Issue_22 by Spearfishing Downunder Magazine

Features

A Day in the Sun

Boat Setup 101

Norfolk Island

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Cover

This issue’s cover is taken by Bryson Sheehy, featuring Jimmy Butler and a very nice Kingfish Main photo by Gareth Dunwoodie - Golden and Bludger Trevally

#22 Greater Days

Who’s Afraid?

Redirection

The Mackerel Method

Downunder Woodie

by Dean Thorburn

My eyes scanned the web for a favourable forecast and I knew a thousand other pairs were doing the same. Three crew with pre-validated leave-passes had signed up and a positive report was all it would take for the last minute dash to Margaret River. As the updates came through from the bureau of meteorology I could feel the phone lines come alive as those hands of a thousand spearo’s frantically tied up the network vying for a spot on any vessel going. My fingers flung into action and after a flurry of calls the boat was full and we would be heading South at 5am the following morning. Another late night pack. Paul arrived his mandatory 20 minutes late, but it didn’t matter as the predicted conditions were so close to heaven it had shrouded me in the calmness of a saint. I had only slept a couple of hours but with the gear in the cruiser and the key turned it wasn’t long before we began feeding off each others energy as the lack of swell and wind that we were to encounter were once in a year at best. A quick diversion off the freeway saw us pick up the other mid-week sneakers, Phil and Cam, and from then on the conversation bristled for the next 350 kilometres; about what I have no recollection. As we breached the hill that marked the last kilometre of bitumen into Canal Rocks we were presented with our first look at the ocean. Perhaps driven by the anticipation of diving or the weariness of a sleepless night and long drive, the water looked sensational, even though in reality the wind was still up and the bay somewhat choppy. Exiting the car felt good as my legs felt heavy from sitting and the crisp sting of cool ocean air took little time in snapping me out of my drowsy haze. It just looked cold and indeed dropping my warm fleece and jeans in the middle of the open carpark confirmed this. “Thank God I brought my 5mm”, I thought, but there was still pain as the coating of freezing lube inside my wetsuit took a minute to warm. After some rapid offloading of gear, the boat was slid into the water off the algae coated boatramp, upon which my eagerness to park up and get going caused some inadvertent wheel spin. As the wind and chop was yet to ease, the decision was made to check out the indicators, two large granite pinnacles in the middle of the bay, which would provide some protection in the interim. Still trying to warm up we were all eager to get in, and after ensuring the anchor was holding in 25m of water we were in the drink. Our concerns were confirmed by my watch reading 16°C as we swum in attack formation at the granite, and I felt a little guilty the others were in 3mm suits. I headed to the East, deciding to stay in the deeper water to search the edge of the outcrop. A crystal white and weed free sand highway flanked its edges, with the deck a little over 20 metres. I felt good in the water today. I was relaxed and just felt good. After breathing up, I buckled over and began a slow swim down. Visibility was excellent and within 5 metres of my departure point I could see the blurred outlines of a number of fish darting around the sand. I levelled off with the granite edge and still felt good and decided to stay a while to take it in; all of it. Juvenile Blue groper approached curiously, while the ever vigil Breaksea cod staunchly lumbered towards his uninvited guest. There were Moonlighters and manic Wrasse of all kinds, Herring and other bait schools numbering in the thousands. It was going to be a good day I could feel it. I dove the edge while heading East for some time but decided it best to head back towards my boat and buddies which now sat some distance away. Fish coated the indicator likes pins on a magnet. Not the prizes we were chasing but everything else that constituted the ecosystem in which we were diving. The pinnacle was tiered and the fish knew it, with the larger slower moving species occupying the basement, and

by Neil Tedesco

Additional References from Wikipedia and Photo from Norfolk Island Tourism

While on a fishing trip to Lord Howe Island last year I spoke to a local about an up and coming trip we had planned to Norfolk Island. He described Norfolk as a mountainous island with steep cliffs on all sides, quite an ugly island in comparison, and most importantly the fish are not as big as those found at Lord Howe. The first part of that sentence was fairly accurate I suppose, but the bit about the fish was somewhat inaccurate, a white lie used to lure tourists away from Norfolk to other, much more expensive resorts. Not knowing quite what to expect on our arrival

