Daga Salmon Time

James "Hogga" Bieth 35,3kg Daga Salmon

One of the best things about spearfishing in winter on the KZN coast is the fact that the Daga Salmon start to make their appearance. James Bieth headed up the coast last week and landed up getting a really good Daga Salmon.

This is his PB and he said that it was literally the last down for the day. James said that he saw a smaller one come in and dash out before he could get a shot, only to swim a bit further to see the 35kg fish lying near a ledge.

Well done to James I know he has been hunting this fish for a good few years, so Kudos to you. Lets hope that this is the first of many good Daga this season.

Coatesman

Spearfishing Stories Coming True

35.5kg Daga Salmon - Chris Coates - KZN North Coast

You hear these stories about guys getting awesome fish that just make you green with envy. Up our way the tallest of those stories is usually centered around some one 'lucking' a big Daga Salmon. I have had 2 mates that have shot 40kg fish in 2-3m of water puddle jumping off a point. Then there is the 'sleeping' fish story, a guy goes down and finds a fish just lying there. Swims up to it and shoots it, game over!
Oh and don't forget the 'beginners luck' story, how many times have hear of some newby shooting an awesome fish? In fact it was only a month ago some chap in a surf suit and plastic fins got a monster salmon off Shieffield on a reef that I have dived a thousand times and never seen one.

Call it 'luck' but you cant take it away from the guys they walked up the beach with the fish and you didn't. Then there is the earned fish, the ones you target and do the hard yards to get. Daga off the wrecks is a good example, put it what ever way you like its just not easy diving. ....unless you are Jaco!

So where am I going with all this?

Daga have just been an elusive fish for me. It took years to even see one. Then some more years to get one. Then even more years to get one over 20kg, and despite doing the hard yards on the wrecks and get a number of good fish. It just seem like I was never going to break the 30kg mark. What makes it worse I dive with guys that sometimes break the 30kg barrier on a weekly basis ...... it just pisses me off!

So with all our record rains messing the sea up and being on the back end of Daga season. I kinda had written of this being my season, that was of course until yesterday. Desperate for a dive I got my Mrs to drop me off at one of the local spots that looked like it had some dive-able water in between 2 large patched of yukky river water. When I got there I was kind of committed to go, either that or go pick up kids and go shopping, guess what I chose? The water was not looking great and I grumpily put my gear on and headed off, knowing I was probably going to be 'mulleting' around in 2-3m vis in a futile mission looking for shadows.

Long story short the water was not as bad as I had expected and I landed up on one of my favorite ledges. (one that apparently guys have gotten Daga on, but after 20years I have yet to see one there.)
Anyway after diving the ledge for almost an hour I do a dive right under my buoy that is reefed over the ledge. I hit the bottom and scan around to again see very little. Then out the corner of my eye there is this thing that is not reef next to me. I turn and look, my brain does not even register  ..... I swear I though it was a Skate at first. "DAGA" my salt saturated brain finally kicks in, and starts to process at a gazillion terrabites a millisecond. All I can think of as I bring my gun around is when is this going to bolt and wave me good bye, but it just sat there. As I get my gun up and start to aim it sluggishly moves away little, giving me a perfect 45 degree shot above the pec and out the gill plate.

So not only did I pop the 30kg mark, I clapped an absolute sitter! I no longer have to go, " why cant I just dive down and plugg one."  I have gotten my 'luck' shot ...too stoked. Best of all now I have my own 'camp fire' story to tell.

Coatesman

World Spearfishing Record Daga Mulloway

New World Spearfishing Record Daga Salmon 57.4kg

Great news!! Jaco Blignaut's 57.4kg Daga Salmon (Argyrosomus Japonicus) A.K.A Mulloway has been accepted as a New World Spearfishing Record but the IUSA (International Underwater Spearfishing Association)

Go to World Spearfishing Record Mulloway to see the official record.

Jaco on the cover of USM with a 35kg Daga 

The Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine has used a pic of Jaco which I took of him off Durban on the cover of the next mag to celebrate the Jaco 57.4kg Daga been awarded the South African Record. See previous blog post: South African Spearfishing Record Daga .

So a big congratulations to Jaco on his South African and World Spearfishing record fish. Everybody stand up and give the man a round of applause!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Daga / Mulloway Record

New South African and Pending World Spearfishing Record Daga Salmon 57kg - Jaco Bilgnaut

Great news Jaco Blignaut's 57.4kg (Argyrosomus Japonicus) Daga Salmon has been accepted as a  new South African spearfishing record. It has also been submitted for the IUSA World spearfishing record and we wait patently to hear if it has been accepted.

Jaco is arguably the best diver in the country and is right up there with the best in the world. He is also one of the absolute masters at shooting Daga. Probably because he dives all the spots no one else can dive. His article on the record fish that is going in the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine talks about some of his Daga spots being in up to 40m! So it is good to see him get the recognition he deserves.

