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Gilli
21-04-2009, 08:11 PM
Hey all,
Interested to see just how many of us from Townsville or nearby that are in to or keen to start spearfishing and what some places are that they have/do spear on?

Me personally, have only gone the once but want to go again, best adrenaline rush and fun ive had in a while.

Cheers,
Chris

Badone
22-04-2009, 08:36 AM
Gilli, Join the Townsville Skindiving Club. Contact Adam Smith, he works at GBRMPA. They have heaps of club trips out to the reef, palms and the cape etc.

Gilli
22-04-2009, 12:36 PM
Oh ok, never knew that we had a skindiving club here in t'ville, ill give him a call.
thanks mate,

cheers,
Chris

gucci84
23-04-2009, 06:23 PM
hey gilli they have a web site too mate just google it townsville skin divers but been to the reef and around some of the islands and its great like the reef alot more and also away from mud gekkos i can live with sharks

have a good one
casey

Gilli
23-04-2009, 08:51 PM
I just looked them up, gonna give them a call tomorrow as soon as i can. thanks for the info mate, sounds like the go.

cheers,
Chris

Scott nthQld
26-04-2009, 05:07 PM
Hi Gilli, I used to do a bit of spearfishing before I moved up here, and loved it. I sold all my gear before moving here because I was only a little concerned (only a little, I swear!) about everything that wants to eat or sting you.

Would love to get back into it though, but have to start from scratch and get all new gear.

Gilli
29-04-2009, 07:54 PM
haha yeh there is a few critters out there that like human flesh, but what can ya do, shoot them lol..nah just stay out of their way. Ive only just bought me first gun the other day, so keen to head out when the weather is good to give it a burl.

regards,
Chris

mikeyh
14-05-2009, 09:24 PM
Hey Gilli,
you are lucky that the Townsville club has Adam S and a number of really top spearos. Adam is one of the best spearos in Australia but very humble and unassuming. He is one of my closest friends...

Mike

Aeon
18-05-2009, 01:32 PM
Come along to our next club meeting if you're keen - held on the first Tuesday of every month at the Arcadia Surf Lifesaving Club at the Rockpool on the Strand commencing at 7.30pm.

I've been diving for a few years but have only joined the club recently.

They are a great bunch of blokes more than happy to help out.

See you there!

If you want any more info check out the website skindiving . org

Gilli
18-05-2009, 07:01 PM
Thanks for the info fellas,
I have been keen, along with a mate of mine, to get into it, we both have all the gear just i have been off work as i had surgery and that sort of restricted me but not im pretty much fully healed ill come along next week more than likely.

cheers,
Chris

Scott nthQld
18-05-2009, 08:56 PM
I'd like to get back into it up here, I wanna get my hands on one of those crays I hear so much about.

So what does a new kit cost these days? And I'm talking new fins, wetsuit, mask, gun, everything.

Aeon
18-05-2009, 10:52 PM
Mate.... how long is a piece of string ?

It's the same as fishing gear.... you can get the target specials... or the loomis calais combos.... it's up to your budget (and missus!)

At the very least... you should spend no less than

$200 on fins
$400 on a good euro style gun (rob allen, edge, rabitech)
$100 on a stinger suit (for summer diving) or a wetty for winter
$150 on a mask & snorkel
say $100 for bits n pieces (knife, float rope, weight belt, gloves)

And of course a boogie board as a surface float is a must for reef diving.

I've picked up some amazing deals off ebay.... but you need some patience.

Otherwise, there is a new spear/dive shop opening on Charters Towers road in July (or maybe sooner).... it would be worth checking that out.

Another option is some specialty spear shops have full kit combos for those starting out, they might be worth checking out but it would be around 1K plus straight up....

hope that helps, if you need more info let me know

mick

Scott nthQld
19-05-2009, 01:29 PM
thanks, hasn't changed much, I thought it would cost a lot more to get back into, given the last time I had all the gear was 8 years ago.

Rather than having a stinger suit for summer and wetty for winter, I was thinking just to get a wetsuit, even for summer, stay in the water long enough and you'll start to feel cold.

Aeon
19-05-2009, 04:19 PM
It's hotter than it is cold up here though.... go a 1.5 or 2mm wettie... it will last you 9 months of the year....

