Category: Uncategorized

Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears weekend Dive Report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

Well the swell eventually dropped off and the sea cleaned up and the Couta were still local with some size Rockcod coming out pre sardine run. Also seems like quite a few guys getting shoal Wahoo out deep. Bad news is the swell is set to crank this weekend.

We have so many fish pictures this week! Here we have Abdalla with his 1st Garrick shore dive, Alistar Jones with a bus Catface and 14kg Couta boat dive South, Master Carl Werner with a slab Eelskin dive South, Glen Van Nooten with a Wahoo boat dive South, Glenn Van Nooten, Michael Green and Collin Townsend with some lovely Wahoo boat dive South, Graham and Lincoln with fat winter Garrick shore dive Durban, Hennie and Duan with decent Wahoo boat dive South, Jaco and Troy Ellof with Couta 16kg on the right shore dive Durban, Kurt Bunge with a size Catface shore dive South, Luke with a decent YFT boat dive Durban, Master Don Solomon with a decent Amber boat dive South, Master Juggs Holzman and Master Jason Heyne with Couta shore dive Durban, Master Louis Schorie 18kg Couta shore dive Durban, Master Richardt Botes with a class 7kg plus change Yellowbelly shore dive South, Master Richardt Botes with a lovely brace of Wahoo boat dive South, Renier with big Cape knifejaw shore dive South and Troy Ellof with a 14kg Couta shore dive Durban.

So the dreaded big surf is back again with the swell averaging at 3m local and a bit bigger down South on Saturday morning with a light to moderate SW wind blowing till mid afternoon. Sunday the swell drops by a meter to 2.6m odd being a little bigger in the South. A light long offshore blows early with a NE set to blow and pick up speed during the day on Sunday.

So protected surf launch or dive for Saturday and maybe a chance for a dive Sunday early bells if we are lucky!

Online Report available here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3gN5Np-rk0&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears weekend dive Report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za

This week has been a difficult week for shore diving due some rather large surf dominating up and down the coast but the weather has been epic to say the least. Some lucky divers managed to get into the Couta on the local though and the Wahoo are at their usual hangouts out deep with the odd smattering of Snoek on the in shore local as well. The first pilot shoals of smaller Garrick have arrived with fish coming out from the middle South coast to the middle North coast.

This week we have Andrew Trevathan with a decent Couta shore dive Durban, Glenn Van Nooten with a Wahoo boat dive South, Kobus Delport with a Garrick shore dive Durban, Lincoln with a brace of Garrick shore dive Durban, Master Don Solomon with a slab 9.8kg Kaakap shot at 46m boat dive South, Master Jason Heyne with a decent Rock salmon shore dive Durban, Master Juggs Holzman with a 10kg Couta shore dive Durban and Troy Ellof with a 17kg Couta shore dive Durban.

It looks like the weather gods give us another good day at sea Saturday with an offshore wind early bells switching to a light NE wind later in the day. Please take note the offshore looks set to bust down South so be careful boating wise out deep. The swell still looks like it’s going to be jacked Saturday at 14 seconds and 1.8m in Durban and bigger in the South to smaller sets in the North. Sunday morning a light offshore blows switching to a moderate SW just before lunch time in Durban and mid morning in the South. The swell looks like it finally gives up Sunday morning at 11 seconds and 1.4m only to have the SW jack it again in the afternoon!

So if you can brave the Surf Saturday is go day AND Sunday early bells is a winner too for a shore dive and same applies for the boaties too!

Link to online report here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iQ6ZsKmUNc&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

Thank you Jason!

The Sardine News and The Master Watermen websites are put together and run by TLC for your Business.

Couta and big surf. Bear Report 07-05-2021

Couta and big surf. Bear Report 07-05-2021: Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za

It has been a week of big surf with maybe a day or two’s gap in between for a dive and viz mostly being reported way out in the deep. Some lucky divers did get in though and managed to get some fish with Couta still being around and apparently reef fish being quite thick on the deeper marks offshore.

