Barry Skinstad Monster Daga

Barry 'Boris' Skinstad 55kg Daga

Just when thought that one of SA's best spearfishermen had stopped spearfishing ... well so we thought. Barry ...A.K.A Boris klaps this 55kg Daga. Now normally when you see some guy with a monster Daga you know there is a whole lot of luck involved. But some how knowing the way Barry dives ... I think this one was just a matter of time.

I dont know the story just yet but I will be sure to find out what went down.

What an awesome fish!! ...Welcome back Barry!

Coatesman

Spearvision Spearfishing DVD

Ryan & Brod's New Spearfishing DVD 'Spearvision'

The Spearfishing DVD by the two South African Champions Ryan Burmester & Brod Whittaker is out and available. This all South African spearfishing film will take you on an informative journey into Spearfishing, bringing you up close with some of South Africa's most sought after species. Ryan and Brod show you some of their best spots they dive, and how they dive them. Some of the footage you will see taken by two divers with above normal diving abilities will inspire and excite you, to dive deeper harder and shoot more fish.

To get this DVD go to SpearoDVD.com

Cheers

Coatesman

Results of World Spearfishing Champs in Croatia

Team:

Craig Heslop (Captain)

Ryan Burmester

Angelo Spada

Brent Bortslap

Andrew Henwood (Manager)

17 September - Positions after Day 1

Day 1 was really tough, the current was strong and a lot of the fish seen during scouting had moved.

We decided to focus on congers as they are fairly resident and more common than the other fish.

Interestingly very few fish came out yesterday, probably about 20 weighers out of 60 divers.  Most of which were wrasse and a few blacktail. Ryan did really well and got 3 congers out.  These fish are very strong and if you don't get them out of the cave immediately then you are in trouble. 

The Croatian team did well and all got good catches.  Daniel Gospic, 10 congers and 2 fish, biggest conger was 15 kgs, which is a monster.  Pedro Carbonell came in second with Tony from Croatia third. 

Today we are diving off zone 2 which is off the island of Unje which should hopefully hold more fish.  Brent is diving in place of Angelo today. 

The welcome party at the harbour was awesome with press and thousands of spectators.  The weigh in was more impressive with live video feed and big screen, all results were updated live on the screen which added to the excitement. 

Very well organised so far and we will give today our best shot to try and improve our position.

Positions after day 1

1.      Croatia

2.      Spain

3.      Italy

South Africa are lying 8th and Ryan currently 11th!

Final Positions after Day 2

Individuals:

1.      Daniel Gospic – Croatia

2.      Antonio Buratović – Croatia

3.      Bruno De Silvestri – Italy

4.      Pedro Carbonell – Spain

5.      Dario Marinov – Croatia

18.   Ryan Burmester - South Africa

33.   Brent Bortslap - South Africa

40.   Craig Heslop - South Africa

Total of 60 Divers.

Teams:

1.      Croatia

2.      Italy

3.      Spain

4.      South Africa

This is a good effort by our boys. There were a total of 20 teams!

Comments from Ryan Burmester:

Came 18th out of 60 divers, Was 11th after Day 1 but my sinuses bombed today so could not get down to my fish in the deep. Big time bummer after all our hard work was hoping to be first South African to crack top ten.

Comments from Craig Heslop:

As a team we got more points than yesterday but got pipped by Slovenia, Algeria and Great Britain. We ended up 11^th overall.

Brent did well today with 1 conger and 2 fish. Ryan and I got 1 each. Brent with his 3 fish today beat Joseba who is the current world champ. Just shows how tough conditions are out there.

Well done to our divers. I think despite some very obvious tough conditions against extremely good divers our boys did well.

Don't forget the guys our boys are diving against are paid for this and scout the areas for months on end beforehand. When Daniel Gospic was in South Africa for this year’s Nationals we could see his obvious talent, yet when he dived here some of our guys were competitive against him. Let’s bring worlds to South Africa and look for a South African World champion!

Spearfishing Wahoo of Cape Vidal with Koos Jordaan

The 'Mayor' of  Spearfishing in Zululand Koos Jordaan 42kg Wahoo

Now I have your attention!!

Us mere mortals only dream of spearfishing a big Wahoo, and when I say big lets be honest anything near 30kg is big. I guess Koos plays buy a different set of rules or something. I dont think any one told him that big was 30kg!! Or is it just that he likes the 'Bloody Big' category?

The funny thing is his son JP also likes the 'Bloody Big' Category and also got a big ..or should I say 'Bloody Big' Wahoo of 42kg also in the last week!! Both these fish were shot off Leven Point at Cape Vidal .... the thing is what else did they shoot? Or dont these guys take pics of fish under 40kg?

JP Jordaan 'Bloody Big' 42kg Wahoo

I think I am going to have to go and find out what these guys are doing .... coz what ever it is ..I need to know!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Daga Salmon on the North Coast

Spearfishing the North Coast can be rewarding
 Grant Somers 42kg Daga Salmon

We have a really good run of some very clean water for spearfishing this week. Unfortunately the fish have been a little quiet and not many guys have been getting fish.

