spearfishing

Spearfishing Shark Encounter

9harry

Whilst diving with a mate (Phet) in the Kalbarri river mouth recently targeting some buff bream for shark bait, Phet saw a shark.  We quite often use Buff bream for shark bait as the sharks seem to have taken a liking for them.

When we got in, we first went searching for some fish to eat but with no luck finding a fish to eat we started to get some Buff bream for bait,it didn’t take long to find some buffies, as they are quite plentiful around my home town of Kalbarri. Phet speared the first one which would have been about 2-3kg so me being competitive, I went and had a look for a bigger one than the one Phet got. About 30 seconds after Phet got his, I saw one about 4 kg lined it up and as I was about to spear it a bigger one about 7 kg swam past so I speared that one instead, it was a huge Buff bream.

So we both got out and put the fish up onto the rock and jumped back in for about 10mins when I turned around and Phet was yelling at me, “there’s a Bronze Whaler Shark get out of the water”, as we both got back onto the rock I asked him how big it was and he said it was about about 5-6 feet long which isn’t too big as far as Bronzies go, but it was the first shark Phet has seen whilst diving locally so it scared him a bit.

Always remember not to dive alone and to watch out for each others back.

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Catch And Cook: Part 1 Parrot Fish

lynnie57

Hey guys starting a new little series of posts called “Catch and Cook”. In this series I will be explaining how I caught the fish, how I cooked it, giving you the recipe and the best places to catch that particular species of fish.

In the first “Catch and Cook” I will be talking to you about catching,cooking and eating Parrot fish.

The main way to catch Parrot fish is by using a speargun because they aren’t a common fish to catch on bait. The way I like to get parrot fish is by free diving with my spear gun at the beaches in Kalbarri where I live. This is a hot spot for parrot fish of all different sizes from 20cm all the way up to almost a meter long.

Recipe:

eggs.

Bread crumbs.

Milk.

Fish but it doesn’t matter what fish it is.

Plain flour.

Method: 

Whisk the egg with a dash of milk in a bowl.

Place the filleted fish in some plain flour until it has a thin layer on it.

Place the fish into the egg and milk and fully cover it in egg milk mixture.

Now place the fish into a bowl of bread crumbs

Heat a fry pan with a little bit of butter in it.

Lastly place the fish into the fry pan until it is golden brown and crispy on the outside and cooked though the middle.

Now plate up with some lemon and your favourite spices

fish-cooked

dead-parrot

 

After School Dive

9harry

Recently the swell in Kalbarri has been pretty big, averaging around 2.5 meters. This has made it pretty hard to get out for a dive at some of our usual spots. Earlier this week I managed to get out for a dive with three mates, Phet, Lochie and James. We went to our new secret spot, where the water is pretty shallow, (only about 1 meter deep), but there are plenty of fish and cray fish for the picking. When we first got in the water it was a bit chilly but after a few minutes it was fine. I headed off towards a few rocks that were sticking out of the water. The first rock I looked under had about 4-5 crayfish and at the back of the ledge there was a small wobbiegong. I went under to get one of the crays but I was unsuccessful  because they all shot back into their holes till I couldn’t reach them anymore. After about ten minutes of swimming around I swam past a ledge and saw something big pass me. As the fish was heading into the cave, I could make out the gills of this beast. As I went to take the shot, the fish swam deeper into the cave. I dived down, prepared for anything to happen. When I dove down I could see the whites inside of the beast’s mouth. I aimed and fired. It was a successful shot straight down the throat of what turned out to be a 52cm estuary cod, of which I was pretty proud of. At the end of the day I had a speared cod. Phet had a crayfish and a mullet. James had a mullet as well. Sadly, Lochie was unsuccessful.

Thanks to my loving Mum who couldn’t pick me up, I had to walk all the way home on my own. I had my speargun in one hand, my  fish in the other, whilst pushing my bike. Luckily I live near a good beach to dive and fish at.

Gear of choice:

I was using an Ocean Hunter gun I had cut down for shallow water.

Phet was using an Ocean Hunter 1000mm gun.James and Lochie were using hand spears.13570353_295946897415196_1242451281_o-e1467211917987