Congrats to Jaco on a fine fish, I guess it was only a matter of time before he got a crazy record like this!

Coatesman

Spearfishing Daga Salmon in Durban Bay

Good sized Daga Salmon speared off the wrecks.

The late winter this will not be remembered for its diving. The conditions have just been terrible, with cold green water plaguing our coast. Even after a number of westerlies that normally clean things up the sea remained undiveable.
This week saw the first break in the conditions and we were able to get back in the water. The large swell meant that the only launchable spot was in the bay in Durban. Not a bad thing as you can get to all the wrecks and containers as well as all the reefs further north.

The first few spots we looked at were horrible, and diving 28m in only a meter or so vis is not fun. But as we worked our way north the vis improved. We stopped at the wreck of the Fontao, I did not even think to take my camera as the previous spots were not good.

As always I am a little slow off the mark and the other guys dived down while I was still prepping tom dive.
Not wanting to go over where they had been I drifted back in the current. Knowing that this would probably put me off the wreck and in deeper water than I would have liked I took my time.

When I hit the sand the wreck was just visible, and the water was actually very clean. Next thing a whole shoal of Daga came swimming in to have a look and with them 3 or 4 Iggies aswell. What a sight .... absolute eye candy!!! Its times like that you really need the camera.

Not wanting to blow the opportunity and land up having night mares reliving the scene over and over in my head I made sure on a fish that gave me a good shot.

The wrecks are super fun, but you need to be fit. With the diving being so bleak the 26-28m dives became quiet difficult after a while.

We did manage another Daga and some good sized Grunter. Not bad for morning out!

Lets hope we get some more ...

Coatesman

Spearfishing the Transkei

Richard Leonard popping his Daga Cherry

Spearfishing the Transkei for the first time is always an experience one does not forget. My mate Richard Leonard the director of the OneFish DvD we did last year has just come back from his first trip in the Kei.
From the sounds of things they got some class fish, including Rich getting his first Daga Salmon and a nice one at that.

Daryl with a trophy Steenbras

Rich was fortunate to go up with some mates that really know the place well, which translated into some very special fish. It also sounds like they got lucky with the vis and weather ... something that does not always come together down there.

A frame grab off the some of their video footage of the Steenbras.

I am hoping to head down to the Kei some time soon. There is the Border Open which will be in November, which is later than usual. That means there probably wont be Steenbras around but the Cracker should be thick. If you want to go down down load the Border Open Entry Form

Coatesman

Durban Spearfishing Cooks

21+ Orang Spot Grouper

There is a reason that at this time of the year some of KZN's best divers stay at home an dive the Durban basin. The water is all ways good but when you find the fish ... you find the fish!
This past week while the North Coast was murky and not very pleasant, Durban had good water and the fish came on. But this is not for your doppie diver most of the diving is between 26 and 30m and even if you can dive that depth you need to beat guys like Brod, Staats and G-Lem to the spot ..... not lightly.

With Dagga the main course, and huge shoals of Grunter as the side dish its no surprise that there were more than a few guys not at work last week Even the odd Couta came out off the Bluff side. But the fish of the week must go to Brod for a 21+kg Orange Spot Grouper, that is a fantastic fish in any water let alone Durban!

G-Lem and a good Dagga, with some more fish on the floor.

It is a pity the conditions did not hold for the weekend and the Hibiscus Gamefish Comp. Most guys decided to dive the shoal area and it was just one of those days when the fish were not there. The winning fish landed up being a Garrick and not too many other decent fish being weighed.

This week looks promising, the big east swell came and wrecked the good vis that moved in over the weekend. Hopefully it will subside and give us a gap to get in.

Coatesman

Spearfishing Update - Marcus 38kg Daga Salmon

Marcus Potgieter 38kg Daga - Umhlanga

Not too much has been happening this past week and weekend. The wind just not stopped. Sunday was looking good, but I did not hear of too many fish coming out.

Last week Marcus found a gap in the wind and managed to bag himself a great Daga of 38kg. I think that he will be the envy of most spearo's, myself included!

The sea looks mank again for the next few days ..hopefully the next few small southerlies will be good for us.

Coatesman

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

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

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

Spearfishing in the Gap

Garrick with a 38kg Daga speared of Durban

With all the wild weather the sea was a mess before the weekend. But rumors of clean water off Durban filtered through and the guys who heard the call and took the gap came right.
Garrick clapped this 38kg beast off the Fontao.
And I heard stories of some daga off the Nebo aswell.

Up the coast there was also a small gap on Sunday before the wind and the snoek were loose. One chap clapped a couple but got taxed before he could hit the beach. I tried later on Sunday bt the wind really messed things up, and it will go down as not one of my best dives ever!

The east is pumping and it looks like the sea will return to being upside down!! But there is hope for Saturdays dive ... Who knows?

Look out for that Gap!!

Coatesman