12 September 2010

Big Pro-Fishing protest in Coffs Harbour today to highlight commercial, recreational and spearfishing opposition to unscientific expasion of marine sanctuary areas. We decided to get a dive in before the rally. Michael and I launched from Arrawarra and went looking for some of the monster crays we have been finding. It is a well recognised trapping area and we encountered several traps in the area with a lot of them having only 1 cray inside. We dived for a long time investigating all the nooks and crannies and only found 3 crays. Not nearly as productive as it has been. We dived co-operatively, one up, one down and carefully searched the area and in spite of this the crays were thin.

Very little current and the viz was not too flash. Moved to a spot on Chopper to look for pearl perch. Found lots of bait: bulls-eyes with sawtail in tow. Found the yellow-spotted sweet-lips which is always a good indication of the presence of pearlies. I found 1 reasonable pearly which was quickly knocked over. Thought I saw a snapper and followed from the surface but it was gone when I dived. Headed back early to go to the rally.

1 September 2010

First day of Spring and I get to go diving, can it get any better? I was hanging around at home when Chris called and asked me to go for a dive off Look-at-me-now Headland. Conditions seemed good with a little more swell and wash which should suit the jewfish. Truth be told, I wanted to see where Chris dives because he always comes away with some good crays and fish. True to form he found a heap of crays, same principle as elswhere, dive down, swim around looking for cracks then collect crays. There are a large number of undersized crays in this area and I hope all divers are respecting the rules. We had a large quantity of burley and were hoping to attract a snapper. It was just not meant to be. Had lots of bait around with tarwhine scavenging on the bottom and eventually even a moray eel and some rays but not a single snapper. The gutters in this area are spectacular and it is fascinating to swim over shallow rocks only to find a deep pebble lined bowl right next to the rocks. This place should hold good numbers of jewfish when conditions are favourable.

We should start to see the water warming again. After the floods we seemed to have an unusually high level of silt around but the storms since then appear to have cleared it away. The water is cool but not cold and the viz is not bad either. I am looking forward to a good season especially considering the massive quantity of bait around.

27 August 2010

We are getting reasonable conditions far more frequently. Managed to get the afternoon off and looked for some dive buddies but everyone was working or retired injured. Decided to take a gentle jaunt off Look-at-me-now. Easy swim from the beach along the headland. Massive school of whiting in the shallows then bumped 1 which would easily have gone 1kg, could not believe how big it was. I was looking for snapper and continued out to sea along the edge of the reef. Lots of stingrays, all about the size of a side-plate, very cute. Also one large shovel-nose and a smaller one a little deeper. Started examining the rock gutters and since the swell was negligible, I was able to get up against the rocks and find all the holes. Perfect deep bowls with large stony bottoms and no jewfish anywhere. On the southern corner, found some good bream and followed them around for a short while before a 5kg snapper came along. I tried my best to keep my distance and remain disinterested but these fish are not stupid. It stayed in the area for over an hour but never came close enough to allow a shot. Was tempted to pick up some crays but with 3 at home already, would just have been greedy. Besides they stay freshest in the sea and they seem to always be available. There is a large amount of good jewfish country and I am looking forward to checking it out again. Maybe next time I will check at the Emerald Headland if I get these great conditions again.

25 August 2010

Winter has seen a dramatic improvement in conditions. Viz may be poor but there are some good fish about and then there are crays. We have been very fortunate to uncover some excellent cray ground but it just has not been productive until now. Slippers and painted crays have no size limits but greens do and where we normally struggle to find size crays, this year it is finding crayfish that are small enough to take. Not that we are having a hard time finding crays, recently we uncovered several nests and managed to get some legal crays but it did take some work to find the smaller ones.

Fish are a little more difficult. Winter is not a good time traditionally but jewfish are about in good numbers, kingfish are too. If the viz improved, the deeper pinnacles would produce some Samsonfish which are always welcome. One does bump into things along the way too. Some gold-spot wrasse, blue-bar parrots and more snapper than usual. Pearl perch are quite thick if you know where to go. This is often a question of current with certain areas producing in northerlies and others in southerlies. I am looking forward to a good Spring because there is a stack of bait all over the reefs. It is a good mix of bait too. The whales are in close and I think this does indicate a change in currents. The rough water probably washed away much of the silt that spilled down from the Clarence and accounted for the early crappy conditions.

