Latest Spearfishing Video's

Hey Guys I am back posting video's on my YouTube Channel Coatesman's Spearfishing Videos .... So go check it out and subscribe so you dont miss out on the epic videos I will be posting.

Here are the last few videos I posted. Hope you enjoy.

And if you like the funny stuff I am sure this will make you laugh.

Cheers and dont forget to go subscribe
My YouTube Channel Coatesman's Spearfishing Videos

Big Couta in the Middle of Winter

Ratman in his element!

I have been slow to get back into the water back home after my travels, the first week was time with my family. Then last week the surf was so good and I had a fair bit admin work wise so it was easy to make excuses not to don the 5mm suit and go look for Snoek.

Ratman on the other hand has been sneaking in getting a few Snoek, and with the conditions looking so inviting yesterday Ratman convinced me to take a swim. We decided that we would visit a spot that occasionally holds a Couta during this time of the year leading up to the Sardine run. It was a long shot but we were doing the mid day social dive thing and weren't expecting much to be honest. .... we I wasn't at least, this was just a get wet session.

Ratman's new PB 23kg Couta

Anyway we got to the spot and Ratman on his second dive shouts to me that he has a 'BIG' Couta. He had spinned the fish with his 1300 and made easy work of landing the fish. A small shark came in and would not leave Rat and his fish alone so we took turns looking after his prize while looking to see if there was another lucky fish lurking around.

We weighed the fish at my place. It was a super fat and healthy fish, but I thought the fish was maybe around 20kg, but  it tipped 23kg. You should have seen the grin on Ratmans face :-)

Well don Rat brilliant fish and about time too.

Coatesman

Some more interesting Spanish Mackerel Facts - Read Here

Big Fish at Home

Craig Harper 26kg Couta

There is one thing spearfisherman have in common  and that is that we always thing the 'grass is greener on the other side'. We travel the globe looking for big fish, fair enough its just as much about the adventure as the fish. But we have it pretty good right here at home too.

Craig Harper proved this on friday by catching a 26kg Couta off his local reef near Umhloti. He has traveled a bit, but is also one of the first to acknowledge how good things are at home.

So well done Craig on sticking to your guns and eventually getting that 'dream' fish .... getting it at home must make it all that much sweeter :-)

Coatesman

Spearfishing with Rollerguns in Qatar

My PB 27kg Spanish Mack shot with 1100 rollergun

I have just returned from a few weeks away diving the Arabian Gulf, more specifically off the coast of Qatar. I went out there for some filming and magazine work and was fortunate enough to get to stay with Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari. Ever since his epic film 'Going East' I have wanted to get out there and do some spearfishing, and this trip exceeded all my wildest dreams!

Massive sand dunes at the 'Inland Sea'

Coming from sub-tropical Africa, Qatar is a bit of a shock to the system. Sand and more sand, and other than some crazy high sand dunes the country is flat. But the sea is nothing like the land and fish are a plenty, well thats if you know where to go get them. The ocean is shallow for a long way and there is not much structure, so when you find some structure, no matter how small you are going to find fish.

Mohammed 'MJK' hunting Spanish Mack in the shoals of Bludger and Pickhandles.

I had hoped to have gotten some of the massive Amberjack while there but they just did not seem to be around. So we just had a blast with the Spanish Mackerel, which they call 'Kingfish'. The place is amazing for spearfishing Spanish Mack and I have never seen fish like that ever. 

On the first day after filming we decided to go catch some Mangrove Snappers which are plentiful. I grabbed a short 1100 roller gun, loaded up and turned around to a 27kg Spanish Mack checking me out. That was the first fish of the trip for me and my PB Spanish Mack.

An Assortment of spearguns converted to roller guns with Power Rollerheads

On a couple days when the vis was not great for filming we did some spearfishing just for fun. On the one day I broke my previous PB on Spanish Mack 4 times ... it was too insane.

Another great part of the trip was using and testing the Power Rollerhead conversions on the spearguns. Not only did we smash the fish but we spent a whole day in a pool testing a whole range of rollerguns and comparing them for a review I am doing for the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine.