We have Dylan with a decent Shad shore dive South, Kurt Bunge and daughters Bluefin and Big eye kingies boat dive far North, Master Louis Schorie with a shoal Couta paddle off Durban and Master Richardt Botes with a decent Couta and Blue barred parrot shore dive South.

The NE wind blew today (Friday) again flattening the swell out a bit but apparently not helping the viz. Saturday morning the NE drops off with not much wind till later in the afternoon when a light to moderate SW starts blow into the night. Swell for Saturday starts at 1.8m down South and is way smaller at 1.4m in the North. Sunday morning a light offshore blows North and off Durban with a SW starting to puff down South which freshens during the day and reaches the North in the afternoon. Swell Starts at 2m and gets bigger as the SW freshens during the day being larger South and smaller in the North.

Hmmm…not sure how much viz is going to be around after 3 days of NE but it is looking good weather conditions wise for a dive Saturday and maybe Sunday morning North coast. The weather apps have been a bit off so timing of SW blow is hard to predict!

Online report available here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJtCA_-WQvc&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Master Watermen website is published by The Sardine News and powered by TLC for your Business.

Great White shark and Shoals of Sailfish sighted off KZN coastline

Winter is starting to kick in in KZN with one or two Humpback whales being sighted and some Garrick (Lichia amia) starting to come out. The Aloes are not yet in bloom though but the winter swells have arrived and even one or two small shoals of sardines being sighted down in the Transkei.

Winter brings big gamefish and big sharks inshore to feed and last week was no exception with a rather large Great White being seen by fishermen out on Silver mine off Ballito on the North coast of KZN. Sailfish have also arrived in numbers with a whole shoal being recorded by Scuba divers off the Aliwal Shoal and a mate of mine dropping one off Sheffield stairs on the KZN North coast last week.

May and June are some of if not the best diving months in KZN with June being my favourite spearfishing month of the year. Generally clean water and calm seas with a lot of action in shallow water makes for great diving plus the arrival of the sardines really spices things up!

Just about everything in the Ocean eats sardines and they act as a huge magnet pulling Ocean life inshore to follow them and feed on them. I have had some hectic experiences diving with the sardines from a shoal of Bronze whalers (sharks) trying to eat me to shooting Couta (Narrow barred Spanish mackerel) in 3m of water off rays on the backline!

So get that gear prepped and ready for the chaos that will come and get psyched! Also keep your eyes peeled for Mr Great White and treat him with the respect he deserves…it’s his Ocean after all!

One last thing please take caution when rushing to park down by the sea to dive! Check the picture out to see why!

The featured clips were submitted by the public to us. We are redistributing these clips in the interest of news. If any of the following clips are yours, please get in touch so we can credit you and discuss the video clip with you. Sincerely, the Master Watermen team and The Sardine News.

Link to videos of the Great White and Shoal of Sailfish… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa93JK73weA&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Master Watermen website is published by The Sardine News and powered by TLC for your Business.

Bus 22kg Poensie . Bear Report 30-04-2021

Bus 22kg Poensie . Bear Report 30-04-2021: Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears weekend Dive Report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

Great news this week the sea came right and some lucky individuals got some fish! There were lots of shoal Couta around this week and I got the smallest mouse Couta (2.5kg) out of a shoal on a shore dive up North. It looked way bigger in the 25m viz hahaha!

Poensie and things

Here are some fish from the week and we have Brett with a brace of Couta boat dive Durban, Clive Honibal with a Snoek and some bottoms shore dive North.  North then Leon with a GT boat dive South. Master Gavin Nell with a beaut 22kg Poensie boat dive South. Master Louis Schorie with a decent Rock salmon ski dive Durban. Master Richardt Botes with a lovely Rock salmon boat dive South. Matt Pender with a decent Englishman boat dive Durban. Rory with a bus Shad boat dive South and Wesley Smith with a brace of Couta boat dive Durban.

First Garrick of the Season

Kevin with the 1st Garrick of the KZN season shore dive.

