November 2013

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THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR PHOTOS &/OR WRITTEN CONTRIBUTIONS: Gemma Shields, Darren Shields, Jackson Shields, Cory West, James A, Blair Burnett, Ben Laurie, Andy Grierson, Rob Thornton, Mike Maguire, Derek The Chef, Craig McDowell, Alan Drake, James Young, Shane Obrien, Mike Rickards

Can you believe it summer is almost here, it seems like only a couple of months ago we were sitting down to Xmas dinner. I have just got back from Mexico, a trip I was pretty excited about especially the prospect of seeing loads of yellowfin tuna. But as these things often turn out, it wasn't to be, apparently they had been there in good numbers but the days we went out they were hard to find. We did see a few small ones one day and a few busting the surface 60 miles out on another day but we couldn't get a shot at them. What was great was the water temp 29c-31c, I wore a 1.5mm top with boardies, my weight belt was 3kgs compared to about 11kgs here, what a dream way to dive. Another positive was some of the reef diving we did, Jacko managed a nice Cubera snapper and John Ross a pending world Record Jack Crevalle of 11.4kgs approx, it is of the Trevally specie and looks similar to a GT.Jacko also took a nice mahi mahi on the first day from under a log. We did lots of chumming and drift diving as well as some deep reef diving, there were lots of new species of fish I have not come across before which is something I enjoy seeing. I spent 90% of the time on camera, got some lovely stuff around logs in the middle of nowhere and some good spearing action when we got it. There are a few different species of snapper to chase, they were generally in open water deep making them hard to approach. We stayed a a stunning resort/condo setup where the President of Mexico happened to be staying the same time, if you want somewhere amazing to go for a holiday by the sea and take a partner let me know, you will not be disappointed in this place.

On the local side of things, the new TV show I am involved in goes to air early December on TV1 on Saturday arvos, I have spent this year filming episodes for this as I am the hunting and dive guy on it, keep an eye out for that. Snapper and boarfish seem to be the target for most in the northern part of NZ at the moment, as the water warms more boarfish show up as do kingfish. With these come sharks that want your catch, make sure you keep an eye out and don't handle your fish for too long, kill it quickly and if possible get them out of the water if you want to keep them. I have had two encounters already, both I won basically (kept my fish) but as the water warms the sharks get a bit meaner and may not back off so easily.   Don't push it this summer with your diving, its easy to dive that little bit deeper after a fleeing fish or to out do your mate, I was reminded of the tragedy of what happens if you black out while in the States at a recent dive expo. A lady approached me asking if she could film me as part of a project she is doing to set up a website that people can watch interviews with people that have been affected by being part of a shallow water black out death or close call.One of her children blacked out spearing another child of hers blacked out trying to save their sibling, fortunately both were saved.  As some may know I found my best mate Paul Parkinson deceased on the sea floor at Little Barrier a few years ago, the trail of tragedy that caused I don't wish on anyone, I have also been part of searches for 2 others friends that we found deceased and know several others that died because of it. Julie Richardson is the lady I met, she has dedicated the rest of her life to the work of educating others on the dangers. Don't push it this summer and become a statistic.   On happier note I want to  take this opportunity to thank all those that have supported Wettie in some form or another. Wettie has gone through  rapid growth expanding not only in NZ but  to many other countries. Part of my Mexico trip was to also visit a big dive show in the states where I found some great new product and came away with some new ideas for next year, I am designing in these products in the next few weeks, its the part of the business I really get excited about, getting an idea then turning it into something useful. Without all your support we wouldn't be growing like we are, thank you and Merry Xmas to you all. Darren Shields Dive safe

Dylan McDowell with a big KeriKeri cray 3.5kg

Alan Drake with a big Wahoo

From $575 Available at WWW.WETTIE.CO.NZ

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Spearfishing Nationals 2014 Paihia - 21st – 26th January

•  Tuesday 21st – Complete sign up at the Swordfish club •  Wednesday 22nd Women’s & junior’s comp •  Thursday 23rd Big 3 comp (snapper, kingi, cray) •  Friday 24th Photography events, fin swim, AGM, safety briefing •  Saturday 25th Day1 open spearfishing comp •  Sunday 26th Day 2 open spearfishing comp, prize giving at the fire station

Trev For Tea Wow what a weekend. We headed to our caravan up north for the long weekend, all full of excitement about the weekend ahead.  From the caravan we travelled a bit further up the coast were we caught up with a mate.  Once we had all our gear aboard the boats we headed to spot x.  At our first stop for the day the water was full of jelly fish so the viz wasn't the best so we pressed on to the next spot. Dad, our mate and I spilt up in different directions and I came across a lot of bait fish in about 7m of water so I hang around them waiting to see what would came after the bait fish. I see on the other side of the bait fish there was a school of about 5-8 trevally, I sneak on over and see this big one in the school so I dive down and take a shot at this trevally I hit it just behind the gills and it goes mad swimming around in circles and going insane. I let go of my gun and attempt to bring it up to me, it was hard because he was going so crazy around and around in circles.  But I got him up to me and grabbed him by the tail.  I repositioned myself to grab it in the gills,  I got a good hold of him and iki it.  I got him into my float boat and by then everyone else is getting into the boat so I made my way to the boat, when I got there I pulled  out my fish and they all looked like stunned mullets, looking at my 45cm trevally.  We also got our first crays on this dive and dad got his first big boar fish, it was one of the best eating fish we have had. - Corey West

