The larger one at 15kg is being entered in the ‘Adreno Big 5 Competition‘  in the GAME FISH category. Dr. Whoo has serious competition because the Big 5 nearly doubled in entries during the past week, with Caine Hutcherson talking out first place and breaking 1,000 points overall.

Dr. Whoo’s secret

To reveal why he is so successful, we can tell you first of all that Dr. Whoo combines the Beuchat and Aimrite guns (available in our Adreno Online Spearfishing Store)

Secondly: he also uses the simple ‘Ping-trick’, which he shared with you all a few months ago in this instructional video:

The 3 Way State Title in Eden attracts all levels of spearos and is a fantastic social event, plus you get the opportunity to dive against some of the hottest names in Australian spearfishing, past present and future. This competition has become the largest spearfishing event in Australia with over 100 divers competing and last year, 42 boats registered for the event. Don’t miss it!

A long way away, but worth it
It is a long road to Eden, both literally and figuratively, with at least 300km travel time for divers.  Eden is beautiful, but one of those spots where the conditions are great one day and a shocker the next and it has happened in previous years and it has led to cancellations. But according to the organisers and participants it is certainly worth it: because Eden is situated a long distance from any major population centres, the fish numbers aren’t getting hit.

Also this time of year the divers sometimes catch the tail end of the EAC, meaning clear water, (most of the time), a large fish population as you get a cross over from temperate species and cold water species. To top it all off, there is plenty of shallow water diving with kilometres of coastline to explore, with a water temperature between 12 – 18 degrees. Weather ranges from balmy sunny days to sleet and snow on the surrounding hills.

The 2011 winners

Here’s all the details:

This is THE event on the spearfishing calendar. Don’t miss it! SUNDAY 10TH JUNE 2012

Registration at the Yacht Club, Quarrantine Bay. Saturday 9th June 3pm – 5pm or Sunday 10th June 7am – 7:30am.
Roll Call at 7:45am at Quarrantine Bay. Competition 8am – 2pm.
Seniors $75, Juniors $35

Earlybird entries NOW available & have priority on event t-shirts.

This is a massive event with over 100 competitors expected, a prize pool of around $7000 and the top competitors from the east coast. If you haven’t dived Eden before you gotta give this one a go.

Contact Joe hyzdals@bigpond.net.au or Warren  warrensherrie@optusnet.com.au

For entry forms and more information, visit the South Coast Skindivers lub Inc website.

Craig Copik with his world record-breaking black grouper

A spearfisherman from Bermuda has broken the world record for the biggest Black Grouper catch. Craig Copik tackled the 87.3lbs monster a couple of miles west of North Rock to claim the title.

The 36-year-old Brit, who works at Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre, was dragged 50 feet under water, after spearing the fish.

How he did it
Copik: “I was out with a friend, Tim Cooper, scouting for good locations that we could go to for a spearfishing tournament that was taking place a week later. “We were probably eight miles off North Shore and I had just caught a White Margate when I spotted the tail of a big fish sticking out from the reef form.

“I snuck up behind the fish and shot it. “He took me down around 50 feet and went under a shelf. “I then had to go back to the boat, pick up another spear and swim down again to bring him back to the surface.

5-Minute breathhold
“It was not as hard as some of the fish I have speared. I have done a lot of training to hold my breath for long periods of time. “I can go down to around 116ft and hold my breath for five minutes, so being taken down to 50ft was not too bad. “But the adrenalin was pumping because I knew it was a big one. “It was not until we got back in and weighed him that we realized we had the record.” The previous Black Grouper record stood at 86.4lb and had been set by a spearfisherman in Mexico Mr Copik had to get the weight of his fish certified at Fly Bridge Tackle in Hamilton and then send off the details to the International Underwater Spearfishing Association (IUSA).

Who is next?
He then donated the fish to the Salvation Army for their feeding programme. Mr Copik received official notification that he had broken the record just this week. The email from the association’s president, Sheri Daye, said: “I am very happy to inform you that your application for the world record Black Grouper was approved by the IUSA Board. “It’s a particularly beautiful and respectable fish, and you should be very proud of this catch! “The Board was impressed with the fish and enjoyed your story of the hunt.” Mr Copik, who has been spearfishing for nearly two years said: “I have targeted this record for about a year so I’m very happy to get it. “However I think it will be broken very soon as there are definitely bigger fish out there.”

Source: Bermuda Sun

Its about this time of year that the weather starts to get a bit shitty up North due to the South Easterly Tradewinds. Usually its a week or two of 20-25 knot winds with about 3-4 good days of calm weather in between.