Weather synopsis

So the weather sites got the prediction wrong for today (Friday) with the swell not jacking too much and the SW wind only coming late in the arvo. I see the swell has jacked a bit of Durban this afternoon and evening with the wind picking up to just under 20 knots. Saturday a light to moderate SW is set to blow with the swell averaging just over 2m up and down the coast. Sunday the swell drops off slightly just over 2m south and 1.8m. North with a light offshore wind in the morning switching to a light onshore in the afternoon.

At a pinch I would say maybe there may be a dive early bells Saturday (if the weather sites get it wrong again?) morning and definitely look for a dive Sunday if the swell has not jacked too much.

Online report available here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4Ygvae8Ps&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears dive Report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

The bad news is just about zero diving was done this last week and I do not have a single feeshie picture for you peeps. The thunder storms pulled in a couple of times over the last week and messed the sea up as well as bigger than average swell running up and down the coast!

The good news is it looks like the weather comes right over the weekend and the swell drops off.

We had a moderate SW blowing most of today (Friday) and some heavy quick showers of rain here and there which hopefully won’t fill the rivers and cause the sea water to go chocolate milkshake again! April is normally a drier month than it has been recently so here is holding thumbs that May is a better month for diving!

We have a moderate SW blowing from early bells Saturday morning through the day and dropping off late arvo. It blows harder in the South and lighter in the North and the same goes for the swell Starting at 3 plus meters South and 2.5 m North dropping off to 2.5m South and 2m North in the arvo. Sunday the wind blows light offshore early bells and swings around to a light Southerly wind just after midmorning North and South. Swell starts at2.3m in the South and 1.7m in the North and should drop off slightly during the day.

So it looks like Sunday is go day shore or boat dive if you can find some viz…Just bear (pun intended) in mind that its low tide early bells so a later dive on the pushing tide would probably be the best bet!

Online report available here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSCtkoed2w4&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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

It has been an absolutely sublime week with stunning April diving conditions up and down the coast! But all good things must come to an end and a huge cold front has pulled in with a proper SW wind blowing bringing size 5/6m swell thrashing the sea into a proper washing machine!

There were shoals of smaller Snoek, Couta and Kingfish around and some decent fish did come out.

We have Ashley Paul with a decent Blacktip Kingfish shoredive South, Ashley Paul with an Amber boat dive Durban, Brett with a Blacktip Kingfish shore dive North, Clinton with a lovely brace of Harry hotlips boat dive Durban, Connie Halowell with his 1st Indian mirror fish shore dive South, Duan De Villiers with a decent Fulvie boat dive South, Hennie with a decent GT boat dive South, Hennie with a size Blacktip Kingfish boat dive South, Kurt Bunge with a Snoek shore dive South, Master Don Solomon with a lovely 19kg Couta and 5kg Rock salmon boat dive South and Master Richardt Botes with a Snoek and Couta combo shore dive South.

So the cold front from today (Friday) is going to leave us with a 3m swell on Saturday with a light offshore blowing early switching around to a NE wind just after mid morning and picking up speed throughout the rest of the day. Swell is bigger in the South and smaller in the North. The NE puffs through the night and into Sunday morning picking up speed after mid morning and only quitting in the evening. Swell averages just over 2m up and down the coast on Sunday.

Well that will put paid to any shore diving this weekend besides Durban beachfront area. A Boat dive off Durban could be a go tomorrow morning and maybe a launch for Protea or Aliwal on Sunday if the North East wind does not kill the conditions.

Online report here…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vwFtwXG61Y&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The Master Watermen website is published by The Sardine News and powered by TLC for your Business.

SHARK ATTACKS SPEARO! Umdloti KZN North Coast Jarid Norman

As we all know spearfishing is a dangerous sport but shark attacks on spearos are actually few and far between! Normally it’s a case of mistaken identity where the shark thinks you are part of the fish you have just shot and it’s a quick nip or bump as we spearos call it. The rest of the time the attacks are genuine and normally by the three usual suspects Great White sharks, Tiger sharks and Bull sharks.
In Jarid Norman’s attack at Selection reef Umdloti today it is the former and in white water (surf) plus he was holding a Yellow belly rockcod (Mero) which he had just speared and was subduing. Jarid says it felt like a bump or punch to the head which he thought was his dive buddy, Jonathan Greenway, bumping into him in the white water foam. Then he saw the little cheeky reef shark(1.3m long) swimming away from him and realised it was the shark that had bumped him!

