Good Weather ...... for Gardening!

Damn I am so excited I could ......... bite myself!

The sea is poo and well even though there is a south wind forecast I cant see it cleaning up much. Maybe on Sunday early??? Sunday the south will push a little harder but that means Monday is going to be good!! Always Mondays!

So this weekend is a good one for the garden and those odd jobs ..... I have my daughters Spring day at her school ...... I suppose if it were cooking I would be even more bleak that I was going to miss out on the dive.

Anyway happy Gardening

Coatesman

Salty Diver - Club Meet - Garrick and Brusher Workshop

Next week (Friday 7th September) is the Salty Divers Club Meet and we will have a workshop on Garrick and Brusher hunting.

Believe it or not there are some techniques to shooting Garrick, and Brusher well they are another story. We will go over the when, where, how and with what .... And then ...... we will have a compo. Its kind of becoming a tradition to have a Garrick and Brusher spearfishing comp, and what makes this year any different??

I thought I would spice it a up a little, and make it more interesting. However I need to organise with sponsors before I let the cat out the bag.

I did have high hopes that this week was going to produce some good point diving with high tides in the morning. But the sea has been on its ear!! The winds look like they are moderating and maybe the water will come right aswell.

See ya

Coatesman

August Unlucky Dip

I went for a run past the beach last nite and it looked like there was going to be a dive this morning. The swell was small and there was good enough vis for a good point dive looking for Brusher.

But alas this morning I was greeted by some serious swell, and green offish water. My hopes of a dive dashed I looked to see if there was any chance of a quick surf in Ballito, but with the tide high and the banks still not 100's, there was nothing to write home about.

I hope the swell drops in the next few days and lets us get in on the early morning high tides. The Brusher normally hang around during late winter and soon the Garrick returning from up north will give us some action.

It is strange but my best Garrick months have been in November??? These are the last of the return Garrick and you dont get the shoals of fish like you do in early winter. Brusher on the other hand seem to enjoy the cooler waters and start disappearing mid november ..... but like anything in the sea ... who really knows??

Coatesman

Straight Shooting

Hey sorry I did not post yesterday .... work was crazy, the west was howling and the fish have been so quiet so there has not been too much news.

So instead i got up early and wrote an article on Shooting Straight go check it out.

Cheers Coatesman

P.S the west looks like it will groom the sea nicely today and we should be able to get in for a dive tomorrow.

Brusher Season

Well we have had an epic week as far as conditions go. The water has been clean, and the sea & wind have played along as well. The west is blowing now and this might make for great diving tomorrow again.

The gamefish have been quiet tho, the odd snoek and the rumors of cuta!!
If you saw my post yesterday you would have read that I did not get in, I felt miff the whole day, especially when having to drive past the sea.

I decided to rid myself of my mornings sins and jump in after work. With only an hour and the tide going out, it was more for the hell of it. I have not spent any time this winter looking for Brusher and I had heard of a few sightings along the coast. So I added a few weights to my belt grabed my reel gun and jumped in off the point near my house.

The water was a little to clean for Brusher ... but hey I was not complaining. I realised that I did not have enough weights on the belt and was getting washed around abit. Never the less about 10min into the dive while hanging near a proven brusher spot I saw a nice cracker in the white water. I dived straight down into a crack and waited. I have learn't that you can not chase these fish at all. And as Bobs your uncle in comes mister Brusher to have a look, well he got a spear through the gills!!

I suppose this must be a sign for me to stop chasing the Cuta and start hunting some winter fish?? Next Cuta Brusher must be one of my best fish to hunt, they are elusive and take a real 'hunt'. You need to knowing the cracks,and have a strategy its not just floating along waiting for something to swim into you ..... like Garrick!!

6kg White Muscle Cracker - AKA Brusher

Any way tomorrow is another day and we will see what the sea brings!

Coatesman

Marlin Classic

Just sending a memo out to all persons again……..about the Marlin Classic on 22nd September 2007.

