MJK Spearfishing Lazarus Banks

MJK 65kg Dog Tooth Tuna - Lazarus banks

I have been away for weeks now guiding different spearfishing trips and adventures. One of the standouts was the week spent with Mohammed Al Kuwari out on the famous Lazarus banks in northern Mozambique. it was the first time I had guided out there so I teamed up with Eric Allard, who has been running charters there for the last year already and has access to good boats. Because Lazarus is so far from shore we needed a live-aboard which meant that we literally just did the 'eat-sleep-dive' thing for over a week.

We were also filming MJK's segment for a new film 'In The Zone' is working on. Richard 'Snoek' Leonard came out to direct the shoot and be extra hands and eyes in the water. Lazarus was perfect for filming with its crystal clean water and shoals of Doggies and Sharks.

Lazarus is an amazing spot, and has some incredible Dog Tooth Tuna. The shallow structure and numerous coral bommies meant that landing the fish was easier said that done. The Doggies were also very cunning and after the first few drifts would sit just a little bit deeper, close enough to pick out the big ones, but just too far for a perfect shot. You learn very fast that unless its the shot is the most perfect you have ever had and that you are 100% sure of hurting or stoning the fish its just not worth taking. Broken steel cable is testament to this, the big Dogs are just insanely powerful.

Mohammed who is known for his epic kill shots was on a good run at first with 3 kill shots (or as we joke with him "MJK shots") in a row. With a prize 65kg Doggie rolling over with a perfect MJK shot, possibly one of the best shots I have ever seen. The good run came to an abrupt end when he shot an even bigger fish. The fish rolled over and we were almost about to celebrate when the fish woke up, it did a slow dazzed circle around us at 30m and then disappeared with 2 x 35l and 2 x 11l floats. We eventually got the floats back, and the steel shooting line had sheared off!! So you can only imagine what happens if your shot is bad.

MJK with a 45kg Lazarus GT

Giant Kingfish are also numerous on the Lazarus and we saw shootable fish every day. MJK took one and it weighed in at 45kg, but I think if we were not focusing on Doggies we would have found a bigger one. Then again we were focusing on great fish on film so we also only took the shots where everything was perfect.

Rich, MJK, And myself

Lazarus is fairly big and a week is not enough time to explore all the spots. We would have loved to have stayed on for more days but we were limited to how long we could stay out there by how long the ice that was keeping the fish would last. So we left feeling like we need more days :-) I guess that's not a bad thing. It just means we will have to go back.

Lazarus is a serious logistical mare, yachts, boats flights and of course this all means that its not cheap. But if you have the means, then this is definitely a place you need to add to your bucket list.

Coatesman

Top Shots - Spearfishing Series - Giant Trevally Showdown

Top Shots - Spearfishing Series - Giant Trevally Showdown

Here is the next Spearfishing Top Shots video from In The Zone Productions. This one is really cool as there is a voting thing where the viewers choose the best shot between two guys and their big Iggies.

The video has an Iggie (Ignobilis) from Gerhard Vosloo and one from Rodney Ive. There has been a fair bit of a tussle going on the voting poll to who has the best shot. Guys are seriously analysing each shot down to the bone!! It's got quiet heated once or twice as it does on facebook.
Check it out: Giant Trevally Showdown Poll

If you have not seen it yet check it out here: Spearfishing Top Shots

Cheers

Coatesman

Brazilian Record Breaking Mozambique Spearfishing Adventure

Christopher Ananiadis - 50kg Ignobilis Kingfish

I recently returned from an epic spearfishing trip to Mozambique with some guys from Brazil. Christopher Ananiadis and his friends Guilherme Azevedo and Alex Talarico came out to dive the untouched waters 'some where' between Xai-Xai and Inhaca Island with me.
Christopher being and ex-South African had been to Mozambique before, but for the other guys this was their first time, so expectations were high. Fortunately everything from weather to the crazy fish, Mozambique did not disappoint.

This trip was very different from previous trips for me as the guys from Brazil are not accustomed to doing the typical 'blue water' type diving looking for game fish with a flasher. And preferred to scout the amazing reef systems for an amazing variety of reef fish. On many occasions there was the, "I saw a strange fish with ......are they good to eat, can we shoot those?"

Guilherme Azevedo - 21.65kg Indian Mirror Fish

The guys got some really good fish with a number of fish even bigger than or near the current IUSA world records. Christopher got 2 Purple Cod (White Blotched Grouper) 14.5kg and 13.3kg both bigger than the current 12.5kg record.

Guilherme got a Indian Mirror Fish of 21.65kg (Indian Thread Fish - Alectis Indica or African Pompano - Alectis Ciliaris) if it is the Alectis Indica it almost doubles the previous world record!!!

Alex got a Pickhandle Barracuda of 14.8kg which was over a 1kg of the current world record. With this fish we were ready with the measuring tape and made sure we had all the details to claim the record.