Close Call

17th July, low tide, flat calm, local spot. Ev and I had been cruising around, he on the hunt for fish, and me (I had left my sling behind) was tagging along, waiting to get into cray country a little further out. No fish of any note, so we started on a bit of a cray session, I had a couple of smaller ones already when Ev mentioned that he had seen a promising looking ledge, the vis wasn’t great, but I dove in the vague direction he indicated and sure enough came across a very nice looking bit of rock jutting out over the sand, plenty of room under there, and chocka with good sized packhorses. My eyes bulged at the beauty of the sight, I grabbed a big boy with both hands, and getting towards the end of my breath hold, I turned to get out from under the ledge and head back to the surface. It would have been comfortable enough had all gone as normal. But as I turned, the underside of the tip of my fin pressed into the sand, and gently levered it off (my fins are way too stiff, and a fraction on the big side, ad some extra compression to the neoprene from a bit of depth and it came off easily). Shit. I groped around for a bit trying to get it back on, but with a cray in the other hand, it was a bit tricky. Then, just as easily and the other fin came off and there I was – on the sand, no fins, no lung capacity left and a good 20+m deep, I pushed off the bottom and gave it all I had. Crayfish in one hand, breath stroking vertically. Painfully slowly at first with my booties slowing me down, but I gained speed steadily as I rose toward the surface…. Then dreamland… just a dreamy floaty, foggy, blackish timeless dreamland. It could have been hours, it felt like hours, but turned out to only be seconds. A pressure on my chest reminded me that I had a body. I gasped for air. Gasping is a pathetic way to describe what you do when your body is severely oxygen deprived, I was pulling oxygen through my throat so hard that it hurt for days afterward. A bit dazed, I tried to figure out what the hell had happened. Ev had grabbed me after watching me, get to the surface, drop the cray, splutter a bit then go limp. Holy shit. Pretty happy to be alive but still 2-300m offshore with a reasonable current against us and of course I had no fins. Ev uses a bodyboard instead of a float, which was pretty useful because I was able to lie on top of it and paddle it back to the beach.   OK, so the moral of this story and the reason I am writing this is: make sure your fins fit well – they are most definitely better on than off, I think I might even stump up the $10 and get a pair of fin savers for next time. Drop your belt if you get in the poo, I obviously should have done this but didn’t, drop your crayfish early too for fucks sake. If you can get back to the surface without any drama you will have another crack at it. - James A

"Having recently acquired a new wetsuit my 12 year old son Fletcher wanted to come diving and catch his first crayfish. Over the past couple of years I had taken him on several trips of the Taranaki Coast to do just that but he would either get cold, the vis was poor or the water to deep. Over the past weekend the weather settled and more importantly the swell dropped and the water cleared. I had been for a couple of dives over the last couple of days and had caught good crays up to and over 2.5kg. So Sunday afternoon off we went, Fletch, my wife Rob and me. I anchored in 4 meters of water in a clear and calm bay. Fletch and I slipped into the water and within a couple of minutes I found a Cray of 2kg plus. I called Fletch over pointed the Cray out and with what could have been a military operation briefed him on how to catch this thing. I felt it was backed into a rock face and really was history. While I was waiting on the bottom, Fletch dived down, I don't know who's heart was pounding the most, but about half way he seemed to stop, motionless he floated mid water and for what seemed like an eternity Fletch and this damm Cray seemed to share telepathic thoughts while they stared at one another. Like two fighters sizing up the opponent.

Then as per the briefing Fletch, with a steely determination swam straight to this Cray and using all 42kg of his body weight scragged this thing by one horn with one hand and with the other wrestled it to his chest. He managed to fin to the surface, by now he had both hands wrapped around this monster holding it against his chest for dear life. It was then I spoke several words of encouragement to him "don't let it go". He couldn't speak as his snorkel had come out of his mouth and both his hands were busy holding the cray and he was treading water trying to breathe. The Cray had him as well as he had it, it was firmly attached to his wetsuit so I kindly put the snorkel it his mouth and we swam back to the boat. At the boat Fletch couldn't get the thing to let go so I prised them off each other and tossed it into the boat. After a father son bonding session consisting of me thumping him on the shoulder and telling him he's a machine Fletch climbed aboard. I swam off found and some more crays but Fletch was still on the boat, I swam back to find him staring at this crayfish in a trance like state. The Cray was parading around the bottom of the boat standing up wanting to fight as they do but it was all over for him. We got a dozen solid crays in a great afternoon, I don't know who was more proud me or Fletch. The Cray weighed 2.840 kg, pretty respectable!!. - Blair Burnett

