mattooty
04-10-2011, 10:30 AM
Having been at uni all year, I haven't been in the water nearly as often as I'd like to be so when I finished a few exams last week, I dived (excuse the pun) at the chance!
Got down to my old stomping grounds with a good mate and decided to leave the guns in the car. I just didn't feel confident in my bottom times or abilities after so long out of the water.
Turns out I needn't have worried, we saw bugger all fish other than a patch of small jew and a cr@pload of bait around, but wow did we find a few nests of good crays!
On the first dive on a big deep wall, I saw a cave that used to hold 1 or 2 good crays most of the time, completely chockers full of crays from tiny little kittens to monster over-sized creatures of doom. I plucked 2 nice kilo jobs and I was set for the rest of the dive taking it easy.
My mate however, found a pigeon pair of ornate lobsters in side-by-side caves and popped up feeling pretty chuffed with himself. Oh well, plans were made for a good BBQ and how funny it'd be if we could pull a hat-trick and pluck a slipper.
We kept perousing through the area, and I've never seen the area look so healthy (other than the distinct lack of spearable fish). Almost every cave I dived on had crays, but I was finding they were mostly just on or just below legal size so didn't annoy them just to have a look.
Had a massive occy try and rip our cray bag apart but he soon got the message when he got a fin in the face.
We rounded the point and soon came upon some solid schools of luderick and bream all grazing which is always a good site. Thousands of good sized fish just going where the swell pushes them. I was getting pretty cold at this point so thought I'd get out, but first I better check out that bomby that I can never get near cause the swell is pretty heavy on it.
Holy sh!t! The caves on the sides and the cracks on the bottom screamed crays but we only saw 1 good one. However, up the very back of a solid big crack on the bottom, I picked up my first slipper! I reckon i've seen them before and just haven't recognised them. The camouflage on these bad boys is ridiculous.
All in all an amazing mornings dive, and while we didn't put some steel in fish, we certainly outdid ourselves on one of our best dives yet, not to mention the sensational BBQ that followed.
Got down to my old stomping grounds with a good mate and decided to leave the guns in the car. I just didn't feel confident in my bottom times or abilities after so long out of the water.
Turns out I needn't have worried, we saw bugger all fish other than a patch of small jew and a cr@pload of bait around, but wow did we find a few nests of good crays!
On the first dive on a big deep wall, I saw a cave that used to hold 1 or 2 good crays most of the time, completely chockers full of crays from tiny little kittens to monster over-sized creatures of doom. I plucked 2 nice kilo jobs and I was set for the rest of the dive taking it easy.
My mate however, found a pigeon pair of ornate lobsters in side-by-side caves and popped up feeling pretty chuffed with himself. Oh well, plans were made for a good BBQ and how funny it'd be if we could pull a hat-trick and pluck a slipper.
We kept perousing through the area, and I've never seen the area look so healthy (other than the distinct lack of spearable fish). Almost every cave I dived on had crays, but I was finding they were mostly just on or just below legal size so didn't annoy them just to have a look.
Had a massive occy try and rip our cray bag apart but he soon got the message when he got a fin in the face.
We rounded the point and soon came upon some solid schools of luderick and bream all grazing which is always a good site. Thousands of good sized fish just going where the swell pushes them. I was getting pretty cold at this point so thought I'd get out, but first I better check out that bomby that I can never get near cause the swell is pretty heavy on it.
Holy sh!t! The caves on the sides and the cracks on the bottom screamed crays but we only saw 1 good one. However, up the very back of a solid big crack on the bottom, I picked up my first slipper! I reckon i've seen them before and just haven't recognised them. The camouflage on these bad boys is ridiculous.
All in all an amazing mornings dive, and while we didn't put some steel in fish, we certainly outdid ourselves on one of our best dives yet, not to mention the sensational BBQ that followed.