This being said though if you can get the weather right or have the flexibility to fly up last minute, the Spearing is unbelievable!!

The visibility usually clears up to about 20-25m and the Spanish are so thick, you literally have to stop shooting them!! The reef spearing gets a lot better as well with water temps dropping and bottom species such as Large Red Emperor, Nannygai, Emperors and Coral Trout coming up into water as shallow as 10m.

Below is a video from a day out last winter where my mate Brad and I shot 5 Spanish including 3 in 5 minutes. We decided 5 was plenty and spent the rest of the day watching another 20 swim by….

We have secured a 7 day trip in the middle of “Game Season” from October 27th- 3rd November and will be targeting a wide variety of Pelagic species for divers who seek the ultimate thrill and adventure.

Join us as we venture out to some of the most remote reefs in the world known for holding world record fish that most people only dream about. This is one trip not to be missed and its time you stopped dreaming and started making this trip a reality you will never, ever forget!!!

Check out the flyer for the trip and feel free to email me for further information or questions you may have.

See you there…

Travis

Beautiful, feared, respected

Aren’t they supposed to be down South?! Guess not. As Great Whites grow in numbers we can expect to have more and more encounters with these magnificent, yet feared, creatures.

Glad that I didn't run into this guy in less than average Reef Vis

An AusFish Forum member was lucky enough to run into this 4m White right where I was diving in some 4m-8m visibility on the Easter Weekend. It was overcast, murky, and gusting up to 25kn winds. But we had a great day out nonetheless.

Mangrove Jack, 'Oceanic Whiting', Coral Trout

This time of year is well known for shark activity. The line fisherman had this to say about his encounter:

“Got in a 1.5 day trip to 1770 just prior to easter, weather man got forecast for day 1 correct but we were late getting away and didn’t start fishing until 2pm and didn’t put much in the box, day 2 was blowing 20knots but bumped out way out to a couple of marks and found some cracker ground on the way only to be continually nailed by the tax man. Managed a couple of good reds but sharks got more than we did, I have never had them so thick in all of my trips to the Bunker Group, even in the shallows at night we had 5 reef sharks circling the boat!! Not long after bringing up half a red on the second day we had a very large and very toothy visitor come check us out for about 15 minutes!! Solid 4 metre+ Great White!! Very very cool to see up close, was in no way aggressive and just an awesome sight!”

Here is the video that he captured:

In other news, it was a great day on the water with some nice fish taken. We worked hard for the fish we did get as the visibility wasn’t fantastic as far as the reef goes, but still a good time was had by all.

10.5kg Golden Trevally.

Simple yet delicious. One for the whole family!

I love this recipe because no matter what fish you have it will usually taste pretty great on a good ol’ burger!

Ingredients:

For the fish:

- Firm white fish fillets

-Flour, eggs, bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese, lemon pepper seasoning

For the burger:

- Bread Rolls (I have used herb Foccacia Rolls)

- Lettuce leaves

- Tomato

- Red Onion

- Tartare sauce

- Tomato Sauce

1. Cut the fish into burger sized pieces

2. Beat eggs in a bowl. Roll the fish fillet in flour, dip in egg, and cover with the parmesan and lemon pepper bread crumb mixture. Press crumbs firmly onto fillets. Put aside.

3. Heat 2-3cm deep of oil in a Wok. Drop crumbs into oil – when they sizzle to the surface the oil is warm enough to begin frying.

4. Place fillets one at a time into the oil and cook through depending on thickness of fillets.

5. Allow to drain for a few minutes on paper towell, pressing the oil out if necessary (you don’t want an oily burger!)

6.. Lightly grill bread rolls. Top with desired salads and sauces (I have tartare sauce and tomato sauce together…)

Serve and enjoy!

This is a great option for a BBQ or family get together, or even a meal for one. Quick and easy, but enjoyable. For a healthier option, lightly grill your fish with lemon, lemon pepper or other seasoning (Cajun spices, flour etc).

The winners

The West Australian Undersea Club (WAUC) held the annual Glynn Dromey Memorial Spearfishing Competition for 2012 on Saturday April 14 at Lancelin. This competition was sponsored by Adreno, among other companies. It was the 16^th time the event has been run and by the numbers who signed on and the enthusiasm it engendered, one of the most successful: 24 pairs signed on and 22 weighed. There was a 10-15 knot south-easterly blowing on a 1.5 metre swell. Visibility was a mustard coloured 8-12 metres courtesy of some bigger swells earlier in the week.

