Air Chats Autumn 2023

South Seas Spearo

Dave Shaw is a television producer, cameraman and editor, and one of the movers and shakers behind the hugely successful The Hunters Club show. Now in its ninth season, The Club showcases epic outdoor adventures throughout New Zealand’s backcountry wilderness regions, and now a new show - South Seas Spearo - will be following a team of fanatical fin-addicts on extreme spear fishing expeditions.

So how did Dave manage to land what many Kiwi blokes would consider to be the best job in the world? “I’ve been filming for close to 25 years,” he says. “What was once a hobby became a career, and I’ve developed a bit of a niche for filming outdoors action - it’s challenging to capture well, but incredibly satisfying when it all comes together.

The team and I are currently planning the next couple of seasons at the moment, there’s talk of heading to Alaska, Darwin, the Azores and Norway - certainly no shortage of epic locations to spear a fish!” There also seems to be no shortage of epic challenges for Dave and the team. “The ultimate, and most dangerous, bucket list fish is definitely the Swordfish,” he says. “Only a handful have ever been speared and landed, and half of those who’ve managed to put a spear in them have paid the ultimate price of being speared by the Swordfish itself!”

Which, we can all agree, is a bad day at the office! So let’s leave the thought of being impaled by a giant fish aside and focus on a good day in the office for Dave as he talks us through his involvement with the Chatham Islands.

Stunning scenery near Pitt Island.

FOR MOST NZERS...

...the Chathams is the type of place they’re lucky to visit just once in their lives. I’d been fortunate enough to spend time on the Island during filming for the third season of The Hunters Club, and on the very last night of that memorable mission I recall a bloke at the pub telling me that for my next visit I needed to skip the ‘big smoke’ of Waitangi and head down to Pitt Island, as that’s where the real action was.

Five years later, and I found myself once more in the Waitangi pub, this time on the first evening of a week-long trip, which would encompass a few days on Pitt Island as promised. We’d once again been filming for The Hunters Club, but also a new series focused on spearfishing called South Seas Spearo.

With a big steam to Pitt planned for the following morning (and knowing full well the proclivity for festivity that my Islander hosts are famous for), rather than leaning into a few beers right off the bat, I tried to ensure the team and I had a more subdued first evening.

With relatively calm seas, we made the passage across to Pitt Island the next day and were treated to incredible views of the unique topography of both islands, with some of the more exposed coastlines giving new meaning to the term rugged.

Once at Flowerpot Bay, we settled into our digs for the next few days, before skidding out on the quad bikes for the first of a few planned hunts, targeting big boars and the sought-after Pitt Island ram. Truth be told however, we were mainly on Pitt for the ample spearfishing opportunities on offer.

The illusive 'puka' on the spear!

Pushing off from the recently refurbished pier the next morning, hopes were high that we’d be able to locate an elusive hāpuku, a fish that had been leading us on a rather merry chase for the past couple of years of filming without any luck. Here at the Chathams though, ‘Puka’ inhabit much shallower waters, less than 30m in some areas, depths that they were long ago fished out of on the mainland.

The first day of diving saw success in landing a few goodsized kingfish, which in recent years have been appearing in larger numbers around the islands, but unfortunately, no sign of any hāpuku. The team were treated to a gourmet lunch though, with Air Chathams pilot Matt whipping up a delicious kingfish ceviche using the fish shot earlier that morning; certainly a man of many talents!

The next day’s diving saw the team venture around the entire southern coastline of Pitt, even diving a couple of notoriously sharky spots, but with only an hour or two left of diving in the day things weren’t going to plan.

Having landed just a few token fish, on route back towards Flowerpot the team decided to roll the dice one final time to try and salvage something from their massive day. We chose to dive a small reef just a few minutes steam from the main wharf - and what do you know. . . Having travelled miles to all corners of the island, it seems the old adage ‘fish your feet first’ holds true – as the team’s number one spearo Dwane managed to nail a nice sized hāpuku on the very last dive of the day.

Having ticked the hāpuku box, the next few days were spent soaking up all the adventures that the Chathams have to offer; bagging a pair of 190lb boars up around Waitangi West, spearing flounder out at the lake mouth, and diving a couple of shipwrecks in Port Hutt.

Sprinkled in amongst the various outdoors activities were a constant flow of friendly faces, a backdrop of stunning scenery, and certainly no shortage of laughs. Having had two epic trips already, this may seem a tad greedy, but I can’t wait to get back over for another shoot. Most NZers are lucky to visit the Chathams once, hopefully my third time’s even more charming.