Diving Samoa

Hi my name is Ben Laurie. I am 16 years old and I am a born and breed Northlander. I have been lucky enough to live all my life in the Bay of Islands apart from when my Mum and Dad packed me and my brother onto a 50 foot catamaran and spent a year sailing from Thailand to New Zealand. I love the sea and try to spend as much time as I can out on the water! While I love fishing, free diving and spear fishing, I’m also a keen supporter of the ‘Fish Forever’ campaign and would love to see more Marine reserves in our waters here in Northland! Apart from being on the water I love playing rugby , which was handy in Samoa as they think all the All Blacks are really Samoans anyway! Samoan Adventure  “Whale!!” I shout out, as a massive Humpback comes flying out of the water and smashes back down, making a six foot deep hole in the water, throwing water everywhere like a fire truck blasting water. What a great start to my trip to Samoa! It’s my first day in Samoa and we are out with Aqua Samoa – the PADI dive charter operators, moving from one dive site to another when all of a sudden our trip just got a whole lot more exciting! Instead of just sitting and admiring the view as the scuba divers I am with, waited out their surface time stop, we were lucky enough to be able to watch a Mum and baby humpback pair playing in the water, what a treat! After a 3 ½ hour plane trip from New Zealand, we had arrived at Faleolo airport about 1.30am in the scorching heat blasting out at 30 degrees. After a short sleep, we were off for a dive out on the coral filled bombies and reef out from our hotel – Aggie Greys Resort in Mulifanua on the Western end of the main Island - Upola. Everyone else on the boat is overdressed, heavy with Scuba Dive gear, and then there is me in my lightweight free diving gear! The Scuba Instructor gives her safety briefing and tells the divers the plan for the dive – but I am so excited, so she says I can just jump in and get going!

So as the ‘3-2-1 Splash’ countdown for the scuba divers happens, I am already in the warm water. As the bubbles from the divers clear away, it was like the coral lit up as the sun shone down through the crystal clear water. As a free diver, I have a certain pattern for holding my breath and gradually increasing my depth, but at first as I was just warming up, I enjoyed cruising down on the reef, spotting all the little fish from the ‘Finding Nemo’ movie, like Dory and Nemo and I even got to see Bruce (the shark!) I saw him watching me, as I took a deeper breath and went to a ledge to get a better look at a big school of Spanish Mackerel feeding, swimming in circles with their mouths wide open. I could see that ‘Bruce’ was a Black Tip reef shark, about 2 meters long, but he wasn’t very keen on me getting close so I left him alone and swam back up to the friendly fish. The dive was full of fish and beautiful coral; so after about 10 minutes into the dive I started to use my techniques to stay deeper longer (I think I freaked out a couple of the scuba divers too, who weren’t expecting a free diver beside them!) I’ve only been free diving a few years so I’m still learning to improve my technique but my method is that I like to relax my body and not think about anything, and start breathing really slowly (a bit like Yoga); I take bigger breaths for about 15 seconds, then inhale for 6 seconds, hold that for 6 seconds then exhale for 6 seconds. I repeat this 3 or 4 times. Then when I am feeling comfortable I take a steady breath, not pushing my lungs to the max or hurting at all, then slowly ease down to the bottom. I try to keep my movements really relaxed and cruisy to keep my heart rate slow. This dive and all the other dives I did in Samoa showed me how the much there is to see in Samoa; the reefs are so amazing and filled with fish. A highlight dive of the trip would have to be the Sua Ocean Trench which is in Lotofaga village, in the South-east part of Upola Island. This is a massive hole in the ground with an incredibly slippery sheer drop ladder going down into it. There are two trenches out of the hole that you can swim through, one goes under the ground to connect with another big hole, the other trench goes out to the ocean. The tides were wrong for us to swim through the ocean one, and there was an immense surge to also combat, so we took the locals advice and didn’t swim all the way through. (The ladder experience was enough adrenaline and danger for one dive, so it will be something to go back for!) But there are plenty of fish and colour in the hole and the trenches to keep you interested.

A sad point of the trip would have to be the dive we did off Lalomanu beach at the Eastern end of the Island. This is one of the most beautiful beaches of the island but the area was badly damaged in the 2009 Samoa Tsunami.

