Fish Frenzie

Two very nice Triggerfish caught off Cabo Girão

2007-08-05T22:33:00.000+01:00

My first grouper

2007-07-13T21:51:00.000+01:00

My first grouper ! Yip, I finally managed to increase my list of species caught. Though one thing is for sure, these fish are not easy prey. My first encounter with one was an interesting one.

I had never seen a grouper before whilst spearfishing. I had heard that it was possible to capture them here in Madeira, but never imagined doing so. A couple of weeks back a colleague from work had told me that her husband had captured a nice barracuda, along with an amber jack, and grouper. I was surprised to hear that a grouper was amongst the fish caught. Luckily for me she had taken some photos.

Photo Below : José with nice barracuda and Pedro sitting close by

Friday the thirteenth, funny day for spearfishing. The weather has for the past days been fairly good with the occasional lightly clouded day, but today proved to be the worst. Cloudy days can make visibility poor if the water is not too clean, and today was no exception.

As usual I entered the water from the Camara de Lobos port and went straight to the wave breakers trying to search for sea bream. Through past experiences, this has been one of the best places to capture these fish but to day would prove me wrong. 10 minutes of searching and it was time to head into deeper waters.

As some of you may have noticed through my earlier posts, my spearfishing season started off quite good, landing some nice amber jacks. Though for the past couple of weeks there has been no sighting. pity, since a really enjoy seeing these fish and even more so putting a spear through them. Nasty ! as a friend of mine would say :)

Past the point and off into the deep, to search for jacks. Surprisingly it was not amber jacks that were on the run, but lots of sea bream. Last week I had lost a spear because of one. These fish like to duck into holes and wait there till danger is gone.

Then Grouper ! Grouper ! what a surprise ! All the while this grouper had been swimming with the sea bream and I had mistaken it for some other species. I did not really know how to approach this fish, so I tried the "easy slide in", meaning I took a deep breath and slowly descended, trying to be as still as possible. Upon reaching the bottom I aimed my gun at the grouper who was still some distance away. Slowly it started towards me, and in my mind I was thinking, wait he will come to you, he is almost there.
Right ! no way buddy ! better luck next time. The grouper pulled a 180 on me and even more disturbing he kept coming back but never close enough. Up we went, quick breath check and back to grouper stalking. It was then that I started to understand this fish, curious but careful. After a game of cat and mouse, I decided that no grouper was worth blacking out for, so I left Mr. G to his business.

With so much sea bream around I turned my attention to them. I picked up this technique from watching spearfishing videos. Small sea bream will lead to big sea bream. Besides the fact that they like holes, they seem to believe in bumming with one another, meaning they like grouping together. So the small ones will lead to the big ones. True to my theory I managed to pop three sea bream, Mr Big, Mr medium and Mr small.

Upon searching for Mr. Tiny guess who decided to join the party. Waiting in a whole, with a big fish smile was Mr. G. This time he was cornered, no way out but still in the defensive position. I am one of those spearos who prefers to take a side shot instead of a head on one so I waited for him to turn but being a stubborn creature he did not.. A man can only stay down so long, and so I decided to risk the shot, bang the grouper was down but not dead. My biggest fear now was loosing the fish, so I quickly grabbed him by the tail and headed up. This was a slippery bugger, never remaining still, so I took the safe option and subdued the grouper.

Smiles and shouts of joy, my First Grouper !!!

Playful Dolphins

2007-07-03T11:39:00.000+01:00

This week Our Mary was able to catch some footage of Playful dolphins. These dolphins are commom to our shores and can be found in huge numbers.

Marlin Fishing video

2007-06-06T21:21:00.000+01:00

It´s that time of year again. The time where you pack away the small guns and bring out the cannons. Finally the blues have reached Madeira Island.

Our Mary has had a wonderful start to the Marlin season landing two Blue Marlin in a spand of one week. Both fish weighed in at about 700 to 800 lbs. Even more so, Luty managed to capture some of the action on film. Below is the video.

Gone Jack Crazy !!

