

Sardines and Sighting Maps

Follow the 2025 Sardine Run Map!

You can also download our app to your phone or device, accept notifications, and you will never miss a single  sardine.

Last year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! This year we have had two sailboat incidents already. PLUS, we have already logged some sardines! And a UFO!

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps…

2025 Sardine Map

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
masterwatermen.co.za – news from under water
fishbazaruto.com – dreams
brucifire.co.za – surf retorts

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Where are the sardines today?

Where Are The Sardines Today -

Where are the sardines today?

Where are the sardines today? Kevin answers…

alright another awesome net here at Rocky Bay guys
make your way down here at Rocky Bay
uh
moonlight Adcan Marine we did it again yeah
a nice lovely beautiful net guys
make your way down here
well done
our team is our team is happening yeah
OK
morning chaps this is Kevin at Qora Mouth
just north of Mazeppa Bay in the Southern Transkei
well we got lots of action still going on in KZN guys
um if you’re in the public
and you’re driving around looking
and you wanna go watch some netting happening
Rocky Bay is the hotspot
there’s also a net being pulled at Umkomaas and um yeah
good news for the netters
that they’re kind of sticking around in the same area
so the netters don’t have to wonder every day
where they are and what is probably happening
is that the predators have now fractured up
these bigger shoals and these sardines are caught
uh in these little bays behind headlands and um
perfect opportunity for the netters
to surround a bait ball and bring everything to shore
so if you look at the video yeah
you’ll see how big these nets are guys
these are hundreds and hundreds of crates of sardines
that are coming up coming out of the water
which is good news for the industry because obviously
a lot of these sardines end up in boxes
which is the bait for the ski boaters
and the fishermen for the next year
it’s a huge industry and um yeah
I’m sure
you’ll get a chance to go down and buy a crate or two
if you’re part of the public
um wanting to get some fresh fish
but please keep away from the netters
as we’ve discussed
it’s dangerous work and tempers get a little bit flared
um what I can tell you from the Southern Transkei
is that
I’ve got thousands of birds that are moving north
very close to shore
there’s 20 to 30 birds in a line and low on the water
which means uh
being this early in the day
they’re going towards the sardines
they’re not going home so what has
actually happened is that
that shoal that was off East London
I suspect has moved out deep
exactly the same as the last shoal did
and the reason for that is that there’s probably very
very little current out there as well
and they’re going deeper in the water column
where they’re finding the water
that’s a little bit cooler
which facilitates
them moving a lot faster up the coast
and we do know that obviously this is an anomaly
the sardine run is a fractured group
off of the main shoal
that basically lives on the Agulhas Bank
about 2 to 300 km off of Cape Town out in the deep
and they move up the west coast of Africa every year
to spawn and head back to their Agulhas Bank
um for the summer
but the sardine run is just a little fractured group
that take a wrong turn and move up the East Coast
so they they’re out deep
I’m sure that they will come in eventually
because what happens is
that they’re sitting right on the continental shelf
which is about 19 km out here
and as you get further up the coast
our continental shelf kind of pinches in a little bit
that’s why when they get towards KZN
they move in a lot closer
so we can probably expect the same thing to happen now
that this shell will make it in closer
but um not yet
they’re out deep so that’s good news for
the netters
because it means there’s a whole lot more still coming
and I don’t think it’s over yet chaps
so yeah let’s just watch and wait
but keep things real guys
and we’ll keep you
keep in touch with you as the conditions change
and we got spotters on the ground
as you probably realise all over KZN
we got guys sending us videos
sending us current updates
so yeah we’ll keep you updated as things happen cheers

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…

2025 Sardine Map

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

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Sardine Run 2025 Explained by Kevin in Qora

Sardine Run 2025 Explained by Kevin

Sardine Run 2025 Explained by Kevin in Qora

Sardine Run 2025 Explained by Kevin in Qora: thank you Kevin!

