Dive Pacific 175 Dec2020 Jan 2021

Dwane and John’s Day 1 catch
Paul and Jackson’s Day 2 catch
managed to get very lucky
straight off the bat spearing two
nice snapper milling high in the
water column in deep water.
…Half way to the desired spot a pod of big dolphins swam
right up amongst us all - very cool! …
Big snapper
Soon after we were amongst
plenty of school fish, nailing our
trevally, koheru and kingfish. We
had made the call to try and get
our snapper early before they got
spooked, but we still needed two
more to fill our quota. Hunting
along a nice ledge I tucked myself
in the kelp and lay still in hope
of spotting a snapper resting
deep down. To my surprise a big
snapper glided in to inspect me,
I waited very still until in range
then made my lunge from the
kelp cover. But it spooked just
as I pulled the trigger and I hit
it very high. The terrible sight of
it spinning and tearing off was a
hard pill to swallow on the way
to the surface. Fortunately for the
fish it had more of a fright than
any real damage.
But I was disappointed in myself
letting such a good opportunity
get away.
While reloading I looked down
deep at another big snapper
cruising along the bottom, I was
still on the long line so made a
quick dive in the hope of getting
close. By trying to anticipate its
movements I took a long shot
that connected well. Then, not
long after hiding in the kelp
again, I picked up another good
size snapper, and with that we
were done with snapper early in
the competition.
Tiring out at 30m
We picked up the odd other small
species and after two and half
hours had most of our species.
We then spent the time diving
deep hoping for a lucky blue
moki, boarfish or tarakihi. But
as the day goes by making dives
between 30-35m becomes just
too taxing.
Weighing in
Back at the weigh in were lucky
to have all the basic species in
the area and at good weight.
We weighed in 14 fish, Dwane
and John 12, Dave and Chris 11.
It was enough for us to sneak
above Dave and Chris, but Dwane
and John were too good and too
consistent, taking out a well-deserved
win!
A big thank you to Spearfishing
New Zealand for organizing the
competition and all the competitors!
Anyone interested in
competing in the Nationals, I
would highly recommend as
it’s a great way to meet other
spearos, sharpen your skills
and get to dive areas that you
may not normally dive. The
next one is to be based out of
Whitianga in Easter. Look out
for upcoming competitions on
www.spearfishingnz.co.nz
30 Dive New Zealand | Dive Pacific