Sunday, February 28, 2016

Ascension Island Spearfishing - Hand Feeding Giant Tuna

Giant tuna hand feeding on Ascension Island
Hand Feeding Giant Tuna - Ascension Island Spearfishing
Ascension Island is a crazy special place to spearfish. Giant Yellowfin tuna are in abundance and you can with lots of patience and burly get them to eat out of your hand.
Some of this video footage from Ascension that does not make the cut in the films is ridiculous!! @mjkqatar having fun with some tunas at Ascension Island. Looking forward to getting back there later this year.

Check out Spearfishing Ascension Island page on coatesmans.com if you want to join me ... and do some of this!

Coatesman





Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Jessie Cripps 6 Tips to Take Your UnderWater Photography To The Next Level

I am doing a few co-labs with some like minded spearo's out there and have the opportunity to share some great and informative content. Here is a great article by Jessie Cripps on underwater photography and spearfishing with a GoPro. .... Enjoy
underwater ally Productions

Whether you are filming a video for your friends and family or taking pictures for a magazine story, these photography tips from Jessie Cripps at Underwater Ally Productions could take your photography to the next level.

  1. Always have your back to the sun unless you are going for a silhouette photo or something similar. You will be rewarded with more vibrant colours.
  2. Get closer – Why? Because you will lose quality if you take your shot farther afield and try to crop later. Getting closer to your subject will also capture the highest possible image resolution. This is also doubly true underwater as water will reduce the sharpness of your subject particularly in poor vis.
  3. Buy a wide angle lens. This will give you a greater field of vision. To learn more about using a wide angle lens check out this article by Scott Geitler 
    #however using a wide angle Gopro lens, some spearo's advise that this makes targeted fish appear smaller and more difficult to see in footage.
  4. Spend the time to get your shot in focus. You can't fix poorly focused images on the computer. Using your camera in manual and learning the focus settings on your camera will consistently improve your photos. Beware of losing the point of this cliche "practice makes perfect" - every photography blog, book or article will all stress the need for practice. Take note of the variables, learn to break down the elements of a good underwater photo and hone your skills and knowledge.
  5. Slow and steady. Settle, get the shot. Count it loud in our head a you take the shot.
  6. Get to know your camera, practice and play around with it.

Dog Tooth Tuna Picture

Takka's and Jessie's GoPro Tips


  1. Before you turn the camera off on the way up from a dive, give a thumbs up if the footage is good, thumbs down if it's poor or a shaky palm if there is potentially something useful on there. This saves miles of time in the editing stage.
  2. Don't buy second hand GoPros. In our interview with Jessie & Takka several (funny) stories justify this advice - Noob Spearo Interview
  3. Use the 1 button mode. This makes for ease of use for spearfishing.
    1. Pinch the head. 
    2. Listen for the beep. 
    3. On the way up just hold the button until it turns off.
  4. Get the head mounted camera level by asking a mate if it's level. Alternatively, Use your palm on the mask to make sure the lens is aligned or use fingers underneath the camera to measure where it needs to be oriented (practice).
Jessie Cripps

Couple of other points; F-Stop - The lower the number the faster the lens, Very short shutter speeds can be used to freeze fast-moving subjects such as action shots spearfishing however light becomes a complication.
Learning the lighting, composition, camera settings and subject selection for spearfishing will take time. The good news is that our spearfishing photography world needs more photo-graphical impresarios and you could join the company of some of our sports best.

Jessie Cripps Photography

Follow Jessie Cripps Here https://www.instagram.com/jessie_cripps/
or Michael Takach Here https://www.instagram.com/michaeltakach/ 

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Introducing Mr Manta

Mr Manta ... or Mrs Manta How do you tell the difference?
via Instagram http://ift.tt/1Ts44VF

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Whats Up With Coatesman?


You know it's a big one when it has an entourage of size Remora fish. This beautiful Black Tip shark was lurking around on one of the Wahoo spots. Fortunately we didn't loose any fish to this taxman :-) .... Well this day at least. . #taxman #underwaterphotography #blacktip #blacktipshark #shark #spearfishing #inhacaisland #inhaca #remora via Instagram http://ift.tt/1ooF8TY

Monday, February 15, 2016

Spearfishing Mozambique - Bludger Vortex




Bludger vortex with @chriscubera Deep off Inhaca Mozambique on the Marlin spot while spearfishing. Filmed with a GoPro mounted on my stills cam. You can hear the shutter clucking away.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Oceanic White Tip Shark Inhaca Island

MJK and a playful Oceanic White Tip
Around this time last year @mjkqatar and I were chasing Marlin on one of my deep spots off Inhaca Island. We had fun with some feisty oceanic white tip sharks that got rather excited in the burly trail. The up side the Marlin will still be there in a few weeks when I next go chasing tails. . #spearfishing #shark #oceanicwhitetip #sharks #inhaca #mjk #marlin #bluewaterfishing #spearfishingcharters via Instagram http://ift.tt/1ogdEji