Today is the 18th June 2020, usually around this time of year we are starting to get excited about the imminent arrival of the sardines in KZN. This year we have already had a lot of action, and it looks like there is a whole lot more coming.

The first reports of sardine shoals moving up the Eastern Cape coast started coming in late April already. There were huge flocks of diving birds and super pods of dolphins spotted off East London and the Transkei. Throughout May we kept hearing stories and seeing videos of offshore sardine action in the Transkei, and towards the end of May there were shoals of baitfish moving up the Southern KZN coast. On the 1st of June Mark Snyman, a local Port Edward  based commercial fisherman, dropped the first net of the season at Ramsgate, where he got a good haul. South Africa was still under strict lockdown due to Covid 19, and people started scrambling to find out when we could fish again.

Due to supply and demand, the first sardines netted each season always fetch an excellent price. Crates of sardines were sold for R1500 and sold out very quickly.

This galvanised all of the commercial sein netters into action and within days there were rigs making their way up and down the south coast looking for sardines. They had mobilised a full two weeks earlier than usual. Some weather fronts and big seas over the next two weeks made netting difficult, and the next decent catch was made on 15th of June at Pennington, where four nets were pulled in the morning and then some more were netted at Scottburgh main beach in the afternoon.

These catches were the first to bring in numbers of large sharks and fishermen were going tight all around the nets. There were bronze whalers, blacktips and big dusky sharks moving around in very shallow water behind the nets full of fish. Fishermen could sight cast to massive fish, with a short lob of their bait. Many sharks got away with break offs, as they were simply too big, but some monsters were also landed.

Young KZN Angler Craig Bashford, with a solid Grey shark

What is also exciting is the fact that there are a lot of whales around and this year it seems that more birds have come with the sardines, so there are sights of hundreds of birds diving into shoals of fish like hungry Stukas.

The sardines have stuck around and more have been netted at Scottburgh, Pennington, Ramsgate, Port Shepstone and Southbroom over the last few days, with some massive bags being hauled in. While it is very early in the season, it looks like 2020 could be a memorable sardine run if it continues the way that it started.

Update; Friday 19th June

This morning saw the first net being shot just outside Pennington Ski boat club. The net missed the shoal and only got a few sardines. The next couple of nets went out at Pennington main beach, where two good hauls were made. There are also nets in at Sezela and plenty of sardines along that part of the coast at the moment. Another big net was also landed at Mtwalume, so there are sardines for sale everywhere.

 

 

Update: Saturday 20th June

This morning as the sun was rising the first net was deployed at Pennington ski boat club. This brought in an excellent haul of sardines, and was the first of a number of nets to be pulled in along that beach.

Sardine netting boat about to launch at dawn

A superb haul of sardines, with many squeezing out of the net

A net swimmer using cable ties to repair shark bite holes in the net

Sharks were attacking that net from when it was dropped at the backline. Fins and tails broke the water as they smashed at the net repeatedly, creating chaos and white water. I didn’t envy the two guys swimming in the net, trying to keep the shoal in.

We launched just after that net landed, and went out to explore the shoals of sardines passing by, and to see if we could find any game fish. There were few bites, with loads of shoals of sardines passing beneath the boat like a river of tar. Sharks were absolutely everywhere, with some absolute monsters swimming below us. The only fish that did get hooked by us were quickly eaten by sharks, long before they could be landed. It was heartening to see any gannets at sea. Over the last few sardine runs there have not been many birds with the fish at all on the KZN coast. Today we saw gannets, terns, gulls, albatrosses and petrels at sea, with many rafts of floating birds, fully sated on sardines.

I had a large shark eat my Sebile Stick Shadd, sinking stickbait, and sadly there was only ever going to be one outcome. One more lure lost to the taxman.

There were plenty of whales around, as well as schools of hunting dolphins smashing into balls of sardines.

Egg Hall tussling with a shark

We decided to head back to the beach and found absolute chaos when we got there. A number of nets full of fish were on the beach. There was a row of shark fishermen lining the beach almost as far as the eye could see. Coming in with the boat, we came through a few fishing lines, dropped out beyond the bank by drones.

Pennington ski boat club beach has never been this busy!

The madness could be felt in the air. In between the chaos of long lines dopped out at sea, drones flying back and forth, and big sharks dragging the guys around the beach. There are some absolutely massive grey sharks coming out, with some solid blackfins as well. Bronze whalers seem to be quite scarce at the moment.

Dog eat dog, in the madness of the sardine run, pic sourced on social media.

With another amazing day of weather and sea conditions predicted for tomorrow, it is going to be interesting to see what comes out then! Having chatted to some of the netters today, they indicated that they could have netted 10 000 baskets of sardines today at Pennington, if they could have sold them.