#FishEagle: Sardines are coming!

News spread like wildfire last week Monday as the first of the sardines were netted at Port Edward, with people rushing to buy their share of the catch from netters!

Netters managed to catch 127 crates of sardines, with initial asking prices being around R1 500 per crate.

As always, netters ask for steep prices for the first of the season’s sardines, but these prices continue to drop as more and more fish become available on the market.

After the initial nets were cleared, netters were unable to continue with further catches owing to changes in ocean conditions which had become rough, with the winds blowing.

The next morning saw sea and weather conditions make netting a difficult task, with the added problem of sighting sardines proving equally difficult.

Nighttime saw the arrival of a cold front which was accompanied by heavy rains that in turn caused rivers to flood out to sea.

Surf had become rough, and launching proved a problem.

Bad weather and heavy seas remained for the rest of the working week and it was only on Thursday when sardines were again sighted, now at Umgababa on the South Coast, near Umkomaas.

Windy and rain meant it was only the birds who benefited.

On Friday morning sea conditions were still bad when sardines began to wash ashore at Margate.

Guys with nets casted managed to land a few, but netters were unable to launch.

Sardines were also spotted passing by along the backline at Park Rynie.

By Saturday morning, the cold front has passed and sea conditions were a little better but still there was rough surf and dirty water with which to compete.

From early on, traffic at the South Coast increase tremendously as people searched for sardines on sale and even for where they may be netting.

Netters managed to net a couple of small pockets at Banana Beach and, almost immediately, crowds of people began to arrive.

At Margate, cast netters were still catching a few sardines and shoals were passing throughout the day but mainly out in the deeper waters.

As the day progressed, so too the action increased.

Word was Uvongo had plenty of sardines, followed by netters scoring at Port Edward and Banana Beach.

All the while the sea conditions had improved and this meant that it would be hectic along the South Coast the entire weekend.

At times, people tend to get a bit crazy when nets are pulled ashore.

But it can become dangerous and people have been injured.

Remember, netters do not take kindly to others interfering in their work.

This week, sardines will most probably be in Durban waters, but it remains to be seen how far out to sea they will be.

Last year, quite a number of sardines were netted at Durban, but the problem was that there were actually too many sardines and this affected shore angling. Shad arrived late because they were also following and feeding on the sardines.

Garrick season was not up to much either, because of the same problem and, as the sardines moved on up the coast, so did the fish.

It was only in September that local anglers began recording decent catches of shad and, although some garrick were caught, it was the guys up north which enjoyed nice garrick catches.

Off-shore anglers should be in amongst the sardines for some time now, and it is not always a good thing to be fishing when surrounded by sardines.

If there are game fish feeding on the surrounding shoal, then okay – the fishing could be hectic, but sometimes the fish are swimming on their own and if one is fishing on anchor on a reef, the sardines could become a huge magnet and pull the fish with them.

Some of the old time ski boat anglers used to curse the sardines, not even launching when the small fish were in the vicinity.

Local anglers should have their spoons ready when driving to the beach: Who knows, one could hook into a fish to remember.

One year I saw barracouta and garrick caught at Westbrook Beach by anglers throwing spoons when a pocket of sardines moved within casting range.