2007-05-06T23:11:00.000+01:00

Seems as though our spearfishing has really " gone jack crazy ". This weekend resulted in another two good amberjacks. Mine weighed in at 1.7 kg and Luty´s at 1.3 kg. Also had my first double score with two yellow jacks on one shot. Great stuff !!

Jacks on the run

2007-05-02T22:29:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I had my first sighting of what I like to call " big fish ". It all started after meeting with Luty for a quick coffee on Saturday morning. As usual our general topic would pop up, it had been almost six months since we had last dived together and both of us were eager to get back into the water.

After pampering the ladies with a bit of good Saturday shopping it was off to Camara de Lobos, our local spear fishing spot. Upon arriving the sea was a little crisp with the occasional big swell, but we were desperate to get into the water and so decided to dive.

After getting geared up it was off down to the beach. As I arrived I reached for my mask and with much disappointment noticed that I had forgotten it back by the car, ten minutes lost of spear fishing, what a waste. When I returned Luty was already heading down to the water.

Visibility in the water was fairly good, just the way we like it. Twenty minutes into the dive and Luty lands his first Amberjack, a fairly small one. Knowing that they usually found in pairs or schools I dived down only to find parrot fish all over the place but no jacks. Luty 1 Beto 0.

More searching and running low on hope I turn back to look for Luty´s float and find three more fish hooked up. That’s when I really started to dread heading back to land with no fish. We had then decided to go to the deep (which for me is +- 14 meters) to look for more jacks and again no luck. Luty had spotted some more jacks, but in the distance far from a shots length. Only one place left to go searching. I started ahead of Luty towards "a rocha" as we like to call it. Taking a deep breath I headed down to about five meters and then suddenly I was surrounded by a whole school of jacks. The most I had ever seen, over thirty fine specimens. I was so excited that I didn’t know where to shoot. Bang! I missed! I couldn’t believe it. After breaching the surface I gave the loudest shout I had ever done to call Luty. With in seconds Luty had a fish skewed on his spear. I quickly loaded my gun again and headed down. Taking my time, aiming for a kill shot I managed to land one right in the centre of the fish and wasted no time in bringing him up to the surface. I then made sure the jack was correctly subdued and headed back down to try for one more, but as quickly as they appeared they disappeared.

On our way back into land I suggested we try another good spot for jacks but Luty suggested we take it easy on our first real dive. Out of the water we had a couple of good laughs, disputing who had the bigger fish. When it came down to it they both weighed in at 1.4 kg each a tie !!

Flower Festival

2007-04-21T14:26:00.000+01:00

This photo was taken from a carpet of flowers which was made for the upcoming flower festival which will be held on Sunday 22 April. Hopefully with some luck might manage to get some good pics.

Encumeada - Levada do Norte -past Falhadal

2007-04-01T21:01:00.000+01:00

This months walk was to be full of surprises, with some wrong turns and a couple of good laughs, I still managed to take some pics of our lovely scenery here in Madeira. Our proposed course was to be from Encumeada along the levada do Norte past Folhadal. So here goes enjoy !

Dolphins

2007-03-11T20:59:00.000Z

This weekend I was once again invited to go Big game fishing aboard Our Mary. The day was full of surprises as lots of dolphins were about. We also managed to land a 40 kg big eyed Tuna, which resulted in a thirty minute fight on light tackle. Below are some photos of the dolphins.

First hike of the Year

2007-03-04T21:28:00.000Z

Last months walk was the start of many walks to come in 2007, our first trip was along Levada do Alecrim - Ribeira de Lageado - Lagoa do Vento -Rabaçal . Below are just some of photos taken during our trip. For more photos why not visit Disportobay

Winter Photography

2007-01-09T14:05:00.000Z

Since spearfishing has come to almost a complete stop, why not sign yourself up for a photography course to keep the gray skies at bay. Yip, photography is one of new hobbies and here goes my first photo Enjoy :) Want to see more visit Phosgraphis

Lombada da Ponta de Sol

2006-11-26T22:28:00.000Z

This past Saturday I found myself doing another walk with Disportobay, this time along the hills and mountains of Lombada da Ponto de Sol. Our walk took us roughly three to four hours, and we were accompanied by some great scenery and the unexpected good weather as Friday we experienced strong winds and rough seas. We even got a chance at seeing some of our members coax a goat into allowing us to pass through.