25 July 2010

Headed out with Justin, Kurt and Aussie on 'Flying Fish' to look for tuna and marlin yesterday. Unfortunately, the conditions that had brought the striped marlin on during the previous week had changed a little and the warm EAC had moved further offshore. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' We left Coffs Harbour before sun-up and headed out to the shelf on autopilot. At the shelf, new co-ordinates were set for fish traps at 'hole in the wall' and we put out our teaser spread to try for an elusive billfish. We had 4 hookless kona-heads chugging behind the boat from the 3rd wave back to the 5th. The ocean was a cool 22 degrees and we set about kitting up. Each diver would get a 1/2 hour on and during that time any fish raised would be his responsibility. Kurt took first watch, then it was my turn, Aussie next and finally Justin. It was on Justin's watch that he and Aussie spotted something behind the back teaser. They weren't too sure but their excitement was contagious. Kurt and I looked back to see the bill and dorsal fin of a smallish billfish behind the port teaser. I could see the fish's colours all lit up under the lure. Justin was about to go over when the fish just disappeared. What an anti-climax. Hindsight is perfect sight and some-one should have gone over at the point the fish was seen. Probably a good idea to have the skipper clued up too because you don't want a marlin boat running over you with its props turning either.

We found the traps and took to burleying which brought interest from some good dolphinfish. We gave them a while to settle around the boat and soon Aussie and Justin had fish on board. The school then seemed to become quite elusive. At the second fish trap, we did not wait for the burley to have any effect and the dolphinfish were wary from the start, not offering much of a chance at a shot at all. This was a great trip but long and probably not something I would engage in regularly unless the chance of success was greater.

17 July 2010

Michael, Justin and I went in search of crayfish and snapper. There was a stiff southerly creating an unpleasant swell with a significant chop. We headed north of North Rock and jumped in on the sheltered side. Current was flowing north. We looked around for crayfish as well as heading into the gutters in search of jewfish but we could find none. There are some really good gutters and caves in this area. In retrospect we were on the wrong side with the current coming from the south. We set about getting a good burley trail going but nothing came in on it. Better to have headed into the teeth of the wind and sounded around for bait and then got the trail going. I get approximately 3 pieces of burley from one pilchard and count to 10 before dropping a piece of burley. That way I get a steady burley going and 2 packets of pilchards gets about an hour of burley (120 pilchards).

Reports indicate a large number of striped marlin offshore attacking schools of pilchards in the warmer water. We are trying to put together an offshore trip this weekend to chase marlin and tuna. I sincerely hope we are able to get this sorted out.

12 July 2010

There has been little if any spearfishing to be had off Coffs Harbour recently. Die-hards are looking for jewfish(kob) against the headlands or chasing snapper on the shallow kelp covered bommies. The water is cold and uninviting. A more pressing problem is the Solitary Islands Marine Park review which needs your submission. Please go to www.savesol.com and complete the submission. This should not take longer than 10 minutes. The submission is detailed with the inclusion of maps and motivation. All you need to do is add 3 comments and send it.

19 May 2010

Recovered from a bout of flu and ready to dive again. The only thing that gets me down after recovering from a respiratory infection is how out of condition you get. Got news that there are some jewfish around the headlands and there is still a shot at some couta from the side. Kris contacted me and said mack tuna were thick off the North Wall. Grabbed gear and headed to harbour. there was a lot of activity and I kitted quickly and jumped in. Swam around a heap and found some good ground that should produce in the future. Potentially great area for jewfish just north of reef. Massive amount of whitebait being smashed by mack tuna and we picked up some for sushi. Apparently there have been some long tail tuna in the area too. Planning a great dive tomorrow.

Part of problem with getting these fast moving fish is being in the right place at the right time. We found that lying still and allowing the whitebait to collect around us allowed the tuna to come in. Feeding tuna move really quickly and it is near impossible to track them through the water. It is easier to line up when a school approaches and point the gun at where you expect the fish to be. Pull the trigger when a fish moves into position. Similar technique to aiming at a piece of burley when hunting yellowfin. There were some bonito and kingfish around too.

