Spearfishing Rockcod (Mero/grouper)The Good the Bad and the Ugly Part 1 #mero #grouper #yellowbelly
Hi peep’s and welcome to another @masterwatermen video tutorial this time the Bear in action Spearfishing a Yellowbelly rockcod (dusky grouper) off chain pools, Umdloti, KZN north coast South Africa. Here locally in KZN we have had marginal conditions at best recently but here in this video the viz (water clarity) is absolutely insane! This area gets a lot of traffic both fishing and spearfishing wise so finding a decent size Yellowbelly rockcod is no small feat! Yellowbelly rockcod are highly residential fish and never really move from their home (cave) unless it gets sanded up or they become too big to fit through the front door so to speak. I hear some people getting grumpy already reading this but Yellowbelly rockcod are found almost right through Africa and the Mediterranean plus they occur offshore at the Canary islands. They are not really in danger of being shot out and becoming extinct! That being said our daily permit limit here is 1 per diver per day at 60cm plus total length (around 3.5kg) and there are plenty around under that size which goes to show they are indeed breeding and stocks are okay. When spearfishing it’s also harder to shoot one because we are limited by depth! In my opinion the fastest fish in the ocean is a Yellowbelly rock cod! Hmmm I hear you say… there’s nothing faster than these fish in-between where you just saw them and their cave! Because when they spot you they dart as quick as lightning back into their lair! Hahahaha. Watch carefully in the video and see if you can count the seconds from when this fish has seen me descending to when it disappears into its cave. They are also very good at lying dead still and their markings make them difficult to see from above. All this being said, this rock cod hunt is almost perfect except the part when I have to bash my trusty old torch to get its shine on! Hahahaha. Always check your torch is working before entering the water… trust me this advice will get you some decent fish and save you nightmares! Take note of how I look away once I spot the speedy Yellowbelly rockcod and then use cover for the approach to the cave entrance. In supa dupa clean water they are very hard fish to hunt unless caved up and even then it’s not guaranteed you will get them. They can fit into amazingly small cracks and holes. Also they are masters at getting you caved up and battling to extract them once shot, so a kill shot is almost always preferred. When working in caves a shorter gun is preferred, preferably a barrel length of 1m or less. The 80cm cuttlefish barrel roller gun I am using in the video is the bee’s knees for me ATM and has plenty of maneuverability for tight cave work!
Link is here for the youtube video https://youtu.be/GRiKzJziQyA Enjoy and hit that like button, comment and sub! Aweh! As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear!
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