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The Bears weekend Dive Report 26-02-2021

Master-Jaco-Blignaut-with-a-new-SA-record-Amber-52.4kg-boatdive-South

The Bears weekend Dive Report 26-02-2021

“Bang on time the weekend dive report came out on video on YouTube on Friday, and today on the Master Watermen. Next week we will do it all same time! Shot Bear, for the great work man! – Xona”

Hi and welcome to The Bears weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za an
masterwatermen.co.za.

Weekend Dive Report

Well peeps it’s been a great week for the lucky few that managed to find decent viz and those that
braved the large surf that was cooking up and down the coast. Mackies were around in numbers
with more Snoek than you could shake a stringer at and some decent Couta around as well all mostly
just above shoal size with no Crocs being shot and landed. Some were sited though but goggles tend
to make things bigger in the water right? Ha ha ha ha…

That is the good news…the bad news is that late Wednesday night through to Thursday morning the
heavens opened up properly and killed the decent viz that had just pulled in up and down the coast!
Every river (read streamlet drain etc etc) spewed chocolate into the blue which is now been turned
into BLEEN (brown green that was blue)!

Oh the BLEAKNESS!

Fish

Onto the feeshies from the week we have Arno with a decent 18kg Couta shot up North, Connie
Hallowell with his 1 st Couta up North, Henry with a lovely brace of Rock salmon, Liam Mullaney with
a special Speckled snapper North, Master Dane Salmon with a bus Tomato rockod of 4.5Kg gutted
on a boatdive South, Matthew Bothma with his 1 st Snoek shorediving North, Morne with a lovely 7kg
Snoek shorediving Durban, Ruan Potgieter with his 1 st Rock salmon shoredive North, Troy Ellof with a
size Harry hotlips 7.3Kd shoredive Durban and last but not Least Master Jaco Blignaut with a new SA
record Amberjack of 52.4kg shot boatdiving South at 45m. You can read more about this insane
Amberjack in the news article here https://masterwatermen.co.za/2021/02/23/new-south-african-
spearfishing-record-greater-amberjack-52-4kg/

Weather

Right let’s see what the weather gods have in store for us this weekend…hmmm Durban and North
coast are looking great with a light offshore Saturday morning switching to light onshore in the arvo
and South pretty much the same just will be puffin slightly more in the arvo. Saturday swell is zip
Durban and North coast Picking up slightly in the arvo and 1.3 m further down South to 1.8m in the
arvo. Sunday is pretty much a copy of Saturdays weather just slightly more onshore wind in the arvo
and the surf starting off bigger in the South and mellowing later as the onshore flattens it out.
So it’s definitely a dive weekend especially if you have a boat (or a mate with one)!

Oh and do not forget to renew your East coast rock lobster permit …Monday the season opens again!
As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Master Watermen website and YouTube Channel love to feature stories from you. If you have a story, video or some pics, please consider sending it in to The Bear for consideration. He is on n3ptun3dc@gmail.com anytime!

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New South African Spearfishing record Greater Amberjack 52.4Kg (Seriola dumerili)

Jaco Blignaut 52kg amberjack new South African record spearfishing

New South African Spearfishing record Greater Amberjack 52.4Kg  (Seriola dumerili)

The KZN South Coast is a hot spot for giant greater amberjack. And ace spearo Jaco Blignaut just keeps breaking records. Even if they are his own! – By Jason Heyne

Well champ Master Jaco Blignaut was at it again this weekend (21 February 2021) breaking South African records with a BUS Amber of 52.4kg. Eclipsing his previous standing SA record shot in 2019  by a whopping 15.6kg (36.8kg)!

These fish are infamous for busting up gear and putting even experienced divers in trouble especially when shot at depth with the go-to shot placement being through the gill plates. Which seems to slow these steam trains down if you can’t place a kill shot. Through the body shot normally results in a goodbye spear and or a serious knitting session of line through the reef.

