So the big day arrived for my boys and I to go on our annual Maphelane trip.
It rained all the way down and a normal 8 hour trip became a very tiring 10hr slog through mud and fallen trees. The recent rains have filled the Umfolozi mangrove swamps up to the brim, overflowing in many places, making the road a bit of a quagmire. Water up to the doors in places traversing through stinky Stagnant sulphur water. On the way in we had to negotiate a fallen tree, which delayed us even further. When you stop alongside that swamp, you are engulfed by literally thousands of Mozzies... really unpleasant!
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But we finally got there, and after being swamped by more Mozzies unpacking in the rain, we were greeted by this magnificent site...
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After the last cyclone, the beach has been scoured right up to the dunes. I've never seen the bay so full. Marius Vermaak, a local farmer, had his farm graders and excavators out in force trying to shape access to the beach for Ski-boats to launch. They did this everyday... grading a launch road, only to have the High tide wash it away every day!
Must say that after seeing this beautiful site in the bay, we were max amped. The water and conditions looked the best I'd ever seen them. Unfortunately we were in for a nasty surprise...
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Our first morning on the beach we were greeted by 60+ KZN league anglers who were having an Interclub Common venue Comp.... yipeee!! Bamboo forest at Maphelane!!
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Apparently the biggest fish caught amongst the group was an 800g Stonebream, after fishing for 12 hours!?!
The league anglers left on the Sunday night, so we were itching to go fish the High tide the next morning...
This was the site that greeted us... Most mornings. Depending on the strength of the wind.
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Mud, glorious mud! The South wind had changed to the NorthEaster, which blew tons of mud from the dredging operation up at St Lucia directly into the bay at Maphelane. This wind prevailed pretty much the rest of the week, when high tides were characterized by full-on muddy waters, trees, branches and roots floating everywhere in the water, making fishing practically impossible. If the North wind blew steadily for 2 days, the sludge would extend 2kms south past Crayfish point. So depending on the strength of the wind, we had to walk long distances trying to find gaps in the mud, in order to cast a line...
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I got burned off several times by floating debris...
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Nevertheless, we soldiered on and tried to make the best of a bad situation... my son Nick landed the first fish, a little Wave Garrick, which was the first of many.
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Doing the Sharks thing...!
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Lots of walking, trying different things and just having a hoot together on the beach...
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What it's all about!
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What a privilege to spend time with these 2 champs!
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We took a walk up to St Lucia to check out the dredging operation. Wow!
This is one massive undertaking! Huge trucks, bulldozers, excavators... think we counted about 30 vehicles operating at one time.
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The sand gets laid up against the shore in huge piles, then at high tide gets washed way into the sea.
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An estimated 10 000 tons of sand and debris into the sea every day. Monday to Friday.
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It looks like they're creating a huge basin for the mouth of the Umfolozi just as it enters the corner towards the St Lucia Estuary, restoring the environment back to the way nature intended it about 60 years ago, before the Parksboard/govt stuffed the entire ecosystem up by closing off the Umfolozi from the estuary.
In a few years time, I think Maphelane/St Lucia will be back to it's glory days of providing the biggest Grunter and edible fish nursery on the North Coast... looking forward to that. I'm just a bit worried that the reefs at Maphelane are going to be ruined by all the sediment. Can't win them all I suppose...
Always great wildlife in these reserves...
What type of snake? Tree snake? Green water snake?
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Bushbaby
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Flying Bushbaby!!
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We continued to work hard on the fishing front, and we were rewarded with Blacktail, Stonebream, lot's of Wave Garrick, including a few buses measuring 50cm FL...! Some great fishing on Light tackle..
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Got a nice size Bigeye Kingfish at Crayfish Point.
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Jess got a Nice little Stumpy, also down at Crayfish point...
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And another...
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Even the Rock pools were a mess!
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I got lucky one morning fishing the mud, picked up a little Zambi.
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Time to go home, we were greeted by a massive tree which had fallen across the road. Used an axe, snatch strap and many blisters later, we managed to clear half of it before the Parksboard arrived with their chainsaw...
Mozzies had to give us one final farewell feast!
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There are lots of other photo's on the various cellphones, will add them as they arrive.
All in all, another great trip to my favourite place in the world. Despite being cruelly tested with the fishing conditions yet again, it was a great privilege spending time with my boyz! At my age, there aren't too many of these type of trips left, so I cherish the opportunities as they arise!
