Spearfishing in Angola - 50kg Prodigal Son

Here is another story from Angola, this time its about spearfishing and a massive 50kg Cobia / Prodigal Son. I know a couple guys who are commercial divers up that side of the west coast of Africa. They all tell amazing stories of how good the spearfishing is .. especially off Angola.

Drew with a 50kg Prodigal Son spearfished of Northern Angola

Here is Drews account that he mailed through with the pictures:

My fish was shot at about 11m down in around 32m of water here in Northern Angola. My first dive for the day. I still chinged Gerhard Vosloo to see who was going to tie the down line onto the SBM. He lost so i got first dive down the anchor chains. I levelled off at around 11m. There were loads of Kingy's swimming about but i was waiting for a decent snapper to make an appearance. As we normally do, just before i was about to come up, i turned around and saw this dark shape sliding in! It came up level with me and within a good range. And i just picked my spot and let it fly. Hit it a couple of cm above the pec fin and rolled it over! I was pretty stoked and swimming the fish up i was still thinking this is pretty heavy! Only once it was on deck did i realise just how big, and obviously once it was on the scale, Totally Stoked!

A bit of a bitter pill for Gerhard. He'd seen it 4 days previously at another buoy about 10 miles away.That was after the working diver in the water did a back flip cause this "shark" was swimming up to him!  He got kitted up quickly, got impatient, pulled of a long shot and just managed to graze it. He still said as we were kitting up. I bet you we'l see that prodigal today. Then he lost the ching and he said when he heard the gun go off he just new. True enough the graze was on the fishes back, but its mine! Ha ha!
Hope the pictures make it through. This is the first Internet connection we've had in 4 weeks. And its iffy.

Enjoy
Cheers
Drew

Coatesman

Marlin Stuck in Oil Rigs and Pipelines

One of the local fishing forums have picked up an old thread of a Marlin that speared an Oil Rig off Angola. Interestingly enough this happen every now and then. I found this article from a month ago on Indian Ruters:

Swordfish attack Angolan oil pipeline

LONDON, Feb 2 2010(Reuters) - Swordfish punctured part an oil loading pipe in Angola, causing a three-day halt to tanker shipments of Girassol crude, traders said on Tuesday.

French oil company Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), which operates the crude stream declared force majeure on shipments, a suspension of supply obligations due to extraordinary circumstances, but lifted it on Monday.

"It was caused because of swordfish. Now the swordfish have passed so the force majeure has been lifted," said one trader, who buys the crude on regular basis.

Slight delays to cargo loadings scheduled in February and March were likely, traders said.

Girassol crude is produced from an offshore oilfield, with an average loading rate of about 250,000 barrels per day.

Swordfish have hit Angolan crude oil loadings before, including Plutonio last year, traders said. (Reporting by Ikuko Kurahone)

 These are pictures of the floating load hose on the FPSO Girassol in Angola, Africa that was pierced by a blue marlin last week. Load operations were shut down for a few days while they replaced the hose. For reference, this terminal produces about 250k barrels of oil a day and this loading hose is approx 24in in diameter

 This marlin was probably chasing some Dorado or other fish attracted to the floating oil pipeline, when it hit the thick rubber.

This marlin bill looks like it could be from a fish of at least 200kg, it looks longer and thinner than a Black Marlin and probably was a Blue Marlin. It must have had some serious pace to have gone through that rubber!

I also found this interesting YouTube clip of a Broad bill  Swordfish in an Oil Rig. View Here

Here is another one..with some sharks! ... Click Here ..

What next???
Coatesman

Hope for Angling and Spearfishing Fees Fiasco.

I picked up this link with the following news:

* Marine and Coastal Management spokesperson Zolile Nqayi says the published date of implementation of the increased recreational angling fees (1 May) may be delayed. Nqayi also said the new fees may possibly 'only be related to the consumer price index' rather than the increases published in the Government Gazette.
- Die Burger

The original article is in Afrikaans: Hengelaars dok dalk nie baie op

Coatesman

Spearfisherman - 'Where are the Couta?'

Couta Success at last - Chris Coates 20kg Couta

 Sorry for not posting last week, I had my head in a hole getting the magazine done for print this week. I took yesterday off as the conditions were good and the mag was in proofing, and I got lucky with a nice fat Couta.

So where are the Couta? This has to be the worst summer season ever?? I know guys who have pushed 8 dives in a row with out getting one.  Sure the snoek are still around and you can pick up one or two in the shallows. But its the Couta we should be getting!

The seasons did seem late this year and hopefully we will see some more Couta coming out, but the norm is that towards the end of march the Couta start thinning out only leaving the odd big fella.

The Cray fish season open yesterday and for once the conditions were very good on the first day. I decided to go visit a deep section of reef further north away from the crowds, I had spoken to a very good paddle ski fisherman who had said that he had been getting a few Couta ... but all in the deep.
I got to the ref as it was getting light, my first dive down 2 Couta came in on the flashers and I got a good shot into the one fish. Somehow it came off and while i was reloading my mate rat got a nice Iggie. My next dive into the morning gloom saw me almost miss the fish. I was about to turn to go back up and saw a tail. I chased the fish and closed the gap  ... a little while later one fat boy fish was one the ski.

After that everything went quiet, I really thought that it was going to turn on! We went into the shallows and got some snoek before heading home. As it turns out not many fish came out allong the North Coast yesterday. It really is strange as everything was perfect for fish .... they just wernt there.

As per usual the weatehr has gone pear shaped ... it must be Bugg season. It looks like Monday will be our first good day this next week.

Coatesman

Commercial Fishing vs Spearfishing

Commercial fishing abuse of fish stocks, if this were spearfisherman we would be banned in a day!

On a daily basis commercial fisherman in South Africa haul thousands of tonnes of fish out the sea. Spearfishing on the other hand is a minuscule fraction of this total catch. Why is it then that spearfisherman are the bad okes? Why is it that when the spearfishing permits go up our licenses go up the most? Why is it that when new MPA's are discussed spearfishing is immediately excluded? And the fisherman are still allowed to fish or worse catch and release fish? (Catch and release is the biggest farce on the planet. The fish die! There is a mortality rate... and it is high!)

Imagine this was a spearfishing competition? The public outcry would be insane.

So how do we improve things? How do we improve the public opinion of Spearfishing? Well I think it starts with each of us being role models and holding high spearfishing ethics above our greed


We can invest in SAUFF who like it or not is our future and the only defense we have at this point.

And lastly find / take every opportunity to educate people about the selective nature of spearfishing and the realities involved to actually go and get a fish.

Coatesman
Proud to be a spearfisherman