Index Archive January 2003 to June 2003

(27-Jun-03) June Monthly report

The June monthly report is up early»

(25-Jun-03) New Photo in Gallery

Johan shot a Huge Yellowbelly Rockcod on the 14th June (pending SA record). Check the photo in the gallery »

(11-Jun-03) Len Turners Nationals and new photos

Len Turner sent us an interesting story of his Nationals 2003 experience as well as his profile.

We have also put the 2003 Annual General Meeting of the South African Freediving Association (SAFA) minutes up for your interest.

Also a nice photo in the Gallery from Jacques Malan of a 30kg Yellowtail.

(09-Jun-03) Nationals 2003 Results

Nationals 2003 were held recently - Congrats to all who participated, Thanks Anthony Dunne for getting the results to us. The table below shows the top 10 competitors. For all the results you can download the excel file nationals-2003-placings.xls (right click and save target as).

(27-May-03) Spearfisherman Death

It is with great regret that spearfishingSA learnt of the death of a fellow spearfisherman. Steven Deffilippi was boat diving on the lower south coast off the Southport river mouth on Sunday 25th May when he did not surface after diving to retrieve a prodigal that he had speared. The depth was 15 to 18m. Steven was 36 and had been spearing for 20 years and was a commercial diamond diver. He leaves behind a wife and 2 children plus a black child that they were fostering.
Our heart felt sympathies go to his wife and family.

Monthly Report

Johns monthly report for May 2003 is up »

(21-May-03) News on Launch sites and New photos in the Gallery

News on Ski Boat launch Sites

This is a letter from Jeremy Cliff of the Natal Sharks Board 031-5660400

“By 17 July 2003 all recognized launch sites in the province have to be licensed with the KZN Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs. A committee has been formed, entitled the KZN Boat Launch Site Advisory Group (BSLAG) which is busy evaluating the applications. In most cases the applications will be completed by the Municipalities, in whose areas the licences occur, or the skiboat club which maintains control over that launchsite. The licence will be valid for 2 years.

One of the main aims of this process is to ensure that environmental damage as a result of launching is kept to a minimum. This is important given that several launchsites are through river mouths and we all know how sensitive estuaries are. The other is to ensure high safety standards, thereby minimising the risk of accidents/injuries. The end result may be that some launchsites are close down for environmental reasons while others may be closed because they deemed to be private and not open to the general public.

There is still confusion over the process regarding launchsites in harbours.

I sit on BSLAG as a representative from NUU, but I am happy to use my position to try and help out other groups of divers.

Obviously there are considerable time constraints to finalise licensing before the end of July. A bone of contention appears to the jetskis in that several applications indicate that jetskis are not allowed.

Should you wish to raise anything in this regard, please don't hesitate to contact me. The next meeting is on 3 June. Please feel free to circulate this email to interested divers.”

New Photos in the Gallery

Nice photos in the Gallery from Barry Paxman in Western Ausie as well as some from Louis Hattingh from Angola south of Luanda »

(19-May-03) 2003 Wahoo Winter Game fish

Once again the Wahoo Diving Club’s Winter Game fish competition at Cape Vidal was a great success»

A few days ago I also posted a nice photo in the gallery of a brusher shot by Craig Torr.

(29-Apr-03) Monthly report

Johns monthly report for April is up, some intresting stuff »

(23-Apr-03) Threat to Vidal Comp Update

Feedback from the meeting held at the NCS offices on the 26 March was very positive. When it was established that spearfishing competitions have a very low impact when compared to the fishing competitions, most parties agreed that spearfishing competitions could continue to be held in the reserve. Hopefully this sentiment will be a lasting one »

(18-Apr-03) Wahoo Vidal Gamefish Spearfishing Comp.

The 2003 Wahoo Gamefish Comp is coming up on the 17th May and will be held from sunrise ‘til the weigh-in at the community center at the Cape Vidal campsites at 4 o’clock sharp. More info here.

