Sardine Shoals Hit Durban

Sardine netters at Vetchies in Durban this morning.

The first Sardine shoals have started to appear in the Durban area this weekend. These small pilot shoals are fairly sporadic and can pop up any where. This morning they came into the Durban basin and the sardine hunters tried there luck at netting them at Vetch's beach.

Last year the Sardine shoals came into the bay in force and it was a frenzy for a few days down on Durbans south beaches.

This year the shoals coming up are not really that big and the guys have had not too much success netting the sards down the coast.

It will be good if the conditions will settle a bit and we can get some diving in .... especially if the pockets of Sardines are around.

Coatesman

Stand Up Paddle Demo

This past week end saw the conditions for diving go out the window again. Flip its starting to get really annoying, not to mention that this next weekend looks like a blow out as well.

Starboard SUP Demo day at Umhloti Lagoon

All was not lost and we headed over to the Lagoon at La Mercy to check out the Startboard SUP demo that 'Waterman Joe' company I am involved with was running. It was pretty cool as some of the mates and their families pulled in and paddled around the lagoon and enjoyed some bacon and boerie rolls.

Kai my daughter enjoying the Stand Up Paddle jol.

I guess its probably going to be a few more sessions on the SUP before we get back in the water for a dive. The west is blowing at the moment and it looks like there will be a small gap ... but its not looking promising.

Coatesman

Spearfishing Inhaca Island Mozambique

I just got back ... a week ago from a spearfishing trip to Inhaca! On this trip I hooked up with Mohammed and Khalid from QatarSub to finish off their spearfishing film they are doing. They came out specifically to hunt trophy fish for the film and this meant that we did not spend too much time at the usual spots.

Mohammed with a 27.5kg Wahoo shot at B24

We spent most of our time at a spot called Poco a deep reef that comes up to 55m. On this reef there were loads of bait and huge shoals of Rainbow Runners. We saw 3 Black Marlin and was able to get a good shot into one of about 200kg. Unfortunately the shooting line snapped at the crimp, and we missed out an a major opportunity.
Every now and then a Wahoo or Couta would come in and we would pick out the bigger ones, still hoping for a Marlin. Even tho this spot was deep on certain bumps there would be Iggies and other Kingfish, big shoals of Seapike and the odd big shark.

A good sized Iggie shot in the Marlin grounds

I landed up the one day with a nice Ignobilis Kingfish, they would come out the deep and sit at about 35m. But every once and a while they would come to about 25m and with in reach of a spear. The nice thing is that its so deep there its hard for them to reef you up so they are not too difficult to land.

We did stop briefly at the some of the usual spots, but these guys shoot loads of big Couta in Qatar so we were always looking for something different. We saw Sailfish twice once on Jeremiah's and once on Santa Maria. Generally the spearfish there was good, we could have probably shot more fish if we hang out longer at spots like B24 and Jeremiah's. But where going BIG or going home on this trip!

I think we dived almost every day with only one down day where we left the luxury of our accond rooms and hit the back streets of Inhaca for some local sea food. But as we found out the place we were staying had hired the head chef from Lucus's Resturant on Inhaca so there was little need to hunting for good food. But if you are on the island the food is good.


Coatesman

Book your own Mozambican Spearfishing Adventure go to: Spearfishing Charters Mozambique