Once in the water we soon realised how devastating it had been under the sea also. There were large areas of dead coral and areas where the coral had been picked up and dumped by the force of the waves. The fish populations were very sparse compared with the other side of the Island, and you can see how the surviving fish have adapted to live in the few spots of surviving and re growing coral. From my trip to the Great Barrier Reef last year where I was lucky enough to meet some of the scientists and divers that study coral reefs, I learnt how incredibly long it will take for the damaged reefs of Samoa to repair, so it was a pretty sad thing to see. In addition to the diving there was a lot to see and do in Samoa. Everyone seems rugby mad and they really love New Zealanders! The Island has lots and lots of Villages and each Village has about 3 – 4 different Churches, which really shocked me. A local Chief we met ‘Albert’, showed us around explained that “Every Village respects their Churches and every Sunday you are not allowed to do anything (not even mow the lawns!) except go to Church, then go home and have a good Umu (very yummy feed!) and social relaxing time with you family” This was so that everyone on the Island can have a break and relax. I personally think this is a pretty good rule and it links to my passion of free diving because you need to be relaxed and cruisy to perform at your best! After a great week in Samoa we had to unfortunately head back to New Zealand and into ‘reality world’. I think I will definitely be heading back here, and if you ever get the chance to visit I would very much recommend it!

Mike & his sons with a good kingi from the Noisies

Deer fish

Spearing

Indonesia

The seeds were sown for this Liveaboard spearfishing trip over a year ago when I was in Bali checking out my good friend Andres 30mt schooner he was building. This project was started several years ago but due to a long list of problems was now finally in its final stages of completion. I discussed with Andre about a booking for the following year which was all agreed on so all I needed was another 8 guys to join my son Mitch and I. I knew of a few guys from Australia I'd dived with either in NZ or over in Bali so made contact with my mate Q to put the feelers out to the rest of the boys and they all jumped on board in a flash. Fast forward to September 28th and we all met up at the airport ready to catch a flight to Ambon  via Sulawesi along with Andre and 400kg plus of gear. Like the start of any new spearfishing adventure all the boys where pumped and rearing to go and as I'd been the only one to of physically gone on the boat and sussed out the trip I was hoping they would all be happy with there new home for the next 10 days. We were welcomed on board with cold drinks and nibbles and met the crew of 10 which all turned out to be great guys providing good service from operating the tenders, cleaning up your dive gear after each dive and food that would rival some top restaurants, it made for a happy team of spearos. We left Ambon and motored 12 hrs to our first dive site a couple of picturest tropical islands 100 miles from nearest civilisation. Breakfast was inhaled and the dive gear was sorted then we teamed up into the 3 tenders. Our boat consisted of myself, Mitch, Q and his father in law Dave who is 75 yrs young and you would not find a more keener fit bloke for his age, not surprising though as he represented Australia in the Commonwealth games for cycling!

We got in the water to 25 mt viz and 28 degree water with the coral reef edge dropping abruptly to 100s of mts of water. The diving seemed a bit slow so decided to move to the next island about a 15 minute boat ride and upon jumping in we new straight away this was a far better spot with plenty of current and bait zipping around ever where. Schools of large bumphead parrots cruised around along with some monster Napoleans which we all left alone preferring to look for doggies and any other pelagics along with the ever present job fish, red sea bass etc. On one of the drifts Q and  I ended up separating from Mitch and Dave and when we caught up Mitch was excitedly telling us how he had two large yellowfin tuna cruise in from behind right up against the reef but unfortunately by the time he saw them they were getting out of range, still great to see all the same. On the same drift I watched Q make a drop to 25 mts and then his two 35 lt floats started ripping across then headed straight down at a great rate of knots and out of sight.Q hit the surface and couldn't believe how his floats had vanished so quick, welcome to shooting big doggies mate I told him. I got up on my floats looking for his to surface and 5 minutes later they popped up with tension still on, we raced the 100 mts and bought the doggie slowly up Mitch dropped down and put a securing shot into it and Q had a PB tuna a bit over 40kg. We returned back to the Oceanic and all the boys had got some nice fish and over the next few days they all had secured a dogtooth up to 20kg. Moving to another spot the same procedure was repeated, find some current jump in and start drifting along the reef edge where it dropped into the depths. It was on one of these drifts where I  got to experience some of the highs and lows of spearfishing, I had been holding fire on the schools of 20kg plus GTs holding out for something special as the water just seemed alive with fish on feed mode and as I carried on drifting a Maori sea perch came into view and I was pretty keen to add that species to my list so made a drop towards him and closed the gap took my shot and clean missed! Ahhh. Back on the surface as I was reloading two 60 to 70kg yellowfin tuna cruised within two metres of me with an unloaded gun, counseling required!!. To rub salt to the wounds another three came through later and I took a slightly wishful shot to have the shooting line get caught around the muzzle pulling the shaft up short they then cruised past Q who got a long shot on one but the shaft pretty much bounced off, the good viz making judging distance a bit tricky at times.

