let us know what u see or catch
Fish catches in the Eastern Cape 2011/2012
- Thread starter Broder
- Start date
Broder
Mudshark
Dived in 2 locations over the weekend. The water is nice and warm, but not a fish in sight. I haven't even seen any sergeant majors or saddlebacks yet. Saw a few small flagtails and lots of pelagic fry. Nice to get my head full of water again though
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leslie hempel
Professional Aquarist
checked a devil in a rockpool at nahoon.. water was 22 odd deg.. hectically warm...
Any action Broder? Anyone else?
Broder
Mudshark
The water has been fairly warm and should clean up very nicely with the forecast westerlies. I've been out of action for a while, but I've heard of quite a few goldies being caught.
What have you seen Craig? You got a tank up and running yet?
leslie hempel
Professional Aquarist
water cold today +-17deg, just got back from Glen Eden area alot of life in the pools and the sea is clean...
Also out of action and been chomping at the bit to get in the water. Zapped down to the Kowie yesterday. Only thing I saw was a blackburnii - about 5cm. Loads of marleyiis now but no Seargent Majors like the PE bods are seeing.
Tank is going but it has a nasty infection of pink fluff algae that has pretty much wiped out my sps.
Broder
Mudshark
Give me a shout if you come this way. Tangs flatten the red fluffy algea that I have. A convict should keep it in check.
I have a clown surgeon but he does nothing!
I will. Been a while since I was in EL.
C
I will. Been a while since I was in EL.
C
Broder
Mudshark
The fish just haven't appeared en masse this year, the same as last year. It's just the luck of the draw. Some years you'll see more fish than you can shake a stick at.
You can try Mermaids pool at Nahoon point. At low tide this is a great place see what the Eastern cape has to offer. You can also try the river mouths at full high tide. Do not venture to the West bank without an armed escort. Take care at the Eastern beach/Bats Cave area.
I still maintain you can predict whether it's going to be a good or bad season by following the el-nino, la-nina predictions. Last year = strong la-nina, this year = weak la nina.
climate change may have an influence on abundance and occurance of fish - what do you think?
I netted this guy early this year while snorkelling WAY down south.
We almost never see Kingfish in this area.
Carangoides ferdau:
If by "WAY down south" you mean Cape Town, then I'ld be impressed. You get them south to the Cape....
...and apparently in an oasis in the middle of the Sahara.
...and apparently in an oasis in the middle of the Sahara.
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hehe, where did you get that chart?
According to fishbase, south to PE.
Nowadays when I read "to PE" I almost feel I have a good chance of spotting it anywhere..
Broder
Mudshark
I personally don't have any knowledge of the el-nino and la-nina patterns, but being weather phenomina, they must effect currents and thereby fish larva/fry distribution? On an anecdotal level, I've found that years where I've had good windsurfing conditions, ie an abundance of easterly and north easterly winds, has also produced better than usual fish catching seasons. The diving would obviously take place before and after easterlies, as they always cause cold dirty water to get pushed inshore for a day or two in our neck of the woods.
It's the geopoint data from fishbase... Even though the range distribution says "Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa (to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Ref. 3197) to the Hawaiian Islands.", the map data in point form shows that it has turned up in Cape Town a couple of times (the description of the range is static so it needs to be manually updated...).
How certain are you of the ID, as most Blue trevally that I have seen have a dark margin on the trailing edge of the caudal fin, where your pic doesn't. There are a wack of VERY similar trevally's found in SA that I believe it is more likely to be...
Strangely enough, I disagree with almost all of your anecdotes. Speaking from a lifetime's collecting, and studying Ichthyology and Oceanography, the east wind is our worst nightmare on the eastern coast (north easterly significantly more that south easterly). It generally results in a thermal upwelling (dirty, cold water), which deflects the Moz current (and the juveniles travelling in it) away from shore.... which is pretty much where we stand in the eastern cape at the moment.
View attachment 148832
Think of the red as the juvies heading off to the Agulhas banks and Antartica to die a cold death.....
The south westerlies on the other had cause eddies in the current which wash inshore with their juvie cargo. This is typically the 24 deg C clear water after a storm. I wrote a paper on this stuff a long time back and proved that west = warm = fish.
Broder
Mudshark
Not strange.... it's an anecdote. I don't put any scientific value on it and I'll gladly accept correction. My fish collecting memory and experience only stretches back about 5 years.... so of no value.
Surely the juvies have come down this far with the warm Mozambique current? Isn't this current fueled by the north-easterly trade winds? Or am I over-simplifying it?
I agree that inshore the NE wind is totally detrimental to all fish collecting, but further out to sea I've often seen cleaner and much warmer water. Isn't this the warm Mozambique current?
Nope, the mozambique current has nothing to do with winds in the eastern cape.
If you head out off the eastern cape coast, you eventually hit the moz current. It does move closer-to and away-from the coast, but is typically a fixed distance from the coastline. In the Kei, it is significantly closer to the coast that slummies, where it is closer still that it is off PE.
Typically its a good 20km or so offshore, so almost out of sight, in slummies, and 10 clicks off the kei coast and 30+ off PE.....
This distance does vary and effects how "quickly" the current can come inshore if the correct winds are blowing....