Emergancy Info On Burma Banks

[Craig Thailand]

I have just been offered to go on a FREE 3 day 2 night 'game fishing' liveaboard off the buma banks, hmmmm hard choice work or play?
Anyhow, the guys that invited me don't realize that my guns are commin with me, and when we come across a bait ball, guess whos getting wet? I may have to run the risk of being foul hooked but thats a small price to pay. I looked at pics from the last trip they had and man does it look good. Problem is i have never done seriuos Blue water stuff before and my gear is no way up for the monsters (115 euro running 2x16mm bands, 6.5 shaft) my float is an inflatable dingy for @#ck sake. I am going to give it my all and there will be pics to come, anyway question is,

Has anyone been spearing at the burma banks before and what is it like, i will check my email on the boat and will probably send pics while i am there too.

 

[yugyug]

looking foreward to seeing pics --- and how is your gear holding up?

 

[Craig Thailand]

What a trip, a lot of fish and a lot of marine life that i had never seen before.

The first pic is the only fish i caught, a 10kg Wahoo, on a 115 euro it was fun, as you can see it was not a kill shot and it ran a mile. I only went in the water twicw, you will see why.

The second and third pics are of what was there to be caught, the GT is 48kg, i dont know how big the snapper was cause i was fighting with a yellow fin tuna and it was in the hold on ice before i had a chance to wiegh it. Pretty bit though.

The third pic is why i didn't go back in the water, this guy was turned around about 1 hour after i got the wahoo. As soon as it apeared we had to move to a new spot cause all the fish disappeared. As some of you may know i have always wanted to free dive with a great hammer head but once i saw this guy i was real scared, at 5 meters this is not a small shark. It was so beautiful and half of me wanted to get in but the other half, or more said keep on the boat. They deserve so much respect they are the true kings of the ocean.

The fourth pic was just so cool, that hammer or no hammer i had to get in. This little baby was about 3 meters long and stayed with us for about 30 mins, as soon as i got out to get my under water camara it got bored and disapeared!!!

Over all it was a real trip of a life time, i have no excuses i am a pussy, after seeing that shark there was no way i was getting back in and spearfishing alone, in the blue, with no friends, or powerhead, or even a real gun:inlove I will be going again on febuary the 13th next year with an american friend and 2 Thai friends, there is room for 4 more, if you are interested then give me a PM. It is a 4 day 3 night trip and is cool as a snowman on valium. I have LOADS of pics but i dont wanna bore you all, if you want to see more let me know

 

[Craig Thailand]

Here they are sorry about that:head

 

[deep thinker]

It looks like you had an awesome trip. Those hammerheads are really impressive in the water. We once had a big one like yours on a line and man can they run, on the same trip also saw a small one, like 1m playin with a plastic bottle. Not so interesting when your the one being played with though rofl rofl

 

[yugyug]

i have no excuses i am a pussy, after seeing that shark there was no way i was getting back in

haha don't be so hard on yourself, that thing is MASSIVE!

I wouldn't have gone in even if I had a buddy, powerheads and a can of industrial stength bear mace.

nice wahoo, and nice pics. but I wonder, can you eat those giant trevallys?

 

[Craig Thailand]

Deep thinker

You had one of those on a line?? That must have been one hot reel, it would have been like in jaws, tipping water on the reel to keep it cool:martial

Yugyug
Thanks, the wahoo was real hard work on my euro, i didnt get a kill shot as you can see from the pics and it ran a mile, maybe easy for the old skool crew here, but it gave me the run around.
Yeah i guess your right about not getting back in, that thing was amazing. About the GTs', we kept a couple of the small ones (3-4kg) but all the monsters went back to the blue, I cant imagine a fish that big tasting to good unless its a tuna or amberjack:inlove Maybe some of the guys on here would have an idea as to how a big GT would taste

The best tasting fish of the trip was the yellowfin tunas, Sashimi and BBQ, yummy

 

[deep thinker]

Yea a deep sea handline, the 2.5mm thick lines, lets just say it wasnt to freindly on the hands even through the gloves, we knew it would snap the line, but treid to bring it in as close as possible. Once it saw the boat, it ducked under us and snapped the line clean...

 

[Craig Thailand]

Wait a minute, you had one of those on a hand line, that is pretty hard to imagine!!!!!!! You're kidding right? Where did you see the hammerhead, i heard they are a migratory species and are fairly common, not that size though huh?

 

[poacher]

just looking at the pic of the whale shark
what is that sticking out of the top of its head a spear or a tag or something?

 

[trux]

I thought first it was a spear too, but if you look closer, you can see it's an edge of some glass or Plexiglas screen or cover left to the camera, and not at all protruding from the head of the shark

 

[Craig Thailand]

That is the tip of my spear i got a shot off when i was on the boat but it didnt die to easily........................................ just kiddin:t

It is actually the tip of a fishing rod, we were jigging for amberjacks at the time she came to the boat. I guess this guy thought that an amberjack on the end of his line would be more interesting than watching a whale shark, work that out

 

[deep thinker]

Wait a minute, you had one of those on a hand line, that is pretty hard to imagine!!!!!!! You're kidding right? Where did you see the hammerhead, i heard they are a migratory species and are fairly common, not that size though huh?

Nope not kidding, we were about 3km from the coast line just off Stilbaai SA on a 4.something m semi rigid and it was longer than the boat... The next day we caught cob in about 30m of water and had a shark grabbing cob off the hooks, this is about 10kg fish were talkin about and the shark took off the body just behind the head in a straight line, no jaw curve, so it had to be huge, unfortunately we didnt get to see the bugger so I cant say what it was...

 

[Craig Thailand]

Wow, that is mad!:martial

We were pulling up amberjacks and travally that were about 10kg and 3 had there bodies bitten off in exactly the same way that you are describing. we were fishing in 200m of water and the fish were being taken at 80m, after pulling them up about 50m. What a waste huh, Ithink it was the hammerhead, i cant see him just swimming off into the blue with the smell of blood so strong in the water and the 'feel' (not sure how to describe there sense) of fish slowly floating to the surface.
Either way the banks are famous for big sharks, like your waters so i guess i will never know

 

[Polystigma]

Wow, great pictures and report.