On the 24th March 2017, I fetched a group of 9 Brazilian Spear fishermen from Inhambane airport. We had organised to go by boat to Pomene, some 90 km north of Silver Fish Lodge.
We left with two ski boats, with the SE on our backs, at 8 on the next morning. Weather was good and the wind was from the right direction. As we were quite close to the shore, mostly the water was a greenish colour. Not ideal for diving. Soon we passed Massinga Resort, then Morrungulo, then we arrived at Sylvia Shoal, just south of Pomene, where we started diving.
Diego Santiago has been coming to me and bringing groups for some time now, and I have seen what he can do. Lately, he spends most of his time teaching and directing from the boat, and taking videos and photos underwater of his group. 90% of his time is spent like this these days on our trips. He seldom takes his gun with in the water as he has a camera, and focuses on the group.
It does happen that occasionally, usually at the end of the day, he takes his gun into the water. Now, he has many guns, but usually doesn't like to dive with a buoy, so he seems to prefer a smaller gun with a reel at these times. A single elastic...... What was that about taking a penknife to a gunfight?
Rapid PlayStation is a series of large rocks that come up to 8m from 30m. It creates an upwelling from the current that you can see from the surface. Your drift starting point needs to be right, or else you will miss it. Sometimes, depending on the tide, it is green, but as the tides change, blue water comes in. It's an incredible place, with a lot of Kingfish (trevally) around.
Tuesday the 28th March was perfect in the late afternoon. On one dive, he tells me that he went down onto the rock, and saw a channel to the one side where he wedged himself in. Some fish came by, and then this big GT came down the channel straight at him. He thought about shooting him between the eyes from the front but decided against it. It came so close that he had to pull his gun back with the trigger mechanism over his shoulder. He squeezed the trigger and shot the Gt behind his eye, and stoned it. Anything less and his gun would be gone. That GT weighed 46 kgs, his biggest. The spear only penetrated in an inch......
The potential world record fish was a yellow spot kingfish (trevally) which was also shot on the same place. It weighed 17.5 kgs, which I weighed on the lodge scale. I said it should be close to a world record as I had never seen a Yellow spot kingfish like that before, ever. We put it in the freezer, which only works with a generator for 7 hours a day. He did some enquiries in Brazil, and the word came back that the world record currently stands at 15.5 kgs!!!! What, a world record!!!!! Woww!!!!
Now we had to deal with the logistics of getting it to a certified scale, so we could go about claiming the record. I called my friend in Vilanculos, who confirmed that he had a certified scale there. Apparently, there was another in Maputo somewhere. Now, Vilanculos is 4 hours by car, and Maputo is 9 hours. A logistical nightmare. We found this out about two days after the event, and went diving the next day, as the fish were around. We left Pomene on the Saturday (1st April) and then was told by my friend in Vilanculos that the scales calibration was two weeks out of date.....
The fish is still in a freezer, and now I'm trying to make my way down to Maputo to get it certified. I weighed it this morning, and it was 16.85 kgs, so we have already lost some weight.
Shooting the world record in far and remote places seems to be much easier that the logistics of claiming the record. His attitude? I have managed to register one, but have shot quite a few world records. Usually the claim is the difficult part. That's how he is, a modest and humble man.
Next time I'm in Johannesburg, guess what I'm buying? Yip, a certified scale.......Well done my friend, you truly are one of the best in the world.