MJK 28kg Spanish Mackerel with 1300 Rob Allen Rollergun

The spearfishing was insane and we shot so many good fish, learnt loads about rollerguns and I had an experience I will never forget. Mohammed finished off our time together with catching a massive 28kg Spanish Mack a great way to finish off our time together. Look out for a full report on the trip and the rollergun review in the next edition of USM ... I think it will change the way you look at spearguns!

Cheers for now

Coatesman

For more on rollerguns read:

Unrolling the Roller - Rollergun Test and Comparison

The Ultimate Rollergun Test

Some more interesting
Spanish Mackerel Facts - Read Here

Summer Spearfishing Cape Vidal

Hein du Plessis good Spanish Mack off Leven Point - Cape Vidal

With all the rain on the KZN coast about the only place to go spearfishing at the moment is Cape Vidal.  Desperate to get our gills wet, we headed up the coast on Wednesday for a quick day trip to see if we could get some diving in.
Cape Vidal in December can be frustrating as it can be extremely quiet, the early spring shoals of 'return' Couta (these are Spanish Mackerel big and fat from feeding on the shoals of sardines down south during winter that go back to Mozambique during the summer)  and the Wahoo run have come and gone.
That is not so say you wont find the odd straggler or early shoal Couta , but generally the action only starts in mid January.

Never the less with no other diving going on we headed up and we were blessed with some nice clean water. As was expected the fish were quiet and we only managed to get one small Couta. Some other friends of mine also went up, but they stayed the night at Vidal and got on the sea early and Hein managed to get good Couta early on in the morning.
Apparently there were a few fish around early, which is typical of Leven Point. These early fish usually disappear once the sun is up and more boats arrive.

Tiger Shark off Deep Oscar at Cape Vidal

After a few hours of fishless drifts we headed out to the dep pinnacles at Deep Oscar. On my first drift even though the current was screaming I landed right above the bump. As I dived I saw a couta deep below me and swam down to intercept the fish. But when I levelled out at about 28m with the fish, I was joined by 3 Tiger Sharks, a Zambezi and a Grey Shark. If that was not enough there were a couple Potato Bass circling below just off the reef. It was like they were all going, "come on we dare you to shoot!"
For once I heeded my better judgment and did not take the shot, but situation I found my self in was absolutely awe inspiring. Sharks and other predators all congregating, almost like animals at a watering hole in a drought. So when I hit the surface the speargun was quickly swapped for a DSLR camera.

JP with a small Tiger Shark at Deep Oscar

We battled to get on the exact spot again, also diving with a large camera housing that resembles a potjie pot did not make it any easier. never the less we had some Tigers come up and follow us around for a while. One of the sharks was extremely large and fat, possibly one of the biggest Tigers I have ever seen. This big shark as obviously been around the block a few times and was a bit camera shy and was not keen to get too close.

Although we did not get many fish, it was a great day out and diving with all the sharks was rather cool. The water here at home is still brown and the rivers are still pumping so there is a good chance we will head back to Cape Vidal this next week again. Hopefully we can get lucky this time with some better fish.

Coatesman

Rain Rain Go Away! Please ....

Tongaat River pumping mud.

This weekend was the first time in a while that the water actually started to look good. Most guys got in somewhere along the North Coast, and although the fish where generally quiet some got a few Snoek in the shallows.

I managed to get in yesterday and got my first Couta of the season. Guy Leme and myself had been diving all morning and it was hard going. The current was screaming and making it hard  stay close to the boat, let alone to stay on the spot.

I was actually ready to hit the beach and Guy wanted to have a last look at one of the deep spots that come up to 28m off the Umvolti mouth. His first dive produced a Couta and in no time we were anchored and looking for fish.

After a while and nothing coming onto the flasher I started to look on the bottom for reef species  Only to have a shoal of Couta swim over me. I managed to get a nice fish of 13kg and then another smaller one. It seemed every time I got to the bottom something swam in, but chasing Couta at 28m after a long day is not ideal and I fluffed a shot on a Snoek and dropped a Couta with a bad gut shot.

