25/03/2023
Our Recount from the Coffs Harbour bluewater freediving classic last weekend - (pelagic, Mulloway and snapper species comp only)
Friday the 17th of March - After spending the past 4-6 months back and forward on the phone with Jack my dive mate for the comp regarding where we should look and where we shouldn’t for this comp the day finally come to drive 3 hours south down to Coffs Harbour. We left home around 10am QLD and got down to Woolgoolga at 2pm NSW With a few hours to spare before sign on. We decided to go for a sound and scout for a bit to work out what was going on.
After beach launching the boat with no real issue we headed out to our first spot to sound. This is where we were greeted with top to bottom 20m vis and next to no swell. We instantly new this type of vis would open the whole competition for every competitor which is great. As we tend to dive and like vis that is less then ideal it was Abit of a shock and we knew we would have to hunt and find fish a little differently to back home.
After sounding for an hour or so, we decided the water looked to inviting and we had to jump in for a swim/ freedive. After not seeing a lot on our swim we decided to sound a little more in deeper water. This is where we found a school of bait and fish top to bottom in 35m which looked very promising for wahoo and other big pelagics. With time running out we headed back to shore to check in for the comp.
After hearing 72 competitors have signed on for the comp we knew we had had to take our opportunity on any fish that would come in to show.
Saturday 18th of March - After being up all night with the flu and fever I knew I had to keep up the fluids and try battle the day out. We checked into the competition by texting Austin one of the organises for the comp.
We got to our place of launching the boat first which was great as we knew we didn’t have to deal with trying to find a park for the car. Along with alot of spearos in town the ocean conditions where ideal for the local fishermen. He headed out at around 530am pitch black with just a small glow from the moon.
While we waited for the sunrise to come through we spent the time further sounding to make sure the fish we found on the sounder the afternoon before were still there.
It Didn’t take long to find our little pressure point with next to no boats near us. Within 10min jack and myself had two very solid wahoo swim under us but they wouldn’t play the game. We worked this edge further with Jack finding a nice 8kg Spanish mackerel. Which by his account wasn’t the smartest fish in the world. With jack on the board and I 0 we further worked this area of reef and had a big school of wahoo swim up to us. I point blank missed a estimate 30kg fish and jack landing a 14ish kg wahoo. He was doing well.
After swimming a little more up current I then found the school again. This time I wasn’t going to take any prisoners and took the closest fish to me. Which come in at 16.3kg. While fighting that fish multiple 20-30kg kept following me which was very frustrating but that’s fishing. After landing that fish we spent another 20min diving hard to try find anything that may be lingering closer to the bottom. With no luck and a lot more boats showing up we headed a little further south where Jack shot a nice kingfish that reefed him in depth. After a bit of persistence he was able to land his fish.
Jack with 3 good fish and me with one we decided to go bash along one of the solitary islands to try find your basic fish. These being, tailor, trevally , Queenfish etc.
I wasn’t in the water any longer then 2mins and had a big school of tailor swim up to me. I shot the biggest fish in the school which come in around 2.6kg. The thing though this fish was sitting next to a 3kg donkey black wrasse, any other day that black wrasse would of been taken instead of a tailor. Haha oh well.
With not much else seen jack shot a nice 3.5kg mangrove jack to take home to eat.
We headed further south to where we found the honey hole for an hour. Jack wasn’t in the water long and he shot another 8kg Spanish mackerel. I then was able to find a big school of solid kingfish that I was able to put a solid shot into. With this spot particularly having a bit of current the kingfish wrapped me around a rock no larger then a coffee table.
To make matters worse the local bronze whaler wanted it also. After Abit of a fight the shark took the fish and snapped my brand mono and shaft. With only 1 half drift done on this spot we knew we had to give it a couple more chances.
We reset our drift and found the pressure point and found mackerel again. After two clear misses on 2 12-15kg Spanish. I knew today wasn’t my day.
With moral down on my side and jack with 4 good fish. We headed out to the local FAD to try sneak a dolphin fish on the board. The school had definitely been peppered all morning as it was near impossible to get close to even the smaller fish. I was lucky enough to coax a 3kg fish in.
Now with 3 fish and jack 4 we still needed to find a extra 3 fish to complete our bag for the day.
With time disappearing we made our way had back to shore to get our 7 fish weighted in. With some impressive fish weighted in like Lachlan greens 20 plus kg wahoo and young beau Goerges JNR nsw record Cobia.
Later that day we received a email with the results for the day. Jack 5th and I 13th. I definitely had a lot of work to do…….
Sunday 19th of March, After a lot better sleep and feeling like I actually had some energy, we head south to launch as we knew a strong NE was hitting midday. With a slower of a start we got out to the same spot as the first day just after sunrise.