I caught up with the Champ last night and he says he tried for the kill shot but just missed the switch box (brain) at a depth of 45m on a mark down KZN South coast and so ensued a 20 minute plus battle with this beast of a fish. Jaco reckons the fish took all his line on both gun and belt reels (about 100m or so) and he nearly had to ditch the whole rig! 

Jaco says it was shot with a prototype 1m inverted roller gun he has been developing @salt_refelex. He recons he has put 3 years of RnD into the roller head already! Hopefully I can get a go with this sick puppy when it’s ready for testing and write up a review…nudge nudge, wink wink Jaco!

Oh and NO the fish did not fit in the HATCH!

Well done Master Jaco Blignaut!

The Master Watermen

The Master Watermen website and YouTube channel are off to a flying start. And Jason’s weekly news-style video roundup, with conditions forecast and other useful tidbits, is going to a regular thing to look forward to. Every Friday!

Website by The Sardine News for the Master Watermen. If you have some news for Jason to include in his weekly roundup or as a feature like this one, then drop him an email on n3ptun3dc@gmail.com anytime!

The Master Watermen is about to launch its very own advertising platform. Starting at R1200 per year, your brand and contact details can be all over this website. For more comprehensive online marketing, we do it all. Check it out at TLC 4 your Business (partner), right here.

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Bear weekend Dive Report 19-02-2021

The Master Watermen website and YouTube Channel love to feature stories like this. If you have a story, video or some pics, please consider sending it in to The Bear for consideration. He is on n3ptun3dc@gmail.com anytime! SEO by The Sardine News for the Master Watermen. Site and hosting by TLC for your Business. Dive Report.

Bear weekend Dive Report 19-02-2021

Jason Heyne getting to grips with his new broadcasting software, allowing us an almost 3D Bear weekend Dive Report 19-02-2021.

“Hi and welcome to the Bear’s weekend Dive Report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and Master
watermen.co.za.
Well peeps it’s pretty much been a nothing doing week due to some inclement weather , larger swell
and viz being hard to find.
Some fish did come out though and we have Christo Muller with a Dorado on a boatdive off Durban
followed by Hennie boatdiving down South with a size Seapike and an exceptional Dageraad which
are like hens teeh to find in KZN waters, then last but not least we have Keaton from the “putty
team” slaying the Snoek as usual with a decent brace and a single fish both on shoredives up North.

Dive Report 19-02-2021
Dive Report 19-02-2021


As regards the weather this weekend it is looking Great for tomorrow morning (Saturday) with a
light onshore in the afternoon only, more NE wind south and just about zip wind up the North coast.
As for the swell for Saturday we have a large Northerly swell running at 2.2m Durban and 2.4m down
South. North coast seems to not get the swell according to the predictions and will only get a 1.4m
Northerly swell. Saturday the swell cranks South at 2.4m plus and 2.3m Durban to 17m up North
with a fresh to moderate South Westerly coming through early bells. Hopefully the Tropical storm up
North by Maputo in Moz does not affect us as much as the last one and dissipates by Thursday next
week far offshore as predicted because those Mackies are out there thick ATM with February being
prime time for them.
So it looks like Saturday morning is a go for a dive and Sunday is cooked out.
As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…”

The Master Watermen website and YouTube Channel love to feature stories like this. If you have a story, video or some pics, please consider sending it in to The Bear for consideration. He is on n3ptun3dc@gmail.com anytime!

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Youngest Lady Spearo in the Country /World???

Young Ella Bunge about to swim out and scare some sharks

Youngest Lady Spearo in the Country /World???

Miss Ella Bunge hails from the South coast of KZN South Africa and at 9 years old is already bringing home dinner from the sea!

This last week she got her full bag of four Shad/Tailor/bluefish and fed the whole family says dad Kurt Bunge, which is a step up already from the Karanteen she managed to bag the week before.

Diving family

Ella and her little sister Leah are gonna be a great team!

Her Dad reckons her younger sister Leah will follow soon into the ocean and be another youngest Spearo in the family (pictured next to Ella). Ella has her sights set on bagging a Bronze bream next and her dream feeshie is currently a Garrick/Leervis/Lichia which she hopes to get a shot at this next Garrick season which starts in May this year and her favourite diving spot Ramsgate is the right place to look for Garrick.