Only after Jonathan had swum up to check him out did they realise that Jarid was bleeding from the scalp and they decided to swim back to shore (100m) to see if Jarid needed some medical attention! Jarid is a pretty large unit of a man and does not scare easily so once they hit the beach it was laughs all round.
On closer inspection Jonathan noticed something white sticking out of Jarids head…low and behold there was a broken off shark tooth stuck in Jarrids head! No worries says Jarrid and films himself pulling the tooth out his skull at home!!!
I am just happy he is safe and escaped with a minor injury. The Dr cleaned it up and said no stitches plus apply surgical spirits. Lucky DUDE!
Oh…he let the shark take the Yellow belly for dinner…Hahahaha.

SHARK ATTACKS SPEARO

More at this link…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT3cnD4MY9k&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear.

The Master Watermen website is published by The Sardine News and powered by TLC for your Business.

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

The bad news is it’s been one of those weeks…big swell and loads of rain making the water not so great. The good news is the sea is coming right and the weather is looking good for the weekend!

Let’s see what came out this week…

We have Christo Muller with his 1st Wahoo and Master Richardt Botes with a Couta boat dive South, Clive Honiball with a Snoek shore dive North, Master Richardt Botes with a Fulvie shore dive North and Tyran with his first Couta boat dive South.

So yes some Couta and Wahoo coming out earlier in the week out deeper so maybe this weekend will show some stripes too!

The weather Gods are happy this weekend with today (Friday) having just about zero wind. Saturday a light offshore blows early bells and switches to a light NE later in the day both North and South. Swell starts at 1.5m and dwindles off to 1,2m in the arvo. Sunday is just ballistic with minimal swell and maybe an offshore wind early bells otherwise no wind predicted North and South!

So get those pink slips in order because it’s a DIVE WEEKEND BABY! Hopefully some viz pulls in tonight and the light NE wind tomorrow arvo picks up the NS current to bring the game fish on.

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

Link to online report [youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=Y7n5SPIPFDg]

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Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears weekend dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za. Happy Easter to all!

It has been a bit of a slow week but where there was viz some fish did come out (Couta and Snoek). The viz pulled in on Weds arvo but has dropped off today (Friday) with not much action with colder water and strong SN current.

Let’s see what came out…

We have Domz with a Snoek and a Blue barred Parrot shore dive North, Kayz Blacktip Kingfish shore dive Durban, Kevin Bus Snoek shore dive North, Master Don Solomon 51,4m dive for 19kg Amber new PB depth fish shot boat dive South, Master Don Solomon 51,4m dive for 19kg Amber at new PB depth, Master Jeremy Williams with a decent Rock salmon boat dive Durban, Rinalen Naidu with a brace of Snoek shore dive and Ruan Potgieter with his 1st Couta shore dive North.

It is Easter weekend and everyone wants to dive but it looks set to blow moderate to fresh SW early bells on Saturday and its blowing now in Durban. Hopefully it doesn’t blow it out completely tomorrow and the swell settles on Sunday. Swell picks up from 1.4m to 2m plus overnight tonight and will be just a tad over 2m Sunday morning. Good news is wind wise Sunday is a go with a light offshore in the morning switching light onshore after lunch. Monday looks pearler with 1.8m swell and light offshore wind switching to a light Southerly. Swell will definitely be bigger in the South Sunday and Monday.

So Sunday boat day and Monday green for go on a shore dive as long as the RAIN stays away!