Each evening we would sit down to plates of sashimi a few bintangs and relive the days adventures then another top 3 course meal would be served and by 9.00pm everyone crashed and went to bed ready to repeat the same thing in another dive spot, we always travelled at night so no dive time was wasted. We stopped at a coral atoll which disappeared from view at high tide and had a great time there with myself getting a couple of coral trout the best 10 kg, Mitch got a ripper sweet lip going 17kg,Q's brother Nath jumped on the doggie express and got to watch his float disappear with a 30kg plus fish eventually hitting the deck and another PB. Plenty of other good eating fish came on board with Andre and one of the crew Hendra showing how it's done coming back with a nice range of trout up to 12kg and some small grouper. Off to another pristine small island we all got organised into the three tenders and went our separate ways with Q ,Mitch and I heading out to the exposed end of the island which had a pretty good current running and a solid chop crashing in towards the reef. Mitch opted for a more calm spot behind the headland while Q and I bashed our way out to the front. We jumped in and just started drifting with a good current and started seeing some nice fish including a ripper hammerhead along with countless turtles which was great to see. A large school of GTs came in under us and my dive buddy dropped down and put a good shot into one of the better ones which bought in a bunch of sharks which disappeared as quick as they had arrived, Q bought in his fish which went 27kg.I drifted a bit further and had another school of GT come in and dived down to check them out already deciding if there wasn't a real goody id leave them, the bulk of them were in the 20 to 25kg range but on the edge of the school there was a real beaut and as it cruised in I got a good shot in behind the head and it headed straight for a cave in the side of the reef.

I put as much hurt on the fish as I could swimming it out to deeper water and after ten minutes I finally started to bring it towards the surface, the breakaway was coming into view and I could see the fish when the shaft pulled out. Gutted as I knew this was a very big GT and the fact that it would more than likely be shark fodder, I'd got it all on my contour and looking at the footage it dwarfed the other GTs around it. If you don't weigh it don't say it though! We carried on and ahead I saw eight or nine large bullet like shapes heading towards me which materialised into yellowfin, I dived down but they were on a mission and didn't come close enough to take a shot but was an amazing sight none the less. We went and picked up Mitch who had picked up a nice joby, midnight snapper and a big barracuda. Back at the boat the other guys had not seen the same action we had but one of them had a black marlin cruise in behind him which he saw just a bit to late for a shot. Travelling through the night we headed back towards Ambon stopping at an inhabited large island and it wasn't long before the locals arrived in their long boats to check us out and see what we were up to in their waters, Andre gave them a good load of fish which was been kept in the loads of freezer space on board, plus some T shirts and welcomed them on board to check out the boat. They were a good bunch of guys with a couple coming back that night to take us into the shore to look for coconut crabs which proved to be a highly entertaining night climbing up and down the steep slopes over razor sharp rocks with all of us losing a bit of claret but incredibly these boys just wandered around in bare feet without a problem. We woke up to what would be our last full day of diving in an area where the bottom dropped away a lot more slowly and had some nice bommies scattered around and it was at one of these that I had great pleasure putting a shaft into a 10kg Maori sea perch, the same fish which had cost me a chance on the yellowfin earlier in the trip, not the fishes fault I know but it sure made me feel better!. The other boys picked up a variety of fish from coronation trout, some doggies up to 21kg,GTs,and Q with a nice Spanish which went down well for dinner that night. We had one more stop on the way back the next day on a seamount not far from a populated village, there was very little current running over it but that was to change into an undiveable raging torrent later in the day. Some nice doggies were seen there and on one of the drops I had a reasonable tuna cruise under me at 20mts so put a good shot down through its back and after a short fight I handed a 25kg doggie to the boatman. The other boys had no joy and thinking I might of got the best fish of the day I arrived back at the Liveaboard to be met by a smiling Hendra who had shot a 35kg dog in 8 mts of water not far from the back of the boat!!.

Mitch with a Sweet lips

Andy’s Coral Trout

Was a great way to finish the trip and as we pulled anchor to head back to Ambon we all started packing away the gear and got cleaned up meanwhile the crew got set up on the large top deck of the Oceanic with the BBQ ready for the final nights dinner. We sat around tipping back a few bintangs watching another glorious sunset as the chefs produced a fantastic meal on the BBQ. After dinner the crew bought out the guitars and bongo drum and the bintangs started taking a real hammering and then the Blue Goose vodka was disappearing at alarming rate, the stories started getting better and the fish that got away bigger. Getting to bed at 1.00 am and then having to get up at 4.00am to get off the boat and to Ambon airport sure made for a long day with some very quiet and subdued boys. It was a great trip with a real good bunch of guys and Andre and his crew did an awesome job of looking after us all. Roll on the next trip! - Andy Grierson

Jackson’s Snapper

Wayne with his first snapper at the Barrier

Moray eel inside the snapper’s belly

Shane O’Brien’s Cray fish Taxidermy

Shane is an expert at cray mounting. It doesn’t have to be a monster to get mounted. Shane will do any size For further info on prices and availability, give Shane a call.

