Issue_14

ISSN 14490846

9 771449 084005

Regular 06 >> Editorial 07 >> Letters to the Editor 62 >> Spearo’s Gallery 72 >> Fish Photo’s for Dummies 76 >> Spear-?-Tips

Cover

Andy Lindsay - Coronation Trout Main Photo by John Featherstone - “Spanish Storm” Tim McDonald

December to Remember

10 Jurien Bay

16 NZ - Choice Bro!

18 Spearing Sydney

26 Morington Peninsula

30 Direction Bank

36 Black Beakie

46 3rd Time Lucky

46 BWC ‘07

48 Bitter Sweet

50 Yellow Fever

52 DiveR Workshop

54 CWD ‘07 Comp

58 Interpacific’s ‘07

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By Dean Thorburn

T

he Indian Ocean continues to amaze me. Some days its calm crystal waters scream fish, though deliver nothing. Other days the waters seem confused, however, beyond her steely surface lies a bounty. While the West Australian coastline is enormous, and the number of sites to dive infinite, there are a few absolute gems close to Perth that allow city slickers to get into some fantastic hunting.

Jurien Bay is a great place to dive. Being 250km North of Perth, it is within the day trip category but is far enough away to feel like you’re in with a chance. The reefs are extensive and on days when the swell is low, you are able to hunt on seaward ground that for much of its life bares the brunt of the sea.

While a number of great offshore locations are accessible from Jurien, the closer inshore reefs provide a great variety of species and habitat to explore. It is a true mixing pot where tropical Northern species often come to visit their Southern temperate brothers. For example, temperate Western Blue Groper are commonly encountered and tropical Coral Trout will occasionally turn up in waters just North. The following is an account of one of my most memorable visits.

I pre-empted the 4.30am alarm as I knew that in a few hours I’d be amongst it. Slinking out the door, the Landcruiser was prepacked, and, with a quick drive to Bobs and a vehicle change, we’d be heading North. While our short Northern tour began with vibrant conversation and tales of past trips, it wasn’t long before the country kilometres had dissolved all the interesting content and even the most talkative amongst us were silent.

I was confused as I woke for the second time for the day pulling into Jurien. Even in my semi-lucid state I could see the water was inviting, with the lack of waves breaking on the outer reefs, indicating the swell and wind had taken a day off.

With the boat in and the camo’s on, we were cruising out to the Boomers and by 10am I was in the drink.

The pick was dropped in about 12 metres of water and a 100 metre prowl saw me find a gravel path leading to a Westward facing reef edge. The reef was generally low lying, but the large pocks and deep undercuts provided a maze of shelter for both ambush predators and their prey a-like. I eventually found a North-south running hole to which the reef seemed to naturally lead. It was the perfect place for an ambush and I was feeling lucky.

In recent times I had been having good success by finding and working features in the environment that would naturally attract or channel fish. Undercuts and scours, ridge lines and valleys and areas that mark the transition or pathway that run between two reef patches are good examples, and were extensive throughout the Northern reefs of Jurien Bay. Slow steady movements and interactions with smaller resident species eventually lead to larger and higher order predators coming in to see what all the fuss is about. It sounds terrible in hindsight, but it is almost like winning the trust of a group of friends before literally stabbing them in the back.

Sure enough, it was not long before my patience was repaid when a fine Baldchin Groper mooched in. Presenting little threat, I swam down and away several times as if simply another species belonging to the environment. Sure enough, the trust was won, and the shot that ended his day was taken when he was approximately one foot away from the end of my tri-cut Hawaiian.

In the next 45 minutes this one hole produced my day limit of Baldchin Groper, one of which was a great fish of nearly 6.5kg, and a highly prized Dhufish. In fact, in the 20 minutes before heading back to the boat, I had watched another three good sized Baldchin Groper wander into my aquatic ambush. The swim back to the boat was relaxed as the energy I had expended by hunting in this way was far less than I expend when swimming large amounts of ground actively seeking targets.

This became even more apparent upon meeting up with my puffed marathon swimming dive buddies back at the boat. For Bob and Paul, the pickings had been slim, with only two Baldchin’s boated between them. This began to drive home the importance of choosing the right type of ground and the effectiveness of working a single location. Not surprisingly, upon showing my bounty, democracy took hold and a two against one vote saw me demoted to the anchor slave for the day.