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

link to Report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4eltiaUFws&lc=UgwNP2XGGo9uTwhQueB4AaABAg&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

The masterwatermen.co.za site is rolling along steadily, and we are ready to take advertisers on. Brand communications and associations (ads haha) within the video reports and on this website, are available. Please contact Jason (+27605081254) or Sean (+27793269671), to chat about a campaign on Master Watermen, for your business. Whenever we run a project like this, the first advertisers in always get the best deals, every time!

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Four Snoek quick Stix. Spearfishing Bluff South Africa

Four Snoek quick Stix. Spearfishing Bluff South Africa: Hi peeps and welcome to another video from Master Watermen. In this episode I am diving off the Bluff, Durban, South Africa with Master Paul Roxburgh in Crystal summer water.

We hummed and aahd on the beach for a while debating where to get in as the surf was closing out on the solid summer sand banks. Eventually we sussed out a decent rip at Brighton beach and had an easy swim out compared to what we thought it was going to be! The number of times I have seen divers talk themselves out of a dive (myself included) are too numerous to count! Lucky we got in because the Natal Snoek (Queen Mackerel) were filing!

Snoek!

Just after we had hit the backline surf Paul was screaming for a second shot and I just could not make it in time and the 1st fish was lost. I turned around and started swimming away and 2 minutes later Paul was screaming for second shot again! After plugging a second shot in his decent Snoek for him I then sussed out that it was the sand clouds on a small section of reef that was pulling the Snoek from the South.

A bigger set of waves came through and a lovely pair pulled in, gave me a broadside and the bigger fish was on! Quick fight and she was on the stringer. A quick re-load and I had just grabbed my flasher swimming slightly deeper and a big shoal pulled in. Thwack…thwack…DOUBLE UP! Spined the second fish with my 130 carbon so strung it quickly and reloaded. As I grabbed my running line to deal with the 1st fish from the shoal another shoal pulled in on my flasher so quick duck dive and thwack…fourth fish on!

Shark!

Landed the fish, strung it and as I got to the now exhausted 1st shoal fish a Shark pulled in. Just in time I got the fish up from the bottom. The shark harassed us for the next half an hour and the Snoek stayed away so we swam deeper grabbed some bugs and I managed to bag one more Snoek .

Check the footage out…It is EPIC!

https://youtu.be/6Du0aB1aQ-4

Gotta love the KZN coast! And remember sometimes local is better!

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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The masterwatermen.co.za site is rolling along steadily, and we are ready to take advertisers on. Brand communications and associations (ads haha) within the video reports and on this website, are available. Please contact Jason (+27605081254) or Sean (+27793269671), to chat about a campaign on Master Watermen, for your business. Whenever we run a project like this, the first advertisers in always get the best deals, every time!

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Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear’s dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za . Well after the rain and big NE wind earlier in the week we all thought no diving for at least a week! But I am happy to report that this was not the case and the sea did come right! But (I know right?) the heavens opened up last night through to mid morning today (Friday) and brought down all the rivers again to muddy up our diving! I had a couple of dives in crystal water though and managed some fish at least and so did some other lucky divers.

Let’s see what came out this week. We have Ashley Paul getting two decent Snoek on shore dives North, Connie Hallowel with his 1st Rock salmon boat dive South, Keaton with a brace of Snoek shore dive North, Keaton with his 1st Couta and Tropical tail shore dive south, Kobus Delport with a decent Catface rockod shore dive South, Kurt Bunge with a brace of Snoek shore dive North, Kurt Bunge with a Couta and Rock salmon boat dive South, Liam Mullany with a lovely Poensie boat dive, Master Don Solomon with a beaut 25kg Amber boat dive South, Master Jason Heyne with a decent Rock salmon and Cobia shore dive South, Master Juggs Holzman with a decent brace of Snoek shore dive North, Master Louis Schorie with a brace of Snoek shore dive South, Master Paul Roxburgh with a brace of Snoek shore dive Durban and Troy Ellof with a Cobia shore dive South.

So there we have it! Some quality coming out!

