How to find a hotspot

If you are looking for a hotspot, you are probably scouting a new area. I start by looking at my nautical charts to get an idea of the underwater terrain. Then look at the local skiboat club. It may mean spending a whole day at the club and buying several rounds of beer, but face it, sometimes you have to take one for the team. We have found skippers to be a thirsty but friendly bunch and are often forthcoming with useful information. Often you may get GPS co-ords or a skipper willing to take you to some spots. We make a point of re-imbursing skippers well, to maintain their good will.

Now the challenge starts. If you have been put onto a spot, take a look at the fishfinder to get an idea of specific topography and what the fishlife is doing. You will need to bounce dive these spots. We usually lie quite still and do a headcount of species and sizes. Some spots are very general, having a population of fish representative of many similar spots. These areas are always good to make up your bag in a competition.

In South Africa, the goal is to land 10 different species, each as close to a gutted+gilled weight of 4kg (fish weighing from 900g are counted). Points are awarded per species & per kg up to 4kg. Fish larger than 4kg receive a maximum of 5 points (1 species point + 4 points for max weight). The maximum a diver can score is 50pts/day.

Apart from general areas, you will encounter specific spots. These areas usually hold a single member of a specific species and makes a huge impact on your scoring because other divers are unlikely to encounter the species. A good example would be finding a Yellowbelly Rockcod. In order to be a legal size the fish would be very close to scoring 5pts. These fish are resident, so chances are good you would find the fish in the same area/cave in the future. You would obviously need to get accurate marks to put yourself back in the spot in the future.

Really great spearos have a collection of such spots where they are almost guaranteed 10 species all close to max weight. It is no good just knowing the point exists, you must be able to get back to it and that is where the real success lies. Great spearos have an innate ability to position themselves at precisely the right spot meaning they generate success repeatably.

For the rest of us, don’t stop enjoying what you do. You really are competing against yourself and can easily become disillusioned if you only judge your ability with that of the top competitors.