There have been a few changes namely:

It is going to be a biggest fish / gamefish only comp – this means that the biggest fish of the day wins 1st prize and due to a sponsor pulling out we have minimzed the prizes to as follows:

• Biggest Fish-R5000.00 Value - (R2500.00 Cash and Custom Suit and Other)
• 2ND Biggest Fish - (Gun and Custom Suit)
• 3RD Biggest Fish - (Gun and Other)
• Lucky Draws - (Gun and Other)
• Anonymous Prizes - Decided on the day

Shirts will be included for those that have submitted entries before the end of August 2007 only, and it is advisable to resend your entry or payment to me as soon as possible.

Cheers for Now

Gary

Dreaming Dreaming Dreaming of Mozambleak

Mozam ..Bleak Dreams

I woke up this morning with the intentions of diving, but my head was spinning thinking of work and the pressures of life. (Sound familiar?) And all of a sardine it looked as if a dive would be more hassle than a good thing, as if that could ever happen!!
So anyway I hit the office early while the mates were chilling on the drop off, sorted some things out and realised that there will always be piles of poo to sort out. This is just a reality....... so I might as well just dive!

I will try remember this next time I feel under the whip ..... promise!

Anyway I was finding a file on my pc and came across some Mozam ..bleak pics. And all I wanted to do was just escape, turn the cell phone off disconnect the mail and evaporate from this world for some Mozambleak bliss.

There is hope!!
But it is 4 months away :-( until then I'll be dreaming dreaming dreaming of Mozambleak

Coatesman

Oh what a beautiful morning!

Damn ...... what a pearler of a morning!!!

It is a pity that the fish are so quiet, I kinda lost a little amp not seeing any fish the last 4 dives. And so decided to work and give the legs some rest. The wind might hold off and tomorrow might be another day. Saying that I am reminded of my Favorite saying ..."Tomorrow Never Comes" I cant tell you how many times I have left a dive till the next day and it does not happen because the sea turns.

Anyway ... Lets hope tomorrow does come.

Yesterday i posted a story about Braidy and his dive on Monday (gee this morning would have been great for him!!)
Anyway he drew this pic .. I think its classic notice the the hand holding the rock while he waits in ambush, and the King fish has now become an Iggie!!! Excellent!

Coatesman

Great Water = Happy days

There has been some good water around, unfortunately it has been extremely quiet. Yesterday saw the swell drop off enough for my son Braidy to jump in.

He is amping to get a Garrick and the swell that was still fairly strong could not put him off.
(I wonder where he gets that from??)

The last time we dived it was cold and green, so it was good to get in to some really clean water. Lemon Fish Reef off Boulders was like an aquarium with loads of bait fish around.
It was not long before Braidy was getting stuck into the Bugs ....... I think I am going to grow to like the idea of him filling the bag in future.

I got bored of trying to wait for Garrick and we headed out to the Reef, Braidy waisted no time nailing a nice Galeon in the head. Gee he was stoked!
On the reef there were alot of small reefies, but bieng about 6-7m it was getting a little deep for Braidy. He swam onto the pinnicle in about 4m, while I got the last few bugs to fill the bag. Next thing I see Braidy wreseling with his line, I go over to see whats up and he has a small King Fish reefed in a hole.

The shot was good ...through the head (I suppose no one told him to aim anywhere else)
He pipes up proudly, "I was hiding behind that rock and when they came past, I gott'm!)

As per usual we had to eat the spoils, and the little kingie was like pudding!

Braidy's first game fish

Happy days!!

Coatesman

Week end Update

This week end saw some very clean water at home, and there were some rumors of some good fish coming out.

Morne took his new C-ski for it maiden voyage up at Sordwana, We wanted to go to Vidal but the camp site was full. So we hit Sordies, the conditions were epic but the water was a little off, with little current and a green tint. The water also was not that warm and we did not see a decent gamefish the whole morning. We managed to russel up a nice Kakaap out of some deep water and a good sized golden kingfish off 9 mile, so I suppose it was not all bad.