Hmmm weather god’s what do you have in store for us this weekend? The light NE blowing tonight drops off after 9/10pm switching to a light offshore in th early morning North and South with the swell bigger at 1.7m down south and smaller at 1.4m in the North. The offshore switches to a moderate to fresh SW wind mid morning and hitting hard in the arvo Jacking the swell to 2m plus. The SW continues to blow through the night and well into Sunday afternoon when it dies off. The swell starts 2.5m Sunday and drops to 2m in the afternoon .

So Saturday early bells is a go for a dive IF you can find viz in between or outside the murky river water. Sunday looks to be pretty much a blow out!

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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The masterwatermen.co.za site is rolling along steadily, and we are ready to take advertisers on. Brand communications and associations (ads haha) within the video reports and on this website, are available. Please contact Jason (+27605081254) or Sean (+27793269671), to chat about a campaign on Master Watermen, for your business. Whenever we run a project like this, the first advertisers in always get the best deals, every time!

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Hi peeps and welcome to the Bear dive report brought to you by thesardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za. Finally the sea has come right in the Durban area and the shoal Couta are thick with the Snoeks filing in the shallows! I had two good shore dives local and bagged some decent Snoek! I only saw one Couta on the backline and he was too clever for me darting all over the show. The guys diving deeper and on the boats have been getting quite a few shoal Couta but nothing Croc size.

Let’s see what came out this week…we have Alex Mudge with a Snoek which is his 1st gamefish shore dive Durban, Ashley Paul and Tony Wilson with Snoek shore dive South, Ashley Paul with a decent Snoek shore dive South, Dominic and Darryl Mc Cormac with decent Snoek shore dive North, Dylan Koekemoer with decent Snoek shore dive North, Gary Blair with a Catface rockcod and a Snoek shore dive Durban, Kevin with a Rock salmon and Bronzie shore dive South, Kobus Delport with a Blue-barred Parrot shore dive Durban, Lincoln and Kayz with decent Snoek shore dive Durban, Master Jeremy Williams with a decent Malabar rockcod boat dive Durban, Master Richardt Botes and Morne Claasens with Couta shore dive Durban and Wesley Osborne with a Couta and a Snoek shore dive South.

So what do the weather god’s have planned for this weekend? We have a moderate to light NE wind predicted for Saturday and it looks like it only gets gusty in the arvo and starts blowing mid morning. Swell is light at 1.6m in the South and 1.3 to 1.4m Durban and North. The NE dies off overnight and switches to a light offshore early bells which swings around to a moderate SW at 7/8 am in the South and 9Am in the North. The swell starts at 1.5m and picks up steam to 1.8m in the afternoon North and South.

So Saturday is Green for Go and Sunday is a maybe depending what time the SW freshens…Early bird gets the MACKIES!

[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=aZ7NutGgd0E]

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

The masterwatermen.co.za site is rolling along steadily, and we are ready to take advertisers on. Brand communications and associations (ads haha) within the video reports and on this website, are available. Please contact Jason (+27605081254) or Sean (+27793269671), to chat about a campaign on Master Watermen, for your business. Whenever we run a project like this, the first advertisers in always get the best deals, every time!

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Hi peeps and welcome to the Bears weekend Dive report brought to you by the sardine.co.za and masterwatermen.co.za.

There were some really good dive days this past week and then a buster SW wind came through on Thursday and blew it out! Loads of shoal Couta around with the usual Snoek thrown in for good measure and the big Ambers still out in the deeps on the South Coast. I had one or two dives in the good viz conditions up North but just seemed to miss the action by a couple of hours being either too early or a day behind…BLEH!

Let’s have a look at what came out this week.

We have Brett, Martin Dejager(1st Couta well done!) and Master Richardt Botes with some shoal Couta on a boat dive down South, Liam Mullany with a slab Cobia on a boat dive, Master Chris West with a 17.8kg Couta on a boat dive off Durban, Master Don Solomon with his new PB Amber of 28.72kg shot down South on a boat dive, Master Juggs Holzman with a Wahoo on a boat dive South coast, Master Louis Schorie with a decent 17kg GT on a shore dive up North and Quinten Van Heerden managing to bag his 1st Couta on a boat dive down South coast.

