Free Divers Game Fish Open 2009

Hey guys this Saturday is the Freedivers Game Fish Open. The wind conditions and swell forecast look good!
Lets just hope that there is some vis around after all this swell.

Entries close tonite so if you are keen go to the online entry form and get in there.
Freedivers Game Fish Open Entry Form

The sea is a bit of a mess at the moment but by friday should calm down a bit :-)

See you out there

Coatesman

Weekend Wrap Up

Hey guys,

Well there has not been any spearfishing the last couple days with the wild seas. And it does not look good for a couple more days.

On the surfing front the Mr Price Pro got off to a shaky start only getting into the water yesterday, and only for half the morning until the buster came through. This means they are behind a little with the heats and still need to complete round 2!!
Some of the local surfer knowing the fickle conditions did suggest running multiple heats on a day ... and it seems like this will be the only way they will complete the contest with it going dead flat at the end of the week.

It looks like tomorrow is going to be the best day of the contest ..surf wise and the mens might be into round 2 which will mean that the surfing action will be blazing. So far the only local to get through their heats has been Byron Linsay. I will be watching for his next heat for sure.

Other than that

Might lighty is going to enjoy the small surf!!

Coatesman

Mr Price Pro Tower Trashed

The wind blown Mr Price Pro tower a Salmon Bay with shreaded roof.

The pumping wind last night punished the Mr Price Pro tower at Salmon Bay. Its not a major thing by any means but I am sure the next roof will be a little more sturdy.

Mean time down the Coast at J Bay the surf went nuts yesterday. And I am sure it is firing on all cylinders this morning.

What we all dream about!

The weekend a head

Hey guys,

Sorry I have not been on the ball posting, its just been one of those weeks work wise where you don't know your arse from your elbow. The closest I got to the sea was Tuesday morning when I took Braiden for a surf before school, it was too small for a big guy like me so I just sat and watched.

Its not that there has nothing being going on either! The cuta still seem to be coming out here and there, this not too unusual for this time of year other than the consistency! Normally some one here and there lucks one, but this year some guys ... obviously on the right spot have found the fish and have made a habit of getting some good fish. Most of which are over 10kg. Please dont ask me where they are getting the fish, I will only lead you down the garden path .... all the way to Portembogentweni Rocks!

On another note Ballito has been turned upside down with the Mr Price Pro starting tomorrow. And it looks like we are in for a wave fest of note. Wavescapes was calling 20-30ft swells for tomorrow, but I see this morning that the forecast is 12-18ft now. That is good news for the Mr Price, as a large swell now would destroy and banks that we did have and the comp would be a disaster! The conditions tomorrow will be perfect ...maybe a little on the large side and if the waves arnt maxing out we will have some awesome surfing. Its gonna be interesting to see how the chics handle the swell, and with a little luck the swell will moderate but hang around for next week aswell.

Thats all for now

Coatesman

Weekend Spearfishing Round Up

Hey guys,

The good condition just did not hang around for the weekend. Not that it was terrable but not epic like last week. The guys have been very quiet about the fish being shot ... as they are coming off only a few spots that cant handle crowds.

Story's of some big cuta up north and Zinkwazi have filtered through. Apparently the ski boaters made absolute pigs of them selves even coming in to off load fish and go back out!! And they point fingers at spearfisermen??

I did here that Cindy's in Umhlali was bust for buying fish .... and an ESA fisherman went down aswell!! I will try get more detail on that one. (If true .. so much for catch and release!!)

Here is a report from Darrell down south:

It flattened out nicely yesterday and quite a few spearos pitched up at ifafa. Swam out at around 0.700 with five divers already in the water. Dolphins all over the place and their chasing and twittering had chased all the snoek away, one diver having seen a shoal of fast moving big snoek and 4 garrick also on the move - stuck it out for 2 hours with nothing seen, so headed into the shallows and scratched 8 crays, on hitting the beach saw all the spearos going back out and `balls` of what looked like sardines out off the point,soon the sardine brigade arrived in 4X4 s etc but they turned out to be big shoals of sprats with a few red-eyes mixed in between. Mike Smith saw a school of big garrick but they disappeared into the white water and August Thom saw one lone snoek but otherwise nothing came out other than a rockcod.

