Garrick (Lichia amia) spearfishing tutorial double up CRYSTAL VIZ.
Hi peeps and welcome to another Master Watermen tutorial brought to you by the Bear and masterwatermen.co.za.
The Leerfish or Garrick (Lichia amia) is a species of marine fish in the family Carangidae (kingfish/trevally), and is native to the Mediterranean and the coastal waters of western Africa to the coastal waters of eastern South Africa. They have also been recorded in the Black Sea. These fish can reach 2m in length and 50 kg in weight. They inhabit the coastal wave zone where they form small shoals to hunt other smaller fish, favouring Shad and Mullet as prey.
They breed and aggregate on the KZN coastline to Zululand in the North from early May through to October and return to the Cape waters by the beginning of December. They hold off key river mouths on the North coast of KZN namely Tugela river, Mtunzini, Richards bay harbour and St Lucia.
Key spots to hunt these fish are deep midbreak runs with gullies, backline surf along sandy beaches and prominent points on the coastline from May to end of November in KZN. Stiebel point Umzumbe KZN South Coast is a great example of a good point for Garrick.
Daily catch limit is 2 per Permit holder of minimum 70cm Total length. It is highly dependent on estuaries which serve as a nursery area for juveniles. Garrick were nationally listed as Vulnerable in the 2018 National Biodiversity Assessment. Due to the current state of our local estuaries (pollution, bad catchment area management and illegal gill netting) Garrick numbers have dwindled over the last 15 years or so plus now there is more pressure due to more people fishing and spearfishing.
Garrick have and will always be one of my favourite fish in the Ocean, the way they just cruise in and surround you is an experience every spearo should have at least once in their diving careers. During recent years I have not been targeting them as much and only shoot a handful of them a year now. If everyone takes it easy on them then there should be Garrick around for future generations of spearo’s to enjoy.
Be wary though because big Garrick are spear destroyers of note and can and will snap your spear at the load notches when lined after shooting. There are many tales of the big one that got away when it comes to campfire stories at spearo meet ups. 7.5mm Rob Allen spears seem to fare the best against beast size Garrick. This I can attest to on a personal experience level having seen many 7mm spears break at the notch over the years.
In this video I am diving with my buddy Dylan Koekemoer on the North Coast of KZN South Africa and the mission was to get Dylan a Garrick of 10kg or over. I will not let on too much before you watch the vid but Dyl get’s his fish!
The annual DUC Garrick competition is being held next weekend the 6th of Nov 2021 and promises to be a cracker event. I have attached a PDF entry form on the website for those that would like to enter. All the banking details and rules etc etc are on the form. This year that trophy is MINE!!! Hahahaha…hope to see you all at the weigh-in next weekend! May the best diver win!
Here is the link to the video on YouTube give it a watch it is well worth 10 minutes of your time! Please remember to hit that like button! https://youtu.be/yEVv_MHa48E
As always Dive Safe and Straight Spears from the Bear…
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