Support our Australian sponsors

Graham with a nice Mackerel

The sponsors were again very generous in what is a difficult and evolving retail climate. The internet gives everyone access to the global marketplace allowing shoppers to search online for the best price making it difficult for bricks and mortar stores in Australia to compete. Buying from overseas websites can appear cheaper but if that suit you ordered doesn’t fit then return postage can often eliminate the advantage. Dealing with someone face to face or over the phone has an immediacy that emails to a different time zone can leave you wondering. The local shops will come close to or match that internet price if given the chance, but it’s their service and availability which puts them out in front if there is a problem. They realize the need to adapt but we as the consumer also play a part by recognizing that without their presence we would not have physical access to a wide range of spearfishing equipment. By all means scout the internet, seek out reviews and compare prices but before you hit the ‘add to cart’ button, contact the local dive shop and see if they will match it.

Nice Dhufish

Amongst the prizes donated were:

• Cartons of Wahoo beer from Gage Roads Brewing,
• A Beuchat spearfishing wetsuit from Adreno
• Vouchers from Perth Scuba, Chivers Marine, Dunsborough Outdoor  Sportz, Muhling Marine, Hookah Dive and Ockys Waterworld,
• Floatline bungee from Dunsborough Outdoor Sportz,
• Gear bags from Powerdive,
• Fins, carbon fibre blades, masks, knives and gun from 1Breath (Freedivers)
• Knives and floatlines from Spearit,
• Dive watch from Australasian Dive.

It was also the maiden outing for the Club’s recently purchased certified digital scales capable of weighing to 220 kgs in 20 gram increments. No more looking at needles on a clock face and trying to decide if it is past a segment or in it. The weights were clearly displayed for all to see and it certainly seemed to go quicker than in previous years. The level of accuracy is such that some fish were just under and some just over their respective minimums.

Winners of the day:

1^st Aleks Ceklic and Phil Carson with 6 species scoring 1192.9 points

2^nd Ross Bullock and Rob Higgs also with 6 species scoring 1180.1 points

3^rd Dan Wright and Julian Hansford with 5 species scoring 1064.1 points

4^th Brody Baker and David Lewington with 5 species scoring 971.2 points

5^th Dave Robson and Gavin Duncan also with 5 species scoring 876.2 points

Most meritorious fish went to Cameron Bates with a 6.22kg Baldchin Groper

Mystery weight prize went to Ian Hannaford with a Sea Sweep of 1.26 kg (Closest to 1.74kg.)

Thank you to the sponsors and to people who helped out. With their generosity of time, effort and prizes it made the Glynn Dromey Memorial Spearfishing Competition for 2012 a very successful and well received event.

The winners

The new scales

Cameron Bates

Kickin' back.

Chatting to a guest

Discussing the tactics

Wahoo beer

The location

Spearfishing T-Shirt

Zoran about to weigh

Ingredients

• 2 mud crabs (or use Crayfish, Prawns, Bugs or Blue swimmers)
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 4 cloves of garlic – chopped
• 2 banana chillies – chopped or chilli flakes
• 2 tablespoons of chopped ginger
• ½ cup of tomato sauce
• ½ cup of sweet chilli sauce
• 200ml of water
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 cup chopped green spring onion
• 1 cup of mixed Vietnamese mint leaves and coriander leaves
• 1 Tablespoon coriander stem – chopped
• 2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 – 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 15 cherry tomatoes cut in half

Method

A Chinese businessman has paid $US38,000 (AUD$36,900) for a rare golden snapper in the Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong.

The unidentified Chinese businessman from Hong Kong bought the 37kg fish “for its tasty bladder and succulent flesh”, Jahangir Saudagar, who sold the fish, said.

Saudagar, who works at the Fishery Ghat market near Chittagong port, had bought the snapper from fishermen returning from the Bay of Bengal late on Wednesday.

He purchased the fish at an auction, beating out at least 500 other traders.

Source: news.com.au

Did you know we have Golden Snappers in Australia too and that many people mistake them for a Mangrove Jack? But you can tell them apart by its prominent black saddle  (a ‘fingerprint mark’)on the tail wrist below the dorsal fin.

The Golden Snapper can be found in most saltwater locations in Australia. They prefer tidal creeks and estuaries and can also be found in coastal reefs. They are bottom feeders and hard to catch. Golden Snappers can be as heavy as 8 kg and about half a metre in length. A  bag limit of 5 applies on the East coast and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Imagine catching one of those and selling it to a Chinese businessman!

Have you ever caught one? Share your story below!