From swimming under the sea to walking above the clouds.

2006-10-08T11:29:00.000+01:00

No beach, no water, no fish. This past Thursday I packed away my diving suit and pulled out my hiking boots, it was time for some fresh air and great sceneries and what better way than to go to an altitude of above 1400 meters.

Destination : Cabeça da Lenha

The walk is roughly 4.5 kilometers long and not too difficult to complete. We started off with a slight down hill with most of the vegetation being small bushes and shrubs.

Off to the trees then. Dr Raimundo Quintal was our guide for this walk, and we had the pleasure of listening to him brief us on the geographic landscape of Madeira and its flora.

Some quick attemps at photography and its back to trail. Below we had our real first obstacle, an up hill walk, nothing big but for those of us who are more used to floating around in the water it can be tough. With some effort I made it up and was greeted with one of our first great views.

It was not long after till we arrived at Cabeça da Lenha. Below we can see one of the views that can be seen from the hill top. In the distance we can see another well known geographic feature of Madiera Penha da Aguia.

Time to head back, but not without a nice photo of Rosie sitting above the clouds :)

Underwater Photography

2006-10-01T15:17:00.000+01:00

Finally I´ve managed to do some underwater photography, nothing great but we all have to start somewhere. These photos were taken in Camera de Lobos at an average depth of 5 meters.

Desertas

2006-09-19T00:06:00.000+01:00

Last week Saturday some work colleagues and I went on a sailing trip to the Desertas to commemorate the success of ON BY Porto Bay . I had been to the Desertas earlier on in the year and had the opportunity of seeing some dolphins and was looking forward to seeing more on this trip. The trip resulted in barracudas, pilot whales, trigger fish and lots of great scenery. Displayed below are some of the photos from our trip.

One of Desertas Islands from the distance. On a yacht it can take about two and half hours to three depending on the conditions to get there.

Half way through our journey we got a sighting of pilot whales. It was difficult to get a good photo of them surfacing.

I guess Cape Town is not the only one with a Table Mountain to boast about.

A nice barracuda caught by Rubina. After some time of trying to subdue the fish I finally got it into position for a photo.

After a good lunch nothing goes better than a good sleap or should I say roasting in the sun. Another five minutes and your ready to turn :)
These trigger fish were quite eager to get a bite at anything, so much that they actually bit the Captains toe whilst he was cleaning some fish with his toes in the water. I think that we in portuguese have the right name for this fish "Peixe Porco" which translated to english is pig fish.

Sting Ray Crazy

2006-08-22T23:18:00.000+01:00

Last week my brother invited me to go fishing with him aboard Our Mary and I jumped at the offer never having done some bottom fishing. Saturday started early with a quick cup of coffee and a small bite. Then it was off to pick him up and down to the marina. Upon arrival he had the usual tasks to do... apart from taking tourists who come to Madeira big game fishing, he also tends to five yachts in the Funchal Marina. Quick check up to see if all was good and then it was time to set up the rigs for the bottom fishing. As the morning was chilly another coffee was in order, so it was off to the nearest coffee shop and some more fish stories. About ten minutes later I had the pleasure of meeting Jud Hamblin, one of Lutys regular fishing buddies. Having never done bottom fishing it was difficult to follow the conversation as it jumped from types of reel to rods. In the end I gave up, and appreciated the conversation.

Off to the boat again and then to pick up some fresh bait at the local fish depot. Seeing Luty with two buckets of mackerel, I started wondering why so much bait, later I would come to understand why. After the bait was on board we were off in the direction of Camara de Lobos. I won´t dare mention the exact spot of our anchorage as my brother might not appreciate it (don’t worry boet your secrets are safe with me). A quick exchange of witty remarks and the fishing started. The Captain of the boat came down and scooped up some Mackerel and begun to cut them up into small peaces, placing them in a bag, and with a rod letting them sink to the bottom. Some quick questions on my part on what should and should not be done and I was off fishing with the rest.

