PHOTOS: 44kg whopper caught off Umhlanga

Grant Powell sent us this account of his spear fishing expedition off Umhlanga over the weekend, in which he nabbed a 44kg Daga Salmon. 

 

Grant writes: 

 

“Saturday, 27th July, at about 8am, I swam in off Umhlanga super close to my house. I was out with a mate, Andy Zwiers, we were only in for about 30 minutes in total.

 

“Conditions were pretty good, visibility about six metres. We swam out to my usual spot, but today since the water was a bit cleaner I saw I reef a bit further out, and swam onto it. Thought I saw something behind the reef, but [it was] black so had to swim down to check it out. There four of these beasts were chilling! Slowly moving off, one was clearly the biggest. I had two guns in my hand, a 900mm and 1200mm. So I lined up the big guy and as I was about to shoot [but] I reckon, wait they in no rush, let me try get two. So I lined up the big one with my 1200mm gun in my right hand, and the smaller one (probably about 35kg) with the 900mm gun in my left hand, then shot at the same time. Swam to the surface thinking I had gotten both. 

 

“Unfortunately those things have like massive plates for scales and the smaller guy somehow wasn’t on the end of my gun when I got to the surface. I was more concerned about the big guy anyway, I shot him good but my spear didn't even go straight through it was so fat! He hardly noticed I had shot him, and just cruised slowly away like nothing happened, then suddenly realizing and towing me off with him... After about five minutes of being towed around I decided to reload my other gun (which was no easy feat) to give him another securing shot. Plugged him and he stopped swimming... 

“I decided to hot foot it out of there before the sharks got a whiff...  so stoked!!! It was quite a swim in gripping a 44kg fish and trying to swim! I didn’t want sharks to come so was trying to rush. Gripped it in the bottom of the gills and swam. He was still slightly alive so every now and then he would try breathe, almost crushing my hand. Lucky I didn't get smoked by any waves. 

 

 

 

“When I got out, I couldn't believe it, neither could the ou’s on the beach! For the next few hours between being very STOKED it was photos, weighing and trying to figure out what to do with this beast. In the end I decided to give most of it away to the local fishermen and my dive buddy Andy. I ended up with less than half, but at least it fitted in my freezer ready for an awesome fish braai and camp fire stories.”

 

Thanks Grant for the story and photos! If you’ve got any to share, please email [email protected]