Things were looking good and it is good to see the Couta making an appearance. All this is actually of no good tho considering the amount of rain we had last night and how the rivers are all pumping mud into the ocean. On my way into Durban this morning I snapped a pic of the Tongaat river vomiting mud ..... its damn depressing  Especially considering that we have not had a lot of diving and now it will be a good week before it comes right again. Well that is if we dont have any more rain.

 So forgive if I am not praying for rain!

Coatesman

34th Wahoo Winter Gamefish Spearfishing Competition at Cape Vidal

This past weekend was the 34th Wahoo Winter Gamefish Spearfishing Competition at Cape Vidal. Here is an account of the weekend by Chris West:

"Greetings to those who made it there and to those that did not...I have been going to Cape Vidal Wahoo Comps since 1983 and know the history. All I can say is that it was a very smoothly run affair under Andy Norton and companies guidance. We battled for the date and basically almost became a summer competition when the weather could have ended us up in a drinking competition (we did that too)....Of course the idea of the Wahoo comp was to bring everybody down to earth and allow the hotties to mix with the gremmies.

the challenge from Wahoo to the Zululand guys was who could drink the night before and still shoot fish the next day.....sounds silly but that was the original plan.

Triple Dave, Roelof and Rob Allen digging away at the steep ramp.

The other problem was the launch had been washed away by the sea and you can check the photos I will add to this and maybe other mails . Rob Allen attacked the bank with his Colt and conquered it with the first attempt (with the boat attached) he also then made a homemade plough and moved the sand so that others could get up and down. Andy helped compact it with his cruiser.I supervised from the bank taking photos. In my wisdom I fell off a roof 5 weeks ago and am still recovering (that's my excuse)

We launched on the Thursday with Andy and XXXDave joining Rob,Roeloff,Andrew and self on Robs Boat. Everybody got fish (except me and XXX)  Traditionally we dined at Andys Chalet and ate Sashimi from Couta and Snoek followed by Beer battered Couta was awesome. Roeloff du Plooy shot a Blue Kingfish which turned out to be a new SA Record and we certified its weight on our Wahoo Scale that has just been officially certified thanks to Terry Deane. Congrats to Roeloff who also shot 3 snoek in the comp and 2 on the
Thursday.

We rested on Friday and prepared for everybody to arrive with DUC Chef Franklin and Mike with one other chap from DUC. We had a braai and finalised the entries to 38 competitors. Not a lot but enough make it happen. Weigh in was down at the launch entrance and some awesome fish were weighed in...

Overall Winner JP Jordaan

Top diver was JP Jordaan with a magnificent Couta 0f 29.9Kg in beautiful condition. Bill McCarthy with a Saily  there was also a Wahoo but only 7,5Kg with milk still pouring out its mouth and the rest was made up of Snoek and Couta my snoek which made me 5th placed was 8.7Kg the biggest I have ever shot and the biggest snoek of the comp.

JP Jordaan 29.9kg Couta 

Old time Zululander Billy showing the guys who's boss!

There were awesome prizes donated by the local dive shops and their suppliers. Rob Allen certainly did his thing here and it was great to see Freedivers also putting in some prizes here again. We were visited by Chantal Dixon who is the Curator for Sea Fisheries there and she joined us for our lamb on the spit with all the goodies that go with.

Plans have already been put in place for next year and our competition will reach its 35th year of existence. Thanks you to all of you who did their bit there especially to Andy,XXXDave,Ryan Berry ,Rob and Andrew and to all the sponsors.....forgot to mention that the Zululanders kicked Wahoos butts and they also won the Team Prize.

Apologies in advance if I forgot to mention something I should of.....

Chris West"

Winter Couta Spearfishing Surprise.

Good haul for a shore dive

Lately the spearfishing on the north Coast has been typical of winter. Big swell most of the time with clean water, and baron reefs. It is generally a frustrating time of the year, you can dive 3 or 4 times and hit absolute blanks, with out even a hint of a decent fish.

