16 March 2009

The weather was quite forgiving over the weekend and I managed to get out both Saturday and Sunday. Expectations were high on Saturday because I had heard that John Featherstone and some friends had found a school of big Samsonfish at a recently discovered pinnacle. The smallest fish was 15kg and the largest a whopping 22.5kg. Great fish and a great effort.

We launched from Coffs and headed to the Lighthouse where I freedived and just looked around as we were in the reserve. Then moved off to Black Rock and around the Wash. I was just not making the shots count or turning seen fish into landed fish. Yellowtail Kingfish were around as were Amberjack. I dived on Cobia and should have made a good shot but didn't. We did see some Tailor and Silver Trevally but these are really not worthwhile pursuing unless in a competition.

We ventured out wide and the viz was spectatcular. Gin clear, warm water that just screams pelagics. I saw huge numbers of Dorado and took 2 smallish fish that just went size. Every trap we stopped at out wide had a contingent of Dorado.

We travelled back to Coffs in the late morning, stopping at the Wave Recorder for a quick look. The sea was putrid. Poor viz but interestingly lots of fish working. The downside was that every time I saw a fish I was hesitant to take the shot, knowing that Kris was in that direction. There were Rainbow Runner, Mack Tuna and Dorado but the best was seeing a Wahoo, it was very flighty and I am not sure if it came back to look at me the viz was that bad.

I heard that evening that divers out at the Big Island had successfully landed some Wahoo and seen several schools of various sizes which bodes well for the Classic.

Justin struggled to find crew for Sunday which was surprizing but the 2 of us again launched from Coffs. We had intended going from Arrawarra which may have been difficult with only 2 divers. We looked around for some clean water to dive, hoping to get in some good deep diving practice but the current had not pushed the clean water in yet. The current was pushing strongly from the N and should move that clean water right in if the rivers don't spill mud out again. We eventually went and checked out the FAD and some fish traps but there wasn't anything really worthwhile and we called it a day quite early.

Michael and I are avidly putting our plan together for the Classic and trying to work out the best route to follow to cover as much ground as possible. Obviously one wants to hit areas that other divers pass as the increased boat traffic and diver presence does put the fish off.