63 Kilo GT - SA East Coast

[Andre van Wyk]

Been away on a shoot in the bush the last 2 weeks, but came back to this in my inbox, sent to me by a mate on the East Coast, shot last week on Aliwal Shoal which is a reef about 5 miles offshore of our East Coast, approx 50 kilometres South of Durban..



Damn shame it was shot rather than caught on a popper or jig and released to fight another day, but its a little piece of proof that some of the World's largest GT's patrol the African East Coast......

We are currently sponsoring a DVD being shot on GT popping in Mozambique, which will hopefully go a little way in exposing the amazing potentials of this area, and will send out a few copies to the GT popping crew when they are done...

[Colin P]

Now that's a fish!!

Hope the shoot went well - I sent Hennie a few stills he might want to use for the Moz DVD.

So looking forward to Saint Brandon in April!

Cheers

Colin

[Chris Young]

#$%ing spear fishin @#$%s  I don't get it?? such a waste

[Geoff Volter]

That was a nice fish.

Incidentally, what do they taste like?

[Travis Heaps]

#$%ing spear fishin @#$%s  I don't get it?? such a waste

I get it but I don't agree with it. 

Monster fish, shame it's dead.

[Nathan Cefai]

Damm thats a huge fish,unstoppable for some with 120lb braid or heavier..Wow

[Peter Morris]

Thats one Massive GT.

Anyone got any ideas on how old a fish that size would be...?

Pete

[Matt Harvey]

I had an aborted dive on the Aliwal Shoal (long story involving a non inflating BCD))  -  for the short amount of time I was floundering around on the sea bed I never saw anything like that !

[Angus Hulme]

Thats one Massive GT.

Anyone got any ideas on how old a fish that size would be...?

Pete

well no I don't Pete, but I do know that most open ocean pelagic fish are very fast growing, and apparently GTs are known to reach about 60cm in 3-4 years, which would indicate they are also a fast growing fish. The only accurate way to know would be to examine the otoliths (ear bones) and observe the growth patterns. I am not a marine biologist, so can't tell you any more. 

[Paul Chan]

Hmm... 60cm? or 60kg! 

Anyhow, beautiful creature and nice specimen. Sad to see it dead though

[Angus Hulme]

Hmm... 60cm? or 60kg! 

Considering 60 kilograms is in the upper range of GT growth potential......the species is not going to grow to that size in 3 years is it? So obviously I was meaning 60 centimetres in 3 years, which, compared to a lot of fish species, is fast growth.

[Narc]

Let's just believe that there are many of this size out there and we keep trying for them.

[Adrian Watt]

Excert from a Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Tagging programme report (sent to me by Roberta & John Llanes of Taveuni popping & jigging fame www.fijibeachfrontatmakaira.com

[Travis Heaps]

So lets say that fish is approximately 1.6m long or 63 inches long (judging by the size of the bloke)??  Maturity at 23.6 inches/3.6 years, so 63 - 23.6 = 39.4.  Average of an inch per year after maturity so 39.4 inches = 39.4 years...plus 3.6 = 43 years old.

Now that makes it more of a shame when you put it like that.  That bugger has been swimming the oceans since let's say the late 60's.....

[Colin P]

Here's an extract from an encyclopedia description of GT -

"The use of growth curves fitted to observed otolith data shows an individual of around 1 m in length is approximately 8 years old, while a 1.7 m fish would be around 24 years old. The maximum theoretical length of the species predicted by the growth curves is 1.84 m, however the largest reported individual was 1.7 m long."