Dale Brisbane - with a true spearo's prize a +6kg Pink Snapper.
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Editorial Straight Shooting Spearing with da' Boyz 24 Hours Travelling Spearo - Spearettes The Phantom Samba Day What I Was Looking For
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Most Dangerous Place in the World Couldwell Cup Spoilt Vanuatu Blue Novocastrians Head West Spearing Sydney Fish In Focus GreatShot
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by Antony Sercombe
’m sure I would have the support of most spearos when I say there is nothing better than getting away with your best mates and chasing awesome weather, dive locations, and fish. There is so much excitement and freedom getting on the road with your boat in tow, sharing stories and banter, while you have a huge sense of optimism in your mind about what’s in store when you hit the water. This is exactly what myself and two of my best mates, Brady Hannett and Dale Brisbane, got up to for a week during April. I loosely discussed the trip several weeks in advance with Dale, who currently works “in da minez” on a four-week-on, one-week-off roster. It goes without saying that that schedule makes doing any amount of diving pretty tough, and it’s fair to say he was sick of not getting in the water. Receiving pictures of fish that other mates and I had been shooting certainly wasn’t helping to ease his frustrations of being stuck 500km from any ocean, where all he can see is red dirt and it seldom gets below 40 degrees.
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I had a trip North planned a few weeks earlier that fell through due to poor weather, so I was pretty keen to make amends for the disappointment of cancelling the trip. I booked my week off that fell within Dale’s week off. After talking to Brady one day on the phone, he explained how things were pretty quiet at work, so he too planned to book the week off. Once we had a plan locked in, we were all excited at the prospect of heading North for the week. The three of us had never been on a trip away together. The beauty of the trip was that we had no real set destinations or plans locked in. We were going to play it by ear and chase the weather, so all we needed was for the weather to play the game. If only we knew what we were in for. Dale flew into Perth on Friday the 12th of April and stayed at Brady’s for the night. The plan was for the boys to leave Perth after Brady played footy that Saturday and head to my place in Cervantes two hours North. The weather was forecast to be pretty good at my hometown of Geraldton on Sunday, so that was the
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by Paul McKeown
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Desperation to get wet and dive in some clear water with a chance at some quality fish can lead you down an unexpected path. I had a full-day leave pass, but the problem was that the weather had closed in everywhere even remotely local. According to Seabreeze, the South coast was the best hope of favorable conditions. I thought of the old adage “Either get busy living or get busy dying.� With 24 hours free, it was time for me to get busy.
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o R a E p S g N i L ThE TrAvoEMleN aBoUt ThEiR TaLkS tO W S e C n iE R e P x E g iN H Is f R a E p S Dm
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pearfishing is generally regarded as a male-dominated sport. However, since the sport’s beginning, women have been heavily involved in and also pioneers of this selective form of fishing. The first known Australian female spearo was May Wells, who accompanied her husband This spearfishing the waters of Botany Bay in Sydney during the early 1930s. her activity was far more than a sport for Wells, as it was a means of feeding third the was Wells on. Depressi hungry family during the years of the Great the person recorded to spearfish in Australia, with her husband Denny being 1917. in first the as Wickham Alex and second After World War II, many of the returning veterans had spent some of the war years in the South Pacific, where the islanders had introduced them to spearfishing. Following the war, these returning Diggers began modern of spearfishing as we now know it. By the early 1960s, large numbers ing spearfish in ng competi many with women were participating in the sport, competitions. One of the more celebrated female spearos was Valerie Taylor, the wife of World Champion Spearfisherman Ron Taylor. Growing up in a spearfishing family, it seemed normal to me for women St. to spear. My own mother, Pamela, was a competitive spearo with the every Nearly speared. also sister My Sydney. in Club ing Spearfish George my weekend, depending on the weather, I spent my childhood spearing with friends. spearing female and parents and many of their male This legacy continues today with my wife Justine, who also enjoys spearing. I remember the day clearly in the mid 1990s when Justine decided we’d to swap her rod for a speargun. We were out in our family boat and thenmy with fishing spend to d promise I’d day a was It day. had no luck all my girlfriend rather than go off on my own spearing. However, I did pack and up gear should I d suggeste I gear, and after about four frustrating hours, just jump in for a quick look.
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by Leigh Elliott
In February last year, I took my first trip over to the land of big fish, New Zealand, hoping for big Kings and snapper. We had teed up a trip with a Northland local, Graeme Heapy, to take us out on his charter boat. We arrived in NZ to 30-knot Easterlies, which ruined our chances on the East coast and forced us up to North Cape to target Kingies. While the diving up there was spectacular and we took in several Kings at 30kg, we failed to shoot any big snapper.
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Paul & Leigh with 5.7kg and 5.2kg snapper
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Torelli
The crystal blue waters of Vanuatu provide some exceptional diving experiences and a few good fish too! Author with a Dogtooth tuna.
Diving down to the ledge at 25 metres, I leveled out, relaxed. In the distance, I could already see the school of doggies heading towards me. Some of the school I gathered was in the 40 to 50kg mark, surrounded by a myriad of reef fish and tropical coral in crystal-clear water. I woke up to the feeling of the airplane’s descent, looking out the window to a sea of coral atolls and green jungle only minutes away. Dm
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