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!
The Master Watermen is about to launch its very own advertising platform. Starting at R1200 per year, your brand and contact details can be all over this website. For more comprehensive online marketing, we do it all. Check it out at TLC 4 your Business (partner), right here.