With more boats around I really wasn’t feeling confident. Within 10min I was coming up from a dive to be delighted with a estimated 25kg wahoo above me. (Later found out young Noah from Newcastle was chasing that fish and was just behind me which I never saw… sorry mate).
With Abit of blue water syndrome early yesterday I knew I needed to make it count. I got within range and put a very solid shot just behind its head. YESSS…… after my rig line screaming through my hands I all of a sudden hear this snap…. Rig line went limp. With a few F bombs I soon realised the stainless bracket that connected my mono from shaft to my gun had completed snapped. Sweet how good 🙃.
After loosing that fish we did not see much at all for 20min so headed south to bash in the wash to at least to get a couple fish on board. Jack shot the only weighted dart on this drift (it was a huge dart) haha. I also snagged 2 queenfish and a good 3kg tailor.
With the wind picking up at this stage we started to go further south again. After not really seeing to much apart from Jack getting a queenfish. We sounded a pinnacle that comes up to 16-18m. The rock was showing very good life and we jumped straight in. We weren’t even in the water for 30 seconds and had a 4m great white swim straight up to me. I yelled white but Jack thought I said wahoo. So he started to burley. I quickly pulled on his fins and pointed down to the shark…. Oh s**t he said hahah. We watched the fish swim for a couple minutes but it was at the point where we couldn’t see it again we decided nah we want to live today so moved on.
Moving further south with the wind we dove the same rock where Jack shot his 2nd mackerel the day before.With a lot more current running and Abit of a thermo on the bottom in 20ish the place felt alive. First dive into the cold thermo a school of king fish come up to me with the largest in the school (around 15kg) coming in broadside. Bang stoned him. At this point I felt my luck may be changing. As I swam up to the surface I did not know as this point but my flopper on my spare gun wasn’t tuned properly and the fish had just fell off my shaft. Trying to swim up current with no breath up the fish was found by a local bronze whaler and gone. DAMMMIT.
We reset our drift again. As soon as we hit the pressure point I had a 20ish kg Spanish swim straight up to me. Putting in a strong holding shot. He took off with my float. With a weird fighting tention on my rig line after 5mins I knew those flipping sharks had found this fish. After another couple minutes. Float and ring line went limp. Dammmm another fish gone. At least this time I still had my shaft in one piece.
One last drift I said to jack as he already had two Spanish from the day before. We hit the same pressure point and lucky enough there was another Spanish sitting there waiting for me. After a quick fight I was able to finally land a fish. A fat 11ish Spanish mackerel.
We heard a bit further south had been fishing well all morning so we headed down there for a look. I wasn’t in the water for any longer then 5minutes and had the biggest mackerel I have seen in a long time swim up to me. HELLO big fella (I was thinking in my head) I knew I had to put a good shot on this fish otherwise like everything else I would loose to something. I got within range to put what I thought would be a stone shot at the time . Bang…. Bang not my gun bang someone’s gear box on there motor. FFS 🤦♂️. Fish takes off not to be seen again.
After working that area with not a scale to be seen for another 20min I decided to swim up into a Mulloway hole. After Abit of a breath up I swam 15m up into the wash to be greeted by a lone Mulloway sitting there. You beauty. I line up the fish and as soon as I was about to pull the trigger snap…. My brand new flipping rubber snapped with the mullaway swimming in between my fins. All I could do was laugh at myself.
By this time I had given up and so had jack. We got into the ramp at 1pm and headed back to the weigh in to weigh my 4 fish and jacks 2.
We found alot of competitors struggled to find fish so we actually didn’t do to bad in the end.
After weighing our fish in and washing the boat and gear we headed to the presentation. It was great to see so many competitors and organisers stay behind for the presso. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new.
A massive congratulations to on winning the overall comp with some unreal fish. I ended up 8th and Jack 9th with only 40 points (by memory) between us.
A massive thank you to all of the other sponsors for the comp along with the Coffs club for hosting such a great comp.
Personal thank you to the old man for being the best boaty you could ask for. There was Abit going on at times. Mum thank you for cooking our Meals for us. To the Delang family thank you for letting us stay at your place it made a massive difference having somewhere nice and comfortable to stay/sleep. And lastly the Featherstone’s for letting me keep my boat in there shed and also thanks Micheal for cleaning our fish so we didn’t have to deal with them the next day.
Hopefully next year I will have Abit more luck but hay that’s fishing. I woudnt change it for anything.
Cheers
Ps- congrats if you got this far 😅😂also I don’t think I’ll let Bananas hang near my boat any longer 😅😂😂