Coatesman

Filming Great White Sharks

My mate Graeme Duane from DigiStream has carved a name for him self in the film industry
when it comes to filming Sharks in particular Great White Sharks. Sharks however its not the only thing gets up close and personal with. Go check his blog some wild things going on there!!

Coatesman

Fantastic Friday

The sea was still a little bumpy this morning, and it was a little too early to see the vis. You will have to wait for the Sharks Board Report for an update. Never the less it is looking good for the weekend . Its about time we had something going, this whole week has been disappointing.

A couple of us are thinking of braving the long drive up to Vidal for the day on Saturday. I know its a long way, but I remember driving all the way there on the second weekend of August one year and getting some great fish including a 25kg Wahoo. So you never know whats going to happen.

One thing I do remember is my mate Andy after putting in a second shot on the Wahoo, swimming back to the boat ... which was a couple hundred meters away with no gun and a Tiger Shark in tow.

Copyright pic from Alistair Louw - Extreme Spearfishing Encounters

Coatesman

Man I was going to Go!

Its 5 bells early and I am standing on the beach. Its pitch black just the head lights illuminating the waves breaking on the bricks. The cold off shore is bitting and its not all that comfortable standing in my Pj's. I head home knowing it will be an hour before its light enough to dive, but stoked that today I am actually going to dive.

About half an hour later, nice and warm back at home ... horror of horrors! The sound of the wind busting through, the west came pushing through at about 5:45 and dashed all hopes of a comfortable dive.

So I am back at work ........ again early!
The bummer is that my bank balance does not seem to get fatter ....just my waist line!

On the brighter side Morne took delivery of his new C-ski, its a beutiful boat! Unfortunately he was on the other side of the Boereworse curtain and I had to MMS him a pic from my fone.

Guess who is busting to hit Vidal??

Coatesman

Some Hope For Bog Bay

Last night was the meeting for the re-establishment of the Ballito Beach front. The meeting it's self was a bit of the ol Bla Bla Bla. But I did meet some interesting guys who are part of the task team involved with the whole process.

The one guy a professor and happens to be a surfer aswell was very interested in the Bog Boulders rock story. I am hoping that they will go with the idea of removing the rocks to see if it makes a difference, before sinking a barge or making an artificial breakwater in the surf zone.

Moving the rocks is a whole lot cheaper and will return the beach to its former natural state.

There was mention of making an artificial reef like down at St Francis, this would make great waves ...but I am not sure that these guys are going to go with it because it is huge tom.

Anyway the west is blowing and I guess that is a good thing! (I should be in the water and not at work!!!!)

Coatesman

Beasterly Easterly

Well the Beast from the East was up early this morning. And so was the sun! The later being a good thing, it was about 5:50 when the early morning glow was on the horizon. Hopefully we will be getting in earlier making our before work dives a little more sane.

As for the Beast From The East ...... this is his time of the year as he makes war with the Gracious Whispers from the West ...(could not think of a better name) And it seems like they have issues because they just dont rest.

Although they must have gone to church yesterday because it was beatiful and still. As for the rest of the week there is a bit of east then some west a small gap on Friday hopefully and then they are back at it on the week end.

Anyway you can obviously see, by the nonsense i am writing, that there is not a whole lot going on in the diving side with the cold muck water we have. Hopefully the Garrick turn on and we can have some kind of excitment.

Coatesman

Surfers Point - THREATENED

Surfers Point and Bog Bay two premier surf spots in Ballito are soon to be no more. Thats if the MONKEYS at the local council and their really SMART professional team get their way.

They are wanting to form a artificial reef in the way of an old ship or something. The idea is to have the reef block the surf from pounding the bathing beach.

Problem 1 : the problem with the lack of sand is not the storm we had but the rocks that make up the paddling pool south at Boulder Bay adjacent to Bog.

Problem 2: The last storm moved the Fame Wreck which was almost 1km our to sea. Whats going to stop a storm moving a ship inshore??

Problem 3: what is going to happen with the other beaches?? Who knows?? Hey it might make better waves ..... or totally destroy the breaks north??

The other bright idea was to put piers made from doluse (how ever you spell it) those 4 sided concrete star things like at Richards Bay harbor .... really nice to look at. NOT!!!

