Fish Eagle: The Sardine Run produces some strange behavior in people

The Sardine Run netters made some excellent hauls as they moved close to the shoreline and as expected, the first sardines were introduced to the market at sky high prices for a basket of fish. Netting took place last Monday and Tuesday with the shoals slowly moving northwards and before long the sardines were in the Scottburgh area.

Wednesday was a quiet day for the netters but picked up again a couple of days later when more shoals arrived and beached in the Pumula area. They were accompanied by large sharks and at times as full nets were hauled ashore, people and large sharks mingled on the fringes of these nets.

Wading in waist-deep seawater accompanied by sharks and their natural food is not something normal people would do, but in the presence of millions of sardines people can do some strange things.

For the sharks it’s all about an easy meal and time to gorge themselves but for the humans it can only be about the Rands and cents and this does cloud the mind a bit. Over the years this behavior has been repeated many times and it is a wonder that there have not been many fatalities.

Experienced surf anglers also got into the action on the fringes of the shoals, casting fresh sardines pinned on an appropriate hook and tackle and waited for the inevitable bite. They did not have to wait long before the bait was swallowed and the tremendous battle began and one must remember that these were large sharks that the anglers were battling with.

These battles would last for a couple of hours before the sharks were landed or eventually lost but for the anglers who landed these fish, it was a tremendous achievement. It is not everyday that one can battle a shark weighing a couple of hundred kilos from the beach.

Other anglers using lighter tackle would try to catch the gamefish that feast on the sardines. Some used spoons hoping to attract a pull from a couta, kingfish, snoek or any other edible species whilst others jigged a sardine, let it drop beneath the shoal and hope that a daga salmon would take the bait.

In this way I have seen couta, garrick, salmon and even decent sized shad caught. Whichever method an angler uses, it is guaranteed that there will be some hectic fishing. There is an excellent chance that sardines could appear in local waters this week and the fishing could suddenly liven up dramatically especially just after the fish have passed by.

Rock and surf angling this past week was still hard work with some anglers catching a couple of fish whilst others returned home empty handed.

Small pompano are still on the bite in some areas but the shad remain elusive.

Anglers fishing at night have caught the odd nice sized stumpie and there has been news of a few small salmon in the river mouth areas. Surf conditions have not been favorable at times and the tides have also been against the anglers but all could change in an instant and the tides will be much better this week.

Although there have been some winds which is normal for winter there has not yet been any real bad weather but this is still to come. My advice this week is to look to the Durban area for signs of sardines and then polish up the fishing tackle.

Sealice

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