16 March 2011

Wednesday is usually the day Michael and I get to go spearing together. Recently we have added a third member to our pilgrimage. Dave, who has dived with us at the Classic for the past 2 years has relocated from Townsville to Coffs Harbour. Before the sun was anywhere near rising, we were busy preparing the boat and gear for a morning of diving. Launched from Arrawarra and the plan was to hunt wahoo. Spearos and fisher-folk have been having a royal time with these pelagic speedsters.

We found the bait concentrations and after anchoring up swam around to investigate. Viz was not fantastic, cloudy/smoky 15m, with a distinct dirty thermocline at between 15-18m. Recently there have been reports of a large inquisitive White Shark in the area and to say I was going into the dirty water with some trepidation was an understatement. While positioning myself for a dive, 2 wahoo shot passed underneath me. I was about to dive when a third, larger fish came along with a spear through it. Dave had drawn first blood but on reflection it appears the flopper on his spear closed and allowed the fish to escape. Michael loaded a wahoo that I was unaware of, a good fish at about 15kg. He had failed with a really big fish earlier, when his spear fell short of its target.

I kept diving next to the abundant bait, patiently waiting for the predators to approach from upcurrent. It was on one of these dives that I looked up toward the sunlight at the surface to see numerous wahoo shapes at the surface. Turning away from the fish I headed for the surface in a direction aimed at gradually closing the gap between me and the school. There must have been at least 50 fish all up at the surface. I kept the speargun close to my body to allow for rapid extention when the situation allowed. I kept swimming next to the school and when I thought the fish were within range I stopped swimming turned and selected a target. Curiosity overwhelmed their natural suspicion and several fish moved in to investigate me. I hoped the shot would hold and fired into my target, hitting it about halfway back to the dorsal fin from the head. The spear angled forward exiting close to the gills on the opposite side. In the blink of an eye the fish took off dragging the solid 9l float underwater on several occasions. I charged off after the float desperately trying to keep up, finding the float some 300m away, still on the surface. I began retrieving the limp line expecting to find an empty spear. Within 10 m of the speargun, the last dying kicks of the fish could be felt. At this stage Dave arrived and asked if I wanted a second shot on the fish. Hell, this was my first wahoo and I wanted it safe aboard and I willingly accepted the back-up which turned out to be totally unnecessary. Third wahoo I had shot and first landed.

Wahoo have not been difficult to approach. I learned well before I saw my first wahoo that they are naturally very curious. If you do something that does not intimidate them but arouses their curiosity, they will approach and allow a good holding shot. They have very delicate, soft flesh which means that anything other than a well placed shot will result in a lost fish which is a real waste. The first wahoo I encountered was south of the Big Island. A school of 3 wahoo approached with the biggest coming really close. I was using a borrowed gun and the spear was well aimed at the slow swimming fish but it fell short. The fish was much bigger than I initially had thought. The second fish was speared north of the Big Island, after one had been shot from a small school. As the first fish struggled, the school returned and I placed a wild shot. The fish headed north and I chased, finding the float some 1.2km north of where I had shot the fish. It was gone, having broken free or been sharked. The third wahoo was seen on a pinnacle in 10m of water, where it swam in on a flasher together with a massive Spanish mackerel. I thought the shot I made was good, not rushed and placed between the dorsal and anal fin like I would on a mackerel, only to have the fish tear of on its initial run. On Saturday I had seen a lot a wahoo when Michael got 2 and Kris took 1. Unfortunately even when I ignored them and turned away to decrease any intimidation, they still remained nervous. With my first wahoo safely landed I fully expect the next to be straight-forward!