we quickly met up with the Jackson brothers, the owners of the only sportfishing charter boat on the island. There are other boats for charter but I don’t really class deck mount winches as sport fishing equipment. It was becoming pretty clear that the whole island is geared up for the, how could I put it, more seasoned fisherman. I’m not saying everyone is old but the locals at Norfolk have a saying that the local tourism board is desperately trying to shake, ‘You either come to Norfolk Island just after you get married or just before you die’. To tell you the truth I didn’t see any honeymooners, however, we were

My first experience diving at Norfolk was actually on SCUBA, water temp is about 21 on average, vis is usually better than 20 metres and there is a myriad of marine life to view. On this first dive the guys dropped us in at a likely looking spot, lots of canyons and swim throughs, and overall I was actually really disappointed at the lack of large predatory fish, in the dying minutes of the dive a few small Kings came in for a look but that was about it. After such an anticlimactic dive I decided my time would be better spent chasing fish on rod and reel until we found where the schools of big Kings

Just as we were about to head out Gilbert Jackson the skipper of our boat felt it necessary to reassure me about the sharks at the island, apparently there has never been an attack at Norfolk despite the fact that large tigers and whites make seasonal appearances. It probably has nothing to do with the fact that no one swims here because the island is surrounded by cliffs.

Norfolk Island stamp commemorating the first landing of an aircraft at the island, Sir Francis Chichester’s Gypsy Moth “Mme Elijah” at Cascade Bay on Mar 28 1931.

offered the emergency exit seats as we were the only three able bodied passengers on the plane. So I think we have established that you won’t find teams of young spearos swarming the best spots, truth is, you’d be lucky to see anyone at all. For us this was no holiday, we were there to work, filming a few solid episodes of rock and offshore fishing was the aim of the game and with limited baggage available there was only enough room for the bare essentials of my spearing gear. I couldn’t even fit a float in; I had to scavenge for a boat fender when I got there. As for which gun to take that was a pretty easy choice, I had no idea what I was going to encounter so I just went big, a Riffe 130 Euro.

and Trevally were holding and then I would attempt to dive there. As it happened, all of the big Kings were well offshore possibly getting ready to spawn; you could hook as many as you could physically handle in a day. Schools of Kings over 100 metres long and 20 metres deep were all over the 60 metre line and every time the jigs went down it was multiple hookup with nothing under 12kg and fish well over 25kg smashing us up on heavy tackle every few minutes. I almost contemplated dropping in with a flasher as I was sure those fish would have followed a teaser straight to the surface. That thought quickly faded once the Bronze whalers turned up and started biting 20kg fish in half right beside the boat. As I was

In 1824 the British government instructed the Governor of New South Wales Thomas Brisbane to occupy Norfolk Island as a place to send “the worst description of convicts”. Its remoteness, seen previously as a disadvantage, was now viewed as an asset for the detention of the “twiceconvicted” men, who had committed further crimes since arriving in New South Wales. Brisbane assured his masters that “the felon who is sent there is forever excluded from all hope of return” He saw Norfolk Island as “the nec plus ultra of Convict degradation”.

Below - Phillip Island is an uninhabited island located 6km South of Norfolk Island in the Southwest Pacific, and part of the Norfolk Island group. It was named in 1788 by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King for Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales. It is part of the Australian Territory of Norfolk Island. It is included in Norfolk Island National Park, as is neighbouring Nepean Island, and about 10 per cent of Norfolk Island property. Phillip Island has an area of 190ha, measuring 2.1km from West to East and 1.95km from North to South, with the highest point, Jacky Jacky, 280m above sea level. It is roughly shaped like a hairdryer with the nozzle pointing East. The island is of volcanic origin, made of basaltic tufa and lava dating from the Miocene epoch.