Contact: 027 271 5891 [email protected]

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Nick & Joe with their catch. (Joe’s first snapper!)

Matt, the editor of ‘Hooked on Boars’ mag & his son.

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BOAT FOR SALE $35,000 ONO Details: 6.7m fibreglass / composite hull, 2004 Yamaha 115 4/ stroke 130hrs, reconditioned trailer, all in top condition, ready for the summer. It is light (1300kgs tow weight,) economical, and strong. I made this for spearfishing / fishing it is very stable and has excellent water access from stern, don't need a boarding ladder. Garmin GPS and Furuno sounder. Phone 078242252 or mob 0211740173 Boat is in Hamilton but would be prepared to bring to Auckland if there was enough interest. I will be sorry to see it go but we have bought a 12m launch so has to go. Tim Jones

LIMITED EDITION

“Meatball Blues” Edition limited to 500 numbered and signed prints Size: 737mm x 554mm framed Price: $425 framed / $325 unframed (including GST and freight within NZ)

“Meatball Blues” by New Zealand’s foremost game fishing artist, Brian Moore, is a portrait of a Blue Marlin engaged in working up a meatball. A professional artist now for more than 30 years, Brian likes to get involved with his subject matter, as pictured here with his catch of a yellow fin tuna on board the “Norseman”. Doing a portrait of a marlin involved a lot of background research. To get the dramatic angle of the blue, Brian first made a model and then photographed it in the position he was looking for. This served as the basis for the painting, along with lots of other cross-reference shots, plus video footage of a meatball taken by Darren Shields. From the original watercolour painting the edition was printed using light-resistant inks on archival quality paper. Brian personally checks each print before he numbers and signs it for release. To order: Ph 09-427 5728. Subscribe to Brian’s newsletter: [email protected] For more game fishing prints and sculpture, visit his web site: www.brianmoore.co.nz

‘’A friend sent me this pic of what they call a Kob in South Africa I think they call them a Jew fish in Australia. It was taken on rod and line but still impressive. Caught at Van Stadens. It had a 2.5 kg spotted grunter and a 1kg sand shark in its stomach.’’

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All keen Kiwi divers review the many pacific islands to try to decide where they can achieve both the best diving as well as have a trip which does not cost a small fortune.   Normally these trips are enjoyed by joining one of the NZ based operators who know the ropes and organize trips which can be joined with all arrangements laid on. I had a significant birthday in September and my wife had asked what I wanted for a present.  My quick reply was “ a blue water dive trip with my mates” !!   Armed with her approval I started the research on when & where would I go. Moving quickly forward – I looked at North west shelf, Western Australia, Vanuatu, Samoa, Indonesia, Fiji & Niue. The criteria to decide were: ·         Good fishing ·         Affordable ·         Good boat  

Many of the possible venues failed the boat question. Vanuatu, where I have been twice, was more expensive as I wanted a new location in Vanuatu. Soon I realized Niue was a good bet.   Air NZ, Matavai resort, a rental car & the boat all soon confirmed. Easily under a $3000k budget.   Last detail – I would take my 31 year old son Craig. My dive buddy Kim Moleta. Finally in the last slot Geoff Crawford.  Geoff was very important for two reasons, one Kim & I had looked after his son 2 years ago on a trip to Atutaki, and secondly I wanted a good diver as from a previous trip I knew Niue has quite deep diving in some areas. So between 21st September and 28th September, we enjoyed the all the attractions of Niue.   Our skipper was Andrew Hellesoe of Niue Sportfishing. He has a 7 meter Stabicraft, modern Yamaha 150 HP four stroke and is a local. This turned out to be a good choice. We dived Saturday, day off Sunday (Church), then Monday-Thursday. Each day was 8 hours except Wednesday when we did 9 hours. On Saturday and part of  monday we had some wind. The rest was great weather. So what is Niue like for spearfishers??     Niue is racked by controversy where spearfishers are concerned. This has resulted in an agreement on the use of the 13 FAD’s.  Two inshore FAD’s are reserved for spearfishers. Three offshore FAD’s are available to spearfishers, but trolling boats have right of way.  Over the week we found that on no occasion were we unable to dive on any approved FAD we selected.  The FAD’s are primarily producing Mahimahi and wahoo. Schools of Rainbow runner are also seen on the Fad’s and although we never saw any, could easily have yellowfin & billfish.   Whilst the weather and  the local villages limit the amount of coastline available for divers, there are some really good spots. I will touch on this later.  

