Reports

WILD BLUE DIVE REPORT CONTEST

Alright dust off that camera and you could win!

We'll draw one report a month and the lucky diver will get a $50 vouchar in the mail.

So get out there and let us know how you went, especially the visiblity.  The more reports you send in the more chances of winning!!

Send them in to reports@wildblue.co.nz

GREAT BARRIER 23.08.2010

The weekend just been saw the mighty RedQuarters back out at the barrier.  The group included guys from Auckland, Kara from Hawaii and a pair of divers out from the Sydney Spearos club although one of them heads home to France next month and the other is from Christchurch.

Kingfish were very high on the travelling divers list and as usual the Barrier didn't disappoint.  The weather came and went a bit on Saturday with a north westerly wind and some swell to contend with.  The water was cold at 14 degrees so man I was pleased to be in my new 7mm.  The 5mm is still fine for a few hours in the water but getting in and out of the water from sun up to sun down you really need the extra this time of year.  We started the day in Whangapara harbour before moving up to the False Head area.  There were a few snapper around but it's still a bit cold for them yet.  Jarryd managed the best of them with this 3.5kg beauty. 

The real excitement came at the end of the day though.  Just as we were wearily climbing back aboard the mothership we started seeing heaps of gannets going up.  We'd seen a lot of pilchards in the water and it seemed that a late bite time was about to kick off.  Red gave us the heads up that the same thing had happened the weekend before and the scuba crowd he had onboard jumped in on some work-ups with big schools of kingies smashing the pillies underneath while the gannets attacked from the surface.  This was reason enough to keep the suits on and just as we pulled into Bowling Alley Bay the gannets started dropping.  We were back in the tenders before Red had a chance to drop anchor racing to a nearby point where the gannets were going off.  Half the necessarry gear had been left behind in our haste but we managed to scrape nearly two full sets between the three of us onboard and I dropped our two Sydney Spearos right in the thick of it.

The boys were immediately swarmed by a school of about 30 big kingies in a frenzy.  Didier was on to one almost immediately.    Karl was soon onto one as well and you should have heard their whoops and yells as they got dragged and dunked.  The two boys were using reel guns for the first time and onto their first kingies which were by far the biggest fish they'd encountered. Talk about a steep learning curve!  Half an hour later we were back on the ReQuarters as the sun dipped below the hills absolutely buzzing.  The two fish went 15 and 17kg and were in top condition after gorging on all the pilchards.  I'm sure they'll remember their first kingies for ever and I'm sure we'll see them both out this way again for more. 

Matt Lind

CAPE VIDAL (STH AFRICA) 18.08.2010

Hi Matt

Here's a pic of a sailfish I shot on a recent trip to Vidal.  I landed him with a reel gun and belt reel.  We got 5 or 6 mackerel over 20kg, biggest was 27kg. I also got a 20kg Cobia.

The gun reel helps in terms of not having a float line visible. It also helps with chasing down fast game fish. There have been many a mackerel I would not have got had I been trying to drag a floatline and buoy. I also believe with mackerel, the load (holding on bad shots) on the spear is much less if you have the reels drag set very light. I have landed a few with very bad shots that I have free spooled. They just swim with the spear basically. They soon tire and are easy to land, it just takes a little longer but worth it on a good fish.

The belt reel is really a great add on in terms of back up. If you get stripped the peace of mind knowing you have a back up is great. The other big plus is, if you shoot a fish and get a muzzle wrap or, sometimes when shooting a fish in a cave the shooting line becomes entangled in the muzzle, you now have the back up. Another advantage is if you need to dump your weight belt. Just hold the reel line end and dump the belt.

Regards,

Rob Allen

TONGA 9.08.2010

Today is my first day back from our latest Tongan Adventure - Wow! it gets better each year.  The weather was perfect for us which was very lucky as it had been storming the week before we got there.  We had a bit of wind for the first couple of days but calm and clear for the rest of the week.  We ticked most of the boxes with doggies, jobfish, big trout, parrots, mangrove jacks, various snapper and trevally's etc etc

Our guide Ben took us to some new spots he's discovered since my last trip.  Of special note was a reef way out east of the main island.  There was a group of bombies coming out of the sand at 25m with lots of rubbly, guttery bits and reaching up to around 5m below the surface.  This was prime snapper country and we saw plenty of really big mu and managed a few of the grass emporers pictured below.  The depth to the bottom made it hard to stretch out enough bottom time to really be effective on the more cagey species but what was really special about this spot was doggies!  Dog tooth tuna are pretty high on the list for most spearos travelling to the tropics and this place had plenty - much more than we were expecting to see and we were caught a little undergunned.  The 27kg specimen below was one of the smallest of the school which had a couple in it at least twice this size.  Armed with a 130 a kill shot was needed and I was luckily able to get close enough to get a good shot as it quartered away.  There were a few more shot and unfortunately lost.  We'll be back next year with the big cannons to really lay into them.  With so much shallow reef around around becoming tangled is inevitable if the fish isn't stoned outright and a big set-up to punch a slip-tip right through will be needed with strong dyneema, shooting line to ensure the fish will be held up long enough for a second shot.  There's plenty of unfinished business there and we'll be back next year with fish over 30kg targeted.

