2014 Port Elizabeth Spearfishing Nations Day 1

Day 1 Leader Charlie Myburgh

This year’s nationals in PE got off to a great start!
We have a really good attendance this year with 8 teams participating in the competition, with a nice surprise in that EP represented a Veteran’s team as well.
We had the re appearance of the Western Province teams which was super encouraging to see!

Day 1 kicked off with a beautiful sunny day (never guaranteed in the windy city) so we decided to take full advantage of the conditions and run the team event as well as an individual event overlapping on the same day. The conditions in PE can be quite inconsistent hence deciding to run these 2 categories together.

Great conditions for Day 1 at SA Spearfishing Nationals

Conditions in the morning were light winds and the sea swell slightly large but not too bad and the visibility looked really good. We wasted no time and all headed out and met on the backline Richard Snoek Lenard blew the hooter and it was go time. The day went off very well. It was quite a scratch as there weren’t too many fish around.
This was good in a way for Nationals as it really tests the skill levels of the divers. The first dive area which was chosen for Day 1 was Area One. When we got out there the vis was even better than expected with some marks holding 6-10 meters vis, again excellent conditions for PE.
The wind rose slightly in the afternoon but it wasn’t too bad and the visibility remained very good. The diving was tough however and the fish were not plentiful often found in deeper water, around the 20 meter mark.

12kg White Muscle Cracker - Rupert Dorfiling

All divers were out the water at 2pm and back on the beach for weigh in at 3. We saw some impressive catches coming in one being a 12kg White Musclecracker taken by Rupert Dorfiling. Another great fish that was taken was a good size Yellowtail by Charlie Myburgh. Then lots of other great fish like Miss Lucy’s, Bank Steenbras, Poenskop and many others, with the lucky EP A-Team managing to land a couple nice Bank Steenbras.

Richard Leonard with good size Bankie

So lots of fish taken in some tough conditions hunting wise but disappointingly, no one appeared to have taken their 10 species of fish, but considering the challenging diving, not bad for the first days diving.

Day 1 Results for the South African Spearfishing National Championships as follows:

On day 1 For the Individuals:

• Charlie Mayberg is leading in the individuals category
• Richard Leonard is leading in the development division

Names are in order from first to 10th place:

1. Charlie Mayberg
2. Eugene van Wyngaardt
3. Neil Bamard
4. Guy Le Meme
5. Heinrigh Eksteen
6. Angelo Spada
7. Robert Moreland
8. Graeme Forrer
9. Corrie Versluis
10. Rowan Carter

It looks like we will get another 3 dive days in this week which will nullify the existing individual points standing. We will only be announcing the Team events results at prize giving.

Mozambique Miracle Spearfishing Episode 2

Here is the second episode in the epic Mozam Miracle Series. Here Richard 'Snoek' Leonard lands his personal best Dog Tooth Tuna, and also takes time out to share some of his secrets on filming spearfishing with a GoPro camera.


For More on Gopro Setups, Tips and Tricks for Spearfishing
Get the whole 'Behind the Lens Series' by Richard here Spearfishing GoPro Setups and Instruction Series

If you missed the first killer episode here it is:

If you can't see the videos view them on YouTube here:
Mozam Miracle Episode 1
Mozam Miracle Episode 2

The next one will be out in the next few weeks ... and its the grand finale!!

Hope you enjoy

Coatesman

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

Spearfishing a Black Marlin with Tim McDonald

Great video of Tim McDonald Spearfishing a Black Marlin

It is very rare that spearfisherman catch massive marlin, and then its even less common to have the whole hunt captured on film.
Tim McDonald from Queensland Australia shoots and lands a 138kg (305lb) Black Marlin on a reelgun. The fish towed Tim around for some time before subduing the massive fish.
Watch this amazing video edited by Richard Leonard - Spearfishing Black Marlin - Tim McDonald

Enjoy

Coatesman