So what do the weather gods have in store for us this weekend? The North Est is pumping right now (Friday evening) and looks set to blow through the night. But the weather sites have been getting the early morning blows slightly wrong and the wind may die down late evening and blow offshore early morning. If the NE dies at 9pm game on for tomorrow morning but if it blows till 11pm or later the chances for good dive conditions tomorrow will be slim. Durban and North coast it shows NE blowing the whole weekend and South coast it blows Friday night through to Sunday morning when it switches to a light southerly wind. Surf smaller in the North at 1.5m and bigger South at 2m dropping off Sunday to 1.6m in the afternoon.

Sooo…chances for a dive this weekend are a little iffy. I would say North tomorrow morning then maybe a dive South late Sunday morning to afternoon on the pushing tide.

Link to Youtube version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IeiC3m3PYU&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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Young Griffin Rubidge (11) from Port Elizabeth on the FISH! 12.43kg Brusher (White Musselcracker)!!!

Brusher (Sparodon durbanensis, Cracker) are just about the wiliest fish to shoot in South African waters and anything over 10kg is considered to be a trophy fish. They are resident in the Cape waters and migrate up the East coast to the KZN coast normally late winter and return to the Cape in early summer. You will only get one chance to pull the trigger on a big Brusher and then you will not see him again. They are predominantly found in the white water surf zone but can be found out deeper in caves and around shallow pinnacles and gullies.

Griffin is from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and managed to bag this epic fish on a boat dive off a local spot called Noordhoek diving with his dad Master Gletwyn Rubidge. Griffin is very lucky to have a Master like Gletwyn as a coach and mentor. Dad says he keeps an eye on Griffin when diving and if he cannot see Griffin from the surface he dives with him for safety. Under dad’s tutelage Griffin has already dived to 18m! The spot where Griffin got this big Cracker was in 12m.

Griffin says it is one of his dad’s marks that he normally goes to look for Black Musslecracker (Poenskop). The viz was not to the floor so dad accompanied Griffin on his second dive down to lie behind a small ledge. The mark was full up with lots of Parrots, Bronze bream and Tasslefish says dad and he saw the big Cracker just cruise in and stop in front of them checking them out. Dad said he had a hard time resisting the urge to pull the trigger and it seemed like it took forever for Griffin to see the fish! Hahahaha!

Griffin says he saw one or two fish whilst lying on the floor that could have been PB’s for him but he waited something bigger. He only noticed the huge Cracker coming in from the left after his dad had seen it towards the end of his dive. He slowly extended his gun out and squeezed the trigger managing to plant a good holding shot in its back! The big fish sped off down the reef peeling line off his gun reel so fast it pulled him down even with the drag fairly loose as he kicked towards the surface. The fish went straight to a cave and holed him up properly. Griffin grabbed a smaller gun and went back down and managed to get a kill shot on the beast Cracker through the head and got it out the cave and on the boat!

Well done Griffin there are a lot of good divers out there that still dream of landing a bus Cracker like that! I expect to see many more great fish from this young lad in the future!

Griffin’s gear:

Rob Allen 1.1m reel gun with two 14mm bands

Rabitech 5mm open cell camo wetsuit

Freedivers Cross Pro Carbon fins with Pathos foot pockets

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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Hi peeps and welcome back to Master Watermen. In this video I show how working up and down a long ledge can yield exceptional results even in shallow water (8 to 12m) and in not so great visibility as well.

When there is current and the visibility is bad I will either reef up using a reef hook or a drop weight if the current is not too hectic. What this does is leaves your buoy as a marker for you to look at whilst breathing up on the surface to scout around so as to maximise reef coverage and time in the water. Then you can use the buoy as a frame of reference so that you can consistently stay on the hot spot mark once you have found it.

I like to start up current then work my way down the ledge with the current as I progress through the dive. Once I have found a good hot spot mark on the ledge I will work it from the top of the ledge to the outside of the ledge to find the sweet spot where the better fish are holding.

