Author Topic: Umgazana (Read 15797 times)

Tommo · « **on:** November 09, 2011, 11:13:47 AM »

I am off to Umgazana tomorrow for a week. I will be fishing light tackle lure in the estuary and mouth area, looking for kob, shad, kingies, river snapper, perch, springer etc I am very excited, this is probably my favourite type of fishing. Also it is always a thrill to go to a new spot, I haven't fished Umgazana before. I will post a report when I get back!

Poenskop · « **Reply #1 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:14:50 AM »

I can't wait for the feedback.

WalkersKiller · « **Reply #2 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:20:10 AM »

Tight lines Tommo cant wait to see the report!

strandloper · « **Reply #3 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:20:51 AM »

Tommo,

Looking forward to the feedback.

Manuel Junior · « **Reply #4 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:21:37 AM »

REEFMAN · « **Reply #5 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:23:44 AM »

It's a great resort Tommo... you're gonna have huge fun there! Hope Pam is going with, they have an awesome spa and nice family facilities!

Tommo · « **Reply #6 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:27:52 AM »

Thanks guys!

Reefz, Pam is joining me, but we are staying in a cottage, so none of those fancy facilities... I think you may be thinking of Umgazi river bungalows, which is at the next river north.
But we will have a great time, Pam will fish with me, which is always great and it is her birthday on Saturday. She will probably catch a big one and show me up!

AD97 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:30:25 AM »

Cant wait! Is Umgazana in the Kei? I saw your post on the Bushmans River. I'm

. Have never caught a Leerie there, and been trying for long. Goodluck for the fishing. Is it going to be on Inside Angling?

Fritz · « **Reply #8 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:31:28 AM »

Tommo, If its Umghazie you are going to then you comming back about 5kg heavier. The food is tops. I took Mandy their some time back and it was the only time I could get her to fish and she thurely enjoid herself. Their are some wonderfull spots up the river for you. If its anything like the last time when we went then you going to enjoy yourself.

If you get a chance to take the sundown cruise then do it and keep your camera handy. I can garentee that you will get a fish eaglr feeding about 20m from the boat.

Enjoy the trip and I cant wait for your report.

Fritz · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:33:36 AM »

My bad. Only see now that you going south.

Tony, Tommo is going to stay where we where when we went to brazen.

PH · « **Reply #10 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:41:25 AM »

If I have the name right, that is the estuary with the largest mangrove growth in the Southern hemisphere.
Looking forward to the report.
(Fritz, we must go there when you get your Stealth!)

Fritz · « **Reply #11 on:** November 09, 2011, 11:46:14 AM »

We are most certainly doing this trip. Hopefully Tommo can give us some tips of where and what.

Rods · « **Reply #12 on:** November 09, 2011, 03:18:14 PM »

Tight lines Tommo. Looking forward to the report

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #13 on:** November 10, 2011, 12:31:46 AM »

Good luck Tommo, I have fished there before and the fishing was awesome to say the least. Enjoy.

CASTSA · « **Reply #14 on:** November 10, 2011, 08:18:41 AM »

Hey Tommo

One of my personal favorites, was down recently doing some R&S, catching Kobs on swimming lures at the mouth. The river fishes well,
Few places to look,

Under the Bridge - On a Push & out going tide - deepest hole in the river, nice drop-offs to fish artificials etc
The first bend on the town side (southern) - First bend - close to the river launch site - on a pushing tide, good Kingies in the clean water
The Big Tree - On the Northern side of the river, on a pushing tide, work your way upstream with the clean water
Right up Top - Rock Ledges, sunken structure, good bream and Rock Salmon
First Rocks @ The Mouth - fish eat on the push and first drain of the tide, also dead low on the edge of the sand bank (Eastern cape style) in front of the rocks

Fish holding areas change so much in this river, but those are a few of the consistant ones.

I havent fished the river hard in some time, although when I was there last month I actually watched the Kob swimming up the river on the push tide. There has been a great number of Kob holding in the mouth area all season, but the guys have been punishing them terribly. We got some decent fish in the mouth area on swimming lures.

Tight lines bud, its an awesome place.....

Nepptune · « **Reply #15 on:** November 10, 2011, 11:28:14 AM »

Tommo

Definitely an amazing place mate, you'll have ablast!

I think a couple folks have got Mgazana confused with some other areas though...

Defintely no "town side" at Mgazana... or bridge that I can remember thats not a loooong way up the river...

Tommo - the place can be rock salmon heaven mate, especially around the first area of Mangroves... but they TOUGH to get out as always... no doubt you'll find them though...

We had good success on Kob at the mouth off the bricks in the mornings along with plenty shad too...

If you lucky the SKippies will be in as well, cause when they are there, they are thick, and big... might be a little early for them though..

Tight lines mate, looking forward to the report.

leadhead · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2011, 01:15:34 PM »

Good luck. fished the river at the end of september and got plenty of small kingies, some nice snapper, bream, and a couple of sea pike. was my first visit to the system so was very happy with the species count. a really beautifil system and the transkei is always a special place to visit.. planning to head back there in mapril, so looking forward to your report to learn as much as possible.. tight lines bru

Unkredible · « **Reply #17 on:** November 17, 2011, 09:36:25 AM »

Love it there, just don't enjoy the crowds sometimes...Have also had run ins with people spearfishing for the resident snappers in the mangrove channels - really not on in my opinion...

Tommo · « **Reply #18 on:** November 17, 2011, 06:31:44 PM »

Just got back from Umgazana. It was a wonderful week with friends and family. We had quite a lot of rain and the mud in that part of the world gets mighty slippery! The fishing was difficult for a few days with all of the South East and North East wind blowing. It took me a couple of days to get to grips with the estuary and find the fish, but in the end I got some springer, GT's and sea pike in the river. I had some fun trying to catch perch and river snapper on surface lures, but didn't manage to hook any, though I had a few good smashes. They seemed to be striking short, I just wish I had another couple of days there.

One of the highlights was fishing the start of an incoming tide at the mouth, casting a 2 ounce chisel plug over the colour line of the dirty estuary water. I was standing on some rocks that stick out quite far into the sea. I could see the mullet holding right on the colour line and just waited until I could see them getting nervous, then cast the plug around them. I landed three nice garrick, all around 5 to 7kg's in the space of an hour one afternoon. This was great fun as I was using a light outfit with 20lb braid and a Shimano Aerocast rod.

It was good to be there out of season, as there are a lot of cottages there and I can imagine that it gets pretty busy. The locals were hammering the kob with bait from the banks of the estuary, so I stayed away from that area, as I don't enjoy watching the slaughter. The kob looked to be mostly pretty small, such a shame that the laws don't seem to apply to "subsistance fishermen". Also there was no sign of any officials to ask for licenses etc, so I guess the locals just do what they like.

Anyway, apart from that it is a wonderful area, with lots of potential. I would like to give it a go in late summer as I am sure that the estuary would fish better. The rocks on the siouth side of the mouth that jut out into the sea are custom made for garrick and shad fishing and are probably as good as the island at Mazzeppa. I saw some great spots to drop shot for kob around the mouth, but didn't have a chance to give it a go, maybe next time...

John F · « **Reply #19 on:** November 17, 2011, 07:39:17 PM »

Great report Tommo!

That's a nice garrick...

You should submit it to the Angler of the Month comp http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,7289.0.html

Author Topic: Umgazana (Read 15797 times)

leadhead