Figure 1: Skipper (Allen) and Michael suited up in the boat as its reversed down the Eden boat ramp.

Three way Championship – Eden 2005 A St George Spearfishing Club Perspective

By Craig Shephard

As my bedside alarm screamed at me I rolled over to see 06:00am on the clock and instantly thought “Not another day ripping out my bathroom.” But as I slammed the snooze button I remembered I’d finished that at 10.30pm the night before and this alarm was the beginning of my long awaited trip to Eden. I began to imagine southern crisp salt water. I instantly sprang from bed and threw on the tracky dacks. Just a few days before my wife was chatting to Denise (Vlado’s Mrs) how I wouldn’t be able to load my 1.1m Picasso due to the renovations I’d been doing. Denise just laughed as said, “When it comes to spearing, you’ll be surprised. Nothing stops ‘em…“ I did have a little chuckle as I recalled the conversation. Anyhow, 07.15am on the dot Allen Briggs and Michael Takach chug into my street driving a single cab Toyota Landcruiser towing Allen’s 5.6m Trailcraft. Man that’s one big boat out of the water! We quickly threw my gear in and as I looked at the small bench seat I thought to myself “Not so sure if baked beans were such as good idea last night.” I wondered if they would still talk to me in seven hours, maybe I should have offered to drive? The trip wasn’t as bad as I expected. The baked beans were a non-event and the fishing stories really helped to pass the time. Allen being an original Pacific Sub Aqua member back in the 1960’s had heaps of knowledge of southern diving following his experiences with the Taylor shield. He was full of info relating to species, shipwrecks but the best of all were the tips on crays. I’ve now got a great diary on all of this, just hope he doesn’t find out. You can always tell a Spearo’s car as it travels along any coast road. At first sight of the water there’s this magnetic pull on the steering wheel to the east, or maybe the driver’s just not watching the road.

We arrived in Eden around 3.30pm and first stop was my father’s place Roger. He’s been living there for just on 12 years and being an old St George member is still a keen Spearo. We racked his brains on the local hot spots and then set up camp. The next morning we were on the water and heading north out through Two-Fold Bay and the conditions were

perfect. The first spot we pulled up on was 15m+ vis and our hearts were pumping. I strapped my Shark Shield on and slipped into the 160C water, which I felt stabbing me through my three-year-old wetty. Those holes, which didn’t bother me in Sydney, were a little more noticeable. As I got my bearings, I looked down and saw Tassie’s, Banded Mowies, Blue Throat, Zebras and really nice Luderick. I was beside myself. The comp is in 2 days and let’s hope these conditions stay. We moved to another location further north and still the fish were abundant. The amazing thing was the species diversity and quantity of each species. If you bothered to dive to 12 metres on the sand, there were Blue Mowies everywhere and I mean 2kg plus. But in reality all the species were also present in 5 to 8 metres. I followed a small gutter with Michael and in 6 metres took a really nice 2.5kg Blue Mowie. That was my PB and I was stoked. We then moved again and decided to check out the local abalone population and were amazed to find hundreds and hundreds, but all just under legal. I left my measure back at camp and after annoying Allen only got one legal. I gave up but Allen persisted. After checking around 200 Allen finished the day with seven. I then rejoined Michael back in the wash and started chasing Salmon. They were a bit flighty and I couldn’t get in range. I then saw a few Tailor shoot past like Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles up a gutter and into the wash. I dived down to only 3 metres, grabbed the bottom and watched them do a complete 180 as if I head them on a lead. They turned straight back at me and when they were only 2 metres off me turned broad side I nailed one. Not huge, but a nice one at around a kilo. Now lets hope I can do that in the comp. We all got back in the boat with around 8 fish each not wanting to spook them too much before the comp and began discussing tomorrows scouting plan. It took about 2 minutes to agree that tomorrow we’d go south and then decide what locations we would fish the Sunday comp. We started our journey back to the ramp quite content that this comp was going to be a ripper. At 6.00am Saturday morning we stuck our head out the door and were met with a very angry north-northeast wind blowing around 20 knots. The swell was up and the southern side of Two Fold Bay was white with wash. NO!!! was the comment (well actually, a few colourful metaphors were also mentioned). We ate, packed the boat and headed out. As we entered the open bay it was clear that the clear flat conditions of yesterday were gone and a thumbing 3-metre north easter swell was hammering the coast. It was at this stage that we started to think the Eden comp, which hadn’t been cancelled in 40 years, might be a non-event. Our plan to go south was no longer on so the only remaining place was the northern side of the bay at Azlings. We slowly motored through the huge swell and as we arrived we counted 4, no 5 boats. Then 6, 7, 8 and with our arrival there were around 16 boats along this length of the bay. We headed out near Mewstone and discovered the 15-m + vis was now a very murky 10. We dived anyway but hardly saw any fish. It’s amazing how a place can change over night. We then turned our attention to abbs