8 April 2010

I have been very busy helping to put together the Classic and take a trip up to far Northern Queensland to go spearfishing with my brother, who was visiting from South Africa. I have been putting in some time diving but with the Classic now over, I can settle down to just enjoying my spearfishing again. The trip to the Barrier Reef was described in an article I did for www://spearfishingsa.co.za/news/barrier-reef-by-mark-kallman.htm. I will be preparing stories on the Classic for Spearfishing Downunder Magazine and International Freediving and Spearfishing News.

19 February 2010

2010 Australian Bluewater Freediving Classic takes place on the 27-28 March 2010.

I have had a rough time recently. When I have spare time the water is terrible and when the water clears I am working. Sucks! But a good southerly has been blowing and we have warm water against the coast. Cobia have been taken as have some Spanish. The good news is the number of snapper around. I have seen a few but they are difficult. Probably time to start targeting them specifically. When you concentrate on a particularly difficult species, it is amazing how well you do with the others as an added bonus.

My little brother is coming over to Australia and we are heading north on the trip of a lifetime. John featherstone of Spearfishing Downunder Magazine has invited us up to the Coral Sea on an expeditionary/exploratory spearfishing safari. I am relieved that we will have a variety of dive conditions for my brother and hope to add a number of personal bests to my tally.

Samsonfish, blue-bar parrotfish, pearl perch and kingfish are around, you just have to find some viz. The viz is patchy but a question of moving 500m to 1 kilometre may mean the difference between 2m or 20m. The ocean is quite remarkable. Finally it sounds as though some wahoo are making an appearance but I have not heard of any big ones. Perhaps when the viz settles things should improve.

31 January 2010

I was invited down with some friends to investigate reef south of Coffs Harbour. We were heading off on the premise that the few co-ords we had would put us onto some fish and that we might be able to get better conditions. We launched off the beach at Nambucca and headed out into water with several small pinnacles in about 22m of water. It was quite warm and clean compared to some of the recent water we have endured. Within a short while, Michael and Glen had taken Samsonfish. We were diving about 50m away from them and never saw anything. When things turned quiet we moved to some reef that looked as if it might hold mackerel, again, lots of diving but no fish. Conditions varied a fair amount as one spot would have warm clean water top to bottom and another just warm surface water or dirty clean water. It was impossible to predict what you might find from one spot to the other. There was a very slight southerly current when we arrived at the point at Nambucca just off the beach. Water went to 22m at the southern edge but was a comfortable 18m at the pinnacles. The viz was not too bad and I hung my flashers down to act as a target for any pelagics. On my first dive I saw a large fish move into the gloom. There was a lot of bait in very big schools and they were hanging close to one another. They did not appeared unduly harassed but a few tail cracks confirmed that large fish were busy in the area. I continued into the current to the southern edge and continued diving and watching my body language. Pretty soon I saw 2 large shapes come into view and at first thought it might be a small dolphin. On closer examination I picked up on the 2 Sambos and selected the larger of the 2, making a good holding shot in the shoulder. The other fish hung around its buddy and I called Kris over to see if he could get another fish. By the time he arrived, the other fish had left and I used his gun to get myself another securing shot. The fish weighed 16.9kg and fought really hard.

In the meantime the other boat of divers had also managed some more Samsons as well as a couple of Spanish. The gentle current from the south really turned it on. We joked afterwards that had we started at this spot first thing in the morning, we may well have ended up overloading our boats with fish. Everyone seemed to have had a great day but more importantly, had seen fish larger than the ones we had taken.

23 January 2010

Up before sparrow's fart this morning for a quick run out to look for Spanish. Left Arrawarra well before sunrise and headed north towards Chopper. Found an area inside of Chopper and went over with intent. Started doing my first few downs and noticed several large red morwong. As I headed back to the surface a fish with an unusual shape caught my attention and I turned back thinking it may be a small jack. My shot was from a long way away but I quickly identified the fish as a pearl perch. Fortunately Michael was nearby to secure the fish when it slipped off my spear for no apparent reason. Go figure. Continued looking for bait and working the flasher. Michael saw a mackerel in the distance as did Luke. I decided to lie on the bottom for a while hoping to arouse a curious mackerel's attention. Did nothing but when I looked up it was like a mini grove of bamboo with all the crayfish feelers. I quickly grabbed one making sure not to disturb the rest. The crayfish was gigantic and I thought to load this 'painted' into the boat then grab another. Michael laughed as I hit the surface: green and way oversize, so back it went. He dived to look at the other crays, probably another 20 and they were all way too big. I just hope that no-one else decides to make off with these breeding stock and screw things up for the rest of us. We got a serious burley trail going but only a load of bait arrived. Work was starting to loom and we made an early departure. The water is warm about 23 and clearing, murky 12m. Looking good for tomorrow. Mackerel are being landed south of us so with some luck we should manage some tomorrow.