Anthony Dunne at Aliwal

Weekend report back from Aliwal shoal »

(14-Apr-03) Garrick already?

Darrell had a good dive this last weekend down the South coast near Umzumbe. They got nice crayfish and saw a nice yellowfin tuna and some big springer. He also lost a garrick, this is very early in the season. This might mean a good early run?

Durban Undersea Club Competition

DUC is organizing a competition for 03-May-2003 from Tugela to Port Edward - Nice prizes up for grabs and promises to be a good day. More info here »

(07-Apr-03) Trials, Nationals and more

Natal Spearfishing Trial was held from Isipingo Tiger Rocks south to Winkelspruit Tidal Pool on the 5th April 2003. From 8:45 to 14:45. The vis. was 20 to 30 foot and deteriorated to 10 foot vis. with a very slight South-North Current making conditions quite difficult as the green water became a bit yellow. Results in the table below.

South African National Spearfishing Championships 2003

Hosted by Natal Underwater Union Invitation to South African National Spearfishing Championships 2003 in Durban from the 2nd to 6th June, 2003. A 2 day competition of 6 hours each within the abovementioned dates. All the info for the invite is here.

A list of LIMITS is available here to download and print. Richard Bruno suggests laminating it to take on the boat. We should have entry forms soon »

(02-Apr-03) Monthly Report for March

Better late than never - heres the monthly report for March 2003, thanks very much to Richard Bruno for his help with it »

(01-Apr-03) Records updated

We have the updated records updated for 2002. The pending ones are:

Yellow Fin tuna (73kg) - Hugo Gouws - 27 April '02
Malabar Rockcod (34.2kg) - Chris Ananiadis - 28 May '02
Prodigal son (38.55kg) - Ryan Burmester - 19 November '02
Chanos chanos (24kg) - Andy Norton - 01 December '02
Dorado (14.5kg) - Jean Pierre Kroll - 08 December '02

(17-Mar-03) Results of the Wahoo Cuda Classic

The Wahoo Diving Club had it`s annual Cuda Classic competition on Sunday 16 March. For the last couple of years this competition has had to be cancelled due to bad conditions and no shows by the cuda, on occasion. This year it was first time lucky and congratulations go to Tim Theunissen for weighing in the biggest cuda. He was diving out at Aliwal Shoal and bagged 5 cuda around the 5-8kg mark. The evergreen Chris West came in second bagging two cuda out at No 1 off Durban. Conditions were good out there with top to bottom viz. Chris had a fish taken off his spear by a Zambezi Shark to add to the excitement. A big swell was running so most shore divers would have had to sit it out. Yellow peril and a big surge on the bottom at 20m on the North Coast meant no cuda and few other fish »

(14-Mar-03) Threat to Vidal Competition

KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife is in the process of trying to phase out the holding of competitions in Marine Protected Area`s(MPA`S) as regards spearfishing. Fishing competitions will still be able to be held that are non-consumptive, either capture and release, or tag and release. At their last meeting it was recommended that spearfishing competitions should be discontinued. A group of concerned spearfishermen will be going to the next meeting that will take place on the 26 March. We will keep you posted as regards the latest developments.

2003 Trials Results

A little late but here the trials results are:
16 Entrants for trials this year. Saturdays trial only 13 could make it. Vis between Umhlanga Lighthouse and Westbrook launch was a very good 60 ft. Very light N-S current in places but easy enough to swim against. Westerly slowly building to 15 Knots as the day progressed.

(10-Mar-03) Weekend diving at Aliwal Shoal

Tim Theunessen and Nick McLurg had a good weekend at Aliwal Shoal on the 22nd. They had good clean water on the bottom at 19 Fathom and each bagged a nice Daga - Tims 20kg and Nicks 16kg. They didnt see many fish on Deep Cracker "where a large Tiger Shark almost head butted Nick", he apparently didnt even see it! Thay also had some action the next day when their motor cut in the mouth at Umkomaas because of blocked carbs. They all jumped overboard with their fins on and swam the boat back to shore. That didnt stop them and they got the motors running and launched again - not as many fish were arround on Sunday.