So you can imagine that expectations at this time of year are generally pretty low when it comes to getting quality fish. Normally it is September before any action starts, and for the most part the big Couta returning from Sardine shoals down south miss us. I think they go out to sea, and only come back in up in Zululand.

This weekend things turned on its head a bit when  I was surprised with 3 Couta and a Wahoo on a local shore dive. Maybe its the no show by the Sardines that have the Couta returning early and coming in shallow to feed due to the fact that they did not find any Sardines to feed on.

The conditions were perfect and I knew the water was clean, fortunately I took my 1.3 speargun other wise I would have been in the bush. I walked a couple kilometres down the beach to a secluded reef I hoped to find some fish. (The reef is marked by a lone tree on the hill, those who know the area will know the place)
The reef was very quiet, as it has been for a few weeks and I started to look along the 14m line for some Crays when a lone single Couta swam past.

The fish striped my reel and half emptied my belt reel before slowing down. This means a whole lot of winding up afterwards but with a good fish on the end I was not complaining. I landed the big fish with out a hitch, sorted my line out and carried on scouting around for any other reef fish and crayfish. I seriously just though that was a luck fish and did not expect to see another one.

Next this a Wahoo swims in on the flasher, damn this fish must have been lost! I tentatively dropped down in-line with the fish. I am notoriously bad at shooting these fish. As was expected the fish turned up for the surface and away from me. I made a hard right turn away from the fish and swan a few more meters down, out the corner of my eye I see the fish stop and do a half turn back towards me. I pause to see if it was going to turn more but it turned away ...... damn I am blowing it!!! In a last ditch effort I haul ass up towards the fish and close the gap just close enough for my 1.3 with 2x 14mm rubbers to deliver a spear smack between the anal and dorsal fins. Once again both reels were stripped and again I was not complaining once the fish was safe on my float.

Now with 2 fish that looked between 15 and 20kg I knew that caring them the couple kilometres on the beach was not going to be fun. That and the fact that the current had turned pushing me even further away from where I had parked. I figured that a slow swim back would be easier and I might pick up a little something extra on the way.

An hour later I was still swimming and only half way home, I had reached the last piece of reef before a good 1.5km of open sand back the the beach by the car. I reefed up to take a break from the current, and while I was resting holding onto my float a Couta comes cruzing in. I leave the float and drop down next to the fish and it does the text book turn to look at me and catches my spear mid body. That's another fish on my float. not as big as the others, but wow another Couta ... This is getting better than a summer dive!

I decide to do a couple dives who knows maybe there are more, and on the second dive while on the bottom a fat Couta swims right over the top of me and once again all my line disapeared on my gun reel and my belt reel was empting fast. After a short tussle the fish about the same size as the first Couta was on the stringer and I was winding in the line. This time around my arm was starting to cramp and I had to take a few breaks in between resting holding onto the float.

By now the east had picked up and the current was getting stronger. If I was going to make make it home any time soon I was going to have to leave .... even if there where more fish around. Now the fish were a serious drag and the only way I could get ahead was to have the stringer over my shoulder and the fish on my back and in my wake as I swam. I tried the inshore but with the large swell I was not going any were fast. Walking was not an option with the 50-60kgs of fish.

The swim took almost 2 hours with only the stoke of an amazing catch fuelling my legs. That and possibly the fact that I had no other options. I eventually washed up the beach and was greeted by a black fisherman who helped me get the fish out the shore break. Had he not been there I don't think I would have managed.

Tiered, broken and smiling this was a day I wont forget in a long time.

Coatesman

Spearfishing North to South

Graham Sinclar 21kg Wahoo - Cape Vidal

This past week I was up at Cape Vidal with some guys, it was great showing the guys around the place. We had great weather and some how even with a morning out fixing a broken steering helm we dived 3 out of 3 days and had epic calm conditions. The fish were a little quiet, but Graham managed to bad a great Wahoo of 21kg, the guys saw a couple more Wahoo and a big Sailfish off the point the one after noon.

