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King Oscar, Raggie Sharks and GTs

King Oscar, Raggie Sharks and GTs

King Oscar, Ragged Tooth Sharks and GTs: since the diving has been so frustrating this whole year, here we are going back in time, to when shore dives were the only option. Sharks and all!

Over to The Bear…

“Check guys…shot this one on backline shore dive at King Oscar shallow reef Cape Vidal. 30 years ago! Big winter surf 2m with foamies over the bank..took me and Hayden a good 15 minutes to get out past backline…as I ducked the last wave in the set and got out 2 GT pulled in over the sand to my right heading out to sea…thought lakkas 15kg GT and shot the closer one oblique angle from behind through the spine mid body and spear came out by the pec fin opposite side of the fish..back half of the fish went black! Spined!

I thought cool this will be quick..but the fish kinda coughed twice and spat out some half-digested fish and then all hell broke lose! Never ever in my life since and before have i been towed by a fish like that! No reel guns back then and I used two guns i customised and made up myself from Champion Arbelete guns..a 123 and a 128 barrel..single 18mm bands and powered to the max…other owes could not load them! Second gun on a stainless steel ring which can run up and down the floatline with a 10m floatline to the gun handle so you could double up….so back to the story!

Freight Train

The freight train then proceeded to tow me up current (reverse current with SW blowing 15knt)_at such a pace my mask nearly came off and the second gun got ripped out of my hands,,,grabbed the float on the way past and held on for dear life! The fish was now travelling along the backline with me in tow and as I sped along I saw a snoek then a shark then another snoek and two small sharks all bolting off as I sped by them…after about 900m (my dive buddy remarked later that all he saw after clearing the surf after me is this bow wave about half a meter high heading South and I had magically vanished into thin air…then he realised that was me being towed!) the fish then turned right and headed straight towards the big backline surf!

No ways was I going to be dragged back through that 15-minute nightmare swim and I started putting on the brakes big time hauling the line hand over hand so I could get to the second gun and end the fight. Got the gun and carried on hauling till in range and put second shot through the gill plates just in time and had to duck a wave and grabbed its tail in both hands and swam like hell to get out of the crunch zone!

My two hands could just fit around its tail and when I got my right hand in the gills I realised that this was no 15kg GT!

King Oscar and the ragged-tooth shark

Carried on swimming out with the fish till I hit the start of the shallow Oscar reef. All I had heard of my dive buddy was screams and shouting getting closer…He was a noob and those sharks were the 1st ones he had seen and was by my side in the next minute or two saying ‘shark shark shark‘ over and over again! lol…they were those 30kg grey models…puppies..had a good laugh and we started sorting out the fish. Him keeping watch while I unclipped the second shot straight spear to pull it through the gill plates and reload (the 1st spear was toast, to say the least S bend styles). As I was doing this focused on the fish and spear removal (I had already grabbed both my Powerheads out the sleeve pouch and he had them on his guns just in case) he started squealing and pointing both guns down below my fins. I looked and this bus Raggie was coming up towards me head 1st from the bottom and when it got about a meter from my fins it went totally gonzo snapping and biting like mad trying to chow my fins!

I was screaming shoot it shoot it but dive buddy did nothing…he then screams its protected species cant shoot it!

At this stage the Raggie is closer and I felt one fin tug as it bit! SHOOT THE FROGGIN THING HAYDEN! BOOM as the powerhead goes off right behind the Eye. At this stage the Raggie is in touching distance from me and goes into a series of death rolls moving away from me now catching my unclipped spear line in its pec fins…ripping my brand new stainless steel spear out my hand! Still snapping like mad it scarpers off with my spear in a series of death rolls. I look at Hayden and he looks at me both of us in total disbelief at what has just happened. Hayden says let’s get the frogg out of here…he nods and loads his spear back in the gun quickly while i remove the poked spear and string the GT quickly through the gills.

Bent spears

The spear was so bent I had to hold it next to the gun unloaded. Hayden you must swim behind my float and fish so the Jonnies don’t get to it let’s move! We fin off at high speed and hit the backline at pace not even checking for a gap. We both get through the foamies unscathed and start swimming through the wide midbreak channel dry land about 100m away. As the bubbles clear I see a large funny shaped piece of sand 3m away from me move and then I see the huge eye on the sand patch. Another GT in the midbreak 3m away from me just parking there looking at my GT on the float!