Gary Gillon and his crew had better luck at Umfaz. and found the snoek bagging 12 between them (of 3-5kg) and also a 8 k garrick and losing two couta in reasonably shallow water. (they also got a few snoek on saturday).

This morning was superbly flat with 8-10m viz so headed to Ifafa again and swam out same time as yesterday,3 spearos there with one snoek between them,half hour later everyone went in and I had the place to myself !

Up and down with no luck and a long wait till about 9.30 and one lone snoek(+-5k) comes past and I line up with the safety catch on the new gun jammed and no shot - just as well it wasn`t a big couta.

short while later about 30 big 8 kg snoek come through lazily on the south side and i`m in with a good fish,could have doubled up as well . then saw another nice big one which bolted and speared another of about 5 kg a short while later as well as a cavebass on the boulders on the north side.

It went quiet again and swam in at about 10.30. seems the garrick have been giving this area a miss.

Presume with the good conditions yesterday,divers must have seen some good fish?

Any reports from the North coast?

cheers-

Darrell

Cheers 4 now

Coatesman

Gummy Baits Comp 2009

Fishing Corner's - Gummy Baits Comp 2009

Its the Gummy Baits Comp again, Its South Africa's first catch and release comp on kayak and jet ski.  This competition has grown in popularity over the last three years and now holds the second highest ranking points on the Fishing Ski Ranking.
 This is also the only comp that includes 5 diffent entry catagories - Kayak, Jet Ski, Ski Boat, Rock and Surf & Spearfishing each judged seporatly!!

To Enter online - Click Here
Read The Rules - Click Here
Or Down load an Entry form - Click Here

Cheers

Coatesman

Weekend Spearfishing Round Up

Proper sized Wahoo caught off Tiffanies!!

The past few days has seen some of the best vis on our coast this year. And best of all its been 4days and tomorrow still looks good. There have not been too many fish around, some cuta on the bottom out in the deep ...around the 25-30m range!! and some snoek also out in the deep ... they must be lost??

I have been spending time with Braidy looking for Garrick, we have seen a couple shoals but in the clean water they have kept their distance. A wahoo came out on a fishing ski off Tiffanies!!! Its not the first time this has happened ... but its not common. 

I have heard the Aliwal Shoal has had some good fish and Alistair from Extreme Spearfishing Charters got two good fish yesterday arvo.

Alisair 32kg Sailfish and 18kg Wahoo shot off  Aliwal Shoal

Anyway, I am sure we will start hearing of some action from down south soon with the Sards hopefully making an appearance ....

Coatesman

Braidy's Grunter and Tassel

Braiden with a Grunter and Tassel shot off Salmon Bay

We sneaked off at 4pm for a quick arvo dive off one of the points. I had heard the water was clean and with the high tide hoped to get Braiden in the sea.

Boulders and Bog had some guys out so we shot off to Salmon bay. The sea was alive with small fish and the vis was very good. Braidy shot a good Tassel out of a small shoal, and then shot a rather large Stumpy, but it rolled in the sand and got off.

We hadn't gone too far when some Spotted Grunter pulled in and he landed a good one.

After this we headed off the bricks to look for snoek but it was quiet. It was almost dark when we finally got back to shore, but it must have only been just past 5 bells.

Looking good for the morning.

Coatesman

Free Divers Game Fish Open 2009

On the 4 July is the Free Divers Game Fish Open 2009. Its an open coast event and the biggest game fish wins!!

There are loads of good prizes and cash to be won.

The entry is only R250 South African Rands ...

the rest of the details are below


Free Divers Game Fish Open 2009 Spearfishing Competition

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Brochures & Catalogs fish competition

Weekend Spearfishing Round Up

Well there was plenty diving going down this weekend, the conditions were good along the whole coast and there was also the Wahoo Winter Game Fish on.