Christopher Ananiadis - 14.5kg White Blotched Grouper

The highlight has to have been the GT's (Giant Travelly - Ignobilis Kingfish) Two of the spots consistently produced good fish. The one is a small bump far north that comes up to 15m and is a mecca for a huge variety of kingfish species.
The one time Guilherme shot a 30kg GT and I dived down to film it when a massive 50kg fish came in. Christopher managed to get down quick enough and land a good shot. Both had massive tussles with their fish and it is a moment I will remember for ever.
The other GT spot is a different deal altogether. It is a deep reef that only comes up to 45m, but there are fish almost from the surface all the way down. It is insane! To geth to the GT's you have to dive through Rainbow Runners and baitfish, then through the Bludgers, Big eyes and Yellow Tails. Then through the sharks and when you reach 30 m you wil see the schools of GT's. The trick was being able to keep real calm and allow them to come in close. Christopher even hid behind some sharks the one time in order to get a shot in. It is one crazy place.

Christopher on the hunt

 For me tho it was great to dive and chase Christopher around the ocean and taking photos. Even though he has been out of competitive diving for a round a decade he has to be one of the best divers I have dived with. His dive rate is exceptional and he had me asking him to slow down on more than a few occasions. I recon he would give the boys back home a good run for their money ...

Alexandre Talarico - 14.8kg Pickhandle Barracuda (WR pending)

All in all this was a brilliant trip, and the move north turned out to be very rewarding. We did land up traveling long distances, but I guess that is what it takes to find the good fish.

Join Coatesman on your own Mozambique Spearfishing Adventure - Read Here


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

Spearfishing Madagascar & the Casor Banks

I have just gotten back from an exploratory spearfishing trip to Madagascar. The Ultimate Spearfishing mag and a journalist from the French magazine Apnea were invited out to Nosy Sakatia by the spearfishing charter Orca Sakatia run by Craig Scott.

A Castor Banks Dog Tooth Tuna

I dont want to give too much away as we will be doing a full article in the next edition of the mag. But I have to tell you that it is off the hook! We only managed to get out to Castor Banks once as it is 80km out to sea!! But when you get there you will flip your lid. Castor Banks has to be the best place I have ever spearfished ...hands down. On 2 occasions I saw Black Marlin, one was a beast the other was probably about 150kg. We saw Sailfish on numerous occasions and there were Wahoo and Iggies every where. And thats only what you see from the surface!! When you get to 20-25m as you approach the drop off there are Dog Tooth Tuna  that swim at you like Salad fish only a 100 times bigger.

Dane Salmon happy finally have one Doggie in the hand.

The problem with a place like that is that you let fish of a lifetime just swim past, because once you have seen Marlin, Sailfish and 60plus kg Doggies thats all that you will settle for. I pulled back on shots on 30kg plus Ignobilis Kingfish and countless Wahoo. The prize was the Dogtooth, and putting spears into the Doggies was easy, the hard part was landing the fish. I lost and broke 5 spears and rigs, and I was only shooting the Dogtooth tuna I could get the best shots on. Even when you shoot a 40-50kg Dogtooth in the head you get snapped up. Dane shot what I think was a 60kg fish, I was on the bottom and saw the whole thing. It looked like he spined the fish and it went down doing somersaults, that fish some how still had plenty of life and it bolted off only to snap the metal clip on his line.

Ronan with his Sailfish

While Dane and I tried in vain to land a big Doggie, Ronan Bourhis the French journalist managed to get close to a Sailfish and landed a good one. We did manage to get a few small fish, but the Doggies beat us :-(
I think next time I will be whole lot wiser and more prepared...... Like take a whole bunch of spears prepared!

Coatesman

Join me on a spearfishing adventure of a lifetime to Madagascar & the famous Castor Banks - FIND OUT MORE HERE
SPEARFISHING MADAGASCAR | CASTOR BANKS & NOSY BE

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

Potential SA spearfishing record Ignobilis Kingfish

Rhyno Linde - Massive Giant Kingfish at Bunga Nek

Rhyno Linde has just shot a Giant Kingfish up at Bunga Nek at the No13 beacon. The fish has bottomed out a 70kg scale!! This will smash the Sa spearfishing record if it can be verified and all the paper work is in place.

I will get more info and post it asap. .....what I want to know is what the 4km walk back to the camp with this fish was like!!

Coatesman

Ignobilis World Spearfishing Record

Pending World Spearfishing Record 70kg Caranx Ignobilis - Giant Kingfish shot by Alan (Moo) Fraser.

Alan (Moo) Fraser shot a huge 70kg Ignobilis off Mozambique. As far as we understand it is a pending World Spearfishing Record. 

The current World-record Giant Trevally for men is 65.4 kilograms by Travis Kashiwa ..click here

If it is not accepted as a World record ... its still counts ...some how!

Coatesman

Braiden's First Iggie

Braiden Coates Ignobilis Kingfish

Friday afternoon had epic conditions, the water was warm, blua and the was almost no swell. I decided to take my son Braiden for a dive, and at 11years he is becoming quiet the little diver.

We dived off a local point with a small reef in about 8m of water just a short distance off the backline. I was hoping to see some snoek or even a lost Garrick .... there have still been the odd one coming out.

Anyway we were at the drop off and in this cave was this little Iggie, Braidy tried acouple times to get down, and into the cave. But his ears were giving him hastles and could just not get deep enough to get an angle to see the fish.

So I decided to chase the fish out the cave hoping Braidy would get a shot, the fish darted out and Braidy had dived in the wrong direction missing the fish. Next thing the fish comes back to the cave, Braidy dives down before it can get inside and he nailed it!

It wasn't massive but hey its an Iggie ... not sure too many 11 year olds can clame an Iggie?

Coatesman