We moved several kilometres to the North until the glass panel unveiled the inviting ground of Seaward Ledge and North Tail. The swell had come up slightly so the boat was anchored in 18 metres depth about 200 metres away from the reef.

With the batteries still well charged I was first in.

The water was definitely dirtier than the previous site and it was not until breaching the 10m line that the benthos came into view. As I peered into the abyss, and about one third of the way to the reef, my eyes were drawn to an electric-blue Eel slithering below. Curiosity got the better of me and I slid into the deep for a better look. By the 5m mark, the blue of the Eel had intensified and by 10m it was illuminating. Distracted by its most exquisite sheen, it was only in the next few seconds that my brain interpreted what I was looking at, as the slender Eel transformed into the coloured dorsal surface of a

Spanish Mackerel. This was the first time I had ever been in range for such a prize and the trajectory I had travelled put me in fine steed for a shot.

It was quiet as the Mackerel wrenched the spear cord and gun from my hand. I let it fly, and guided to the surface by my float-line rendezvoused with my Ronstan float for a brief moment before taking off across the surface.

Three powerful bursts followed, but the 14kg Mackerel quickly tired, and it was not long before I had my hand in its gills, legs around its trunk and a respectful knife into its head. Jurien had produced the goods again, and considering we were less than 15 minutes from the boat ramp, shifted it further up the ladder of my favourite dive sites.

Both Paul and Bob had watched the latter part of the event unfold and great hollers of excitement, along with some minor name calling, bellowed from within. It had so far been a great day, but the looks on their faces immediately told me that any boat democracy that had once existed was now dissolved, and the coo that ensued would see me cleaning the boat as well.

I swam back to the boat and slid the Mackerel onto the marlin board. As I turned to head back to the reef I stopped as an unusual feeling of contentment passed over me. It had already been a day of great achievement for me, and I was surprised that I was happy to get out of the water, despite the fact that I had probably only been wet for an hour and a half. Bob and Paul headed to the reef for another 45 minutes as I stood onboard simply staring at the brace in the kill tank.

Paul eventually returned with some nice Baldchin and a Dhufish. In the distance I could see Bob labouring back, and the bow-wave behind him indicated that whatever he was dragging was enormous. I wondered if he had found something floating in the water, and shot a confused look at Paul. The rolling of Paul’s eyes and wry smirk, however, suggested a surprise lay ahead. Bob

eventually returned and in tow was a 25kg plus Western Blue Groper, a simply magnificent fish.

Satisfied, it was not even 1 pm when we pulled the anchor and headed back to the Jurien boat ramp. While there was little doubt we could have continued to dive until sunset, we had all landed some fantastic fish and had more than enough to get us through the next few weeks. By 5.30pm we were back in Perth with the fish filleted and neatly packed in the freezer; with the exception of the few fillets that made their way to the hotplate. Over a lager, we laughed that we had driven over six hours to spend less than three on the water, but it did not matter.

Our success on this particular day again reminded us of the unpredictable nature of the Indian Ocean and of the wealth that lies in our backyards.

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plugged her first Kingfish as it turned and swam away, her float shot over the surface with Ray in pursuit to lend a hand if needed. Adriana is one determined girl and grabbed Rays gun and put in a great second shot to subdue a 20kg Kingy. I snapped a couple of photos and then I saw Ray had shot another 20kg King, I swam over to see if it had company and it had a 28kg King swimming with it, unfortunately it bolted before I could get in a shot. Craig and I shot and burleyed up some Kahawai to get some of the local snapper in. I shot a 2kg Red before a good group of solid Kings moved in to check out the action. It wasn’t long before I stoned a good King and Craig connected with a big King, but sadly had the shaft pull out when it was nearly subdued.

We then went down to Astrolabe Island to check out the action. Three New Zealand Fur Seals gave us a great time and we swam with them for ages, giving me some great video and still-shots.

They would impersonate us and follow us as we spun through the water blowing bubbles. For me, it was a first, and one of the great moments of the trip. After that, we hit a craggy island and Ian shot a massive 30+kg King which he lost after it ripped the flopper off his shaft - these big fish test everything to the limit! I went looking for Crays as I had my one King and dived in some awesome caves looking for my spiny friends.