Tim sent a nice photo of their fish on the boat »

(28-Feb-03) February 2003 Monthly Report

John's Monthly Report for February is up »

(20-Feb-03) New Addition to the Merit Board

Ryan Bermester sent us his additions for the Merit Board - Congrats Ryan »

(17-Feb-03) Photo Gallery Additions

Some nice new submissions for the Photo Gallery - excuse the delay in getting them up »

(13-Feb-03) New addition to Merit Board

Tim Theunisen is the latest addition to the Merit Board with his five huge fish - congrats Tim »

(11-Feb-03) Report back -Umhlanga conditions

For an up-to-date report on local action read about Darrell's dive on the 10 and 11th at Umhlanga Rocks »

(09-Feb-03) New Spearfishing Club

A new Spearfishing Club "Salt Rock Spearfishing Club" has been formed. Here the minutes are of the first meeting. »

(02-Feb-03) Results of Spearfishing Trial February 2003

1 February - Held between Durban South Pier and Brighton Beach Tidal Pool.

Start 08:30 end 14:30

Results Percentage

1. Gyula Plaganyi - 100%
2. Jacu Blignaut - 99%
3. Gary Hazel - 92.9%
4. Richard Bruno - 53%
5. John Girzda - 49.6%
6. Ryan Burmester - 48%
7. Owen Tessendorf - 44%
8. Nick McLure - 40%
9. Graham Carlise - 33.7%
10. Clint Nevin - 30%
11. Barrett Harvey - 22%
12. Chris West - 18.3%
13. Jean Pierre - 5%
14. / 15. Shane Breedt - 0% Andrew Nell 0%

(31-Jan-03) Speared Brindle Bass Found

Recently there was an article by Jill Gowans from the Natal Mercury, it is reported that residents are outraged (and rightfully so) at the killing of a giant protected brindle bass shot by a spearfisherman over the New Year. President of South African Freediving and Spearfishing Association (SAFA) - Len Turner, wrote this in reply.

A new photo also added to the Gallery - Colyn Townsend with a big prodigal Son »

(29-Jan-03) Mothly Report for January

The Monthly Report for January 2003 is up - its an interesting report back from John »

(15-Jan-03) News from Northern Mozambique

Brad Carr sent us some news from northern side of Mozambique with some nice photos for the photo gallery.

“This year has been fairly good when the water cleans up which is not that often of late. When it has cleared we have had some really screaming currents to deal with and being about 20 kilos out on a ski-vee makes for some pretty interesting days on the water.

Our target this year has been Doggies and we have all been successful in getting some nice specimens (100lbs plus) and quite a few in the 50 to 85lbs class. There have been a few encounters with the real bruisers yet to date the Doggies have held the upper hand and the Dive shops benefited with new spears etc required. They are absolute menaces in the Coral and the big ones are a real hand full unless a kill shot can be made. A few months back we had a massive show of Wahoo when the current really picked up and at times had shoals of up to 6 wahoo in the 50lbs class on the flashers.

We have had some sports with sailfish and obviously all the other general gamefish with plenty cuda, jobfish, big Ignobilis and those nasty Great barracuda.”

New Spearo Profile and an Amusing Story added

Darrel Hattingh's profile is up in the new Diver profiles section - check it out.

Also an Amusing Story by Len Turner on how he lost his Gun to a cuda »

(12-Jan-03) New photos in the gallery

Added some nice photos were added to the Photo Gallery today - well worth a look »

(03-Jan-03) Happy New Year to all from John and Guy

John and Myself would like to wish all the Spearfishingsa readers a happy and prosperous New Year- we have had a very good year, more than doubling our readers in the last 12 months and hoping to continue with the same enthusiasm this year.

Thanks to Richard Bruno for doing the December Monthly Report - makes for some interesting reading  »