by Adam Heibloem

Photos by Casey Harrison and Seyoung Kim

ith all the diving we do throughout a year, how many times can we really say we’ve had a great day of spearfishing. What things need to come together to be able to say this? Good vis? New species of fish encountered or even speared? Maybe it’s the moments of adrenaline fuelled action that we get off on, or even serene moments of peace that we can sometimes become complacent with. I try and dive at least once a week, and work hard to find fish, but it’s a rare thing for me to say; “I’ve had a crackin’ day of spearing”. But recently it occurred on a local reef and it caught me by pleasant surprise. I really felt like it was a great day filled with all of the ingredients mentioned above. Here is a bit of an insight on what occurred.

“

He was laughing his head off as the fish was just dragging me around in all sorts of directions. I could hear the reel zipping through my glove while I was trying to slow the fish down from taking all the line. After what felt like an eternity, I was able to win some line back. My heart was pumping and my legs felt like lead....

”

ondering over a glass of bubbly from my “director’s chair”, overlooking blue water and red coastline…another year has gone by quickly with not many, but quality adventures. The new Plaka boat – only on its second trip – is parked right next to me. After two years of WA shore-based exploration by swimming out far and wide to find deeper water and better grounds, it was time to expand our options: buy a boat! Proudly towing our new treasure home to Newman on the inland road from Perth, you should have seen the look on people’s faces… “What is someone in Newman going to do with a boat?” Well, the coast might not be exactly nearby, but for keen spearos it is never too far away! Finally, after four months of hard work, we treated ourselves with a first trip…and the new boat is coming. A popular location, a spot you read about so much in magazines, but where we had never been so far: Dampier Archipelago. We made it a five day trip just to try out the boat, give the outboard its first run, a warming up for our stiff ears and shallow lungs and to have a good look around with the plan to come back around Christmas time… Our mid-sized 4WD was stacked to the top with camping, fishing and spearfishing equipment; we could only just fit ourselves in. Even on the 600km trip it was impossible to get away from work as we had to pull over for three extreme oversized loads heading towards the job. Our aircon could only just keep up with the hot summer temperatures of the Pilbara, but we finally made it into the Dampier Transit Caravan Park. We set up our tent, table and chairs on the grassy area right across from the water overlooking the islands and ship loading facility. We poured our Jacks and Coke and settled in right on time to watch the sun set behind the Archipelago. Ah, what a life! With the boatramp only 500m away from camp, the first launch of our 4.6m Plaka went nice and smooth – she is very light and easy to handle. We didn’t go far on the first trip as we could only run the Yamaha 40hp tiller steer outboard at half throttle, so we only explored the first few islands. Most of you can probably relate to that wonderful sensation of cruising along on your very first boat with the sea spray in your face and the wind stirring up your hair. This

Pete with a pair of delicious WA Lobster

day’s only downside: plenty of wind and murky water was the only welcome we received so we arrived back at camp empty handed. A bit disappointing, as after all we were also here to catch some fish for our extremely empty freezer. Chicken kebabs and alcohol replaced the scheduled fish for dinner while enjoying another stunning sunset. The second day took us on a trip to the Burrup Peninsula to launch from the ramp North of the Woodside gas project. We cruised up and down the Flying Foam Passage this day and could understand where it got its name from. After some fun Tuna action while trolling, it was time to hit the water. As we all know, it takes trial and error to find the perfect outfit and gun setup that suits you as an individual. Especially when you’re size “dwarf”, this can be a challenge. This trip was the first time everything felt right for me…I could actually see fish and corals without having water halfway up my mask!!! I absolutely adore my No. 4 Nemo fins with Omer foot pockets that actually fit my little feet – so far they haven’t let me down. Also, my good old 1m Rob Allen was fitted out with a new RA reel…I couldn’t wait to give it a go! My Riffe and Pete’s Paxman were coming as well; just in case as you never know what you might bump into… All we now needed was: visibility and fish! Once again, the water was green and dirty, but we managed to find a few patches worth exploring. We slipped over the side and were greeted by warm water and about 6 metres of visibility. After such a long time it’s so

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