and muscles. The abbs were thick, but again most were just under legal size, however the mussels were excellent. One tip however, never rely on advice from Michael Takach relating to Fisheries size and bag limits. Being from Sydney, none of us knew the limit for muscles. Michael chirped up “I know! It’s 50 litres per person.” Great we thought we can eat some tonight and take plenty home for the family. Anyhow, we all hit the water and after a while I returned to the boat to start my muscle collection and Michael who is already there proudly announces he’s got his 50 litres. I look at the 60 litres dive tub nearly full and think “That’s heaps. Are you sure its 50 litres?” “Positive” he replies. Not convinced, I scrounge around the boat looking for the Fisheries sticker and upon finding it stand up quickly with a grin and turn to Michael. “Thanks for getting me my muscles” I say pointing to the 50 per person bag limit. I wish I’d taken a photo of his face as the penny dropped and he then replied “Oh! Maybe that’s for prawns.” We then proceeded to count out our 150 mussels between us and we quickly called Rob Tierney and Laurie O’Grady over and advised them not to get any muscles as we had enough for them as well. We then chugged on home with out tails between our legs. I didn’t even shoot a single fish. What a difference in the 2 days. We all sat there in silence and pondered if the comp was going to be cancelled. The weather forecast didn’t look good. The talk that night back at Shadracks Caravan Park was “Weather” and whether the comp was going to be on or off. The Mexicans (Victorians) had their theories, the New South Welshmen had theirs and the ACT divers… (were there any from the ACT?). All I can say is that GOD must have been a Spearo as some time during the night the wind swung to the west and started chipping away at the swell. At six in the morning as Michael was having nappy rash withdrawals and poured half a tub of baby talk down his suit to avoid soaping up. He claims it was his swell reducing dance but we all know that cold water makes many thinks shrink, and this skinny kid can’t risk shrinking any more.

Figure 2: The correct bag limit of 150 muscles in a 60lt tub

Figure 3: Michael doing his “Talc Dance”. He claims it reduces the swell. St George members all know he just hates sliding into a wet cold wetty on a winters morning – WHOOS!!

At the sign on 33 boats and 98 divers registered and by 08.00am the flag was dropped and a scene that resembled the Hawkesbury Bridge to Bridge had began. As expected, most of the boats headed out of the bay south, but 9 were seen peeling off north. Most of these were making quick stops at “Secret” locations for Red Rockies, Boar Fish and even the odd snapper (lets hope the snapper didn’t have green gills and sunken eyes as one did at the last Long Reef Allimen. As we rounded the bays headland the swell was surprisingly not that bad. Not as good as Friday, but 1.5m is better than 3m swell plus a strong wind chop. We all looked at each other with surprise and we held on as Allen powered the motor up. We were heading north. The comp was on, lets just hope the viz would co-operate.

