Well the day finally came after a long wait.Early rising to hit the road before the traffic on the N1 starts to build up.Left Centurion bright eyed and bush tailed at 3am on Friday morning.At least the boys could catch up on some sleep.After a few stops we reached the south coast only to be greeted by a pumping SW.Stopped at Emtentweni and noticed a pocked of sards just behind the backline getting smashed.The first sign of the sards had the family jumping with joy.MMMM I thought
,this is going to be a wonderful week with sards and some big catches......Stopped at Port Shepstone at the Block and saw a bamboo forest.I took a walk amongst the guys who were nailing the shad.not very big ones mind you but amongst the legal ones,a few good size ones were comming out.I then got back on the road to Port Edward.My next stop was at Margate to see what was happening at the pier.A few guys made the pier looking quite busy and could see fish being landed.out came the binocs and saw that some really beeeg shad were comming out.All pumped up and revvvvving to wet a line I head towards Port Edward.
Get there and the check in was faster than " a poacher hiding an undersize shad".By now the blood is rushing and pumping to hit the beach.Take a walk down to the beach to check what the beach looked like and what the condition was like.Got there and was greeted with a blistering SW.Chatted with another guy fishing there and he was struggling to keep an 8 ounce grapnel sit.Spent about an hour there and came back to plot my move for sat morning.
Up early on sat morning and hit the beach.Stood for about 15 minutes checking the sea out and then found a nice hole not far from the mouth of the Umtamvana River.
This is really a magnificent river with stunning views.Before I could set up I went to the waters edge and felt that the water was very cold.Nonetheless,I threw my sinker out and started trying to get a shad.I battled but they seemed to have went to Margate pier because I got reports that the shad were wild on sat morning there.I then took my slide rod out and started fishing very light with the hope of getting a grunter becuase I saw a guy land 2 good sized ones.I put on a nice srd belly and threw it just behind the last breaker and placed my rod in the pension pipe.I was busy helping my boys out when I noticed my rod bouncing around.I thought it to be strange for agrunter to pull like that so I left it and waited for it to pull me flat like a grunter does.this bouncing went on for a secs when I picked my rod up and reeled my line out.While reeling out,I felt a fish on the line and could not understand what it was because it sure as hell did not feel like a grunter.When I pulled out my line I saw that it was a
.It measured 52cm.This was to be the only fish/shad I catch for the week apart form the sardines i was hoping to catch.
I was not long at the beach as the wind really picked up and started pumping.I did a lot of surveying of the waves here and noticed that the sea in this part of the world seems more rough than up far north.I did not fish that arvie nor did I fish the sunday nor the monday.during this time I was the gillie to my two sons and nephew who were enjoying fishing in the river.When I was not doing gillie duty,I was doing tour operator duty.we took a drive to Splash Rocks and realised why they named it so.I went there on sat,sunday and monday and never saw a single oke fishing off there.The wind was unbearable and worse was still to come.
Tuesday come and I get instructed to drive to rocky Bay in search of sards.So we get Rocky Bay to be greeted with a pumping NE.Okes could not cast off the pier there and one one one big shad were comming out.the boys got some karanteens which were released.Now those of you have boys will know that once fishing is dead or conditions are bad,the tummy starts to talk.So off we go to Scotties to grab a grub and come back to Rocky Bay and by then the pier is now almose cleared out.I take a walk onto the pier and the wind is pumping like you can't believe.Stood there for a few minutes and then flew off the pier.With no sards action or sards,we hiot the road back to Port Edward.Once we got back,the boys decided that they want to go and try in the river.So the gillie had to make sure everything is in order.After a couple of tugs,a small grunter is landed and an eel.That is that for the night.I hada gut feel that the next day(wed) the sards are going to be on the move.So I let the crew know that we needed to be at rocky bay again the next day at 8am to get some sard action.Just as I had thought,when we got to Rocky Bay,the netters were busy pulling out the third net much to the delight of the family.It is their first sardine run atmosphere and did they love it to bits.Amongst all the mayhem of getting the sards form the water,a massive shark enters the shallows and start feeding to the scraps.I never saw the water clear out so quickly.Even the guys, who were rinsing the sards in the crate,refused to go into the water.The shark was there for about 7 minutes and then left.Eish now the jossling and grabbing and pushing and shoving for sards got the better of me so i decieed to go to one of the helpers and told him to organise some sards for me.My boys ahd so much of fun that they wanted to go again the next day but conditions got worse and that was that for the sards.In Total I got 53 dozen.Put acouple on the braai the same night.......very very nice.A very under-rated meal.
thursday was spent just messing around at the river and going to Splash again to see what was happening.took a drive to Margate pier and I was one of 3 other ppl fishing on the pier........coditions,unfishable.
Friday it was pack and leave with the feet being dragged by a ton of bricks.All in all I really enjoyed it eventhough the conditions was at its worst.It was great to see the area and learn a lot about the area.The place where we stayed was magnificent and I will definatley go back there.Sadly there was no
but there was lots of memories that I would cherish for the rest of my life.
The main aim of this trip was to show my family what a sardine run is all about when the netters come out.Just the atmosphere and i am sure they will cherish that for a long time too.There is already talks of next years holiday.
This was the Estate we lived in.....
