I CAN'T wait!

[SAFishShooter]

Hi

It is finally here !!! The crayfish season starts tomorrow!!!
A whole year of dreaming, spearfishing and seeing BIG crays and knowing that you can't take them out is finally over!!

I organised a trip for me and a few of my buddies to Strandfontein on the West Coast +- 2800 km from Cape Town. This is where the big daddy's live.

I want to go and check out a few places that a very hard to access and nobody really bothers to go to, to see if my instincts are correct and the REALLY biggies is there.

The weather also looks OK for the weekend and the water should also be clear. (I hope) and very cold. +- 10 to 12 degrees Celcius. Yummy!!
I'm also taking my speargun to check for some breams.
And my fishing rod.

I as excited like a little kid on Christmas eve!!!! I Canna wait.
But it only 7 more hours before I leave. Ya baby

I'll post pics when I get them developed if I get anything worthwhile. Hold thumbs

Cheers Reinier

 

[SASpearo]

Did you hear about the perlies? NO recreational permits for the foreseeable future ....

 

[bluecape]

Hey Reiner

Yep, Bug-season opened today, Sat, and hope you had more luck than we did ! Cape Town shitty, I was headed to Paternoster on the West Coast, but heard they had about 1 ft viz there and huge swell, dark at 3 meteres !! Some buddies went to Betties, hangklip way, also bad apparently.

Lets hear about your weekend ! and here's holding thumbs for sunday !

Cheers

jeff

 

[miles]

Hi

I had a good start to the season. Got only 3 bugs though, but man were they big!!!. Personal best for False Bay anyways!! Biggest one was 14cm carapace length, tail was 21cm, total length 35cm, weight 1.350 Kg's Second bug was 12cm carapace length and the third also 12cm carapace length.

Also managed to shoot 4 Red Romans, biggest going 2.8kg's. My dive partner also managed 4 Red Romans including a monster of 3.2Kg's. I also had a 3.5kg plus galgoen swim right up to me and it refused to leave. Probably stayed with me for about 2 minutes.........aarrggghhhhhhh....i hate galjoen season, its almost as if they know we can't shoot them!!!!

We shore dived Deep Caravans at Millers Point in False Bay. Viz was 5-6 meters on top but about 8-9 meters on the bottom (lots of particles suspended in the water). Crays and fish were taken in 16 meters of water (man i love my D3!!!)

We had to cut our dive short because the SW wind started to blow quite strong and the viz started deteriorating quite quickly. After seeing a 3meter bronzie, we decided to abandon the dive because the viz had become so bad.

On our way back to shore, two whales came to say hello. Now that was scary.........bad viz, and all of a sudden you see this huge animal in front of you....i've never put my powerhead on so fast!!

I can't go diving today (sunday) because my dive partner is at work. No way i'm diving alone with that bronzie around!!

Could any of you guys recommend a good underwater camera?Digital if possible, nothing fancy just something to capture the moment with.

Safe diving
miles

 

[bluecape]

Hey Miles

Goes to show, I was told that False Bay was 'up to %$#@', so did'nt even bother to look yesterday ! Good job.
Camera wise, I have used a small Ricoh with U/W housing which has given me some great pics, they retail for about R8000-00 everything inclusive, but full digital. I have attatched a pic shot with it at North Paw.

Cheers

Jeff

 

[miles]

Hi jeff,

For good report on conditions in false bay, speak to scuba shack in Simons Town. They have boat dives daily and their new shop is very close to the water. Try calling after 12 as by that time their morning dive is over and you'll get an accurate report. They're normally very helpfull, just don't tell them you're a spearo!!! Don't know why, but most scuba guys i've met tend to be unfriendly when they find out you're a spearo. Their telephone number is 7827358.

Regarding the camera, well thats a bit pricey. Just looking for something to capture some moments with. Looking to spend about R1500-R2000. I'm absolutly clueless when it comes to photography. I do own a Cannon Ixus APS which i bought in London two years ago. Just thought digital camera might be easier to use. Any recomendations??

Regards

miles

 

[bluecape]

Awesome ! Scuba Shacks number will be very handy. I think False bay would have been quite nice today ?

Camera's. Not clued up at all I'm afraid. Know a bit about video cams, but not stills.

 

[SAFishShooter]

HI Guys

Yep I had a good weekend. I'm so tired that I think I need another weekend to recover from this one.
I went diving on Saturday morning at "Bamboesbaai" (Kelpbay) between Strandfontein and Doornbay.
I had to show my Girlfriend how to dive in a small area between a reef and the open sea. The water was not very deep (1.5m to 1.80) at the deepest but there were a lot of crayfish around. Helped her to take out 4 legal ones. I had to find them and then show them to her and then she would take them out. My other buddy that dived with us got only 2.

Then I went to Doornbay to look for crays there cuase I know there are fish as well. Went in with the speargun but it was not much fun cause the gun doesn't have a clip so that I can dive with both hands.

Eventually I took the gun out and started looking for crays. I found 4 nice ones with biggest @ 13 cm front carapace and 2 of 12 and the last a 10. My other buddies who dived also found a few and we left there with a full quota.

On the way back between Strandfontein and Doornbay they had a roadblock.Checked everything. The one bloke asked if we have crayfish in the car. I said no cause we put all they crays in my buddies car. This oke asked to look in the boot and then he saw all the diving equipment. He asked me again and then I replied no again. He proceeded to check my car completely. Under the spare wheel and in the cubby hole and under the seats. Found niks, Nada, Nothing. Was looking quite down untill my buddy pulled up and then he wanted to measure every crayfish in the car. He also found nothing to hang us with. So eventually we left after I apologised for having nothing illegal. I must say that I'm quite impressed with the cops thoroughness. If they started this a long time ago then perhaps we would have some more resourcess left in the ocean.

My girlfriend made us a potjie with the crayfish. A cream of mushroom one. Was very very nice. I was to tired to make food.

Went diving yesterday again at the same place. Was very dirty and rough but I managed to fill my quota. Nothing too big though.
Left yesterday at 3 and arrived back in Cape Town @ 7. Was very warm on the way back. Had to stop on Clanwilliam for petrol and almost died of the heat. Was 38 degrees celcius. Bought alot of Ice cream to cool down.

SaSpearo. Jip I heard about hte pelies. Apparentley for the next 7 to 10 years. If you had some last year remember it cuase it is the last youre gonna have for some time.
Have any of you guys heard anything about diving between only between 8Am to 4 PM? The cops I talked to doesn't know anything about it.

Only bad thing about this weekend is that my hands are pretty much full of holes. Got a lot of sea pupmpkin thorns in my hands and a nasty scratch on the back of my hand.

Enjoy the season while it lasts.
Cheers Reinier

 

[miles]

Hi,

Went diving on Sunday afternoon. Millers point, caravan reefs. Viz was a beautiful 10meters with water temp 17degrees on the surface and 11 degree just 1 meter below!!! Ended up with 3 crays, biggest one was 13cm carapace length, and two roman, biggest 2.5kg's. Boat was searched at the slip by cape nature coservation, so be carefull. They were actually very nice and mentioned that they've been watch me for about 2 months now. They could even tell me when my girlfriend was sleeping on the rubberduck whilst we were spearing about 1.5months ago. I'm glad that they're doing a thorough job and i even volunteered to do some diving for them if they needed somebody

regards