22 January 2010

There are reports of Spanish (Couta) around the reefs near Arrawarra and as a result we decided to invetsigate some of the shallower pinnacles and bumps near Woolgoolga. Took a quick trip out to the pole off Look-at-me-now Headland. A number of mackerel have been seen with a few being taken but no-one is getting them consistantly. The fishermen are managing to take a considerable number though.

Kris, James and I launched off Emerald beach and within 5 minutes were on the reef. Dropped in and swam around until I found the bait. Water temperature in the top 8m was 23 at least but below that was only about 19. Lots of slimies, yakkas and bulls-eyes about but they seemed very content, swimming in well distributed schools. There was little indication of the harassment you see when the bait is tightly packed with their little eyes bulging in fear as mackerel savage them.

We tried everything short of going and buying a few mackerel fillets. Worked the flasher with intent and several bonnies that stumbled into our path were quickly turned into burley. Nothing. The viz was not spectacular and as the sun approached the horizon, the dark of the water started becoming far more intimidating. By 8pm we elected to head back to the beach with nothing to show for our efforts.

This weekend looks as if it will be quite a good weekend but it will be sensible to look for mackerel on the northern reefs.

19 January 2010

This is my first post for the new year. This weekend provided several opportunities to go diving. Our first dive trip was a bit of an adventure. On Friday we towed a boat up to Broom's Head and launched off the beach. My wife kindly took the trailer back to Arrawarra for our return later that day. We had decided to make an entire day of spearfishing and explore lots of reef that sees little diving pressure. Unfortunately conditions precluded much of the area we would have targeted and poor sea conditions limited our scope. We did see dorado at the Wooli FAD but they were very nervous and I only managed to drop one on an early dive. The continental shelf was as dirty as it was inshore and the current there was neary 6km/h. I took a reasonable tarwhine for my trouble at one of the shallow reefs. We dropped into Woolgoolga for lunch then headed out again to look at the shallow reef in the area. There was absolutely nothing worth mentioning.

On Saturday I convinced my son Reece to join me for a dive around Korora and he seemed to have enjoyed the experience. We found lots of Wobbegongs, no crayfish but we did find several abalone which made it a worthwhile trip.

On Monday I went out with a friend and we were very keen on finding some Spanish. Conditions were not what you would expect to see them in however. It was cooler then it had been in quite a while and there was lots of particulate matter and comb-jellies in the water. We started at Pig then moved along to Park Beach Bommie and finally to Split before deciding we were wasting our time in the deeper water. I had a small yellowtail and Kelvin a yellow-spot sweetlips. Kelvin is an absolute task-horse and was game to continue diving in spite of poor conditions. We decided to move into the shallows and see if our luck improved. What a great call. At the first shallow area we explored we found lots of large scattered rocks with many sand gulleys and depressions between. It was not long before I bumped into the first jewfish of the day. I found them on 2 more occasions but if you are not on the bottom stalking them before you see them, forget it. Kelvin did pick up a crayfish though. The next area had little in the way of gutters and we found no jewfish but another cray was added to the bag. The next jump was in the area I had dived with Reece, so several more abalone were added to the bag. I had some description of a potential gutter in the area and swam in at one end with Vinnie at the other. In the confusion that followed he lost a jewfish and landed another as about 80 fish charged passed him! We then moved to an area that is very pretty to dive and holds a number of crays. I scoured the area, and eventually picked up a large cray before we moved again. This time we cornered the jewfish in an arena type area where they milled around under the white water allowing us to take 3 fish out of the school. I was able to knock over a tailor in the confusion too. The haul for the day was not massive considering the size of the fish but we had fun and came away with some newly gleaned knowledge and a pile of delicious seafood.