Bonani Cele's First Fish

Bonani Cele with his first fish.

If you go into the back of the Rob Allen Dive Factory you will find a friendly face, the factory manager Bonani Cele. There is an interesting story behind this man. After years at the Dive Factory he became a little more than curious about spearfishing. This lead to him taking part in the PDI course with SAUFF a short while ago, where he was introduced to spearfish and water for the first time.

This weekend he joined Dane from the Dive Facs retail store for a dive off the piers in Durban. After a while and not seeing any fish Bonani ventured off over the sand and landed up in a shoal of Gunter. Congrats to Bonani, not too many guys can claim to have a class fish like this as their first fish.

Coatesman

Braidy's Grunter and Tassel

Braiden with a Grunter and Tassel shot off Salmon Bay

We sneaked off at 4pm for a quick arvo dive off one of the points. I had heard the water was clean and with the high tide hoped to get Braiden in the sea.

Boulders and Bog had some guys out so we shot off to Salmon bay. The sea was alive with small fish and the vis was very good. Braidy shot a good Tassel out of a small shoal, and then shot a rather large Stumpy, but it rolled in the sand and got off.

We hadn't gone too far when some Spotted Grunter pulled in and he landed a good one.

After this we headed off the bricks to look for snoek but it was quiet. It was almost dark when we finally got back to shore, but it must have only been just past 5 bells.

Looking good for the morning.

Coatesman

Should have dived again!

Had an early start at work again this morning and the sea looked epic. I did squeeze a dive in late last night and it was great. The vis was only about 5-6m with lots of little jelly and wiggly things, that the fish were feeding off.

I had got a call from a mate who had dived in the morning and he said that the snoek were loose, but that the water had turned a little green. I went any way and managed a nice snoek from a large shoal in about 10m.

I could not help but wonder what the fish were doing deeper out so I did not hang around for more snoek.
It was a bit gloomy with the vis and light fading but the sea was alive. I could hear some Dagga drumming away and tried to get close to the sound. There were the ever present Grunter .. one was easy in the 6-8kg bracket, but I could hear the Dagga and did not want to miss out on an opportunity.

On the one dive while returning to the surface 2 very big tuna swam over me. I tried to close the gap and succeeded at first swimming in the fishes blind spot. But the outside fish saw me and spooked the closer one. I just could not get close enough. They were barrels probably over 30-40kg ... I would have had to have been close with my 1.2m.

I dived until it was to dark to see any fish, quiet an experience. I hit the beach with a snoek and buggs .... an some amp for some tuna!!

On the weather side the east will probably mess things up today. Its a pity the dive would have been good with the nice weather we have been having. There looks like a south will come through at the end of the week, so the weekend looks promising for a change.

On the synoptic chart there ate two strong cold fronts that will pass us. Fortunately it looks like they will go under us and not push too much swell. It would be nice if they blow for a day and send some clean water.

Also dont forget the comps coming up:

The DUC open is on the 14th July
Wahoo winter Game fish at Vidal 28th July

For more details visit www.salty-diver.com and check the forums.

See you out there

Coatesman

Winter, Swell and Spotted Grunter

Anther beut morning, we dived on a nice spot in about 18m near Salt Rock. And the sea was alive, we swam out before dark and waited for it to get light. The water was about 6 -8m which was great.

The shoal of spotted grunter that have been on this reef for weeks was still there. The grunter have gotten smaller but the shoal seems to be very strong.

We did not see any cuta ... damn... I suppose the north coast is a hit and miss affair this time of year.

The swell was up this morning and we almost caned the dive. I got a look at Ballito at about 8am from a building site I had to visit. And watched some perfect 5ft sets roll in. The down side is that the banks are still stuffed and these perfect swells hardly produced a ridable wave.

The forecast looks good for tomorrow and if the swell does not stir things up to much we will be in for a good day tomorrow.

Spot ya out there.

Coatesman