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New Waters !

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

bluecape

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2003
574
164
83
Hiya

One of the most exciting parts of spearfishing to me, is the preperation for a visit to a place that you have never dived, and with it, foreign reefs and the potential of experiencing new fish and challenges.
Tomorrow morning I am hitting the road for 5 days to an area known as Cape St Francois, near the legendary surf spot called Jeffreys bay. About 8 hours drive, it is potentially a very productive spearing area, depending obviously on conditions, which are not great at the moment. But, going to be good to get out, will hopefully have a few nice stories and pics on my return.
( Decided to do this in place of my Knysna trip Miles.)

Safe diving to all, C Ya next week.

Jeff :D
 
hiya jeff

Good luck with the trip!!!! Pretty much in the doldrums here at the moment, so have loads of fun stalking those HUGE 'crackers!!!

Regards
miles
 
Cape St. Francis... now that's a cool place.. you'll love it!

hey miles how's it going?
 
Hi Bluecape
Know what you mean, its brilliant finding places that offer something new, getting into water where you have no idea what to expect... even better if theyre rarely visited and where the local marine life thinks youre a new fish species and not a killing machine. Have a good trip, take and post lots of pics for those of us not near water at the moment (you lucky b*stard)
 
Hi gang

Well, just rolled back into town, having had a 'teaser' on the final morning, which both saved the trip...and left me with a sense of excitement and enthusiasm for the most beautiful reef conditions I have experienced so far.
St Francis is basically a very picturesque little town on the Eastern Cape coast, with a small port, beautiful fishing 'feel', but very little spearfishing activity. The place is renown as being an angling area 'supreme' for Mussclecracker .( Or Brusher)
On arrival, the swell was cooking, great for surfing, not good for spearing. Day 2. No change. Day 3. No Change.
I woke up on the morning of the departure day, and was greeted by a flat, clear, windless ocean.
We decided to postpone our return by a few hours, and soon I was swimming our from just behind Port St Francis to a nearby reef, ufortunately alone, as my buddy was fetching gear from Jeffreys-Bay.
I spent a beautiful 90 minutes diving down to a shallow reef-bottom ( about 8 meters), but what a kaleidascope of fish !! Blacktail, Galjoen, Zebra-fish, Cape Stumps,Butterfish, octopus, starfish...and Mussclecracker, but sadly, only youngsters. ( 3-5 KG)
I was disciplined in the extreme, watching big Galjoen swim buy as I patiently lay in wait for the sight of the 15 kg Musscle cracker, but today, it was'nt to be.

I eventually shot 3 Blacktail and gave them to a large group of local construction workers who had sat watching, fascinated, as this guy dissapeared under for 2 minutes at a time before popping back up. From me, it was really a token of thanks, unbenown to them they had provided a hint of security to my solo-dive. They were delighted with the fish.

But the real memory for me, was of 3 small (approx. 3-5 Kg )Mussclecracker. These fish are still a bit of an enigma amongst the fisherman, and spearo's are lucky to get these supremely cautious fish. On one of my last dives, I saw them in the distance, and now with nothing to lose, I banged the handle of my rabitech on the reef bottom, and all 3 young Cracker swam up for a closer look. For what must have been about 30 seconds, we sat eye to eye, about a meter apart, and I grinned at those beautiful fat, ugly lips, and felt soo privileged to be sharing this space with these 3 cracker. I was in the place every angler must have wondered about...in the very living room of a mussclecracker family :D
I bid them farewell, and had to go, my ride back home was waiting. I know for sure that those 15 KG Cracker are out there, and I know for sure I will be back soon to continue my hunt. !!

Jeff
 
Hi

Did promise to post pics, with just my solo morning dive, I set camera on self timer to shoot a pic to show 'lie of the land', but turned out fuzzy:confused: Anyway, was rushing, but here it is....

Jeff
 
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where at cape st francis did u dive......
i went ther for surfing in february.....drove along the road to the end.....and surfed at the beach.....on the left...
u dive on the right by the rocks?
 
You may want to send a pm... its a pretty old thread :)
 
Hiya

Wow, you are managing to find all these old posts!! :D

I was diving a few hundred meters to the right of Port St Francis, on the cape Town side of the harbour wall. ( You get there by driving thru Santa Rheim.)Was interesting for me to read my post from 3 years ago.

My outlook has changed BIG Time and I'm glad you finding this post has allowed me to share my feelings as follows to all Cape Spearo's -

The Mussel Cracker, ( about which I spoke, wanting to shoot a 15kg fish) are now on the critical list of endangered species. They are in fact near the very top of the 'high danger' zone, meaning that the breeding stock ( Ie the 15kg fish) are very, very close to the species biological extinction numbers.

PLease do not hunt big mussel cracker. I cannot stop anyone from doing this, but this beautiful fish is fading.

Kind regards

Jeff
 
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hehe yeah ive had afew years of good info to catch up on...so needless to say havnt gotten any work done today.....just read the whole chronicles of a blue water hunter thread...took awile! haha

buy yeah i agree with ya on the musselcracker topic....definately gotta look after the big boys n gals! not that ive seen any!
 
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