Plenty fish Min viz Bear Report 15-10-2021

Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear’s weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

Well this week has been all about hunting the shallows and decent viz. Some lovely size shoals of return Garrick are around heading home for summer in the Cape. Just remember that return Garrick are not gonna hang around so get your shot in quickly when you see them. Average size Brusher are thick at the moment in the middle to upper South coast drains and gullies. One or two beast size Brusher have been seen but nothing landed as of yet. Offshore South coast one or two Cape tail are starting to come out on the deeper pinnacles with smaller Ambers around in shoals.

In the fish pic’s this week we have Kevin with a return Garrick shore dive Durban, Kezley Fitzgerald with a lovely Garrick and Brusher combo shore dive South, Master Louis Schourie with a decent bag Garrick, Stumpie and Grunter shore dive Durban and Troy Ellof with a Splitpaint Parrot shore dive Durban.

Saturday morning early bells a moderate SW wind is set to blow freshening before lunch time and blowing into early evening. Swell starts at 2.2m and picks up to 2.7m late in the day. Sunday the SW wind continues to blow dropping off towards the afternoon. Swell is chunky at 2.8m and 11 seconds from the South.

So its touch and go for early bells Saturday morning all depending on how accurate the predictions for the SW blow is. Sunday lunchtime on might be doable for a boat launch.

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

Brusher Season Bear Report 01-10-2021

Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear’s weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za. Its brusher season!

So we are still being lambasted with Spring Equinox weather with minimal gaps to dive in-between all the wind and swell. Plenty rain fell from the heavens this week and so far not too much damage has been reported with the odd river popping and putting super moo into the sea. There are fish around though if you persevere and have plenty patience. Brusher are around with the bigger models moving in. The Garrick seem to have moved up far North with a few being shot in Zululand at Sodwana!

In the fish pic’s this week we have Danie Cilliers with a Garrick shore dive far North, Diving Diva Christal Botes with her 1st Garrick shore dive South, Grant Laubscher and Alex with a 17.5kg Wahoo boat dive far North, Guy McCarthy MW scholar group with his 1st Garrick shore dive far North, Master Juggs Holzman with a Garrick and Shad combo shore dive Durban, Master Louis Schourie with a 3.5kg Catface rockcod shore dive South and Master Louis Schourie with a 9.6kg Brusher shore dive Durban.

Saturday a light SW wind blows from early bells and picks up speed late in the arvo. Swell runs at 1.7m and 11 seconds from the South. Sunday a buster SW wind comes through early bells and puffs out in the arvo. Swell starts with power at 3m plus at 12 seconds from the South early bells and only settles down in the evening.

So Saturday looks good for a dive and Sunday is most likely a blow out with the busting SW wind.

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

Virus-free. www.avast.com

Dylan Van Tonder and the Car key thief Great White shark.

Clickbait headline some would say but this one is definitely a true story from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I have had a proper buzzing from a Great White in the shallows before and these sharks do not play games! It is all well and good when you have a boat to call to hop onto but when you are shore diving there is no escape till you hit dry land again…

Over the years I have heard some harrowing stories from divers about their encounters with these fearsome sharks but quite often it is just a looky loo at each other and exit stage left by the diver and the Great White shark swims on to terrorize someone else at a later date. I have heard of one encounter similar to this one but there were no fish shot when a Great White swam up to one of the diver’s buoy and ate it swimming off with the buoy in its mouth ripping the speargun out of the diver’s hand.

Dylan Van Tonder and his diving mate Kyle Hiscock were shore diving off Beachview when they had a brush with a 3.5 to 4m Great White shark near Port Elizabeth South Africa recently. Dylan says the diving conditions were awesome besides being a bit cold (17 deg C) for that time of year with plenty of activity fish wise in the area on their second dive for the day.

They were out about 150m behind the backline (breaking waves) and Dylan had lost a White Steenbras (Pignose grunter) of about 5kg and had managed to bag a decent Cracker (Brusher) of about 12kg when Kyle saw a large Bronze whaler shark.

Not wanting to lose their catch to the Bronzie they then swam in a bit shallower to get away from the pesky fish stealer when Dylan felt two almighty tugs on his floatline and thought that the Bronzie had taxed his Brusher on the stringer attached to his buoy.

Next thing he was having to hold onto his speargun for dear life and there was huge splashing and commotion by his buoy and he saw the size of the sharks fins and realised it was a Great White shark that had taxed his fish and was now attached to his buoy via the stringer and heading for the horizon at ski-boat speed!

Try as he may he could not get his gun off the floatline and Kyle’s rig and line plus buoy also got tangled up and towed out to sea with such speed it removed his fins! In the end they both had to let go and beat a hasty retreat back to the beach and safety minus spearguns, buoy’s and fish!