On the first four days of diving we mixed FAD’s with some coastline. We were having a ball. Great viz, getting a good haul of fish each day, mahimahi, wahoo and/or the odd doggie etc.  This was Craig’s first blue water trip and in reality he had not dived hard for ten years. He was however very fit, strong and diving extremely well. We soon all got used to seeing him drifting down on fish in 20 meters plus. On the last day, Thursday morning, we had a short dive on a FAD, shot a mahimahi, then moved onto the coast. We were very selectively seeking only a few fish, in particular large eye bream. These as many of you will know are shy and often are the first fish to either hide or simply swim off.   Geoff was diving with Craig who had a float and was having a great time stalking fish. We were on the edge of the drop off, perhaps 16 meters or so to the very top and then quickly down to maybe 28-30 meters. I was swimming across to Geoff & Craig as I wanted to grab the “Gopro” off Craig and planned to do more filming. I watched Craig swim slowly down then drift carefully to the reef below. He kept very still pointed out his gun and fired. He had missed and then picked up the spear and slowly took off to the surface. As I approached Geoff, who was almost right above Craig, I saw Craig approach the surface and stopped watching as he reached about 5’ from the surface. I called to Geoff to tell him I would film the next few hours. We had a short chat, Geoff turned his head, said something like “SHIT”. Then plunged down towards Craig, who was 10-12’ below the surface, arms spread out wide and slowly sinking. Geoff grabbed him by the armpits from behind and propelled him to the surface. On reaching the surface he had Craig facing me and Geoff had all of Craig’s head & shoulders out of the water. I could see that Craig’s lips were blue. Geoff asked Craig if he was alright and he answered yes. Then immediately rolled his eyes and I suspect blacked out for a second time. Only for a second or two. Craig was very surprised to find himself in Geoff arms. Geoff told him to relax and that he had a shallow water black out. To just relax for  a minute or two and settle.   I looked down and very surprised to see Kim down about 30’ and starting to surface as Geoff’s gun sunk down below him. (Geoff was only using a reel). I thought this is odd, why is Kim not chasing Geoff’s gun. I plunged down, caught the gun and resurfaced. Swam over to Kim to remonstrate. Then I saw that Kim had Craig’s camera in his hand. It dawned on me, Kim had focused on the rapidly sinking camera and I actually owed him thanks.   Meanwhile Craig had recovered. He was looking good, felt fine. We agreed with him he could film us from the surface but NO diving. We moved off to a secret spot. On arrival there as soon as we jumped in we knew we were in for a treat. This spot was going off. School fish everwhere. I dropped down about 15 meters and there below me was the best Doggie school I think I have ever seen.

At least 12 fish, one HORSE, two biggies and plenty of other good fish. Geoff checked them out. We agreed the second scale fish were probably 50kgs. The leader most likely at least 80kgs.  These fish were swimming very slowly, simply patrolling the drop off. We saw them many times moving in both directions. They were patrolling at about 30 meters. Viz was excellent so when hanging from 20 meters and sinking the views of these fish were magnificent. Each time we were trying be In position for the school to swim directly below us. With my dive time, this was going to take a miracle. But for Geoff sooner or later he would be in position. Finally in a 30 meter dive, taking 2.30 minutes and needing to reposition twice, he successfully put a spear into the top of the head of the LEADER.  As I saw this unfold, I swam to Geoff’s float , got ready to attach my float.  (I was with Gary Conway in the Coral sea when he lost his two floats and gun on a big doggie), and started to pull the line up before any sharks got the doggie. Sadly, the gun pulled out, and we never got a chance to retrieve a truly trophy Doggie.  PS: Always next time Geoff   So readers, please pick up the SWB message in this story. Your dive buddy is NOT SAFE until he has been on the surface and breathed. We were diving close together, watching and sharing the experiences. It may well have saved my son’s life.   As for Niue. I was there with Darren in 2000. Now again in 2013. It is a really good experience. The water is always clear. Warm.  There is good opportunity to shoot your 1st blue water fish. Like most places, all Tuna are hard to get. We were late in the Humpback whale season, but we all saw one and Geoff & Craig had a big one swim up to them in the shallows, drop its head down and balance on the bottom on its nose right in front of them.  Whilst not a sharky place, we lost fish to sharks in two places but were never threatened.   Out of the water we took our fresh fish to local restaurants and had divine meals.  Niue is the safest place you could ever visit. Try it. - Rob Thornton

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Testimonial: ‘This year has seen two of our most sort after records smashed by spearos, the mighty kingfish bar has been raised to another level for man and woman. When you achieve something like this its worth spending some money and getting your prize mounted. Last year while travelling in the South Island I stumbled across a fish museum in a place called Havelock in the top of the island. Ross the owner showed me through what I believe to be some of the best fish mounts I have ever seen. He seemed to be able to recreate the colour of a fish to look like they do when alive in the ocean. Ross's museum is a great stop off if you are in the area, his 4 metre Great White dangling from the ceiling as you walk in is unbelievable. In his sea section he has lots of different deep water species, some of which I never knew existed. Ross also does fresh water species and has a separate room with a river scene showing off these. Ross is very competitive in his pricing and can courier his work to anywhere in the country. Recently I had Ross do a 2kg butterfish from Fiordland and a snapper of enormous proportions, call in and check them out if you are passing Wettie, you will not be disappointed especially when you see the size of the snapper!!!’ – Darren Shields

