The reason behind the deformation of the facial features of the East Coast snapper population, particularly males, still remains a mystery. One thing that is known for certain is the bragging rights that go with this issue’s PR1MAL HotShot!
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contents Editorial Straight Shooting Winter Barra East to West Return To Paradise Coffs Harbour Meritorious Spanish Happy Campers
Cover - Bryson Sheehy with the much prized Maori seaperch.
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Freedom Bound Yellow Fever III Fish In Focus Winter Diving Spearing Sydney GreatShot Young Guns New Products
Issue 45
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By Tim McDonald
W
inter‌ For a Southern spearo, this is a time of freezing water and limited fish, and it is often downright miserable. Here in Southeast Queensland, however, it is usually bearable. A few late-season pelagics typically hang around. One of my favourites, snapper, show up in numbers, but we do get the cold, miserable days mixed in. The real bonus for us here in Southeast Queensland is that our travel to the Southern Barrier Reef is not too distant, with the closest areas about a six-hour drive North and warmer, bluer water not too far away. Many of our Winters see us diving locally for as long as we can endure before heading to the Southern Barrier Reef to find those clear, warm waters. This generally means long days diving here and looking for fish or long days diving in the North because of the long distances to the reef. However, this year my dive buddies and myself took it all a little differently.
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Growing up on the South Coast of NSW, we never had the joy of chasing warm water pelagics. Northern species like cobia, Spanish mackerel, wahoo, and the like existed only in moments of wonder. By early 2011, I had experienced much of what my local waters had to offer, so I made the decision I was going to move to Western Australia where these fish would be at my doorstep. I spent the following two years travelling up and down the coast of WA. In this article, I want to share a few of the trips, fish, and experiences I will never forget after making this lifechanging journey. by Dale Brisbane
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Return Return
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By Travis Hogan
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By Dr. Adam Smith spearfishermen is the large Spanish One of the prized species for tropical challenging to approach. They fight mackerel. Bigger fish can be wary and ured ish mackerel can be sighted and capt hard and they are great eating. Span er emb Sept in bers num ter grea in d foun all year in the North, but they are ning spaw al annu associated with their and October due to their aggregation kerel captured by North Queensland mac ish Span d -size behaviour. A common lle, a and big fish is 20-25kg. In Townsvi spearfishermen is between 8-13kg, the all by year of this size captured each there may only be one or two fish ity. spearfishing commun near-shore islands. In most cases, We search for Spanish on the reefs and or 20m where we can see the bottom; we are diving in water depths of 10 red blue water over 30m and I have spea however, some Spanish are caught in sh, baitfi , lines ent curr for look We often them while drifting in 100m water. use we es etim som and s, spot y likel e and other pelagic fish to indicate mor ces of attracting the attention of this flashers or burley to increase our chan prized species. Mick, Matt, and Ryan out of In late September, I was diving with peting in the annual two-day Cloughy Mick’s 6m Hooker, and we were com The rules were that each diver was Challenge spearfishing competition. ed e species, and the fish were then scor allowed to weigh a maximum of thre ht weig t t weight. The competition targe according to the proportion of a targe he fish, 11kg an ured spearfisherman capt for Spanish mackerel was 22kg. If a ld score 100 points. wou fish 22kg a and ts, received 50 poin ral inshore shoals looking for large, seve On Saturday morning, we dived h water visibility was about 4m, whic red reef fish with limited success. The g divin of s hour few a r Afte and fish. made it challenging to see the bommies
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By Callum Edinger
T
here is certainly a sense of adventure and excitement to be had when venturing away from the local haunts and into “fishier� pastures. Undertaking such a trip into the more remote gets your heart pounding and your trigger finger edgy. It’s where lessons are learned, friendships are made, places are explored, and personal bests are beaten. Packing the car (with spearfishing gear of course) and leaving the hustle and bustle of suburbia certainly brings on a whole new opportunity for potential and anticipation.
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By Olivier Bittar …Hundreds of bright yellow fins and silvery blue streaks dart past me, creating a blur of confusion and panic like speeding car headlights on a freeway at night. My pulse is racing as I try to line up a shot. With four 16mm bands, the Riffe Bluewater Express is powerful, but tracking a large wooden tuna cannon through the water is difficult enough, let alone having to keep up with lightning-fast fish that flit past. They’re small, but all I’m interested in is lining up a decent shot. I look down past the end of my gun and see more tuna rocketing past, so I decide to take aim from above. CLANG! The sound of the trigger mechanism releasing the 9mm shaft followed by the shrill scrape of steel on teak reverberates through the water. The spear hits its mark: the body of a 15kg yellowfin.
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