Spearfishing is Over - Spring Has Sprung a Leak

Andy Henwood - All 'cracked up' on Deep Scotties.

 If you did not get in the sea last week best you dust off the running shoes. It is going to be while before the sea come right again, and with even more rain forecast the long term prognosis looks bleak & brown.

Andy Henwood took a chance at the end of last week and got out on the Shoal. The reports had been bad with cold green water, but his shoulder operation coming up this week he decided to take his chances as this will be his last dive for the next few months.

It looks like he made good on the day and while most of us were waiting for 'better days' he got busy. He said the vis was not good at all and it was very cold.

Andy with double luck! 

Green and cold! Well a nice Cracker and a Sailfish later he was smiling all the way home. I guess congrats go to him for getting out there when there was a gap. As for us plebs we sit still waiting ... for 'Better Days'

Moral of the story, drop everything and take the gaps!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Aliwal Shoal for Wahoo

Aliwal Shoals Spearfishing Locals - Warren , Basie and Alistair

May is normally the month for spearfishing Wahoo on the Shoal. But I did not hear of too much action last month. There were 2 weeks of strange water that also canceled any chances of good fish.

Alistair from Extreme Spearfishing Encounters sent me this pic from yesterdays dive, this the message I got:

Dude, got these hoo today in almost perfect conditions on the Shoal!

Warren played sword fight with a small marlin that was swimming with 2 salies.

Basie lost 2 big hoo, the bigger one he is holding came off after a spine shot and cruised up to me and I got it!!!
Saw dorado and cuta!

You did not send me a usb cable so I can’t see the footage, will try and find one tomorrow!! Will let you know!

Cheers, God bless

ALISTAIR LOUW

I spoke to him earlier this morning and there were some guys out today, but they had only one Wahoo by 10am. He also said that they had a shoal of bait fish yesterday, but the only thing swimming with it was a Great White! ...nice*

Coatesman

Coatesman

Jaco's BIG Day Out!

Jaco Bilgnaut with a +/- 30kg Couta

 Jaco one SA most prominent spearfisherman and a guy who has proven to be able to hold his own against the rest of the world & he ceases to amaze us. Every year there is another story of Jaco clapping some amazing fish .... and often in extreme circumstances. This day was no exception! A 27kg Couta (weighed gutted) and a 110kg Black Marlin ...on a reel gun!! You are probably wondering where? ...Well ..Where else but the Shoal!!

Any of those fish alone would be cause for celebration, but the two together! Oh did I mention he also got a 15kg Wahoo and 15kg Kingfish aswell that day.

Jaco and his 110kg Black Marlin Shot with a reelgun!

Apparently the Marlin took 2 hours to land as he plugged the thing with a reel gun! It makes you think he must have had a pretty busy morning ??

The whole thing was video taped and if you are like me I am itching to see how the whole thing went down.

So while the shoal couta are a no show ...well at least the rest of the sea is still kicking!

Coatesman

Emil Pirzenthal's 63kg Giant Kingfish a Record?

Emil Pirzenthal 63kg Giant Kingfish - Caranx Ignobilis a Potential Record?

When it comes to shooting Giant Kingfish Emil is the man. Living at Umkomass he has the Shoal wired ... and the Kingfish too!
He is well known for bring home a couple Iggies over the 20-30kg mark at a time. Most of us would just be happy with one in our life times.

From what I understand Emil's strategy is to dive in the very late afternoon on the Shoal ... I am sure he also has the spots down pat aswell. Here is the think he actually targets these fish, just like we go and target Couta or Snoek! So I guess this is not one of those occasions where you say "lucky fish"

It will be interesting to see if this fish is recognised as a record? But from what I can gather the current Caranx Ignobilis spearfishing record is just over 65kg. Will have to go and check .....

Good fish tho!

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

Epic Aliwal Shoal Shark Photography

Jon Cooper took this underwater photo of these three Sharks on Aliwal Shoal this week.

The conditions on Aliwal Shoal have been epic, and this photo of these sharks is proof enough. I think this pic is an award winner if I ever saw one ... absolutly amazing!!

I mean a Tiger shark, Whale shark and a Black tip shark in the same pic in near perfect composition. 

Flipp'n epic shark photography!!

Coatesman

Autumn Wahoo Fest

Alistair with some Aliwal Puppies

Spearfishing in autumn can be very fustrating on the north coast, the shoals of cuta have moved south the winter fish are still to come, and worst of all Aliwal cooks! I am a very unluck Aliwal dive I aways seem to catch it the day after or before .... what eva I just miss it. So naturaly I am reluctant to mission down there on a whim.