On the way back we stopped at a couple more islands to pick up my first Cray and a great feed

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of Greenlip Mussels. Those mussels tasted excellent and we loaded up the barbie as well as steaming some in white wine, shallots and garlic. Add some super fresh Kingy and we had a great feed and of course Craig and I had a fair bit of Bundy therapy.

The superb NZ Greenlip Mussel

The next morning we towed the boat up to Tauranga to launch in the harbour and hit Mayor Island. Joe showed us the sanctuary zone and gave us a clear briefing to keep us all legal, as Joe said in his laidback Californian drawl “Go this side of the line and they start shooting at you” Once again Joe knew this place like the back of his hand and clued us all up. This kind of knowledge can’t be underestimated as these islands are big and you could waste a lot of time with a second rate operator - get the picture yet? Joe is your man for these trips. I went into the shallows to round up some Crays and appreciated the six Cray bag-limit. We had our other two divers with us Simon and Dave, two Kiwis from the South Island. Simon worked hard on the video after he shot the best King of the trip so far at 24kgs. The bommie we ended up on was packed with big Kings and we all shot our one fish. The next day saw us back at Mayor and sadly the Kings had dispersed a bit, nevertheless, we still shot good fish and picked up plenty of Crays from a wreck that Simon found on the bommie. Craig and I had one of those special dive moments, weedline diving in 20 metres, we both saw a pair of giant Boarfish and picked up one each on the same dive, a first for each of us. Both shots were clinical and we stoned the fish in crystal clear water on the top of a kelp stringer.

After that, we shot some Kahawai for burley and proceeded to bring the Reds up out of a hundred

White Island

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by Jack Monkiewicz

T

he dark blue waters and cool currents that sweep Victoria’s coast provide the Southern Rock Lobster with prime habitat; deep ledges, dim caves and boulder crevices overgrown with kelp and weed. Local spearos observe the wind and swell forecast eagerly, waiting for an opportunity to ferret out these particularly tasty crustaceans.

Divers generally encounter Southern Cray’s in depths of 3m to 20m, but are commonly targeted at 6m to 12m. Success in relocating large bulls from their hidey holes and into catch bags is greatly dependant on stealth, speed and how far a diver can squeeze into a cave (definitely not advised for those that suffer claustrophobia, and don’t feel comfortable in confined dark spaces without air to breathe). This type of diving is hazardous and best done in pairs, on more than one occasion I have been stuck and without the assistance of another diver it may have been all over…permanently.

Southern Cray’s are wary of divers and at the first sign of any danger dart for safety, usually to the back of their hole, which is typically too small for a diver to wedge into (very frustrating to have a large Cray only a few inches out of reach). In addition to wariness and swift escapes, Southern Rock Lobby’s will not hesitate in attacking their would be captors, powerful claws clamp down on

loose fingers and large spurs cut through gloves and into hands, not to mention that a large 4kg+ Cray is capable of thrashing around so violently that it will knock a mask off a divers face. But addiction to delicious Cray recipes causes Victorians to pursue these appetizing critters despite the possible pain that may be inflicted.

Morington Peninsula provides some exceptional Lobster diving, especially considering its close proximity to Melbourne. Large bommie systems mushroom up along the exposed coastline generating primitive oceanic jungles of bull kelp and deep caverns. As the swell decreases and winds shift to the North this area becomes accessible and the-hunt-is-on.

Saturday morning greeted Victoria with 5-10 knot Northerlies and a surf forecast of 2-3ft and dropping, perfect!

A quick scan through the gear and off I went. The plan was to meet Aaron Crocombe at his place no later than 7.00am. We loaded up the 4WD and scooted down towards the Peninsula. Gazing at a map of the coastline I suggested to Aaron we try a new spot today, “sure why not”.

Rock hopping is always a mission even before you get in the water; scaling down cliffs, balancing gear and finding entry/exit points, all in a 5mm wetsuit and trying not to tear it. But the rewards

can be impressive and a lot of Victorians opt for this type of diving.

On arrival, I secretly hoped I hadn’t made the wrong choice in trying a new spot, but had confidence that with Aaron we would make the most of the available terrain. Aaron grew up diving out off Townsville and is a very experienced and competent tropical spearo, he then moved down to Tasmania on account of work and learnt an entire new world of underwater hunting. Time passed and duty called him back to the mainland, he discovered the secrets of Victorian waters and has stayed here ever since.