Huge GT

BUT this one is twice the size of the one currently on my stringer! I can’t shoot it…so point slowly at it Hayden sees it and subs halfway lining up with the gun that did the damage to the Raggie and I see straight away that he has not loaded the gun and he realises that at the same time and quickly grabs the band and loads…GT has not moved an inch at this stage and he lines up again to take the shot then realises he has left the spent powerhead on! GT is still just parking there and Hayden reaches forward and pulls the powerhead off and as he does this it makes a small sharp sound as it comes off. GT wakes up and takes off gone never to be seen again…we hit the beach and can now see that my GT is frikken huge. Was the club record at Wahoo for couple of years until John Little broke my record with a 40kg GT shot on Vidal Point also on a shore dive. 34.5kg.

Protected Species!

That was the 1st dive of the 4 day trip at 10am just after we arrived from Durban. Haydens dad was OIC at Mapelane hence the ‘I can’t shoot it its a protected species’ comment from Hayden. I said to him no biggie it’s gone so no evidence. Deon from Vidal parks board picked us up about an hour afterwards as he had given us a lift there on his way to do a patrol to Leven and back.

No ways I was gonna carry that back the 5km to camp!

We were staying in the staff accommodation at the base camp as you drive into Vidal and had access to two big deep freezers as well. True as Bob that flippen Raggie washed up on the beach the next morning but upon hearing the story (you could not miss seeing the huge hole in its head) from the two of us after our point dive that following morning – Deon laughed and said he would have pulled both triggers same time! Was an epic trip Hayden managed one Snoek and I shot the rest of the fish (I managed to to straighten the stainless spear and luckily had brought a spare just in case) …check pictures below.”

Thank you Jason! For that highly entertaining tale from the past. If anybody else has a story to contribute to the diving doldrums relief effort, please send to me at umzimkulu@gmail.com (Sean) or +27793269671.

As we get through the rainy season, we can start looking forward to a normal year of shooting fish. Down here at the Umzimkulu Marina we can host you. And Umzimkulu Adrenalin will get you out there. Contact The Bear directly for his tours and training options.

Let’s goooooooooooooooo!

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The Admiral and the Shark at Leven Point

The Admiral and the Shark at Leven Point

The Admiral and the Shark at Leven Point: I met three crazies on this early 90’s trip to Vidal. Diving mate Rick (also crazy) and I had headed north to dive the fish blue waters of the Natal North Coast.

Cape Vidal

We were allowed to camp. We were allowed to drive along the pristine beach highway to Leven Point (turtles and all). But. We were not allowed to catch crayfish. Or shoot any reefies. Trade-off accepted. But it was tough with all those tempting rock salmon swimming around and all over the place!

It’s far to Leven Point. It’s a lot more than eleven kilometres. Which is how everyone pronounced the place back then. Eleven Point hahaha. So about halfway back after an early dive, coming out of the sun, unbelieving, I see some dude swimming in through the waves. So I put my indicators on and found a parking quick.

Pete Kennedy and Tony Tomkinson

This is how I met Pete Kennedy. A formidable diver and character. He was out the back on his girlfriend’s Dad’s boat in about 45m. Fishing for sailfish. The Dad was Tony Tomkinson – the legendary professional hunter. Well, they couldn’t agree on something. Pete can be disagreeable. So could Tony as I found out with time. Two extraordinarily headstrong characters. Pete just said cheers to Tony. Jumped off the boat and into the azure. And swam the 5 kilometres back to the beach. Where he coincidentally met up with us. He was gonna have to walk the 10kms or so further, in his wetsuit, to get back to camp and his girlfriend! After quick introductions…Pete jumped in the back and through the sunroof, he explained how he got there. We chatted furiously after that. I became great friends with both of these guys after this weekend.

Then, a dude in a new red Toyota Venture rocked into camp later that day. He was also shooting fish. He was on his pat malone. Very cool, calm and collected. From Cape Town. And he comfortably joined our fire. He set up camp next to us. We chatted up storms of mosquitoes. These were different times. It was really hard to find someone to dive with back then. When we did meet up, it was always gonna be in a campsite like Cape Vidal.

Under the stars and around the fire we drank beer and rum. We ate steak from the Cape. Woody, our new friend had brought chunks of fillet with him all the way. They had to be eaten since there was no power here. He asked if we could dive together the next day. He confided in me that he had not yet encountered a shark underwater, yet. But that he really wanted to. I laughed to him that we would definitely be diving with sharks in the morning.

