Impimpi Beaching at The Wahoo Winter Game Fish 2008I finally have the Wahoo Winter Game Fish Spearfishing Comps results in, I suppose Chris west who organised the comp was seriously running around. On that note thanks to Chris and his team at Wahoo ..it is no small thing to run a comp of that magnitude ...well done and thank you.
It was interesting to see that there were 134 entrants, some were not divers but when I looked it was only a hand full. With over 100 divers it has to be one of the biggest spearfishing comps around, it is also in its 30th year ... so its probably one of the longest running, well at least in South Africa.
Anyway the weather looked bleak for the weekend and there was allot of grumbling going on .... especially from me. I was down with the flue last week and was not even sure I was going to be able to dive. Anyway Comp morning came and the wind was howling, we got a late start ...probably because I was not firing on all cylinders. And we braved the strong north winds and headed 25km north to Leven Point.
The water was green and gloomy and a bit on the cold side for up there. After 2 drifts we got onto the 25m line and started to see some fish. Morne was the first to see a fish, a cuta swimming just off the flashers. I watched him take chase and went down in the opposite direction hoping to see other fish once he had taken his shot. But the shot never came, and as I was about to come back up I saw a cuta on the fringe. I closed the gap and spinned the fish ... only to have the fish come off the spear!! Frustrated I hit the surface to find Morne equally perplexed, he was diving with a gun he does not always dive with and had left the safety on. So all he landed up doing was line up and pretend to shoot.
Any way a short moment later "One Shot Scott" a.k.a Scott Rutherfoord .... swam down and blasted a small cuta ... we were all stoked some one had a fish .... you could have sworn he had just shot a Moose!!
We had not finished the drift when on my way down a Wahoo of around 20kg swam underneath me. My gun was out and I could have blasted the fish behind the head, but fearing the fish would come off I waited for a body shot in the back half. The fish eye balled me and moved off a little, but still in range. I took the shot and hit the fish very far back ... it shot off like all Wahoo in a stream of bubbles and by the time I got to the buoy it had come off.
You have no idea how many times I have replayed that in my head .... I should have ...could have ...would have.... but I did'nt!!!
After hours of diving on different lines we headed out deep and tried a last ditch effort for a fish. We were in about 40m of water and a over sized Sandbar Shark (similar to a Zambi) was hanging around our flashes. I went down to have a look see, and with fatigue setting in I only dived to about 10m or so. Next thing I see this cuta swimming below me. I give chase and drill the fish properly, only to see a large Tiger Shark racing towards the fish. Needless to say I did not let the fish run and swam down the line to the spear and turned the fish. Round about then the need for air was very apparent and I turned for the surface with the fish kicking in the opposite direction beneath my fins.
Looking back all I saw was a big Tiger Smile following me. Morne heard my shrieks and came flying past me towards the shark giving me enough time to secure the fish and put it on the boat.
That was the last fish we saw for the day, and we headed back to the weigh in a bit bleak but with something to weigh.
As it turned out every one else also battled and most guys chose to hunt snoek when they saw the water was green. So my cuta landed up being 3rd which was pretty cool.
Here are the results
| 1 | Deon Kuta | 14.5 Wahoo |
| 2 | Ryan Burmester | 14 Prodical |
| 3 | Chris Coates | 10.1 cuda |
| 4 | Chris West | 9.9 cuda |
| 5 | Paul Shannon | 7 cuda |
| 6 | Craig Tomlinson | 7 cuda |
| 7 | James Beith | 6.5 snoek |
| 8 | Jason Smith | 6.5 Cuda |
| 9 | Oscar Williemsen | 6.25 snoek |
| 10 | Lannie Van Zyl | 6.25 snoek |
| 11 | Ferdie Berger | 6 Queen |
| 12 | Allen Heydorn | 6 cuda |
| 13 | Craig Tomlinson | 5.75 cuda |
| 14 | Ferdie Berger | 5.74 Snoek |
| 15 | Scott Rutherford | 5.5 cuda |
| 16 | Derrek Morris | 5.5 cuda |
| 17 | Andrew Botha | 5 snoek |
| 18 | Christo Miller | 5 snoek |
| 19 | Len de Beer | 5 Prod |
| 20 | Len de Beer | 5 cuda |
| 21 | Warren Blackmore | 4.75 snoek |
| 22 | Ferdie Berger | 4.5 snoek |
| 23 | Dane Salmon | 4.5 snoek |
| 24 | Koos Jodaan | 4.25 snoek |
| 25 | Graham Carisle | 4 snoek |
| 26 | Sven Arrow | 4 cuda |
| 27 | Andrew Botha | 4 snoek |
| 28 | Chris Carlton Jones | 3.5 snoek |
| 29 | Mark Rayson | 3.5 cuda |
| 30 | Johan Coetee | 3 cuda |
So all in all it was a good comp, the conditions were hard but i suppose thats the way it goes. Unfortunately for most guys they did not get any fish. And like my mate Morne said .."I just came to organise the trip" I guess that will go down as a down payment on a nice big Sailfish next time!
See you there next year.
Coatesman
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