13 November 2008

I thought I was going to be on call this previous weekend and did not have much faith in getting into the Ocean. Saturday, Kris called and wondered if I would be interested in a quick swim off Sawtell, S of Coffs. Michael also informed me, he would be on call. We arrived at Sawtell Headland and did a rock-hop toward the S. The viz had looked good but was not particularly flash when I put my head underwater. We persevered and swam around the headland, toward the island on the N side. I found lots of good gutters, up against the steep sides, but no Jewfish. The wind came up and a strong rip was developing. We called it a day but not before Kris took a nice pan-sized Luderick. I bumped into schools of these fish but they were moving so quickly, I had little chance of taking one. On Tuesday I got a text message that the rock and surf guys, fishing where we jumped in, got into a school of big Snapper. A question of being in the right place at the right time.

Sunday was to be spent with my wife at the local food and wine festival. This was just behind Park Beach. The food was great (lots of local berries included in the desserts), followed by copious quantities of the local wine and beer. I took a quick look at Little Muttonbird Island off Park Beach and the viz was great. Called Kris and took a late afternoon swim. As the afternoon passed into early evening, so the place came alive. Kris is still building his confidence and spent most of the time near me. Just as he moved off to check out some likely reef, a huge Yellowtail came to investigate the Bream (very similar to a Stumpnose) hanging from my buoy. My gun was not loaded and I watched in disbelief as the fish circled me with complete disdain. It is great to see good fish like this off the shallow points. Apparently the population was decimated in previous years by indiscriminate trapping by commercials. Since the ban on trapping has been imposed, the Yellowtail Kings are on their way to recovery.

Reports from my spearing contacts show that the conditions are improving and more trips are coming to fruition. Early in the month, John and Michael got some Pearl Perch N of Arrawarra. These fish were hanging around massive bait shoals. The other interesting point was that several good Mangrove Jacks were also seen amongst the bait but proved to be flighty. John headed out to test the new motor on his 'Spearfishing DownUnder Magazine' boat. They stopped at Middle Ground and took some Samsonfish and Yellowtail. The conditions were pretty good according to the reports I got.

Every Friday the local newspaper publishes the results of the week's recreational fishing. Several Jewfish and Snapper are being landed from the beach. The deepsea guys are taking a fair number too but are also picking up Samsons, 'Tail and Pearlies. One of the premier deepsea fishing tournaments took place in Coffs this weekend and it will be interesting to see the results. As I write this, Kris, Michael and John are out on the Ocean hopefully getting some good spearing in. I will have to console myself in the meantime, with training in the local municipal pool and playing U/W hockey.