“Wanna go check?” reconnaissance is always vital at a new spot so off I went. Scrambling up the sand dunes I could faintly hear waves breaking, “please be flat, please be flat!” stepping to the edge of the cliff my eyes were greeted with an indigo blue sea, dark shadows of reef and a non existent swell. The waves were on account of the tide dropping, slightly exposing bommies about 300m offshore. “How does it look?” catching my breath I managed one word…“nice”.

We both suited up quickly and in no time were submerged in Bass Strait’s cool waters. Visibility was good for Victorian standards and the terrain had clear definition in 12m. The hunt was on, torches in hand, both of us started checking every nook and cranny, it wasn’t too long before Aaron

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Michael Featherstone* - New Australian record Venus Tuskfish (Choerodon venustus) weighing in at an impressive 5.7kg *nepotism [(nep-uh-tiz-uhm)] - Favoritism granted to relatives or close friends, without regard to their merit. .......I thought there was merit - Ed

fact-file Venus Tuskfish (Choerodon venustus) Can be found from central NSW into far Southern QLD. A member of the Tuskfish Family, their diet includes predominantly crustaceans and shellfish however they can be successfully captured on line with bait. Little is known about this species and specimens over 5kg are exceptionally rare. The Australian line-fishing record for this species is 6.7kg (taken from Coffs Harbour in 1968) and as far as can be ascertained is the largest ever caught anywhere in the world. Although a relatively common catch for line-fishers it is an uncommon catch for spearfishers and consequently highly prized.

L

aunching the Stabicraft out off the coast once again in search for some pelagic action, the weather had been nothing short of quality throughout December and today was no different, with no wind and visibility that made you feel glad you were a spearo.

After a few short drifts, John had boated a couple of nice Parrots when we met up with Jools, Tak, Pooshkie, JLo and the faithful ‘Chop Chop’(Julian’s boat), word was round that Tak speared his first Marlin of 25kg’s the day before which was quite an excitement for all of us, especially myself as I have recently seen two other Marlin and have been eagerly awaiting my chance at a shot, so the decision was made to go looking for Wahoo and see what we could make of the day……

John and Geoff hit the water and no more than half a minute later Geoff pops his head up and says “The Hoo are everywhere!” next thing I know, the super flasher has attracted two right within range and Geoff makes no mistake and

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boats the first Hoo of around 9kg. With no one wanting to miss out on the action, we all get in and Geoff ties his rig off to the boat, the Wahoo were still making appearances and John stalks a small school, makes a shot but with no luck.

Then I hear this almighty roar, it’s Geoff hollering like George of the jungle with an 18kg Wahoo in his arms, turns out he has shot the fish and while it was busy making air bubbles, the reel has broken off the barrel of the gun and somehow hooked itself on the gun rubbers. He then jumps in the boat, landing the fish with the shooting line in one hand and a gaff in the other, all while John and I are watching from the water.

A friendly phone call was then made to Julian and the boys, we chatted about what they had seen etc, Pooshkie had shot his first Hoo of 9kg so he was stoked. Both boats headed to the same spot and started doing drifts, Geoff and I hit the water and the super flasher immediately brought in some Wahoo, I duck dive and place a decent shot mid-body then watch my float

buzz off into the distance, after a short fight I string the Hoo. Geoff then goes boatie and immediately another two silver bullets cruise in and the shot is good, through its spine.

Two Hoo on the stringer when out of nowhere in cruises a Marlin. John is next to me, I take a glance to see if he is going down, he wasn’t.

I was gone, no breathe up and totally focused on this fish and its aura in the water, I fin until I’m well within range and let fly with my RA, the shot was good and with a general direction point from Geoff I swam for the float for what seemed an eternity, absolutely knackered I catch up and place a second shot into its tail at 22m to try and slow him down.

The fish was still kicking strongly, sounding and surfacing so a third shot was organised which significantly stopped him. I continued to pull him up backwards until he was in my grasp, I promptly dispatched the fish and was

the North Shore boys brought in plenty to be happy about including line fishing a pelagic Slatey, a very rare species for these parts.

That night, I crashed with the boys at a motel dreaming in anticipation for another top day, when we got down to the ramp I told the boys we would land JLo his first fish for the trip and in saying that he jumped aboard and off we went.