My weekend started early on Friday morning, I wasn't going to dive but my mate Robin convinced me that this spot would have a large cuta on it. After diving the place at least 10 times this year and seeing squat, I was not so confident. I also had a big day with meetings and still needed to pack for Vidal.

Anyway I thought half an hour in the water is better than none. We did the usual swim out in the dark jol and once I had hooked my reef hook in and dropped my flasher I though I would just do some training dives for the comp the next day .... seriously did not think we would see anything.

Next thing something catches the corner of my eye .. behind me are 3 fish. The water was very clean and I thought 3 snoek ...strange they are fairly deep? I almost did not dive, as they seemed far away ..... and I am over chasing snoek :-)

Anyway as I get nearer I realise they are cuta ...Mmmm a nice 10k and a bigger one at the back. They were already far off so when the small one turned I planted the spear. It gave me a proper rev on my reel gun, and only after getting it closer did I realise that it was a beast.

How big was the big one?? The fish landed up being 18kg ... so much for no fish on this spot :-)

Luck 18k Cuta - one day too early tho

The next stop was at Vidal for the Winter Game Fish Comp (I will get some pics and feed back on my next post) As always there were loads of guys there and with the news that some seriously big Wahoo had been shot we were amped as anything. I had hooked up with Alistair from Extreme Spearfishing Charters and 2 old mates Paddy and Sav. We got down to the beach early hoping that the moon would cast enough light to get out and up to Leven before everyone else ... as you all know the first guys in the water up there have the most luck!

Sav hitting the snooze button

But we were 2 days too early for a morning moon ... only found that out later that day, and landed up sitting on the beach for 30min in the dark before flying up to Leven.

The fish were very slow and Alistair was the only one on our boat to get a fish. We dived furiously hard for 8 hours straight in colder than comfortable water ... so our fishlessness was not for a lack of trying.

The biggest fish was a 16kg Wahoo shot by Scott Vowles and the next was a a cuta around 10k. The rest ot the fish were made up of rat cuta and snoek shoot off the backline ... The comp was very well organised and most of the guys made good use of the free beer.

The conditions this week look pleasant and we will see if we can get some diving in between the grapht.

Hey if you have a moment and need to laugh check this out ... http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=85452

All good

Coatesman

Epic Surfing at Sunrise

Ryan Belfore getting Sunrise ..... as good as it gets!

The last few days have been awesome!! The surf has absolutely gone mental, with Sunrise starting to show some real form. Monday and Tuesday were both well over head and so round every wave sent shivers down your spine.

The take offs were so insane but so worth it if you made it. One mate piped up"being in these barrels is spiritual ... " Seriously life changing!

I got may ass kick so hard so many times, but it was worth it for those steam train barrels. The freight train rip and impossible take offs also meant that must guys opted for Surfers or just to watch ........ perfect! it meant only a few guys out!

Anyway its all over, the swell gone and in its wake mostly just destroyed sand banks. The conditions still look good for the next few days but with out swell it going to be a next week before we surf again.

Anyway all good 

Coatesman

Weekend Big Surf

Da boys ...and girls enjoying a braai at Surfers Lane

Well the weekend started off with a beer and braai at the Lane .... and because the surf was pretty large and outta control it kinda went on all weekend.

Some guys hooked up on the Saturday and did one mean Peri Peri chicken & prawn combo, and Sunday was bacon & egg roles in the sun.

Its really good to see the guys hooking up, its been many many years since Ballito had a local crew that hung out together. And I am sure with the week of surfing that is ahead of us there will be a whole lot more.

The weekend did not end well for all though, some guys up at Vidal flipped their boat in some seriously large surf and one guy drowned. Its a sober reminder of what the sea can do ... and will do.

A pic taken moments before the ill fated launch at Cape Vidal.

So for those of you heading out to Cape Vidal for the Wahoo comp please ensure all your paper work and licences are in order. The officials there have been seriously on spear fisherman's cases lately. And with this incident it will be no surprise to have them all over you on the weekend looking for something to nail you on.

Coatesman