Morning chaps
this is Kevin at Qora Mouth
just north of Mazeppa Bay in the Southern Transkei
well well
well the sardine run is definitely underway
netting going on already in Southern K
Z N started with Port Edward yesterday
and they’re moving up the coast a bit
uh we saw all the netting boats
standing around at Saint Mike’s
this morning which was a little bit north of uh
Port Edward
and they’re just looking and waiting and watching
um nets went out this morning at sandspit
and so those sardines are actually moving up the coast
albeit a little bit slowly
but that’s okay
there’s lots more sardines coming behind them
and I think you know
if we if we just discuss what’s happened so far
we have hindsight right now
2020 vision um
the sardines were down off east London as we know
then they moved to Cintsa
and then they disappeared off the radar
now normally
every year
I get the sards coming straight past the front of me
a kilometre out I saw nothing
the only thing I had to go on was the gannets
because every morning
the gannets leave their roost wherever they were
and they travel up the coast or down the coast uh
because they know where the sards are
and they were all booking it north of me
so what actually happened here
is that the sardines jumped out deep
because there was warm water in front of them
and they moved past me
probably out right where the continental shelf is
they probably wouldn’t go off the shelf
but our shelf here is about 19 KS out
so they were out there deep and they moved past
and yeah they’ve come in at KZN
strange how things work out
so what we can expect now chaps
is that these uh sardines are gonna move up the coast
and there’s lots more backing them up
I’m seeing lots of birds going north still
so there’s still lots of sardines out deep
we had a big shoal that moved through east London
about three days ago and that’s out deep
it’s uh
they’re moving in a very
very low current and they’re moving north cool
so um yeah
that’s what we got guys that’s what we got for now
but um
let’s keep watching and um
let’s hope it’s a bumper year for the netters there
please just another reminder
keep well clear of the nets
if you’re there in the morning watching them
um it’s dangerous work and it’s their job and um
tempers get a little bit flared
if the public get a little bit too close
so give them their space uh
watch from a distance and um
keep it real let’s have fun cheers

That’s all for the Sardine Run 2025 Explained by Kevin!

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…

2025 Sardine Map

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

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Sardines Analysis: in-depth with Windy.com #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration

Sardines Analysis 28 May 2025 with Windy

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
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.

Sardines Analysis with Windy.com - currents and sea temps.
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.

A huge thank you to Windy.com! And to all of our readers here on The Sardine News.

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…

2025 Sardine Map

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

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Elton of GoDive Sardine Baitball Report from Cintsa #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration #sardine #news

Sardine Baitball by Nicolene Olckers

Elton of GoDive Sardine Baitball Report from Cintsa #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration #sardine #news

Elton of GoDive Sardine Baitball Report from Cintsa #sardinerun2025 #sardinemigration #sardine #news :another crisp wintery morning down here in southern KZN. The offshore winds are blowing daily and this whole week is dominated mainly by south systems swinging across the country. Causing this offshore drift of air every morning – you can see the smoke from bush fires, cane fires and people whisping out over the sea. Makes for spectacular sunrises and seascapes.

We have a gentle southwesterly blowing later this morning, aiming to top out at around 12 to 15 knots as it takes over from the offshore from about low tide onwards. Later in the day, as the tide pushes in, the wind will swing even further to the east to become a proper onshore.

The ocean recovers really fast in this place at this time of the year. And often a bit of east in the afternoon will pull the prevailing SSW swell into the bays and coves for surfing for the next morning. Many nuances in the atmosphere are at play right now that produce these perfect conditions.

Meanwhile, down south in Cintsa…sardine baitball report by Elton…

all the fish and more fish and more fish and more fish
Hey morning just an update from
Cintsa uh week 4 has just kicked off
yesterday was a little bit quiet
didn’t really find much at all um
and then today all of a sudden in the cold
wet windy um
weather there was there’s quite a lot of action
right from in front of Cintsa in the bay
20 meters deep water nice clear water uh
lots of sardines lots of gannets
and then
some of the videos are also from the East London side
so
one of the boats went all the way down to East London
found great action in front there yeah
the other boats in Cintsa
all the clients on both boats are in the water
at the moment uh
I think um
the last update I heard is that the
one boats
on their third or fourth bait ball for the morning
yeah and they only launched at 8:00 so it’s really
really good conditions at the moment
lots of sardines coming through
lots of gannets
lots of dolphins and I will update further when uh
when I hear more
wow guys it’s bait fish all over the place
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike
Mike

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…

2025 Sardine Map

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

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