Admiral Woody Woodburne

Eventually we spoke work. I was running The Sardine News as an A3 tabloid. And selling Mydos for Brian Davey. I am still running The Sardine News. And selling Mydos. Over thirty years later. I had told him my story. Rick explained his planned protest and trajectory away from South Africa to the UK. And so we asked Woody for his story. Says he works for the SA Navy. Drives a submarine. Let me introduce to you, Vice Admiral Lambert Jackson ‘Woody’ Woodburne. The chief of the navy at that very moment. But sans uniform. Medals for leadership and initiative in combat and all. Wetsuit instead!

Early the next typically glorious morning, this unlikely four-ball loaded their gear up into the back of my old Hilux. We hit the beach in the crisp early offshore of the north coast. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Blue being the colour of everything to us stoked spearos. So clean! We don’t talk much on the way there. Nerves. Leven is hardly a point. But it has two lines of reef. One shallow. One deep. We arrived to nobody but the sun and the terns. After a quick but compulsory visit back over the dune to the bush, we calmed our nerves by chatting as we geared up. The usual briefing about the sharks for Woody. “It’s zambies that we are worried about”. I never believed in whites at this point in my life. It was just easier like that. “There are plenty raggies and blacktips. But they are only gonna bite your fish. That stupid zambie will take you out if you are not looking. Eyes peeled and look around you every few seconds.”

It’s the most rewarding baptism ever entering Mother Ocean up here at Leven Point – swimming out through the brilliant white foaming surf and into the vaste expanse of indigo blue. Never-ending intrigue, wonder – and no end to the challenges coming up. Adrenalin firing, we got to the first ledge. Pete was gone immediately. This is how he dives. On his own, but close enough to listen for shouting. Rick balanced off to one side. And the Admiral and I took a course heading up the middle of the reef, into the current, heading north to where the reserve starts. Not allowed in there. And yes, back then, the green bakkies of the Natal Parks Board, held up the law. We all had licenses.

Shark

The first fish was a Natal Snoek aka Queen Mackerel. It came past us at high speed. Instinct told me to turn around and see what was chasing it. Bang! Here is the first damn zambie of the dive. It hasn’t been a minute. And yes, he was focused on that snoek. But when he found us, he immediately started his BS. He swaggered round and round us. Pectorals down. In vague figures of eight. He was in front of us one second, disappeared, and in another second he was behind us.

I did not want Admiral Woody Woodburne to see me blow a sharks head right off with my .38 Special powerhead. Tucked in my wetsuit sleeve. I had two of them. I loaded one onto one of my guns. The weirdest thing happens when you put a powerhead on. Your demeanour changes. Now you need to set up a decent shot. The shark senses this change. And invariably leaves town. This one did just that.

After an hour, we still hadn’t shot a fish. It’s better at Leven to shoot carefully or the sharks will get your fish. Plus its like an aquarium down there. So much to see and do. A huge mamma raggie swam up the reef. 4 Metres plus and round as a wine barrel. Coasting at less than one kilometre an hour. Totally docile. Up here in the warm, they rarely harass anyone. Down south in the cold of the Kei, they can be as cunning as a Zambezi. And so the Admiral and I swam down together. It’s shallow here, like 14m. I had two huge guns trained on the shark just in case. But the Admiral was able to achieve a life-long dream and swim peacefully with a shark. Right alongside the massive beautiful animal. Very small eye btw.

And so we shot some fish and headed home. The next few days were a repeat of that morning and day. With a dive at Cape Vidal over lunch. And back to Leven Point, or Oscar’s along the way. Although none of our party really even knew where Oscar’s was. I could only find it at low tide!

The following fish were all recently shot at Cape Vidal…

Epilogue

Admiral Woody Woodburne, the submarine pilot, passed away in 2013. I shall never forget the dives and times we had that week. Tony is late too. Died exactly where he wanted to – on a hunting trip. Pete is settled and working in Durban. Rick is still travelling. And I am still right here slamming at the keyboard in Port Shepstone. 30-something years later!

Attributions

The Sardine News

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_Jackson_Woodburne#cite_note-SilentWar-11

By Navy Photo Unit, Naval Printing Press, Simon’s Tow – Original publication: unknownImmediate source: http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/331/369, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39867515

This post was sponsored by MYDO Fishing Lures, Umzimkulu Adrenalin and the Umzimkulu Marina. You can take advantage of a special spearos offer at the Marina right here.