Sardine Run 2025 - LEVELED UP!

Right now, I’m rolling back up the hill, boat in tow, after a long day at sea — and honestly, I feel high from the sheer excitement of what we experienced today. This was one of the best days of the season, and this season is already shaping up to be something unreal.

We’d been off the water for two days while guests arrived and departed, and I was feeling anxious and full of FOMO — especially knowing that the southern grounds had gone quiet. I’d heard from a few colleagues that Port St. Johns and areas to the north had seen lots of mackerel activity, with intense feeding by common dolphins and gannets. It’s far — about 50km north of Mdumbi and an hour’s run on the boat — but this morning, despite some normal Day 1 delays, we made the call to head straight there.

And it paid off.

What we found was extraordinary — a convergence of common dolphins and Cape gannets all focused around scattered schools of mackerel, shad and saury. After watching other boats work their bait balls, we hung back on the edge, looking for our opportunity. Eventually, we found it: a solid front of dolphins driving something fast and tight. To our amazement, it was a giant block of mackerel.

We jumped in immediately. No gannets on this one — even though thousands were in the area — which gave us a clean view of the underwater chaos. The visibility was crystal clear. We watched dolphins, dusky sharks, and spinner sharks tearing through this massive swirling ball of mackerel. The fish were so big the dolphins had to take multiple bites to finish one. Chunks of mackerel sank into the deep, followed by a few brave gannets diving in late, trying to grab tails — but the fish were just too large.

We swam with it for ages until the ball eventually got away from us and was picked up by other boats. To witness that kind of action at the primary rise — right at the moment the dolphins start to pressure the bait — that’s the holy grail. The timing of our move north paid off. It was something I’ve never seen before: that density, that size, and that clarity. That’s the beauty of the run. You just never know. You follow your gut, chase rumours, look for signs — and hope. That’s what feeds the addiction.

Clients were stunned. One said it felt “like being in a dream.” Another told me that during the action, “time stood still — and life changed forever.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, the afternoon exploded with humpback whales. A strong northeasterly had picked up, and it triggered something wild. Everywhere we looked — across the horizon — whales were breaching and tail-slapping. Libby looked around and just said, “The sea is exploding with whales.”

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