Those who have come right have speared some good fish ...mostly Daga Salmon. The Durban Boys have been spearfishing the Daga off the wrecks and with the clean water they said they could see the containers from the surface!!

Grant Somers snuck up the coast this week and found himself a big fat 42kg Daga. I don't have all the details ..but wow what a fish.

Well done Grant!

Lets see what the weekend holds, maybe the swell wont mess things up too much.

Cheers

Coatesman

Spearfishing Kavieng Papua New Guinea.

I was just sent this video of guys spearfishing Kavieng in Papua New Guinea. The area the guys spearfished was off the Emirau Island just 160kms south of the equator and one of the northernmost provinces of Papua New Guinea. Check the footage the water is super epic!



Click Here to view the film Kavieng png PART 1

Here is part 2 of the video. This video was put together by Brett Vercoe of Liquid Focus who lives in Coffs Harbour on the beautiful North Coast of NSW, Australia. Brett is famous for his 'Immersion' Spearfishing films



 Click Here to view the film Kavieng png PART 2

I hope you enjoy

Coatesman

Pay Dirt

Sean O'Connor Daga Salmon - North Coast

The spearfishing conditions didn't look all that great yesterday afternoon, and most guys gave a dive a miss. Sean took the opportunity and found some cleanish water out in the deeper water.

He said that he shot the fish on a ledge that he has been diving for years. The spot is known for Daga but he has never come right. ... well!! The Daga apparently came swimming over the ledge towards him o the bottom and gave him a perfect side shot.
Mmmm the view that dreams are made of.

Anyway Kudos to you Sean.

Coatesman

Spearfishing UpDate

Robert and I after a great day up the North Coast

After seeing that the water had cleaned up over the last 2 days I bust my ass yesterday on the grapht mission sothat I could take the morning off to dive today. I hooked up with Robert and Ivor and went out to some our local spots up here on the North Coast.

The vis was not as good as we had hoped for, but it was more than good enough to spearfish in. The south west was still pushing so it was a bit rough, but we had all cleared our svhedules and so we went anyway.

We all got some great fish, I managed a nice sized Daga Salmon of about 14kg on a ledge in 27m. Robert got a Garrick out on the 20m line and also got some good size Grunter out on the sand.
There were a few snoek around, I got 2 and the one was 8.5kg gutted.

The forecast looks good for tomorrow and I am sure the guys will be getting in all along the coast. I have heard the guys are also getting in down south, Here is a report from Wayne:

I visited Umtintwini for a few days. Day 2 i woke up, and the sea was calm and clean. I only had 50 min, so i quickly jumped in.
5 min later i was lying on the bottom in about 4 meters of water, when two garrick swam past. they did not even see me behind the rock. i planted a great kill shot, and it was all over for this lovely fish.
I saw onother one a few min later, but it was very small. Sad to say the whole point did not have a single crayfish on it?


Here is a report from Darryl:

 Ken and i went for a quick one down at Port Shepstone just before low tide yesterday - viz was quite good with a bit of a groundswell and we got our quota of bugs, didn`t take my gun out,but didn`t see much fish either.
On the way back, it looked really clean at Southport with the patches of reef vizible a few hundred meters out, the groundswell was churning quite badly but otherwise viz was 6-10 meters, on the way back in a garrick swam underneath me in the whitewater, just after 3 big sets came through and as i dived a shoal of 15-20 materialised and shot one of 11,5 kgs, luckily the bigger surf had passed so managed to subdue it in the midbreak.
a bit bumpy and greenish this morning but it could settle.

cheers-

darrell

Hope you manage to get in this weekend

Coatesman

South Coast Spearfishing

Gary Bircher - Dorado Speared off Aliwal Shoal

Gary Bircher 18kg Garrick off Port Edward

 Its not that often that I get news from the mates down in Port Edward. If the water is not dirty, and there is no diving or then the big game fish are not around and the guy resort to hunting reef fish for the pot.

The Sardine run does always make things a little bit more exciting, but its usually the fisherman who get the big fish and the its still difficult for the spearfisherman.

Gary did get a very good Garrick, the one fish Port Edward is good for being the last stop before the Transkei.
Cornelis found himself a 24kg Couta and I am sure it came as a relief that this time it wasn't the fisherman who got the big one.

It must be seriously fustrating watching or hearing of the guys consistently getting big Couta from the shore during the winter and never even seeing a couta while diving. Such has been the case with another mate of mine down there.

Cornelis Fourie 24kg Couta - Port Edward

Anyway Spring is here and so is the 'Beast from the East' so for the next couple months its going to be sneaky dives here and there when the sea gives us gap ..... I doubt too many big couta like Cornelis's are going to be coming out.

Coatesman