Author Topic: St Lucia/Maphelane (Read 113421 times)

uk145 · « **on:** February 15, 2017, 05:18:56 PM »

Good day all,
Im thinking of a trip to St Lucia begining March,target eds
Is it a good time, what speicies can i expect.want to fish St lucia beach, the estuary and mission rocks.
Could not find any info re March fishing.
Also which road to use from johannesburg

Thanks in advance
Kr, Dees

REEFMAN · « **Reply #1 on:** February 15, 2017, 05:26:38 PM »

March is an excellent time for fishing the North Coast, feb/Mar being the best times throughout the year.

Here is a guide to help you:

http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=18621.msg316068#msg316068

Road from JHB... N17 to Ermelo, Piet Retief, Pongola, N2 to the Vidal/St Lucia turnoff.

uk145 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 15, 2017, 05:53:18 PM »

Thanks reefman, great info
Will post report on return
Heres hoping weather plays it part

Rory mundy · « **Reply #3 on:** February 15, 2017, 09:17:22 PM »

A few strange fish coming out a chap got a green job fish off the beach this week

sardinella · « **Reply #4 on:** February 15, 2017, 09:35:56 PM »

When in March are you going down?
You should target Mission rocks over the spring tides, with low tides aroung 10 in the morning. See that the swell are below 1.4meters for Mission rocks.
Viewpoint (marked Indlovo beach) and the main beach is also good at the moment. South towards Mapelane is closed during daytime. This is where the dredger spoil is dozed into the sea, causing a few issues with roots and debris in the water.

REEFMAN · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2017, 07:54:27 AM »

Willie, how badly is Maphelane affected by the dredging? Is it still fishable from that side?

sardinella · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2017, 08:22:12 AM »

I asked Jan at Fishing Den the question. He does not really know as no one takes the trouble to walk that way at night, and they are are blocked during the day.
Will speak to oom Piet and let you know.
I will be at St Lucia from the 10 th of March onwards. I have bought a fat bike and will be targeting the Railway ledges with the bike, crayfish season opens the 1 st of March, and the area hardly sees a fishing rod.

sardinella · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2017, 08:34:17 AM »

Phoned oom Piet, lots of debris in the water towards the bay. Fishability depends on the sidewash, will be fishable after a day of 2 of SW wind, the NE will however make Mapelane bay unfishable.
No rain yet but very humid, and some big angry seas as we speak.

uk145 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2017, 07:22:02 PM »

Be in SL 3rd march,dont think its spring tides as its new moon .will i get shad for livies?

sardinella · « **Reply #9 on:** February 16, 2017, 08:16:11 PM »

Conditions change daily, best is to watch the locals, in Dec and Jan the shad were feeding so shallow, we literally caught them in the last wave rolling onto the beach, it was crazy.

REEFMAN · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:04:27 AM »

Picture of the Umfolozi taken yesterday...

LGF · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:19:45 AM »

Isn't there an annual migration of Gauteng members to Maps/Vidal this time of year?

REEFMAN · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:33:54 AM »

Watch this space...

LGF · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2017, 08:29:43 AM »

Packing as we speak I suppose

sardinella · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2017, 10:04:20 AM »

Hi Tony, that picture is not very recent, things have changed a lot.
Dont have decent pics but look at the background on this one, a lot of sand has been shifted

REEFMAN · « **Reply #15 on:** February 23, 2017, 10:21:06 AM »

Ak OK. It was posted on some tourism site on FB yesterday.

sardinella · « **Reply #16 on:** February 23, 2017, 10:28:53 AM »

Hold thumbs, the Mfolozi is in spate, and all that water is flowing into an already full lake, a strong south wind may cause a large volume to be pushed northwards in the lake, and with a change to a northeast we might get the estuary flooding back into the ocean

sardinella · « **Reply #17 on:** February 23, 2017, 08:46:20 PM »

These pics was taken this afternoon from the parking lot, just seaside of the ski boat club towards Maphelane

REEFMAN · « **Reply #18 on:** February 23, 2017, 08:50:00 PM »

Wow! Surely that's gonna breach to the sea with the first big seas?!

colin · « **Reply #19 on:** February 24, 2017, 08:03:41 AM »

Quote from: REEFMAN [/size

Wow! Surely that's gonna breach to the sea with the first big seas?!

This is a big WOW , now for the prawns grunter and salmon to repopulate the estuary. There must still be a lot of salt in the sand to dissolve into the water so a good flush will be good.[/size]