It was the 26th of December. It was my first dive in my hometown Richards Bay. I had been invited by Johan Jacobs to join him and some mates, Frans and Andre, on his boat, Hakuna Mattata, for a dive on the Patinga, a wreck about four k's out to sea off Richard's Bay's "New mouth", lying in 28m. The sky was grey, but the sea was flat, and only slightly ruffled by the light breeze. It had been raining hard in the early hours of the morning, but had cleared up and allowed the dive to go ahead. Apon reaching the wreck, we dropped a marker to check the current. it was a light south-north, so we proceeded to the southern edge of the wreck and jumped in. Frans showed me a piece of superstucture that made a nice pinnacle that came up to about 10m. we hung over the wreck, working our flashers.
Viz was about 20m on the surface, but over the wreck, a yellow muck clouded things to about 5m vizibility. Moorish idols, goldies and old woman schooled around the pinnacle, and spadefish clouded over the edges of the wreck.
A school of yellowtail kingfish came in to have a look, and i dived down, lined one up and, missed! dammit. i curesed myself as i reloaded. another dive. lined up a bronzie, shot, hit, and....nothing. i once again was none too pleased as i picked the scales and skin off my flopper. two shots. one miss and one tear-off. not a great start. Frans, in the meanwhile, had managed to bag a nice bronzi and a decent kingfish of about 5 kilos.
it had been about an hour now. the area had gone very quiet, something that frans later explained gave away the presence of a big predator. i was drifting about 20m from the pinnacle working the flasher, when this large shape slid into veiw from my right. King Mackeral. the "cuda" did a wide halfcircle around the flasher at about 10m, and then slowly started swimming away. i dived down behind it and started follwing it. the fish wouldnt turn, and i didnt want to risk it flicking its tail and dissapearing forever, so i shot from behind and above. i pulled the rope, and, feeling a firm pressure from the other end, headed for the surface and called for the boat. at first i thought that it had come off, or a shark had got it because there was alomst no fight. i pulled myself back along the rope, and got to my gun. to my releif, the fish was still on, but the spear hadnt penetrated through the fish, and the flopper was sticking out the side. when the fish saw me again it ran, a bit harder this time. i let go and grabbed the float. the fish dragged me in a big slow circle. the boat finially arrived next to me and i told johan that we needed a second shot. by now the fish had tired quite a bit, and i was able to hold the rope, while it circled 10m below me. johan dived down, and placed a solid shot through the head. a stab in the brain finished it off and we got it onto the boat.
we dived for about another hour, but no more cuda, but johan did bag a nice 12kg squaretail kob.
back at the club it weighed in at 22.6kg. my first cuda! needless to say i was completely stolked.
Viz was about 20m on the surface, but over the wreck, a yellow muck clouded things to about 5m vizibility. Moorish idols, goldies and old woman schooled around the pinnacle, and spadefish clouded over the edges of the wreck.
A school of yellowtail kingfish came in to have a look, and i dived down, lined one up and, missed! dammit. i curesed myself as i reloaded. another dive. lined up a bronzie, shot, hit, and....nothing. i once again was none too pleased as i picked the scales and skin off my flopper. two shots. one miss and one tear-off. not a great start. Frans, in the meanwhile, had managed to bag a nice bronzi and a decent kingfish of about 5 kilos.
it had been about an hour now. the area had gone very quiet, something that frans later explained gave away the presence of a big predator. i was drifting about 20m from the pinnacle working the flasher, when this large shape slid into veiw from my right. King Mackeral. the "cuda" did a wide halfcircle around the flasher at about 10m, and then slowly started swimming away. i dived down behind it and started follwing it. the fish wouldnt turn, and i didnt want to risk it flicking its tail and dissapearing forever, so i shot from behind and above. i pulled the rope, and, feeling a firm pressure from the other end, headed for the surface and called for the boat. at first i thought that it had come off, or a shark had got it because there was alomst no fight. i pulled myself back along the rope, and got to my gun. to my releif, the fish was still on, but the spear hadnt penetrated through the fish, and the flopper was sticking out the side. when the fish saw me again it ran, a bit harder this time. i let go and grabbed the float. the fish dragged me in a big slow circle. the boat finially arrived next to me and i told johan that we needed a second shot. by now the fish had tired quite a bit, and i was able to hold the rope, while it circled 10m below me. johan dived down, and placed a solid shot through the head. a stab in the brain finished it off and we got it onto the boat.
we dived for about another hour, but no more cuda, but johan did bag a nice 12kg squaretail kob.
back at the club it weighed in at 22.6kg. my first cuda! needless to say i was completely stolked.