Cracker in the Deep

Craig Harper with a White Muscle Cracker

Craig Harper sent me a pic of a good sized Brusher (White Muscle Cracker). By the looks of the pic he speared this one out in the deep, with John Little. Brusher often shoal out deep and you can also find them in caves, shooting free swimming fish obviously being a little more difficult as these fish are very shy. ....... well at least the ones I have seen in the deep.

Good News the Salty-Diver site is back up and running. A big thanks to Clint from Wire Khaya for sorting the site out. We will also be doing some upgrades to the site soon so keep an eye out on the site.

Then just to remind you that tonite is the meeting to set up the North Coast Spearfishing Union in Ballito. If you have any questions or thoughts please give me a shout. (my email is above this post!)

The sea is still very miff and green .... I keep reminding my self the more the North blows the sooner the warm Mozambique water will come down. Had a mate call yesterday who has been away for a couple weeks ...maybe months, he was seriously bleak with the conditions. So when it does get good get in, as the sea can be miff for weeks at this time of the year.

Anyway see ya

Coatesman

One Good Thing!

Well at the moment with strained lungs the sea very average ...but diveable, and the work load insurmountable. Its hard to find something good to talk about.

Then while I was diving into work ....at 5:40 I realised it was light even tho there were some low clouds. And that my friends is great news, it means that when it gets clean we can dive from 5:30!!
No more swimming for 25min to the drop off to dive for 30min turn around and sprint back to the beach to get to work.
Now we can ....swim for 25min to the drop off to dive for 60min turn around and sprint back to the beach to get to work. :-)

I suppose that also means that there is enough time to hit a dive after work aswell now. If you are int the water at 5pm you can probably dive till some time after 6pm. Its a good thing!

And while we are on good things .... Salty Divers are having their Club nite on Friday in Ballito. We are are doing a Garrick and Brusher workshop ....should be fun.

Give me a shout if you are keen to join in. 083 631 0841

Cheers

Coatesman

Salty Diver - Club Meet - Garrick and Brusher Workshop

Next week (Friday 7th September) is the Salty Divers Club Meet and we will have a workshop on Garrick and Brusher hunting.

Believe it or not there are some techniques to shooting Garrick, and Brusher well they are another story. We will go over the when, where, how and with what .... And then ...... we will have a compo. Its kind of becoming a tradition to have a Garrick and Brusher spearfishing comp, and what makes this year any different??

I thought I would spice it a up a little, and make it more interesting. However I need to organise with sponsors before I let the cat out the bag.

I did have high hopes that this week was going to produce some good point diving with high tides in the morning. But the sea has been on its ear!! The winds look like they are moderating and maybe the water will come right aswell.

See ya

Coatesman

August Unlucky Dip

I went for a run past the beach last nite and it looked like there was going to be a dive this morning. The swell was small and there was good enough vis for a good point dive looking for Brusher.

But alas this morning I was greeted by some serious swell, and green offish water. My hopes of a dive dashed I looked to see if there was any chance of a quick surf in Ballito, but with the tide high and the banks still not 100's, there was nothing to write home about.

I hope the swell drops in the next few days and lets us get in on the early morning high tides. The Brusher normally hang around during late winter and soon the Garrick returning from up north will give us some action.

It is strange but my best Garrick months have been in November??? These are the last of the return Garrick and you dont get the shoals of fish like you do in early winter. Brusher on the other hand seem to enjoy the cooler waters and start disappearing mid november ..... but like anything in the sea ... who really knows??

Coatesman

Brusher Season

Well we have had an epic week as far as conditions go. The water has been clean, and the sea & wind have played along as well. The west is blowing now and this might make for great diving tomorrow again.

The gamefish have been quiet tho, the odd snoek and the rumors of cuta!!
If you saw my post yesterday you would have read that I did not get in, I felt miff the whole day, especially when having to drive past the sea.

I decided to rid myself of my mornings sins and jump in after work. With only an hour and the tide going out, it was more for the hell of it. I have not spent any time this winter looking for Brusher and I had heard of a few sightings along the coast. So I added a few weights to my belt grabed my reel gun and jumped in off the point near my house.

The water was a little to clean for Brusher ... but hey I was not complaining. I realised that I did not have enough weights on the belt and was getting washed around abit. Never the less about 10min into the dive while hanging near a proven brusher spot I saw a nice cracker in the white water. I dived straight down into a crack and waited. I have learn't that you can not chase these fish at all. And as Bobs your uncle in comes mister Brusher to have a look, well he got a spear through the gills!!

I suppose this must be a sign for me to stop chasing the Cuta and start hunting some winter fish?? Next Cuta Brusher must be one of my best fish to hunt, they are elusive and take a real 'hunt'. You need to knowing the cracks,and have a strategy its not just floating along waiting for something to swim into you ..... like Garrick!!

6kg White Muscle Cracker - AKA Brusher

Any way tomorrow is another day and we will see what the sea brings!

Coatesman