Spearfishing has been called many things over the years. It was first skindiving and harpooning fish; then spear fishing or free-diving and lately underwater fishing to de-emphasize the perceived “reckless bloodsport”.
Spearfishing, A sport that captivates so many minds and souls and primitive fears of the unknown, with its stories since it’s humble beginnings in the 1940’s as a way of life to becoming the extreme sport it is recognised as today. And who would have thought that we have some of the best playing fields for this sport fight here in our backyard.
With thousands of kilometres of coastline bordering the Indian and Atlantic oceans, the choices of gamefish (pelagic fish) are endless.
Spearfishing is done with the minimum of equipment, mask and snorkel, wetsuit, fins, weight belt and a rubber–powered speargun, turning the hunt into a challenging one where the fish mostly wins.
The very best of spearfishers can hold their breath for durations of two to four minutes and dive to depths of 40 or even 60 metres. However, dives of approximately one minute and 15 or 20 metres are more common for the average experienced spearfisher.
Len Turner is one of these experienced ocean hunters and with forty years of experience, he knows the sport, it’s rules and the injuries that can possibly occur.
Len, what does it entail to be a spearfisherman?
Once a spearfisherman – always a spearo!
Spearfishing is not a way of life, it is “life”. Every dive could possibly take you to the very edge of existence, so for me, spearfishing is a continuous celebration of being born free and living free to free dive.
Apart from the personal satisfaction, where has spearfishing taken you?
Spearfishing is a sport for the restless soul.
Spearfishing takes you on an everlasting journey, both literally and figuratively. I remember driving in a car, with two dive buddies from Durban, 200 km north and then turning around and driving another 200 km south in the elusive quest for clean water and good diving viz (visibility). As a spearo living in Gauteng now, I have to travel many hundreds of kilometres every month to the nearest sea (north coast or Mozambique).
Apart from the places spearfishing has also taken me to places that are not geographic. A place of tranquillity and altered states of consciousness through meditation, it’s a place of health through all the cardio-vascular and anaerobic exercise. Being over 50 years old now, I don’t have my schoolboy figure anymore, but I have an adolescent constitution and zest for life. It is also a place of excitement; nobody can describe to you the sheer exhilaration of having a 55 kg sailfish on the end of your spear line or a 50 kg ignobilis kingfish “reefing” your rig, unless you have experienced it yourself.
What and where has been your greatest hunting experience and why?
I have written up many of the stories over the years that my friends and I have experienced together.
I had a fatal encounter with a Tiger shark at Kozi bay when a huge Tiger swallowed my Spanish Mackerel (‘cuda), buoy and all and then proceeded to try and swallow me. It was sadly fatal for the shark, as I did not taste so good. Another was spearfishing, Tigerfish and great Vundu barbel, Bottlenose, Cornish Jack and Niloticus bream in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. This was amazing and not even the crocodile attack on my mate Rob Gates could deter from this experience.
Diving the deep drop-offs at Cape Vidal’s Levin point where the continental shelf comes close into the shoreline. I have seen leatherback turtles the size of Volkswagen beetles with moss and barnacles growing on their shells and 1000 lb marlin, so big that they look like nuclear submarines. And one day seeing a shoal of eight sailfish, herding bait fish in the dance of life.
In rugby one can get hurt from a bad tackle, what had gone wrong for you before?
Too much to tell. My nine lives are well used. I have been knocked against a cliff face on the Transkei Wild coast and been knocked unconscious. I have got a cramp in both hamstrings when chasing after a fish in 20 metres of water on Aliwal Shoal and then still have to try and swim to the surface with no breath left only with my arms. I have been on a flipped boat on a surf launch three times. And I have been bitten by a moray eel, poked by a sailfish bill, a fin bitten off by sharks, swallowed a blue bottle that exploded in my stomach and gave me violent cramps. I have been chased by crocodiles in Lake Kariba, and also attacked by a pack of sharks on Protea Banks. Yet I still feel safer in the sea diving the deep blue than walking down the street in Jozi.
Tell us about your boat?
I have had a number of really good boats. My current rig is a little C-SKI 4.40 m made by Steve at Fibre Tech. It is powered by a single 40 HP Yamaha. It is a spearfishing boat made by a spearo for spearo’s. I really recommend it to anyone.
Johann Stadler and Len Turner
Len Turner is a member of Gauteng North Underwater (GNU) “Blue GNU’s’ spearfishing. Anyone who wants to join their Pretoria based club or who is interested in learning to spearfish can contact him 0836332851.
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