I spent 5 hours in the water on saturday in a 1.5 and was nice n toasty

Coralkraut
24-05-2009, 09:45 PM
Guys, dont forget we have Aquasports NQ on Ingham Rd, in the Alsafe Building next to Ingham Seafoods. This is a hardcore Spearos Store. Speak to Sean. Good value and top products.

Aeon
25-05-2009, 06:46 AM
No it's closed now.

Aqua sports (which originally is a SE Qld store) is what's opening up on charters towers road shortly. It will be a dive / spear store I'm told, and they will advertise the opening

Scott nthQld
25-05-2009, 10:50 AM
Another question for you regular spearo's:

When out on the reef to spearfish, do you leave anyone on the boat whilst you are in the water? I personally would from both a security and safety perspective, security, well you don't want some other boat coming up and ransacking you while you're in the water, ans safety, my major concern is the anchor pulling and the boat drifting 10 million kms away leaving you stranded.

So whats the norm? Leave someone (who can drive the boat) on board or not?

Aeon
25-05-2009, 11:14 AM
I was out diving again on saturday.... wish I'd taken my 3mm suit. It's now that time of year !

And no, we never leave anyone on the boat, but you should have a dive flag out both on your float and on the boat (I'm pretty sure it's actually the law to have both).

Just make sure you have enough anchor rope out ie enough angle on the rope, enough chain to start with (the length of the boat in chain is usually safest), and if in doubt dive the anchor to make sure it's holding well. Do these things and you'll be fine.... if not, it would be exercise swimming after the boat :D

If you can find someone willing to stay on the boat you're in luck, somebody to keep an eye on you and somebody to pick you up if needed. It also opens the way for drift dives.

oh, and check out this combo deal I came across, might be perfect for ya...

http://www.aquasports.com.au/Spearfishing%20Package.pdf

Scott nthQld
25-05-2009, 11:36 AM
does look like it will set me up well, but I'll wait until I get my big boat next year, otherwise it'll just sit in the shed most of the time. The only thing I couldn't sell before I moved was my dive float, so I still have that, things are different up here though, down south we could just thread the fish along the rope, can't do that up here, I still have a bodyboard from down south that I couldn't bare to part with at the time as I just spent $500 on the bloody thing, so I'll try and rig something up where a small esky sits on top of it for fish/cray storage until I get back to the boat, it could also double as my float while I'm in the water.

boney-leg
25-05-2009, 05:50 PM
... you should have a dive flag out both on your float and on the boat (I'm pretty sure it's actually the law to have both).



This is a contentious one really. My info on this is that a flag is for scuba and actually not needed for snorkling. Read the definitions for the international and blue n white one. There were two instances where fisho's took people to court for no flag and the judge dismissed the cases (about 2 years ago). Both cases were classics - one was when a spearo was arguing with an angler and he backed the boat into him and the other was another classic story but I can't recall it. My mate at straddie also had a case dismissed when he was going to take it to court.

On a side note - they were going to change the law and make it that when a dive flag was present no boats were allowed within 100m of the boat flying the flag. Fisheries didn't like this change as it ment that people could see them coming, throw up the flag and they couldn't get near them to check fish sizes and catch numbers :P

Scott - when I jump out of the boat I swim down and make sure my anchor is set properly. If you get onto some good ground (big area) then I drop someone off, go up from them and anchor, jump in and swim ahead of them. When they get to the boat they go ahead of me and we leap frog through the area.

boney-leg
25-05-2009, 06:15 PM
Found the second story I was looking for http://www.bluewaterfreediversofwa.com/files/documents/September%202008%20Newsletter.pdf Read page 6 another classic WTF :o A diver is defined as Compression Diver ::)

FNQCairns
25-05-2009, 06:41 PM
Sheesh! Fits like a glove on fishery's, they would rather be an active party to a killing or maiming than loose a very small amount of their power.

Nazi in the extreme IMHO pure trash without any societal responsibility to guide them.

cheers fnq

Mozza
17-07-2009, 01:28 PM
The shops location: 237 Charters Towers Road.

Phone: 47751873 Gonna have a look at their gear.

Mozza