Dropping from the plane as we approached our first stop, our eyes were glued on the sounder. We

watched 50ft, 40ft, 30ft and still no visible sign of the bottom. I think my knees were knocking together with anticipation. Two days earlier we could see rock in 40ft. Had our northern gamble failed? At 25ft we could just make out white rock and 20ft we could see it clearly though obviously milky. We anchored up and splash, young Michael hits the water before we even discuss our game plan. He heads east out of the little bay heading for the 1.5m swell and wash on the point. Allen and I chat and agree after the big sea yesterday there was a good chance some nice fish could be hanging around in the shallows as the bay was in the lee of the swell. We jump in and notice straight away an improvement from yesterday, but still down on Friday. We both head into shore and within a few minutes start seeing some nice Luderick, pig’s etc. I see a small goatfish and with my new pranger gave him a quick lobotomy. I hate when that happens as the 20 or 30 grams you loose might mean he misses out on weighing. As it turned out he weighed 500 grams and he was actually a red mullet, which for me was a real bonus. I muffed a shot on a nice Zebra and than saw a descent luderick cave up in around 7 metres. I dived down along a drop off and as I neared the bottom a school of small salmon encircled me. I whacked one around 1.2kg (another bonus) and within seconds could see nothing but salmon from top to bottom. They must have stretched at least 20 metres all around me. I could almost reach out touch them, it was really amazing. Whenever I’m in a school of salmon I think “Noahs”. This time I felt a little more

Figure 4: My catch for the day. 13 species and a score of 686. My personal best in any comp.

comfortable as I had on my Shark Shield. I was really glad to see that it had no obvious impact on the school of Salmon. I’ve heard a few guys reckon that they also keep fish away.

After about an hour I ventured back to the boat to unload my 6 species and unfortunately I had to completely remove my suit as the vest I was wearing was strangling me. In doing so, I ripped a 10-cm hole in my pants and once re-suited had cold water rushing up my back for the rest of the dive. I think that’s the last dive for that suit. I guess that after 3 years it’s time to go and see Morris at Anglers Tackle and Dive Unanderra (do you reckon that plug well get it for me any cheaper? I’ll tell you next story)! We move to around 4 locations throughout the day and I only had 11 species. I was still missing a Blue Morwong, Yellow-fin jacket and Zebra. With only an hour to go we ventured back inside Two Fold Bay and gave Azlings a go. Lucky for me I got a Blue Morwong of 1.5kg and a Yellow fin Jacket. My very last shot was on a Zebra of over a kilo. With a smashed up pranger the drag pulled the shaft a fraction high and left and I missed (it could never be me, a good diver always blames his gear). Anyhow, I ended up weighing 13 species and a score of 686, my best yet in any comp. Allen weighed 11 and Michael 10. Overall considering the conditions a very successful dive. Of the 98 divers St George had 20 and the following table shows how we went. Besides Gunther Pfrengle (St George) winning, our club proved to be very competitive and I know all members are really looking forward to next years comp.

Figure 5: Laurie O’Grady with a 2.9kg Blue Mowie (or is it a snapper in drag)

The Eden comp would easily have to be the best comp of the year. Well done to Joe and the Barracudas for hosting the event.

Table 1: St George scores and rankings

Total Points Diver Grade St George Position

Position Overall

985 G FRENGLE V 1 1 905 M ARANTZ S 2 4 686 C SHEPHARD (Author) S 3 19 648 R TIERNEY S 4 28 629 A BRIGGS V 5 32 593 VLADO HRIC S 6 42 593 T SANDERS M 7 43 582 R STRAUSS V 8 44 573 S SANDERS S 9 49 559 L O'GRADY V 10 50 552 J ALLEN S 11 51 548 G BLACK V 12 54 496 B ALLEN M 13 63 439 R BUTTAZZO S 14 68 435 S KIGGINS S 15 69 412 L DALLI V 16 72 394 N HANDLES S 17 75 348 M TAKASH I 18 79 140 B EDMONDSON M 19 90 88 I SPROVIC S 20 92

V=Veteran M=Master S=Senior I=Intermediate Veteran