Jud was the first to get hooked up. I was informed on what fish we were fishing for but had absolutely no idea at what they were capable of. With some effort Jud began to reel the fish in. That’s when I got my first taste of hearing line being taken back, and things started to get exciting. It took about 20 minutes to bring the sting ray alongside the boat, and then I had my first glimpse of a sting ray up close. Though I must say that when I saw its mouth it kind of reminded me of a bats mouth. Luty was quick to get the hook out as not to make the sting suffer any longer than needed. One down and more to come.

The next to get hooked was Luty, his sting was no exception also making a good fight. It’s a lot of fun watching someone reel a sting ray in. You need a lot of patience as it does not happen with one go. Various times line is lost, and so you must fight to gain on the fish, and with friends cheering you on, it can be quite funny.

My first ray was no real big challenge and within 20 minutes it was tagged and released. My highlight of the day was when I was given the pleasure of reeling in a fairly big ray on a light weight rod and reel. Believe me boys, its no easy task. I must have spent about 15 minutes trying to reel the ray in. Luty was already starting to doubt whether I would be able to bring her up. Being the kind brother that he is, he added a harness that attaches the rod and reel to a back thus taking off some of the weight from your lower back . Another 15 minutes of gruelling effort to bring her up and slowly but surely I gained on the fish. Upon seeing a white reflection in the water, my motivation began to rise and another five minutes and I had her alongside the boat. By the end of the fishing trip we had caught and released about ten sting rays.

Thinking that the entertainment was close to an end, I was given the rare opportunity to see a morey eel up close, and as much as I would like to say personal, as soon as it hit the deck I was quick to flee up the steps to get away from it. Unfortunately for the morey eels the captain enjoys them too much and so into the bucket it went.

Total fish caught :10 Sting rays and 3 morey eels.

Want yo see more photos ? Click here

So much effort ?

2006-08-20T22:23:00.000+01:00

Coming Soon !
Find out what fish makes this rod bend so much.

Weely Photos

2006-08-20T21:59:00.000+01:00

Velozes
This weeks photo was taken by Helena Encarnação and titled "velozes" which roughly translated would be swift or speedy. Helena has great underwater photos of various fish and sea life, a visit to her site will definately be worth the visit. ilhas-encantadas.blogspot.com

Weekly Photos

2006-08-13T22:50:00.000+01:00

Sweet Lips
This weeks photo was also taken at the aquarium in Lisbon. Some of fish there seem to love the extra attention they recieve from visitors. This fish was no exception, coming right up to the glass and giving us a beady eye stare. Can anyone identify this fish ?

Weekly Photos

2006-08-08T08:18:00.000+01:00

This weeks photo was taken at the oceanarium in Lisbon last year whilst on holiday. Arn´t Sea Horses usually more Humback ? If ever you are passing through Lisbon, the oceanarium is a good spot to stop. You can visit there site on www.oceanario.pt

Spearfishing in Calheta

2006-08-07T22:46:00.000+01:00

This weekend Claudio, Luty and I decided to head down to Calheta to do some spearfishing. Two weeks before I had dived the spot which resulted in two good mullets and a sea bream. Claudio too had had previous good spearfishing at this spot, resulting in various mullets, sea bream and the occasional amberjack.

Upon arrival we were met by clear seas, calm weather and lots of sun. Within 20 minutes we were in the water, heading in the direction of the wave breakers. Calheta is a good spot due to all the wave breakers that join, creating perfect holes for all types of fish mainly sea bream and mullet. On the surface while searching for fish I noticed Luty dive down and slowly approach a wave breaker and suddenly it became apparent what he was going after. The poor octopus had no chance, all I saw was a black cloud of ink and Luty smiling happily to the surface.
Shortly after we caught up with Claudio surfacing with a sea bream freshly plucked from a nice hole. After some good laughs and quick exchange of good hole sites we were off again. We swam for another ten minutes parallel to the wave breakers when Luty decided to go down after some mullet, shot and missed but on his way up he noticed some amberjack on the move. Claudio had just dived down and was about to enter a hole when Luty´s frantic mumbling in the water caught his attention. Meanwhile the amberjack had already spotted Claudio and where curious to have a closer look. Bad move, Claudio had just enough time to turn and put a good shot in one. Not wanting to dive down for safety reasons I waited till Claudio started to surface. Eager to get a shot in I began to dive down but too late, Luty was there putting a another good shot into an amberjack. Deprived of my first amberjack I surfaced quickly taking a good breath and went back down, trying to stay as long as possible in fruitless hope of having a shot at one . After both fish were stringed up it was back to patrolling.