When they hit the beach they could see the shark at the one buoy going mad and eventually submerging with Dylan’s rig in tow. Dylan had left his car canopy key on the buoy so had to break into it to get back home.

They came back an hour or two later and could see Kyle’s rig and Buoy a couple of hundred meters out to sea and bravely swam out together and retrieved it. They are very lucky diver’s to still be around un-injured to tell the tale!

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

Virus-free. www.avast.com

Spring Equinox Bear Report 24-09-2021

Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear’s Spring Equinox weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

As you can see by the title of the report Spring Equinox was this week (21-09-2021) and not much diving was to be had between a downpour, loads of wind and every beach from North Pier to Saltrock being closed. This is due to sewage spills (town beaches) and chemical toxins via UPL and the Umhlanga river opening to the sea again. What a disaster of note for the long weekend and the poor critters that inhabit those waters. Not much in the way of fish reports due to the lack of diving but the usual suspects, Brusher and Garrick, should be around on the backline with Daga salmon and Cape Tail out deeper off the pinnacles and wrecks. Well done Team South Africa on placing 5th at the Spearfishing worlds in Sardinia this last weekend. And well done Champ Jaco Blignaught on placing 7th overall in the Individuals.

In the fish pic’s this week we have James and Noah MW scholar group with a Stone bream and Bronze bream shore dive Durban, Luke Bester with a lovely Couta and Tropical tail boat dive far North and Noah MW scholar group with his 1st Natal knifejaw shore dive Durban.

Saturday early bells there’s dead calm until a moderate NE wind starts blowing just before lunchtime. Swell is negligible at 1.4m at 12 seconds from the South. Sunday a moderate to fresh SW wind blows from early bells till the evening with a 2m swell running from the East till it gets pushed from the South by the SW wind.

So Saturday is GO day if you can find some decent viz and Sunday early bells if you can squeeze in a dive before the SW wind pulls through.

Online report available here… https://youtu.be/a1rkyylaZGw

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

Bear Pro Tip for mask fog. Burn clean toothpaste

This Bear Pro tip brought to you by LE’Com Safetyjames.

No more mask fog!

We have all had the dreaded fog in our dive masks and it is the pits…literally.

Today’s dive masks are made with silicone skirts which require a release agent (type of oil) during the moulding process. This in turn gets on the lenses of the diving mask and needs to be removed before wearing a new diving mask for the first time. Mask fog! Over the years I have seen various “solutions” for sale or being used with mixed results and have found out the hard way what works or does not work. Please note various sun block lotions\creams and makeup also have oils in them which can cause a previously defogged mask to fog up again the same as a new mask will if not treated with the process below.

In the video I show my tried and tested method of defogging/degreasing using a brand new Rob Allen Snapper mask. https://youtu.be/u2vaTg6-oUk

Here are the 10 steps to a happy defogged Dive Mask…

1st you remove any stickers once it is out of the retail packaging.

2nd Now you burn the inside of the lenses using an ordinary lighter eg: Bic, taking care to not touch the lenses with the flame and to move the flame out wards from the centre of the lens towards the skirt keeping the heat away from the skirt. A “fog” will be seen moving towards the edges of the lenses.

3rd Give the whole mask a rubbing with liquid dishwashing detergent while it is still dry.

4th Rinse in warm water in a container.

5th Using a dry new sponge and dishwashing liquid give the lenses and whole mask skirt a rub\cleaning.

6th Rinse the soap off under warm running water.

7th Dry the whole mask with a clean dish towel.

8th Cover the inside of the lenses in toothpaste (avoid spearmint or menthol flavours) using a toothbrush to get in all the corners and leave to dry overnight.

9th Once the mask is dry, rinse off with warm tap water and a toothbrush.

10th one drop of dishwashing liquid on each lens inside and rinse off before use.

Works a charm and has never let me down.

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Giant Pickhandle Barracuda Bear Report 17-09-2021

Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear’s weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

Well with neap tides this week and full swing spring Equinox weather this week has been below average diving conditions wise. Wind from the North East then wind from the South West throw in a golosh of rain and that’s the week in a nutshell. So you have to be on it to get dives in this time of year unfortunately but some divers were and the Brusher have definitely arrived and the Garrick are still around with large shoals of Pickhhandle Barracuda on the South coast deeper pinnacles. It won’t be long and the steam train Cape Yellowtail will also be on the deeper pinnacles down South coast. While I am writing this the South African Team just walked onto the stage in Sardinia for the parade before the Spearfishing World Champs starts tomorrow (Saturday 09-2021) at 08H00 CET. Wishing the lads best of luck and a safe championship! Goooo Bokke! Live feed here … https://web.facebook.com/Apneapassion/

In our fish pic’s this week we have Master Gavin Nell with a giant Pickhandle Barracuda just over 19kg boat dive South, Melvin Pillay with a decent Brusher 9.2kg shore dive Durban, Rudie with his PB Brusher 7kg and a Garrick shore dive South, Scholar Guy Mcarthy with his 1st Stone bream shore dive Durban, Troy Elof with a decent Brusher and Grunter shore dive Durban and Troy Elof with a decent Natal stumpie shore dive Durban.