In general the game fish (pelagic fish) will hold above the reef and outside of the ledge on or over the sand. They will definitely be present on the tide and if there is a prevalent current pulling down the ledge. The bottom fish (dimersal fish) will hold to the structure and caves as much as they can, holding tighter to the structure in a stronger current and poorer visibility.

The ledge in the video was new to me on this particular dive so the advice above definitely holds true!

Remember that quite often you get a series of ledges running parallel to a beach so work them one by one going deeper till you find that honey hot spot on the ledge. Please bear (pun intended) in mind that it is not necessarily the deepest ledge at the spot that makes for a great DINNER!

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=koWc1AAPauc&ab_channel=MasterWatermen

Link to the full Narrow Barred Spanish mackerel video https://youtu.be/n4q8BTfJrqg

Taylor-Rose Toich opens the SA Women’s spearfishing record (Pending) for Daga salmon 12.05Kg (Corvina/ Mulloway/Jew fish/Kob)

Taylor tells me she was trying to put some more points on the board for the Diving Divas spearfishing Champs which runs from February to November when she managed to bag this Beauty daga salmon!

Diving Divas South Africa is a group which was formed to help SA women grow & learn spearfishing with the guidance of experienced spearfishing women to compete for provincial and national colours in spearfishing and also to have a passion for the sport. Contact @divingdivasSouthAfrica divingdivassouthafrica

Taylor is from East London in the Eastern Cape and she says that conditions last week Wednesday and Thursday (24/25-02-2021) were truly epic with calm seas and crystal viz which is not an everyday occurrence in East London! Taylor and her dad dived the Wednesday but she did not get the extra points she needed so they decided to hit another shore dive on the Thursday after work at 3 Sisters reef.

3 Sisters is a long 3Km walk from the parking lot at Bonza Bay beach on soft sand but well worth the slog and needless to say Taylor was quite amped to get in and dive by the time they got there! They swam the 1km to the reef and decided to dive the inside section of the reef with a big cave that has two entrances.

After diving for a while Taylor managed to bag a small Baardman (Tassel fish) and her dad swam up to her and asked if she would like to shoot a Kob? There’s a whole shoal in the cave with a rockod and a Zebra fish! Taylor dived down to have a look even though at her experience level she finds cave diving a bit skits and there was quite a bit of wave surge which can pin you inside the cave. After checking out the gloom inside the cave she told her dad that there was zip in the cave.

Dad went back to have a look and returned saying she must look carefully and you will see the Kob in the back. Back down she went and guess which fish she shot? The Zebra! Hahaha…needless to say dad was nonplussed! But he came to the rescue and said let’s check the other entrance to the cave and the daga salmon had moved that side! Lucky!

Taylor psyched herself up, breathed up properly and went down again. Having a look around in the second cave entrance and she saw zip again in the gloom at first but decided to move into the cave further until she got her body halfway in the cave with dad almost having a hernia topside! Aha! Now she could see the shoal of Kob and all of a sudden she saw there was a rock in the cave with a big silver fish behind it! She let fly with the spear and managed to get a good holding shot remembering to grab her line and not the gun on the way out of the cave playing the fish on the way to the surface.

A tug of war tussle ensued and she managed to get her first Kob to the surface, dad beaming with pride! 12.05kg is a decent Kob by shore diving standards…well done Taylor!

And that’s not all…they went out a bit deeper and Taylor was lying on the bottom waiting for fish and feeling all rosy with her Kob when she glanced up towards the surface and a Marlin was swimming over her! A frikken MARLIN! She got spooked at first thinking shark then she spotted the bill and big pec’s and tail fin…and wisely opted not to pull the trigger and let it swim by for another day!

Spike fish (marlin) are spearfishing rig thieves of note and that’s stealing from Master Divers with all the right gear! You did the right thing letting it swim by…especially on a shore dive Taylor!

Taylor’s gear:

Omer Alien mask and Rob Allen snorkel

Freedivers carbon fins

Rob Allen Xflex green camo wetsuit

1m Freedivers carbon gun with a single 18mm band

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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