When we got out on the water, conditions weren’t as good as the previous day with a bit of chop, however, that did not turn off the action.

As we were cruising out to the reef, out of nowhere an explosion erupts on the surface.

A large bait school has just surfaced right next to the boat and within minutes the lures were out the back, no more than ten seconds later - BANG! - we had a tail walking Marlin on our hands, for the next 20 odd minutes Geoff was having a ball and eventually landed his 25kg billfish.

We continued pulling some lines around and JLo got his first fish for the trip, after a small fight brought up a nice Yellowfin Tuna. taken back at the size and beauty of this fish in my arms. When we eventually pulled him aboard I was grinning from ear to ear and more pics were taken, we then called ‘Chop Chop’ over and Pooshkie jumps out of the water to

congratulate me with a handshake, I was on a high and volunteered as boatie for the rest of the day while we tried to get back onto the Wahoo with sightings but no luck.

Back at the ramp the Marlin went 33.8kg’s and

That was the end of a great two days for the Tweed Breed and the North Shore Young Guns with many quality fish landed from both boats with three Marlin in three days plus some top reef species.

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out. We all got into the act of Snapper snooping as well; something that certainly requires some getting used to. Drew managed a very good Snapper prior to the comp of around 6kg.

Day 1 of the competition was at the Cavalli’s.

We had of course discussed the area and had a plan to fish it based on where we had found fish a few days earlier. Unfortunately the conditions were dissimilar to our scouting days and put us on the back foot early. We struggled to make up lost ground on our competitors despite the boys ‘digging in’ and Drew and Aaron were lucky to find Snapper and some Trevally close to the finish time. Adam and Ken meanwhile had to contend with the Herbert’s in fishing the deep weedline on the way home. We had a disappointing third finish for the day behind NZ and Tahiti. Hawaii was not far behind us which was an awesome effort with only one pair fishing. Drew again got a nice Snapper over 6kg, while we had several Kingfish that were just under the minimum size for the comp.

Day 2 was at one of the Cape Brett zones. This zone suited us better as it covered a very large area and we felt that we had the fitness and speed to dive it better than the other teams. On the managers boat we were horrified when our fast team of Drew and Adam, who were sent to cover the exposed rocks far from the start

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area ahead of the others, hung behind the other teams and seemed in no hurry. As it turned out they were on to some good Porae in the shallows and then picked off another Porae and a prized Blue Moki in a hole we found during scouting. They made it to the outer rocks just after the other teams anyway, and dived very hard for the next few hours in 25m of water with Drew getting some more Blue Moki and Adam a nice Kingfish and Boarfish. Jake and Aaron in the meantime led the way to the other end of the zone first fishing the shallows for Snapper and then making a run for a spot where we had found Terakihi during scouting; a difficult fish to find. They struggled to find them but still picked up the odd bonus fish of John Dory and Jake managed a nice 4kg Snapper. They both finished with a 1km sprint to the finish upon the orders of the managers (they made it easily!).

Meanwhile we heard on the radio that the wily Herb Herbert had speared a 6+ kg Snapper only metres from Adam while they were both on the bottom. The team were proud to win this day although it wasn’t by enough to finish better than third overall. New Zealand produced Place 1 2 3 4

Country New Zealand Tahiti Australia Hawaii

Day 1 # 49 46 41 34

a consistently strong effort to win followed by Tahiti. See table below for final scores.

The awards night was a great social event for all the teams with the Tahitians going well into the night with music, song and beers flowing.

The Australian team is grateful for the support of Paul Dorfstatter and Picasso, and the generous support of several individuals. Also the New Zealanders were fantastic hosts before, during and after the competition. A huge thankyou must go to Steve Crabtree of Wild Blue, who despite being the reserve diver for the NZ team, allowed us the use of his cat as the Oz team boat for the whole week, skippered for us and was extremely helpful throughout. Graeme Heapy ran a great event as well.

For me personally, the week was thoroughly enjoyable and a valuable learning experience as well. This was made possible because of the great bunch of guys making up the Oz team who made it a memorable week. All team divers also got new personal bests in terms of both diving and fishing.

Day 1 % 100 93.68 79.80 68.68

Day 2 # 43 41 44 24

Day 2 % 96.46 91.54 100 51.92

Final Score 196.46 185.22 179.80 120.60