Saturday the SW wind that has been blowing the last two days drops off around 6am and switches to a light NE wind late in the afternoon. Swell is chunky at 3m early bells dropping off to 2m late in the day at 14 seconds. Sunday a moderate NE is on it from early bells picking up speed after lunch to a proper buster. Swell starts just over 2m and builds to a mooshy North 3m swell late in the afternoon.

So prospects of a shore dive this weekend are looking very slim to say the least. Saturday looks good for a launch for the boaties either Durban side or down middle South coast.

Online report available here…https://youtu.be/qQXLdQaENK8

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

OG Diver Daga Salmon. Bear Report 10-09-2021

Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear’s weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

This week we got our 1st spring rains and there was some damage river water wise but not as bad as originally suspected with some heavy downpours on the North and South coast. Bad news is there is a buster NE blowing right now as I write this! These rains normally herald the start of the Brusher run and one or two shoal size Brusher have been coming out. Some good catches of Garrick with sporadic Snoek action here and there when you hit a luck and they are feeding. There are still loads of Sardines around and this is messing with the inshore game fish action at the moment.

In the fish pic’s this week we have Bruce Jackson with a 25kg Daga Salmon shore dive South, Chase Mair with his 1st Daga salmon and Seapike boat dive Durban, Clinton Stiglingh with a Brusher boat dive Durban, Connie Hallowell with a fat Garrick shore dive South, Dane Chittock and Devesh Debipersadh with lovely brace’s of Garrick boat dive Durban, Elton with a 9.9kg Garrick shore dive South and Kurt Bunge with a beauty of a Splitpaint Parrot boat dive South.

Saturday the NE continues to blow from Friday night picking up speed as the day goes on with a proper 2.6m East swell on the water turning it to mush. Sunday a light NE still blows early bells switching to a light SE wind late in the day. Swell starts at 2.7m and drops off to just over 2m in the afternoon.

So peeps diving wise this weekend is just for those hardcore individuals who like diving in a washing machine. No word of lie it will be horrible. Meh!

Online report available here…https://youtu.be/6KdM5JueoLw

As Always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!

CMAS Spearfishing World Championship

Sardinia Arbatax 17th to the 19th September 2021

As many of us spearo’s know there is about to be a who’s who showdown when it comes to Master level competitive spearfishing. South Africa has a great team consisting of Master Jaco Blignaught, Master Don Solomon (1st Worlds) and Master Gerhaad Vosloo (1st Worlds) with team Captain Veteran Master Angelo Spada.

Arabatax is a port town on the east side of the Island of Sardinia in the Tyrrhenian Sea (39.936166, 9.702712) and is the Italians home ground. The viz is normally very good with most Mediterranean fish species occurring in the area. Sea temperature varies but at the moment it can be up to 26 deg c on the surface and down to 16 deg c on the floor at depth and air temp up to 36deg c!. The depths that the guy’s will be diving is insane in any divers books with the shallowest spot in Dive zone A being 23m out to 70m! Master Don said to me that the shallowest he has dived so far during scouting is 40m! Let that sink in…

Here is a link to a best of Sardinia shot in 2016 and it gives a great idea of the species found there and types of structure and drop offs around the Island showcased in a highlight reel… https://youtu.be/aRaZnMu5yvs

So as you can imagine our lads are at a bit of a disadvantage as far as it comes to local knowledge of the dive area and finding the fish. So in order to be competitive Master Jaco and Master Don headed out for scouting at Arbabtax over a month ago. It is absolutely insane the hours and money that goes into competing at one of these events and that’s just the boat hire and daily fuel costs etc for the scouting. Never mind the flights and accommodation plus time off work. To say it is over half a Bar (R500000) is not an exaggeration at all. The one team has 12 (twelve) scouting boats!

As we know these lads do not get a Springbok fee like our Rugby lads do …hmmmm maybe one day in the future! So bux is tight and obviously any help would be appreciated by the Team. The guys have a raffle ticket page with all sorts of great prizes to be Won Please see details in the flyer I have included. There is also a whatsapp group you can Join for a nominal fee that has all the inside info from the guys in Sardinia and Q an A sessions as well.

Gooooo Bokke!

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Sardine News and the Master Watermen are powered by TLC for your Business. Where you can take your business processes online and make more money!