How deep do you hunt?

I understand your point but I have to err to the side of caution. Whats the water like with you at the momment? Catching much?

It's cooling down but there are still some decent fish to be had. We tend to get the more exotic species come down from the north in summer, then it's back the regular species (tarakihi, blue moki, blue cod, crayfish) over winter. They're decent eating, just not as much fun. Pretty much everything here is quite dopey and just sits there waiting for you to shoot it At least in early spring we get warehou - plump, flighty pelagics that taste great - so there's that to look forward to...

As for depth, which is what this thread was supposed to be about... around wellington, 10-20m generally puts you in amongst the action although some spots are shallower and some deeper. There are a couple of good reefs from 25m - 35m but they're not really that much fishier than the shallower ones, it's just a sense of adventure that drives you to go check them out. Plus there is a slim chance of finding a wayward groper...

In the PFI class yesterday Martin Stepanek suggested surface intervals at least 2x dive time for dives shallower than 20-25 meters. For deeper dives he said use 8 minutes minimum to avoid getting bent/DCS. On the other hand he said that surface intervals longer than 10 minutes the effects of the mammillian dive reflex start to reverse with the spleen taking blood back up.

I plan to get a D3 soon since it automatically tracks dive time and surface interval without having to press buttons.

(On the other hand I can't seem to actually fin down if there isn't a rope to pull so you probably shouldn't pay attention to my advice)

Jim

About halfway between what Almostafish and I have been saying, in other words. I guess we can assume PFI have a fair idea of what they're doing, given Martin has been known to do deep dives on occasion...

Interesting that the required surface interval jumps so sharply beyond 25m due to the risk of DCS. A month or so ago I spent half an hour diving a deep weedline using a monofin and an untethered speargun. Depth ranged from 25m-35m, dive times slightly less than 2 mins. Surface intervals were about 2-3 mins. Fine from a breathhold perspective but I must have been accumulating a fair bit of nitrogen. Didn't see any decent fish either, apart from a nice kingy I couldn't shoot because I wasn't using a float line

Hey hey! I bow low to the master.

B