Another shoal Couta off to the deep freeze.

There were a few shoal Couta around and there was no problem getting dinner each night. But it was strange not to see any Snoek. I did manage to find a few Snoek back on out home reefs this weekend on a shore dive, but for the most part it has been very quiet.

The spearfishing down south has been quiet, with the odd chap finding some fish here and there. By now areas like Hiberdene should be cooking. Maybe its the no show by the Sards that has messed with the situation. On that note the guys in the Transkei waiting for the Sards have almost totally given up. I know of a few guys that have already pulled the plug and come home with not being shoals of Sardines even after a couple weeks.

Craig Montgommery 41.6kg Couta on Line at Port Edward

That said there is still hope, and a mammoth Couta of 41.6kg came out at Port Edward ... imagine coming across that beast while diving!!

Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come. Especially since this week end is the Hibiscus Gamefish Open  one of KZNs premeir spearfishing comps with loads of prizes up for grabs including R5000 for the biggest gamefish. Download the HUC ENTRY FORM here.

Cheers

Coatesman

Book your own Spearfishing adventure go to: Cape Vidal Spearfishing Charters and Guided Trips

Cape Vidal Guided Spearfishing Trip

Stanton & Syd not bad for the first time spearfishing!

This past weekend I guided a spearfishing trip at Cape Vidal. The guys were Stanton and Syd, two guys who were looking to make their first spearfishing experience a memorable one.

Taking first timers is always a bit nerve racking a you never know how competent the guys will be, and how quickly they will pick up the basics.... sometimes just enough to be comfortable in the water. To Stanton and Syd's credit, these guys had done their home work. They had spent time in the Quarry, had at least on session With Fernando from Centurion Freedivers, and spent the last few weeks training.

So when they got to Leven it was not long before they were comfortably hitting the bottom at 15m and doing some impressive dives.

Stanton all kitted up and in the mix.

The fish however proved to be a bit on the quiet side, but even so the boys got fish every day from shoal Couta to some good Queenfish. I don't think these guys realise that for most guys their first fish land up being Stone Bream or Black Tail. I know mine was Stone Bream .....

Syd enjoying the perfect conditions

A big plus was that on the last day the conditions were about as good as it gets. 20m vis, clear skies and no wind. It was such a special day, getting some fish was just a bonus.

Coatesman

Book your own Spearfishing adventure go to: Cape Vidal Spearfishing Charters and Guided Trips

North Coast Spearfishing Network

Jothro Mc Carthy with a monster Wahoo at Vidal

A little over a week ago the North Coast Spearfishing Network group was started on Facebook. There have been similar groups that have worked really well, the Capetown come to mind.

The idea is to share whats going on, and hook up with guys spearfishing in the area. The need for guys to network was the primary motivator for the group as there few ways for guys to meet up and get to know each other on the North Coast, especially further north.

Craig Harper with a good North Coast Couta - Its that time of the year!

Already the group is a hive of activity and some great pics 'above' have been shared and guys have used the network to meet up for dives. So why not go have a look at the North Coast Spearfishing Network and join in if you feel the group would be of value to you, or better yet if you think you could add value to the group.

Cheers

Coatesman

Spearfishing Cape Vidal over Christmas

Trev with 2 good Snoek and some dart Couta just after Newyear.

While the rest of the Natal Coast starts to wake up over the Christmas period, and the Snoek and Couta start to make an appearance. Cape Vidal goes to sleep, well kind of. The Couta for the most part disappear and most days spearfishing will result in a couple nice Snoek if you are lucky.
If you do get Couta they are usually small, and it can be frustrating as the conditions are usually very good.

As you get into the new year the spearfishing gets better, the Couta although generally small start showing up in numbers. The tell tale signs are the local ski-boaters taking over the campsite for the late January - February run.

