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

World Spearfishing Record Video

If you cant see the video go to Spearfishing World Record Grouper

Here is episode 6 in the Onefish International spearfishing segment. In this episode Austine Derry hunts White Sea Bass and Kingfish. The highlite is Richard Balta's massive World Spearfishing Record Gulf Grouper. Have a look at the IUSA official Record - World Record Gulf Grouper For more videos and great Youtube clips visit the IN THE ZONE  SPEARFISHING VIDEO CHANNEL  Coatesman Book your own Mozambican Spearfishing Adventure go to: Spearfishing Charters Mozambique

Spearfishing with Cameron Kirkconnell

Cameron Kirkconnell is one of the guys you hear of a fair bit in spearfishing circles. His blog SpearBlog.Com is an institution and one I follow on a weekly basis. Aside from that a couple world records and a host of other notches in his belt I am mostly jealous of  the great spearfishing trips he does all around the world. ...it sounds like he dives even more than I do!

We actually featured a section of him in our very successful film OneFish in this section he shoots a world record Black Fin Tuna and a host of other great fish ... See below or Spearfishing with Cameron Kirkconnell

His most famous record is his Dogtooth Tuna World Record he got in Indo of 91kg although he did get one even bigger last year in Tanzania but because of a mess up with paper work and licensing in the area the record  has not been acknowledged yet.

For more on Cameron Kirkconnell's Spearfishing visit his Cameron's Facebook page or go to his profile on Onefish: Cameron Kirconnell

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

World Spearfishing Record Tanzania

Tanzanian World Record 5.3kg  Blue Lined Large Eye Bream by Eric Allard

For years Eric Allard of OWEA has been lobbying for the legalisation of Spearfishing in Tanzania. He has been in successfully getting permits for certain areas which has meant that for the first time a World Spearfishing Record has been acknowledged in the area.

The International Underwater Spearfishing Association (IUSA) World Record 5.3 kg Blue Lined Large Eye Bream (gymnocranius grandoculis) was speared off Leven Bank, Zanzibar. View Record Here
This is significant as this will further help the authorities in Tanzania to see and understand the the sport of spearfishing as a valuable asset to the region.

Congrats and well done to Eric and his team at OWEA.

Coatesman

Walter Shoal Spearfishing Expidition

I recently got back from out voyage to the Walter's Shoal 1250km South East of Durban. The took 4 days travel either way and we got caught up in some horrendous seas. When we eventually got there the vessel were were on called the Thomas B Davie did a quick servey of the area and generated a contour map of the southern portion of the reef.

Walter Shoal 1250km from Durban

The first day was rather rough but we still got some good Cape Tail, The biggest being 17kg. The conditions were not great and we spent the second of the 4 days at the shoal on board as the swell was up to 12m and the wind was pumping properly. We managed to get in the next day and Karl Maingard got a really good Cape Yellow Tail of over 25kg. But we had not found a really good spot, well not one with hundreds of fish at least.That afternoon the Boys from The Cape Niel Barnard and Jan Nel found a great spot, there were hundreds of Galapagos sharks and some good amberjack. Niel also shot a really big White Kingfish a kind of cross between an Amberjack and Kingfish and a Rubberlips.

Chris Coates 16kg Cape Tail & Karl Maingard 25kg Cape Yellow Tail

The spot furthermost south on the Shoal seemed to be the place and we headed there on the last morning. The conditions were the best we had had on the trip and we greeted by some nice clean water around 20m vis and 19 deg. There were loads of sharks and every time they came in so did the Tail and Amberjack.
We got a great mixed bag with some good Tropicals, Greater Amberjack and Cape Tail. Jeremy Williams got a good tropical of 16kg and a big Tail. Niel got a Tail of 17kg amongst some other good fish.

A good mixed bag of fish at the Walter Shoal

I had a really good day with a 16kg Amberjack, a 15kg Tail, a 12kg Tropical, and an 11.955kg White Kingfish. Bringing my PB's broken on the trip to 4 .... not too many trips you can achieve this!
The high light was realising that the White Kingfish (Psuedocaranx Dentex) was double the current IUSA world spearfishing record. We took care to measure and weigh the fish according to the rules and have applied for the record.

Pending IUSA World Spearfishing Record White Trevally 10.955kg - Chris Coates

We seriously only scratched the surface out there and I am sure there are even more records to be broken out there. Getting there is the only problem .....

Check out the full story: Spearfishing Expedition to Walter Shoal

Coatesman

World Record Dog Tooth Tuna

Pending World Record Dog Tooth Tuna 110kg - Tanzania - Cameron Kirkconnell

The World Record Dog Tooth Tuna Record was smashed twice in one day in Tanzania recently. Brad Thornbrough broke the record first while Cameron Kirkconnell was filming. Shortly later Cameron shot one slightly bigger. This is what Cameron had to say:

The fish was so big that despite having the chance for a head shot on him I changed my aim and shot him in the same place as the last really big one I’d landed knowing that the shot would hold and take out his propulsion. The fish was much much much bigger than I thought though. When I was on my way back to the surface I looked at Brad Thornbrough and spread my arms as wide as I could underwater to show him it was massive then hit the surface and he asked, ‘How big was it? World Record?’
At the time I said not that big but definitely over 150 lbs. When it came to the surface though we started flipping out and knew it was over the 200 lb mark.
On the beach the scale dropped to a staggering 243lbs shattering the old record (201lbs)
check out Cameron's blog for more.... Spearblog.Com

Who would have thought that a Dog Tooth Tuna over 100kg would ever be landed.... Bloody Amazing!

Coatesman

Pending World Spearfishing Record Dive at 60m

Trevor Hutton has a pending world record for spearfishing at a depth of 60m, on a constant weight dive. The dive took place on wednesday 22 July 2009, at no.1 fishing ground. off Durban, & fish taken was a Natal Steenbras.Check out this Youtube Vid: Click Here if the vid does not show up

Also pop into Trevor's blog to read his account of the day. ...very cool

Coatesman

William Trubridge - Freediving World Record no fins 88m

How is this for diving?? Imagine having this ability and spearing ... it would just be unfair!!

William Trubridge broke the world record in Unnasisted Freediving (Constant Weight No Fins - the purest expression of freediving) with a dive to 88m (288ft) in 3 minutes 30 seconds. 

This was at the Vertical Blue 2009 Invitational Freediving competition, held at Dean's Blue Hole, on Long Island in the Bahama between April 1-11.

Check out this Vid or Click Here if it does not come up.

I think this is mind blowing ....dont you think??

Coateman

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

Giant Wahoo Dreams

With the summer holidays coming up, warm water and tropical dive locations ..... my mind is clouded with visions of Wahoo. I just hoping to spearfish just one Wahoo! I have got one of 24.5kg before so I am super keen to break the 30kg barrier, no harm in dreaming :-)



Giant Wahoo!! Either this guy is very small or this Wahoo is just a Pig!!!

You can see that it was probably caught on rod and reel. There is no holes and the streak lines down the belly are typical markings from the leader line.

But hang what a Pig!!!

World Record 83,46kg Wahoo caught off Pez Espada out of Cabo San Lucas

And here is a woman who broke 3 World records with this 180 pounder .... I want one just half that and I would flip!!

World Spearfishing Record for Wahoo - Bruce Gaudino 56.75 kg

And here is the Current World Spearfishing Record for Wahoo, caught off La Paz bay off the north end of Cerralvo Island. Damn!!

Gee I better get back to work and stop dreaming!!!

Coatesman