Other than that, life is great. There are some sand banks forming at surfers and there is some potential for some good surf soon.

Amping

Coatesman

Dreaming of Free Diving and Tiger Sharks

Pic from Elios web site

With the sea a mess and the work load heavey, I often space out lost in free diving dream world.
I have this pic of a guy Free Diving with a Tiger Shark on my desk top, and get caught switching between programs fixated on some small detail in the pic.

I have a mate Iain who has the most amazing underwater freediving pics blown up on his office wall. They are truly amazing! I popped into visit the other day, and for the first 10min could not hold a coherent conversation as my mind switched over to the deep blue. Almost like an instant snorkelitus.

I suppose with the windy season dawning and the cuta all up north to breed, not to much diving is going to be going down in the next while. And I suspect that I wont be the only one getting spaced out during work.

Coatesman

Dog Tooth Tuna in Japan

Robert Bautista with a good Dog Tooth Tuna from Okinawa Japan.

This morning I got a mail from Rob in Okinawa, Japan. He has been reading the daily dive reports and had some questions. He sent this epic pic of a Dog Tooth Tuna (Doggie), from Japan of all places!!! Maybe our next spearfishing expedition should be Japan???

Coatesman

Salty Diver Club Meet

Hey guys,

Hope you had a good weekend, 4 now its Monday the grind stone and the beasterly Easterly pumping :-(

The Salty Diver Club Meet has been moved to this Wednesday evening in Durban. Sorry for the mix up with dates, but this one is going to be a good one. We are getting a guy in to do a talk and demo on Emergency Dive Kits.

We all go to far away places and with spearfishing anything can happen .... so its good to be prepared.

I will send you directions to the venue shortly.

Cheers

Coatesman

August and Spearfishng

Sorry that nothing too exciting has been happening over here the last few days, I have been under the whip at work. Added to that the sea has been not all that great, that kind of gives a little grace to the fact that I am at work already.

In August the weather should start to get into that spring windy mode, but this week saw only some light winds. Unfortunately it did nothing for the vis. The south is going to blow today and pick up on Saturday, you might get in early on Saturday tho. Sunday is looking good, I will unfortunately be in the berg freezing my butt off.

Then comes Monday! and those August winds kick in, with a nice north east to mix things up. The thing about spring is not that the wind blows its that often the east is up early as it gets light or it actually picks up in the night.

I keep telling myself that the north winds are good and it pushes the warm Mozambique water down for the summer cuta run. But for for now the only thing running is me, well trying to at least ....... need to be fit for end of year Mozambique trip!

Coatesman

BIG SURF AT DUNGEONS

The last few weeks have seen some swell!! But nothing like this wave down off the cape at Dungeons!

Wahoo Winter Game Fish 2007 Results

Here are the results for the Wahoo Winter Game Fish 2007

1. Terry Dean Black - Marlin 117 Kg
2. Struan Flight - Wahoo 28 Kg
3. Andrew Henwood - Sail Fish 23.5 Kg
4. Andrew Henwood - Couta 21Kg
5. Gareth Brocket - Couta 11Kg
6. Koos Jordaan - Couta 9kg
7. Andrew Henwood - Natal Snoek 5.5 Kg
8. J.P.Jordaan - Natal Snoek 5.5 Kg
9. John Little Natal Snoek - 5.5 Kg
10. Johan Jacobs Couta - 5Kg

Pearler Weather

Unusual for this time of year, we are having epic weather conditions. Maybe all the weather was unleashed at Vidal and there is nothing left for this week.

Yesterday was an epic day, perfect swell and late morning land breezes made me envious of those who did not have work and were surfing. The only consolation is that the banks are still stuffed and I know it was not all time!!

The swell has dropped today, but the wind looks like it will hold with late arvo land breezes ....we will see! The vis is not too good and we will have to wait for the south west later this week.

The week end looks like there will be a cold front coming over ... typical for a weekend. And I will be in the Berg ... even worse!!!

Coatesman