After a good time in the water we thought that all the fish action was gone, but Luty begged to differ. Quick breath and down he went in search of fish, on the top both Claudio and I were watching. It seemed as though he would never surface until we heard the distinctive sound of a speargun being fired and then the struggle began. Luty was fiercely trying to get the fish out of its hole, spearshaft bending slightly at the force of the fish and his pull. Then as a mother takes a baby to her chest, so he too did with his 2.5 Kg mullet, all that lacked the moment was a good kiss from spearo to fish. Reaching the surface he was greeted by good cheers and a quick hand at helping him string his fish.

A good end to a good days spearfishing.

Weekly Photos

2006-08-03T22:59:00.000+01:00

Hey out there!
Every week Fish Frenzie will be posting a photo related to the sea or sea life. This weeks photo was taken by Rogério in Brazil. If you want to see more of his photos search for them on www.spearfishing.com

A trip to seixal

2006-07-25T23:20:00.000+01:00

Last month a group of work friends and myself decided to hang up our hiking boots and head for the sea. A good friend of mine heads up an activity club in which every month we participate in a specific activity such as hiking, fishing an even the occasional boat trip. For those who are curious about our activities you can visit his blog at disportobay.blogspot.com ( its in Portuguese though, but the photos are really great). Our trip took us to seixal. I was very excited upon arrival at the prospect of a good days spearfishing. I had heard lots of stories about good size fish swimming in these waters ( now all you big game spearos hang on, when I say a good size I mean in the 1kg to 2kg fish, being a beginner is tough :) )
After all the necessary inspections of our gear we started to suite up, followed by a couple of quick remarks to heighten up spirits and get us excited for the days spearing. All in all there were four spearos comprised of Suzano, Carlos, Nuno and myself. I had done some spearfishing with Nuno before and so we decided to tag together for the beginning of the dive. We decided to head for a shallow in hope of spotting a good fish but upon arrival were disappointed, no fish .

In the distance I could see Suzanos´ float and decided to head out towards him and as I approached him I noticed that he had already bagged a parrot fish, dangling from his stringer.

With the hope of spotting a good fish I decided to follow him around for a while, constantly diving down in hopes of seeing something. Ten minutes later bang ! another one for Suzano and this time it was a sea bream and a nice one. Two down and still no site of fish. I
continued to dive searching for fish and instead I found Nuno in the shallows chasing some mullet, he too had had no luck yet. An hour later and still not having any fish, I decided to head back to shore. On my way back I noticed some shinny fish in the water and went to investigate. Took a deep breath and dived down to about 4 meters ( did I already mention that I am a beginner) waiting for something to happen, when slowly a fish came in my direction, then with a pull of the trigger twak ! his mine. Stringed him up and headed for land.

Upon getting out of the water I was met by eager supporters to see what I had brought from the mornings spearing. With a couple of smiles and laughs I displayed my fish proudly. Nuno came out much later with four mullets and a good size bag of limpets ( here in Madeira we don't have bugs so the next best thing are limpets and we have to dive for them ).

After some time with the family by the natural pools we were off to do a braai. This was my chance at covering up the days bad spearfishing on my part, so I wipped up a fire and then brought out the family special, skewered tuna with lemon sauce. Most of the guys had never had skewered Tuna before so they were eager to try and I must say that with the comments received I had redeemed myself. Some fun spearfishing and good food made the day worth while.

Now I know after reading this some of you would really like to see my fish so here goes, and remember biginner.

Fish Frenzie ?

2006-06-07T13:23:00.000+01:00

Some of you might be wondering why name a blog Fish Frenzie ? The answer to that is simple, I love everything about fish, mostly I love catching them, whether by a fishing rod or spearfishing. The simple fact is that i´m a fish fanatic always have been, always will be.
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