Local Spearfisherman Koos Jordaan with 13kg Kakaap just before Christmas

Although the Couta are slow over the Christmas period there are other fish around if you are whiling to put in the time. Local spearfisherman Koos Jordaan managed to get some really good fish over the 'quiet' period, including a 13kg Kakaap (Green Jobfish) and a 20kg Milkfish (Chanos Chanos)

Koos's Newyear 20kg Chanos Chanos (Giant Milkfish)

So the big decision now is deciding whether to stay at home and capitalise on the good sized Couta that are showing up here and there, or head to Cape Vidal. Which one will be better and produce the goods.

For some it will be back to the 'grind stone' ....damn that sucks!

Coatesman

Book your own Spearfishing adventure go to: Cape Vidal Spearfishing Charters and Guided Trips

The Legend of the Christmas Couta

Rat Adjes 16kg Couta Lemonfish Reef 24th Dec

Every once and while you hear some remarkable spearfishing story that becomes an instant legend. Christmas eve was one of those, when Rat rocked up at my house with a Couta .... that he got off Lemon fish Reef.
I listened to his story in total disbelief, as he told how the sea just came a live for half an hour.

You need to understand that Lemonfish reef is a tiny little rock off one of our local surfing points, it only goes out 50m or so from the point and is not very deep. Every diver in the area cuts his teeth here and it is considered a spot you will get the odd Snoek but that's about it.

I can remember a good friend and dive buddy that I grew up with telling us about a Couta he had seen off the reef at Lemon Fish. These were the early days and we were still puddle jumping and just to see a Couta was a big thing. That was almost 20 years ago, since then I have dived that reef hundreds of times and never seen a Couta or even had a notion that I might see one there.

Anyway Rat said as per his usual day before Christmas thing he takes his family that are visiting to the beach. Last year same day same time he swam our for 30min and got 3 Snoek. This year was no exception, the fish were wild. The shoals of Snoek were every where, but he could not get close enough to get one. He swam on to the inside of the reef to the small gap between the reef and the point only to see this big fish just cruzing along. He lined up and made good on his shot. After a long tussle and line every were he landed the fish, and apparently the snoek were shoaling around him the whole time.

So here is a new legend that will be told, the one about the guy who shot a Couta off Lemonfish on Christmas eve. Good one Rat ......

Coatesman

King of the Coast

If this was a competition Brod would be 'King of the Coast'

While the rest of us were pondering whether the vis was ok and swell had dropped enough. Brod was putting his spear into a trophy of note! Brod ..being Brod found some half decent or half siff (depends on how you see you cup)  water on a small reef he sneaks out to when no one is looking.

Brod recalls the hunt saying that there were about 10 fish in the shoal all around the same size, eventually he just picked one. Now if you know Brod that means that there was a lot more to the story ... it probably had something to do with some ridiculous bottom time in kuk water or something.

So if you were wondering what a 29.5kg Couta looks like have a good loooook. Almost as tall as Brod and he's no shorty and my guess is that the fish is probably a 32 -34 pant size around the midriff, . One fat ass fish!!!

Weldone Brod ...in my books so far you are 'King of the Coast'

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

Croc Couta Down South

Wayne with 26.5kg Croc Couta caught off the lower South Coast

Its the time of the year when the South Coast starts to come alive. With the prospects of Sardine shoals game fish from up north migrate down to the Transkei to feast, and following not too far behind are the fishermen.
I have a mate who lives down in Port Edward that has been spearfishing and fishing the area over the last few years, and by his own admition its not the easiest place to work out. But for the past few years his and his clients success's have been improving to the point where he is saying ,"I know where the Couta are" with a big cheesy grin.
Anyway this past week saw some good fish come out some were over 30kg. Wayne managed to get his clients a 26 and a 19kg fish, that and some other quality fish that filled the hatch.

At the moment the north coast is quiet and the sea rather unsettled, I am probably going to twist Waynes arm to take me out down south if things dont look up this side soon. Wayne does both fishing and spearfishing charters ..give him a shout on: 084-616–3295

Magic Week Over

Every year usually around mi February there is a week or so where everything comes right and the diving on the North Coast is insane. I friend of mine used to say this is the week that you pull out all the stops to dive coz when its over you have to wait until the next year to get it ON like that again. The way you know its that week when you have dived 6 straight days in a row, got more than a couple Couta each day and you cant get your self out of bed to go and dive perfect conditions because your body is broken.