Her Spearo hero’s are Dad and Master Don Solomon from Pathos South Africa.
The future is bright for South African spearfishing with young Spearo’s like Ella and her sister joining the ranks!

Ella’s Gear…

Mask: Mares X Free
Snorkel: Mares
Fins: Very soft Majorika SUB Dolfin sponsored by Master Don Solomon from Pathos SA
Gun: Freedivers 900 with two 14mm over length bands and a customised handle to fit her
small hand.

“Yowser! Thank you young Ella for featuring on the Master Watermens as our youngest spearo ever! And thanks to Dad for sending in the pics and story! Maybe soon Ella and The Bear can team up and go for a dive together and make some video? Maybe then Ella can teach the old Bear a few lessons!” – Xona

The Master Watermen website and YouTube Channel love to feature stories like this. If you have a story, video or some pics, please consider sending it in to The Bear for consideration. He is on n3ptun3dc@gmail.com anytime!

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Hot spot Identification KZN South Africa

KZN South Africa is where these video titorials by Jason Heyne are being filmed and produced

Hot spot Identification KZN South Africa

“Righto, deep in KZN South Africa, Jason Heyne getting very technical in this bumper giveaway of hard-earned secrets. Lucky most won’t recognise all the different species that feature in this thesis. I certainly don’t!” – Xona


In this KZN spearfishing tutorial we look at how to ID a good mark (Hot Spot) and what to do to
get maximum size fish off the mark.

Why is it essential to hunt and look for Hot Spot marks whilst spearfishing? Why are game fish
and larger size demersal fish (bottom\reef fish)more prevalent around these Hot Spot marks?
It’s the old needle in a haystack idiom…there is an extremely large amount of Ocean to search to
find your trophy fish and Hot Spots act as magnets for the needle (trophy fish) because they
have holding fish loaded on them which in turn attracts game fish looking for food and larger
demersal’s looking for cover and company for early threat detection. No holding fish equals zero
or minimal chance of a game fish or trophy size demersal’s so please try to avoid shooting the
holding fish off of a Hot Spot mark as they are resident fish and normally breed and grow slowly!
The 5 holding fish to look for are:

  1. Old women angelfish (Pomacanthus rhomboids) Brown angelfish with a vertical bar
    towards the tail area, the juveniles have blue vertical bars which fade at maturity. These
    angelfish will hold tight to the mark in bad visibility and be more spread out around the
    mark in good visibility.
  2. Yellowfin surgeonfish (Acanthurus xanthopterus) Purple-grey in colour with a yellow
    patch behind the eye and yellow pectoral fins and feeds off waste and scraps from the
    other holding fish so they will be present if other holding fish are there in numbers.
  3. Cave bass (Dinoperca petersi) Blackish brown with white specs which fade as they get
    bigger and look similar to freshwater bass in shape. They are present almost always if
    there is a cave on the mark and 2kg plus Cave bass generally indicate a mark that does
    not get a lot of spearfishing pressure.
  4. Dusky rubberlips (Plectorhinchus chubbi) Oblong fish with pale brown-grey bodies
    which are darker on top and they have fat white lips hence the rubberlips in the name. If
    there is a big shoal of these fish in the 2kg plus range on the mark it is definitely a Hot
    Spot and receives minimal pressure from spearfishing.
  5. Natal fingerfin (Chirodactylus jessicalenorum) Oblong pink fish with fat lips and a
    forked tail. If there are a number of these fish around over 1.5kg it is a definite Hot Spot
    and has received minimal pressure from spearfishing.

If the above fish are present in numbers it is worth while working the mark for a number of downs
(dives to the bottom) to look for larger demersal fish and game fish before targeting any pan size
fish. Try lying still on different spots on the bottom around the mark and you will see larger fish
returning to the mark after your first down. Lie still for long enough and they will get curious and
swim in closer to you as they get used to your presence on the mark.

These are the fish you need to recognise…(one missing)

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

“Yowser Jason fantastic work”! – Xona

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