This is the one with the most dangers associated with it .......
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Warning:
It is NOT for the inexperienced, poorly trained, unfit,
intelligent etc etc etc divers out there.
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This is more of a hunting zone than a technique. It's the zone a lot of people ignore when they go hunting. The surf zone. Not the wussy "Oh, like, shoo broe, let's like paddle our boards out and like, you know, ride the waves" - the spot where the waves hit the rocks.
I know it sounds crazy, but I've had some good successes here. I noted one day on my way out (towing a 22kg Barracuda and a 8kg Yellow Belly Rockcod out from a little deeper) that there was quite a bit of activity in this zone.
My first thought was "aah screw it, it's some some small mullets and breams frollicking" but then I had second thoughts. I dropped my bag off on the rocks (this was where I was heading anyway) and went back for a second look.
What I saw was quite interesting. I saw schools of smallish to medium fish (about 1 to 3kg's) gulping air / eating foam. This continued for a couple of minutes, and they sped off. A minute or two later another school came and repeated the performance ..... I got to wondering what the hell it was all about. And I'm still wondering.
The point is, however, that just a little behind that, on the way to the open sea, was basically a "feeding zone." I mean, COME ON !! We're talking mega baitfish swimming to and fro the whole time ... there's bound to be pelagics and predators around there !
There was ..... some nice cuda, prodigal sons, a lone wahoo ..... all hunting. It was a hive of activity. There was a couple of frustrating points made clear after I went to fetch my gun:
1.) The waves helped to speed these fish up .... a LOT
2.) The constant surge was difficult to contend with ....
3.) All the foam and bubbles in the water screwed with my boyancy and vision .......
I tried a couple of different things over the past few years to hunt in this zone. It's not easy. The two best techniques are to float on the surface and wait for a school to come in, and then shoot from the surface. This seems pretty easy, but remember the wave action and keep an eye on the rocks ..... also your line can get terribly messed up here.
The second option is to hunt from the bottom. This is also not too easy, as fish normally have a whitish belly. This makes them hard to spot against the foam. The waves also throws them and your spear around a lot, which makes it tricky shooting.
And finally, consider you wetsuit ..... It's more than likely that it'll get cut and ripped by the rocks. Nonetheless, I've had some nice catches in this zone. And it's never a long swim to the beach. And I've NEVER encountered any type of shark in foamy water. Maybe I was just lucky .....
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