Well I hare to break it to you but that was the last 10 days ending on Sunday!! It was late this year ..but I guess everything is late including my SARS return!! Yesterday the sea turned and the water temp dropped to 23deg on a south wind and current. So short of some really fortunate currents and conditions I think the Magic week of 2011 has come and gone.

Its not to say that there wont be more fish, but it generally gets quieter and quieter now with only the odd big Couta ..which is nice coming through.
The bummer was that I had a burst ear the whole of last week and missed the whole affair ... I did catch the beginning of the run tho so cant be too bummed.

The view we all love.thanks to Morne

 My good mate Morne' was fortunate to get into the fish last week and by the weekend and one full deep freeze the trigger finger was very mallow, and he grabbed his digital cam instead. This is the mail he sent me with these pics:

Hey Coates I finally made the call after shooting my first couta today to rather take photo's the rest of my dive. I've must have taken 15 individual photo's of shoals 6 - 12kg couta's swimming past every 20 min but only 5 came out OK. It took me 4 years to actually do and tame the natural hunting instinct of just shooting.
cheers
Morne

Another epic pic of free swimming Couta ...nice very nice!

So unless things change we will have to wait til next year for that 'Magic Week' ... for me I am going to start looking for the BEEG Couta lurking in the deep. Its a bit of a luck shot but who knows.

Coatesman

Chideguele Mozambique - Fishingski Trip

Muir Robertson with a good sized Queenfish in the green water at Chideguele.

 I have just got back from a week away at Chideguele Mozambique. I went up to film and take pics for the HookedUp guys who were taking part in the 'Top 20' fishingski competition up there.
Chideguele is an amazing place there is a huge reef structure consisting of 3 main ledges that run for over 50 km. The closest ledge starts on the beach near the lighthouse and angles out to sea until it gets to about 4km off shore.
The next ledge mainly runs between 10-18m and is only a few hundred meters off shore at the light house but was already almost 2km off shore where we were staying 10 km further up. The next ledge is amazing and is generally around the 20m mark and drops off to the mid 30's in most places.
In some areas the two ledges are close and you get drop offs that go from the shallow 20's to almost 40m!!

Chideguele is about 50km north of Xai-Xai on the EN1 .. you cant miss it.

Chideguele unfortunately is plagued with green water, the same green algae & plankton rich water that Guninjata and Zavora suffer. It is however the right stuff the fish like and generally the fishing is unbelievable. The one fish in particular that likes this area is our old friend the Couta. I even saw a lodge called Sera .. Portuguese for Couta.

We paddled our asses off for a week trying to work out the spot. And because the comp was a species comp we couldn't just go and wind the Couta on the deep ledges. So we landed up shallow ..then deep ...then on that end of the reef and..... then on the other.

I had my dive gear with for when I need to film the guys landing the fish from the water, unfortunately the vis was so bad this did not happen alot. I did manage to sneak a quick dive the one day when the vis was around 4-6m ... not the best when a couple km off shore. I managed a Couta of 13kg, but being ace out it was not the most pleasant experience.

The view from Casa Demar the lodge we stayed in.

 Out side of the green water the place is pretty cool, there are loads of waves to surf and beach is very picturesque. We stayed about half way up the reef at Casa Demar, which gave the guys access to the reefs 10km to either side. On the first 2 days the swell was big and the inside ledges were breaking a km out. A couple guys got smashed and lost a fair amount of gear when they got caught inside by the rouge sets.

Walley with just another Chidenguele Couta.

On the bright side I bumped into a South African chap who is commercial fishing there. He had some really interesting insight that might fair well for us spearfisherman. There is another ledge that runs even deeper about 16km off shore at the close side. He said it is almost always clean there and it comes up to 30m from out of 47m water. They often ... most days catch 20kg plus Couta there and he has gotten fish over 40kg.