Although we don’t have an ocean in Colorado, and they hate spearos here, we do have a lot of water and some very unique opportunities for the outdoors enthusiast . 14000”+ peaks, snowboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, elk hunting, canyon-erring, Colorado has a little of everything,   but,   spearfishing. So this winter we went  Salmon fishing.  For many, the concept of Colorado salmon fishing remains an enigma. We're 1,000 miles from the Pacific, after all, sitting well over a mile above sea level at the places where our particular version of landlocked sockeye salmon called kokanee thrive. Yet, with nearly 50 years of residency under their gills, kokanee have established populations in more than 25 locations across Colorado and ought to be on every angler's hit list when it comes to spirited sport fishing. The fish are open most of the year to catch, but in Oct. your allowed to snag up to 10 fish each/ per day, as they run up stream to breed. Most fish run between 2-6 pounds and put up quite the fight. Snagging is quite different from any sport I have tried in the past, but we are in Colorado where a lot of things are legal to do. These fish don’t have quite the flavor as fresh caught Alaskan King Salmon, but they do smoke up very nicely. One of these days we will get the DOW rules changes and be able to spear Kokanee Salmon in Colorado, until then snag on! – Mike Maguire

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Editor’s note: The opinions voiced in the articles are not that of the Kiwi Spearo Magazine, but of each individual writing the story. We have spell checked all articles but in the spirit of keeping all stories that of the writers, the content has not been edited.

There are so many interesting things from the ocean that we as divers over look. Recently I got to try a selection of clams from Cloudy Bay Clams. They arrived all sealed in a poly box, couriered overnight from Blenheim arriving fresh and succulent ready to eat that night. What an interesting meal it turned out to be, there were several different species to choose from, some very large, some average size and some that would make you Grandmother blush. Alison got out some receipts and for the next three nights we ate clams several different ways, all spectacular. If you are looking to try something new or have guests coming and want to impress with a meal that is a little different try Cloudy Bay Clams, you will not be disappointed. - Darren Shields Wettie Spearfishing

Smoking, Steaming , Roasting or just plain good old Kiwi Hangi Food. I came across the UFO cooker some time ago and have watched with interest how it has evolved. The UFO cooker has now become a very important part of my Backyard Gourmet Kit. The fact that I can take in to my caravan to use for smoking fish, wild game meat or virtually anything I hunt is a huge plus. Compact in size the UFO can be turned into a grill, Steamer Roaster or Kiwi Style Hangi with very little trouble. Built out of stainless steel, all I really need to add is my Gas bottle as everything else comes with it including a basic cook book and DVD to get you started. So down to the cooking process,(my favourite part) my very first experience was to smoke some nice plump snapper for my Filipino relations and friends that had come to visit us at The Whangateau Family Motor camp. I first soaked the wood chips supplied in a little Anchorage Pinot Gris i had left over from the night before, added some garlic, chopped onion and some wine pruning twigs from the local vineyard. I had already cured the fish with a mix of Demerara sugar and chilli infused sea salt for a little extra flavour. Turning on the two burner gas ring was easy, this was then placed onto the BBQ grill and stand that comes with it then all I had to do was place the whole UFO Cooker over the lit flame to start to smoke.

Next I placed on the lid and inserted the temperature thermometer into the handy little vent on the lid. My ideal temperature and time is 65 ⁰ C and time between 2 – 2 ½ hours although if I want to crank the temperature up can lower the time accordingly. Once the initial liquid had boiled away the wood started to smoke, so I knew I was on the right track. The flavour and aroma started to bring around a small crowd of eager onlookers who where just waiting to see the outcome. The snapper was cooked / smoked to perfection for my first run but some changes will be made along with recipe ideas such as glazes, rubs and seasonings, watch this space. Now as I have found out the UFO cooker is so versatile, my next recipe will be for steamed crayfish (allowing of Course for Darren Gemma or Jackson Shields to provide)  in the same UFO, and following on from that many other dishes that you too can enjoy. To purchase or enquire about one of these very versatile Cookers just check out the shop at www.derekthechef.co.nz we will be posting recipes  in the recipe section as well as soon as they are developed and photographed.

www.wettie.co.nz Master Agent – Wettie in Auckland Ph: 09 479 4232 Northland/Whangarei

Chris Browne 09 4363343

Hawkes Bay

Kane Grundy 06 8701662

Nelson

Mark Roden 03 5445755

Picton

Alan Drake 027 2098998

Malborough Sounds

Alan Culverwell 021 534901

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Hunting & Fishing 03 3196648

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Glenn Scott 03 3526249

Australia

Gary Fisher 0061447720017