A memorable story, as requested by our young mate.
In Sydney the Aust East coast current picks up around new years. This current brings warm water down from the north & with it warm water pelagic fish. By about the fourth week in January we usually get a run of small black marlin (30 to 80 kgs) off Sydney which travel in a cluster or wave. The progress can be tracked by talking to other fishers up the coast as this wave of fish moves south. 90% of the black marlin speared off Sydney are taken in the last week of January.
The story I'll share is memorable for several reasons, It was just myself & my father in the boat this day. I was diving & he was boat boy for me. I also met for the first time two young blokes who have now been mates for 17 years & we have made several trips together to the Coral Sea. The marlin is the least "memorable" part of the story, however I hope I'll be able to pass on a few spearing tips which could be of help to others.
It's January 26th 1997 & my father & myself launch the little "Haines" from Little Manly as the sun rises. The water is flat as we travel along the inside of North Head & turn north into a northerly swell as we round the headland. My plan is to head to the wave rider bouys 10 klm east of long reef. These are set in 100m of water & used to measure wave height & frequency, but also serve to act as FAD's & dolphin fish are usually abundant. My plan is to drift past these all day & see if a marlin turns up.
On arrival at the bouys there is another boat load of spearo's. I have seen these guy's at the boat ramp before & said G'day, but we had never gotten into a conversation or introduced ourselves. Isn't it funny how as soon as you see other spearo's when out on the ocean it's like you've been mates for ever. Anyway they Introduce themselves as Cav & Abo ( I can't remember who their third diver was). The water is green & cold (21 C & about 5m vis) & the boys have been boated by a large whaler & a couple of makos which are hanging around. My first thought is "Great, they haven't shot the place up". I can remember Cav asking "are you getting in with those sharks" I replied with a smile & a nod, & asked "aren't you"? . My old man then made humorous remark about my sanity which was well received by the others.
I like to use the Riffe floats because they tow well behind the boat, so as we motored up current of the bouy this went in first & I fed out my bungee to untangle the usual mess. Weight belt on, fins, mask grab the gun & over the side. Load rubbers & look up to check my drift will take me past the bouy, then into hunting mode. Did I say 21C & 5 m vis? It seemed colder & worse but at least the dolphin fish were there. There was no way I'd be able to relax enough to do drifts all day in this water waiting for something bigger, so the dolphin fish became the target. The first one was just under 10 kgs & it brought the whaler in for a look & a mako circled a few meters below. I did a couple more drifts & speared a couple more dolphin fish till the sharks became too cheeky to fish with.
I discussed with Cav & Abo the fact that the water & vis was very patchy & we had passed through several clear warm & then dirty puddles on the way out. The water around the bouys could clear up again anytime if one of these puddles of clear water came through. In the end we decided to move closer to shore as there was some reef in about 70m were I knew some fish traps were set & the floats hold dolphin fish. As it was, the water was poor here too. The boys & I then parted company as they were heading back to the coast & I was going to tow some teasers to see if I could get a marlin up on them.
The first marlin I saw that day was "tailing" along the surface. The old man dropped me ahead of the fish & it was then his job to point to where the fish was as once I was set in the water, its almost impossible to see a tail fin unless conditions are glass like. The marlin wasn't interested in me & lived for another day. Moving closer to long reef the water was improving & in around 30m of water I spot another marlin tailing. Again I jump in ahead, again the marlin beats me. The teasers have raised zero fish this day. I bump into an old mate from one of the South Sydney spearfishing clubs on a reef close to long reef & he too has duffed the stalk on a marlin. Dejected I decide to call it a day & turn for home.
Bluefish Point is the northern most point of the three ocean facing points that make up North Head. The northern entrance to Sydney Harbour. Bluefish is a great spot for spearing & is also easily accessible for "rock hopping" spearo's. It is one of the best spots to spear big kingfish, the only drawback is there is always strong current when the fish are running & the land based spearo has to swim against this throughout the dive & into it to get out.
As we pass bluefish on the way back to the boat ramp the old man persuades me to "jump in & shoot a kingy" & after taking a look at the water its a no brainer. It's blue & warm. The best spot at this point is were the swell hits the cliff & the wash gets picked up by the current & pushed out over deep water. Under this foam the baitfish aggregate. This is were I dive. It's very fishy as soon as I jump in, schools of bonito tuna & small king fish, even bream are in midwater under the suds, its an aquarium. I make several dives to about 15m & pass up kingies in the 10 kg range sure that there will be bigger fish coming through. I dive down through the foam again & spot some larger kingies passing below, unfussed I travel down to their level with my back now to the current. As I'm watching them a small black marlin swims a meter above me & over my right shoulder, instinctively I point & fire hitting the fish a little to low below the spine. Its here that the gear that one use makes all the difference in landing the fish at times like this. The spear tip was a rife slip tip & I had 3 x 6m riffs bungees attached to the back of the gun. (I "NEVER" use breakaways even on large fish). Had I been just using a straight shaft & no bungees I would have no doubt dropped the fish. Marlin & sailfish are very clean fighters when speared & this one was no different it made strong runs for its size but never sounded or looked for reef. I had the bungee tied around its tail in a few minutes.
As luck would have it Cav & Abo come past just as I'm boating the fish. Of course I rarely ever had a camera in those days but they did & were very kind to take a few photos for me. This also meant that they had to get them developed & drop them off to me which gave us a chance to catch up & introduce ourselves properly. They have remained close friends since & the fact that I was with my Father this day has made it one of my most memorable. The fish is just the thread that sows all these relationships between us & the ocean together, its not the trophy or the focus of my memories of this day, it was the company & the ocean.
Just to touch back on Bluefish Point for others who may be interested, IMO its the best place I know that a land based spearo could shoot & land a small marlin. The wave of fish usually (4 years out of 5 with some years better than others) come through in the last week of January & the wave as I have said can be monitored & tracked by communicating with other fisho's up the coast. A diver prepared to push against the current all day for a few days would I'm sure be presented with an opportunity.
Hopefully some find some points here interesting. I'll try to post some photos as taken by Cav on that day.
Thanks
Sharkey