Chris Marshall managed a monster 14kg trout which we think is the largest ever speared in Tonga. It was an amazing capture to watch from the surface as he dived to 34m to secure it and it took what seemed for ever for him to wait for the fish to come in to check him out.  With fish like this getting the spear in is only half the battle as you then have to control it's first run as it tries to get into the nearest cave.  Needless to say you don't want your fish holing up below 30m.  Luckily for the rest of us there were plenty of trout in much more modest depths as well.

As always we're already planning our return and will make our first trip back in May.  Get in touch if you're interested - we only want 5 per trip so spots are limited.  Unfortunately our charter operator has to go to the States for a couple of months so we won;t make another this year.

Matt Lind

BAY OF ISLANDS 2.08.2010

Hi Matt and Blair,

Thanks for getting the RA 7mm wetsuit up pronto.Shot out early Saturday with my son Mitch for a quick dive in the Bay and try the suit out,which was toasty warm.  Mitch picked up a JD and a nice snapper and I had a nice comfy swim shooting some snaps between 12 and 20 lb.Conditions were good, flat calm till about 10am and good hunting viz.

Cheers,

Andy Grierson

GREAT BARRIER ISLAND 2.07.2010

I've just got back from our latest Gt barrier adventure aboard the RedQuarters.  We had a full boat with several divers making the trip up from Christchurch and Wellington as well as some guys from the local kayak fishing club and divers from the Air Force Dive Club.

We made record time across in perfect conditions on Friday night and parked up in the Man Of War passage.  Saturday dawned clear and still and we didn't muck around trying to get in as much diving in before the forecasted wind picked up.  I dived with the Wellington guys out of their boat the "White Maggot" which George had towed all the way up by himself - Good one George!!

First stop was the pin inside Wellington Head hopefully for a kingy.  The current wasn't playing the game though and she was a bit quiet.  The vis was exceptional though in the cool 15 degree water which was a real pleasure.  Man I was glad to have my new 7mm jacket though!

From there we headed up to Katherine Bay for a snoop.  I dived the rocks in the middle and picked up a snap and a johnny.  The johnny was in a very likely gutter giving the hurry up to swarms of baitfish.  The predator became prey but I do think I should have spent more time looking as there must surely have been a big snap down in the stalks somewhere nearby..  The other boys had picked a few bits and pieces including a couple of nice winter trevs.  Back to the mothership for bacon and eggs, compare catches and plan the afternoons assault.

The other tenders had headed around False Head and Ruakaka Steve and the Turk had swum their usual marathon snoops from the big boat.  There were a  few more snapper in the 2-3kg range onboatd as well as the usual collection of butters, porae etc.

The sea was still absolutely flat and with no sign of the wind actually arriving we packed up and headed out to the Pidgeons.  There was a bit of south current with loads of baitfish, butterfly perch and blue maomao stacked up on the upcurrent faces it wasn't long until the knigies turned up.  I managed one around the 13kg mark not far from the boat.  With a knigy onboard it was time to have another look for a snapper.  I swum down to the next rock and once again a school of kings came past as I hung on the wall but this time I could see something else in the distance.  The sun was casting long shadows and as I hung motionless in the shade a big snapper was out in the sun trying to figure out what I was.  He slowly turned left then right inching his way closer with every pass.  Finally he came within range and I let my spear fly.  But something was wrong, I could see the snapper turn and start swimming out and could see my spear dangling not far below me.  It soon became clear that my shooting line had tangled around my reel pulling the spear up halfway.  Gutted.

So then it was back to RedQuarters for dinner and dvds.  There were a few more fish onboard including a nice snap around 6kg from Turk.  We steamed down to Whangapara harbour for the night.  Sunday was cloudy and the wind was starting to be felt.  We had our dives stretched along the southern faces of the Island but it was very quiet so we packed up an hour early to head back through the Colville while we still had some tide in our favour.  It was just as well we did as the storm hit halfway across and we were very glad to have had the most difficult stretch behind us when it did.

We have our next trip the 20-22 of August so get your deposits in quick if you'd like a spot.

Matt Lind