Spear Fishing in South Africa.

I decided to investigate after I heard a familiarly name came up. Maybe some of you will find this interesting. I did edit some of the wording between multiple documents.

Jacobus Francois Jordaan (Koos)

Article “While spear fishing off Richards bay at Petingo wreck, on the 8 November at 13:00 I noticed that a shoal of sea pike were swimming below. The visibility was about 9 meters. I dived down and followed the biggest one. While approaching the fish it dived to about 15 meters, I took the shot. It was fighting hard and I then also had to content with a bull-shark but came out on top. The fight took about 5 minutes.”

The 'Mayor' of Spear fishing in Zululand Koos Jordaan and his son JP both with 42kg Wahoo’s they shot of Cape Vidal.

Article “Us mere mortals only dream of spear fishing a big Wahoo, and when I say big let’s be honest anything near 30kg is big. I guess Koos plays buy a different set of rules or something. I don’t think any one told him that big was 30kg!! Or is it just that he likes the 'Bloody Big' category?
The funny thing is his son JP also likes the 'Bloody Big' Category and also got a big ..or should I say 'Bloody Big' Wahoo of 42kg also in the last week!! Both these fish were shot off Leven Point at Cape Vidal .... the thing is what else did they shoot? Or don’t these guys take pics of fish under 40kg?”

Koos Jordaan - Large Sailfish - Cape Vidal.

Article This weekend (8-9 October 2011) saw some of the coldest water we have spear fished in KZN. On Sunday the water was a fridged 17 deg on the North Coast. The forecast looked good for Monday so we decided to extend the weekend and get away from the cold water by venturing to Cape Vidal with Koos Jordaan. The water there was a bit warmer 21-22deg and we got some great Wahoo between 16-18 kg and a decent sized Cobia around 18kg. Koos got the above big Sailfish that was the cherry on the top of a great day.”

The story of Brad Neilson's.

Black marlin—263.9 kilograms (581 pounds), Lighthouse Reef, Mapelane, South Africa, May 29, 1999. I believe the current record is over 1000lb.
Article “I was spear fishing at Lighthouse Reef, Mapelane, on the East Coast of South Africa May 29, 1999. My dive buddies were Koos Jordaan and Jimmy Uys with Frans Botes as top man (Jimmy held the previous record). We were diving from Jimmy's boat and the visibility was about 6 meters.
On our third drift, Jimmy shouted for help--a Zambezi Shark was attacking a fish he'd just speared. While I was swimming toward him, he shouted again saying he thought there was a marlin below him, apparently also attacking his speared mackerel.
Apprehensively, I dived down and saw a huge marlin tackling Jimmy's fish. The marlin turned to face me and then swam off. I gave chase, waiting for it to give me a clear shot. When it finally gave be a broadside, I speared it just behind the left gill plate. My spear did not exit on the other side. I let go my gun, playing my buoy line. When most of my line was out, I wrapped some around my forearm.
The fish dragged me in huge circles, for over 2 hours, but I managed to keep it in relatively shallow water. I was dragged about 5 km with Jimmy and Frans following in the boat. By this time I didn't have much strength left. I just couldn't seem to be able to haul the fish to the surface. The fish had swum almost into the surf line when I called for a second gun, which Jimmy threw to me from a safe distance--he was nervous to bring his boat into the surf.!
I hardly had enough energy to load this gun, but finally managed. I tried to place the second shot into the head, but I was too exhausted to swim up as far as the head, as the fish was still swimming strongly. Eventually, I placed the shot into the back. This took most of the fight out of the fish. I rested a bit and then after hauling the fish to the surface swam it out of the surf line into safer water. In the process of finishing the marlin off with my dive knife, it managed to whack me on the shoulder with its bill.
We had to wait about 30 minutes for Koos to swim to the boat--the others had left him behind to follow me. Between the four of us, we eventually managed to haul the fish aboard using a series of ropes as the boat listed dangerously.
On the way back, the boat continued to list badly. As we approached the surf through the breakers (all boats in South Africa are launched through the surf), Jimmy lost his footing and was thrown off--we beached skipper-less!
We weighed the marlin at my club where a large crowd had gathered.”
The fish was apparently 64 kg!

Article A massive kingfish (caranx) “Dunno who got it nor where but all the same it really big. My biggest was 21 kg - not even 1/3 rd of this fish. I remember ignobilis kicking really hard with that scaly base on their tails - that 64 kg fish could surely break your arm with one hard kick!
For comparison look at this fish of 41 kg taken by spear fishing legend Koos Jordaan at a Zululand wreck in 2007”

Koos with his 41 kg ignoblis - the wreck in the background.

Koos Jordaan & 51Kg King Mackeral

Article It is a King Mackeral of 51Kg and shot at a little spot called Lighthouse AKA Mapelane. This is on the North coast of Natal (State/Province of South Africa) and is in Indian Ocean waters. The spearo was a very experienced local diver by the name of Koos Jordaan and probably one of the best and knowledgeable spearos I have ever had the fortune to have dived with.
Regards,
Mike.”

a reply to: ICycle2

Did they not mention the white pointers . I am a South Australian and would not even drive a car near the beach there .

a reply to: hutch622

I do not know. I concentrated on the man, not how he got there or the other dangers. The articles I fond also did not tell much more. Will have to contact and ask him, must be close to 20years the last time I saw him.

a reply to: ICycle2

What a well-presented OP

It's hard to believe anyone could 'contend with a bull shark' and win! On the other hand, if anyone could, it'd be that crazy bastard!

Who in their right mind would go head to head with a shark over dinner? In its own territory...gulp.

Your OP has encouraged me to seek out more information about this style of spear-fishing. There's nothing to spear-fish up here in the UK apart from shopping trolleys in canals and rivers.

obviously even sharks hate farts or else he would have been chow, what a great time to fart prolly saved his life all seriousness aside what a great hunt and good for them, I just read about someone who killed a huge ass tuna near hawaii that donated it to the homeless. Great op and great fish stories SnF

Funny enough, we don't have a lot of shark attacks in South African waters...almost all of the attacks are on surfers and body boarders...sharks confuse them for seals and water turtles. ..but one still have to be carefull.