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Bus Couta coldest week. Bear Report 23-07-2021

Bus Couta: Master Joe Mulder with a whopping 31.5kg Couta boat dive South

Well the week started out well with the sea settling and some slab Couta coming out with big shoals of Snoek and Garrick in the shallows. The winter fish are starting to move North up the coast in numbers and the Daga salmon, Geelbek and Cape tail are here in numbers. Unfortunately a serious winter cold front has pulled in and has frothed the sea properly with some fresh SW wind and large swell.

In the fish pic’s this week we have Andrew and Grant with Snoek shore dive North, Duan, Hennie and Rudi with Couta boatdive South, Ella and Max Bunge with Shad and a Tassel shore dive South, Master Carl Wernerm, Johan Boshoff and Master Joe Mulder with Couta boat dive South, Master Don Solomon with a Daga salmon boat dive South, Master Don Solomon with a lovely Cape yellowtail boat dive South, Master Joe Mulder with a whopping 31.5kg Couta boat dive South, Master Juggs Holzman with a 13.5kg Garrick shore dive Durban, Master Juggs Holzman with a decent Bek and Catface rockcod ski dive Durban, Matthew with Snoek and Garrick shore dive North, Ricky Nieuwenhuis PB 10.1kg Garrick shore dive Durban, Robin Seiler with a Daga salmon boat dive far North and Robin Seiler with a slab Eelskin rockod boat dive far North.

Saturday early bells a moderate WSW wind blows till midmorning swinging around to a light SE wind later in the afternoon with a 3.5m swell which drops off to 2.3m late in the day. Sunday morning a light NW offshore wind blows till midmorning switching around to a moderate NE wind in the afternoon with the swell running at 2.2m.

So it looks like Sunday morning is good for a dive “if” the swell prediction is correct. The online weather prediction sites have been a bit out on swell prediction the last two weeks!

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

As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…

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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…

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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!

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