Fishing at Mission Rocks and adjacent rocky shores in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is usually quite awsome, but the wind has been blowing in a north east direction for about three weeks now, chasing many folks off the rocks and making fishing a bit uncomfortable.
These first three weeks in November 2017 have produced some fish along the rocky shores between Cape Vidal and St. Lucia, but there should have been plenty more. My fishing trip with Gareth Robertson the weekend (18 / 19 November 2017) was quite enjoyable, even though we were blown into submission on Saturday 18 November, coz we had an opportunity to do a little driving around the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and we're treated to some really cool sightings of game, as well as plenty of flowers in bloom.
We got to take a walk on the dried out sand bed of Lake Bhangazi, and bumped into some guys that were fishing for barbel in the murky waters, and had a beer with them while chatting about barbel fishing in general.
The drive on the Bhangazi loop road was very relaxed and a number of cars passed us as we took our time looking at flowers in bloom and just simply enjoying the many game sightings, with plenty of ZEBRA, KUDU, GNU (blue wildebeest) RHINO, and other creatures.
This loop road was very fruitful from a game viewing perspective and I recommend that every visitor to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park take the time and effort to experience as many of the loop roads as their time allows. In other words, make sure that you go into the park early, and leave just in time to get our before they close the gate. Remember that there is a R 500.00 fine for late exit......
There are many new loop toads and a few different hides, so perhaps a day or three maybe better to see all. There is plenty to see with lots of game, and even Hyhina and leopards if you are lucky. As for birds, there are plenty, and some are rather special sightings, like saddle billed storks. There are plenty of yellow billed kites, but these seem to be restricted to the coastal zones only, where we also saw a fish eagle and plenty of swallows.
My battery on my phone died, so I did not get pics of everything that a I would have liked. So remember to take a good camera, with extra batteries, or a charger that will work from your transports electric supply.
We tried fishing again on Sunday, but once again the wind was up, the surf was a bit on the large side, and we did not catch as many fish as we would have liked. We did see quite a few fish, that were caught by others, where kingfish, grunters, rock cod, sand sharks, salmon and others were on display to claim bragging rights.
Once again, I bobbed out, but Gareth caught a blue spotted sand shark. I did have a few good runs, and got bitten off three times, so the fish were eating, but our luck was the wrong colour.
On the way out of the park we were treated to my first Hyhina sighting in the park, and this guy was rather accommodating, as I got a few good pics of this beautiful animal. We got to the gate at 18 H 58 which was cutting it a bit fine, as we fished in the bay at Cape Vidal till the last minute, leaving Vidal at 18 H 10 and stopping for a few pics nearly became expensive, due to the R 500.00 late exit fine.
These first three weeks in November 2017 have produced some fish along the rocky shores between Cape Vidal and St. Lucia, but there should have been plenty more. My fishing trip with Gareth Robertson the weekend (18 / 19 November 2017) was quite enjoyable, even though we were blown into submission on Saturday 18 November, coz we had an opportunity to do a little driving around the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and we're treated to some really cool sightings of game, as well as plenty of flowers in bloom.
We got to take a walk on the dried out sand bed of Lake Bhangazi, and bumped into some guys that were fishing for barbel in the murky waters, and had a beer with them while chatting about barbel fishing in general.
The drive on the Bhangazi loop road was very relaxed and a number of cars passed us as we took our time looking at flowers in bloom and just simply enjoying the many game sightings, with plenty of ZEBRA, KUDU, GNU (blue wildebeest) RHINO, and other creatures.
This loop road was very fruitful from a game viewing perspective and I recommend that every visitor to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park take the time and effort to experience as many of the loop roads as their time allows. In other words, make sure that you go into the park early, and leave just in time to get our before they close the gate. Remember that there is a R 500.00 fine for late exit......
There are many new loop toads and a few different hides, so perhaps a day or three maybe better to see all. There is plenty to see with lots of game, and even Hyhina and leopards if you are lucky. As for birds, there are plenty, and some are rather special sightings, like saddle billed storks. There are plenty of yellow billed kites, but these seem to be restricted to the coastal zones only, where we also saw a fish eagle and plenty of swallows.
My battery on my phone died, so I did not get pics of everything that a I would have liked. So remember to take a good camera, with extra batteries, or a charger that will work from your transports electric supply.
We tried fishing again on Sunday, but once again the wind was up, the surf was a bit on the large side, and we did not catch as many fish as we would have liked. We did see quite a few fish, that were caught by others, where kingfish, grunters, rock cod, sand sharks, salmon and others were on display to claim bragging rights.
Once again, I bobbed out, but Gareth caught a blue spotted sand shark. I did have a few good runs, and got bitten off three times, so the fish were eating, but our luck was the wrong colour.
On the way out of the park we were treated to my first Hyhina sighting in the park, and this guy was rather accommodating, as I got a few good pics of this beautiful animal. We got to the gate at 18 H 58 which was cutting it a bit fine, as we fished in the bay at Cape Vidal till the last minute, leaving Vidal at 18 H 10 and stopping for a few pics nearly became expensive, due to the R 500.00 late exit fine.
