23 July 2009

And then the Ocean started co-operating. We had our club comp on the weekend and in spite of mucky viz on the nearshores, the viz out at the Big Island was quite phenomenal 20m+. So the water temperature was not brilliant and certainly no summer visitors would be around for the taking. There were lots of other fish on offer. My single greatest concern was that I was unfit and out of practice. I did not harbour any notions of doing well but got out and enjoyed the diving without any competitive drive. We started at Northwest and swam through the channel on the look-out for Jewfish. Then on to the Wash but the current kept us off the hotspot although there was lots of bait around. Finally, found a charter boat that was burleying up a storm at the pinnacles and I just waited far off their stern for any stragglers to come my way. 5 Yellowtail Kingfish was more than enough. I have already weighed my 2 Kingfish for the year, so these fish were taken purely to have some fish on the plate again. We moved from here to between The Mouse and The Big Island. More Kingfish for my dive buddies and I picked up a small Samsonfish. Finally to a spot known as Bluebar Alley. Please don't think I am being evasive about the spot but I don't think I could find it again. I saw no Parrotfish but Kurt did get a whopper of over 5.5kg. Turned out it was not a Bluebar. Photo's have been taken to allow identification and my money is on an Ember Parrotfish. It is very likely that this will be a new NSW state record. Some Pearl Perch and Mangrove Jacks were taken too.

It also seems as though the sea has calmed down and if one takes a moment to look outside, conditions are glorious. Even the icy bite of the cold air at night seems to have abated. All things considered there isn't another place I would rather be at the moment.