Jacks on the run

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 !!

Spearfishing in Calheta

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.

A trip to seixal

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.