On another note but still down south the Ozzy Spearfishing team KLAPPED the SA boys on their own turf. Ok 2 of the Ozzys were local boys living over in Oz and know the south coast backwards ... but hey a win is a win.

On a down note the East looks like its up!! Well atleast for the next few days ... I hope the forcast is exagurated and we get some moderate days with some diving thrown in.

All Good

Coatesman

Spearfishing Wahoo on Aliwal Shoal

The Aliwal Shoal starts to produce some Autumn Wahoo!

As we head into winter spearfishing Wahoo on Aliwal Shoal becomes the thing to do. The conditions need to be just right, the current north south and good vis of course. Guys like Alistair Louw, Basie are the locals in the know. They snuck in a good innings before the west yesterday and bagged 2 good sized Wahoo.

These guys always have their finger on the pulse, and score almost every time its on. Me on the other hand have had lemons every time I have been to the shoal.

I suppose that's why Alistair has been able to make a business out of spearfishing Wahoo on the shoal. His hit rate on picking the right days is mind blowing. Often one of the guys like Basie will be out on a scuba charter and see the conditions are good. A call is made and with in a few hours the guys are on it. But often by the next day it off again, it can be fickle. I suppose that's why I have never got it on. I always seem to go a day or two after hearing its on .... a kind of long shot!

It is probably worth your while giving Alistair a call -079 694 6765- and seeing if there is space on a charter or to organise one if you have 4 or 5 guys to chip in. My mate Wayne has scored every time he has gone with them, getting a sailly of 34kg on the one trip.

Other than that we will keep a look out for the late bus cuta here at home that make the odd appearance...

Coatesman

Spearfishing News

Gee the water was crystal clean, when we first got out at Tiffs the water was 20m! But the current started to push and the thermocline pushed in with some very cold water on the bottom.

My mate saw one cuta in the distance, and thats all... it was very quiet. 

There is a west comming today and pushing through till Saterday, so the dive should cook this weekend.

I have been hearing reports from the Shoal and Protea Banks, the guys seem to be nailing some seriously good fish. Mostly Wahoo off the Shoal ..but I dont hear any one complaining.

Hoping this weekend turns on!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Weekends Update

Howdy,

Well I never got in, but the guys did find some clean water down south off Umkomass. The KZN trials went ahead and some good fish came out in the mix.

What was encouraging was a report from some guys diving Aliwal shoal. They managed some cuta, a 20kg Iggie and a 30kg Sailfish that was swimming around a floating bag.

Some mates also just got back from a week at Ponta, were they battled for good conditions, but when they did get in they made up for it with some quality fish. From what I heard they got 3 wahoo just under the 30kg mark among some other really good fish.

Back at home the surf was pumping a solid 6ft and I got my ass kicked ... ok I was surfing a 5'10" twin fin!! I got some good barrels and some hair-assed takeoffs ....all good I suppose :-)

This week it will be Thursday before we get in .... the tides will be starting to get high in the morning by then so it will probably mean we will be diving if the water gets clean.

Thats all for now

Coatesman

Spearfishing in October

Well dont get too excited about the spearfishing!! There is maybe a small gap tomorrow morning, it will be windy but it could be diveable. The weather just becomes fish curry from there, both Saturday and Sunday have strong winds in the morning ..... fudge!

On the bright side of things, the weather looks good for friday evenings braai at the Salty's Club Nite! This is a big plus coz I think we might need to sit out side with all the chaps coming to the Breath Hold Traing chat with Helen.

Other News is that some Wahoo came out on Aliwal shoal on the weekend, they were apparently shoaling and were super dumb!!! (Why cant I ever get it like that?)

It is also the Border Open this weekend down in the Transkei, I hope the guys get some better conditions than we are having.
Some of the guys are already there and got a dive in further south getting some good Cracker just to get things going.

Other than that ..... See you at the braai

Coatesman

Aliwal Shoal Wahoo

The big Wahoo is 39kg speared of Aliwal Shoal ..

A mate calls me and asks if we should dive Aliwal this past weekend. Being a little worried that the condition were going to suck I opted to stay home.

So when I get sent pic like this of what some other chaps who stuck it out got ... well I get all ..you know!! Bummed

Hellova nice fish tho.

Coatesman