Sardines or Pilchards ???

[jaybee]

Only just read the web page they are pilchards duh!
Have an e-mail buddy in Sth Africa, she was telling they are going to the Sardine run. Apparantly they get so thick and with seals, sharks and whales they come up onto the beach where you can scoop them up with a bucket. they grow 10 to 20 cm big and have a life span of 3 years. here is 2 web pages if you would like to read about and follow this phenomenon
cheers
http://www.southernexplorer.co.za/sardine_run.htm

http://www.africanwatersports.com/sardine_action.htm

[sharkbait]

Jaybee - I was fishing one night whilst camping on the beach near minnie waters 2 christmases ago when I witnessed something similar. For about two days previous there were massive shools of bait being eaten by birds etc about a km or so offshore, but on this particular night something chased them in so close they were flapping up onto the shore - they looked like small pillies, maybe 7 - 12cm long. I scooped up a dozen or so and used them for bait - pretty good although very soft. It's amazing what the ocean turns up if you take the time to look hey...

[jaybee]

It's amazing what the ocean turns up if you take the time to look hey I reckon...over the years i have seen some huge bait balls but not any that measures up to 10klm long, would be a sight to see ::)

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

perhaps the greatest tailor session I ever had on south straddie in the 80s I thought when I looked down in the surf I was standing in weed. Aftter a while I realised the weed was moving independent of the surge. It was the black backs of 3 inch long pilchards - I retreated to ankle deep for the rest of the night. The pilchards were there all night & into the morning - so too were the tailor - I lost my first big jew after I dismissed a small knot in my line as unimportant. When the light came it went off in ernest- we ended up running out of pillies - my brother started filleting tailor - I was impatient & caught a tailor on a piece of IQF pilchard box - our hands were ripped to shreds, our arms ached & our eyes were dropping out of our heads but what a session.

My mates in WA reckon flour coated, fried in butter fresh pillies are excellent table fare.

seeyainthesurf,

chris

[jaybee]

one day chris I am going back to where i can buy restaurant quality pillies and I am going to smoke them, found some great recipes for em. I salt my pillies after they thaw, and when tailor fishing with my bro once he was hungry so he ripped the heads off and started eating them, still havent been game enough even though they were fit for human consumption, probably cause watching him eat and entrails hanging down his chin put me off yuk :P :P :P
cheers