On hearing this I went on a mission to get more info and some marks. Unfortunately through a comedy of errors, I got left behind at the lodge he was staying at and then proceeded to get horribly lost walking back to Casa Demar. My walk about took 3 hours the last hour in the pitch black of night. All I could hear was the sea as a reference so made for the beach and eventually made it back to the lodge. By then I had missed dinner and after a day paddling the ocean I was beat, so as you can well imagine there was very little comedy when I got back.

The upside is I have the marks and next opportunity I get I am seriously think about getting out to the deep marks off Chideguele, I think the place could be the spot to break that 30kg Couta mark.

Coatesman

Cyclones, Swell and the Beasterly Easterly

It has been over 20 days of predominately east winds on the coast. We had one day of light southerlies a week or so back, but it did little to effect the sea conditions. In December and January we had loads of rain which messed the vis up and we had brown river water 40 km out to sea in places. Then we have had 3 weeks of east winds which have brought in cold green water. About the only good thing has been the lack of rain with the east winds and the small rivers have almost dried back up.

With these rivers not pumping brown muck in the sea the vis has cleared some what and even though the water has been extremely cold for this time of the year there have been some fish around. There have been some shoal couta here and there and snoek allong the back line.

Mr Adjes with a quality Yellow Fin and Shoal Couta

This week however saw the beginning of the swell and those who braved the thumping sets were rewarded. The cyclone swell has continued to pick up and although is not as big as it could have been, its just too strong and messy to risk a swim.

There is southerly due on Sunday and this will hopefully drop the swell and turn the current. I know this is wishful thinking ...but we can only hope.

Lets see what next week brings.

Coatesman

Summer Spearfishing on the Coast

Some good sized Couta ..bring on the season!

The spearing season took a while to get going this year, I suppose it is not out of the norm that the Couta only pitch up properly in February anyway. We have had one or 2 days with fish, but the rain has played havoc and its been a matter of finding the clean patches along the coast.

Morne and I came right last week on late afternoon and got 3 or 4 good Couta each. I thought it was the beginning of the run, but the Couta have not really shown up in number, even though we have been diving hard since then.

Braidy with 2 nice snoek

The Snoek on the other hand showed up in force early this week, and most guys got some great fish. The shoals have seemed to move off to the south, as they have pretty much disapeared from the North Coast over the last 2 days. That said a mate of mine got 10 Snoek off Umhlanga yesterday and I heard that some Bluff guys got their quota of snoek off town somewhere. So who knows where they will be this weekend.

14kg Chanos Chanos

I dived this morning again in hope of finding the Couta or Snoek back on the reef at Salties. The swell was pumping and yesterdays rain water had made the vis terrible. I pushed some dives on the drop off hoping to find that the shoals of Couta were back but it was dead quiet. I decided to go look for snoek on the reef on the 13 -10m line where they were the previous week.

I was on the bottom gazing up looking for the silouets of the fish when this broad shape swam over me. At first I thought it was a shark, but on closer inspection i realised it was a fish. Prodical .. I thought ...no? It darted off the moment I moved up off the reef and did an arc. Just close enough for me to see that it was a Chano Chanos. I aimed at the now shape and fired. The fish bolted off stripping my reel and in no time I was on my buoy. Gee it was pulling hard! My flasher was 15m away and I tried to swim over to it and grab it, but the Chanos was way too strong. I did not want to loose my flasher so I let the fish go and swam for my flasher.

By the time I grabbed the flasher the fish had taken the buoy 50m away and it was not stopping. I gave chase hoping the fish would tire soon and I would catch up.
That was wishful thinking and it was 20min before I got to my buoy. I had forgotten how strong these are. I eventually landed the torpedo shaped fish, but only by a 'ball hair' as my shot had been quiet low.

The west is blowing now and sea should be good for the next few days if the rain stays away. I am not sure where the fish will be ...but we will keep looking.

Coatesman