Crayfish for the Christmas season.

After a few days of strong winds Friday the 13th was looking like being a good day to be on the water, so I decided to take an early season look at the Fad's just to burn some old fuel and check on the fish status.
I spoke with Greg about coming with myself and my son Jack and he offered to drive the boat for the day, saying he was not sure if he would get in the water or not.
We picked Greg up at 6am and then waited an hour for the wind to drop a little before beginning the 55km trip out to the Fad"s. After just over an hour of traveling we discovered that the first Fad was missing, most probably struck by a ship and sunk. We made our way to the next Fad 5km away and found the water a little hazy and covered by the red remnants of an algal bloom.  I have never had much luck when I have previously encountered these conditions and today was to be no different.
We made a couple of drifts and having encountered no fish we made the decision to try the next Fad.
While motoring to the next Fad Greg decided he was going to get in and have a bit of a swim, so on arrival my son Jack took the helm and Greg and I slipped into the water. The conditions were somewhat better but there were still no fish to be seen other than a school of immature fish sheltering directly under the Fad.
We made a few drifts and dives then decided to head back in to the West End of Rottnest and try and find a few Crayfish.

We arrived at my favorite Crayfish spot after about 30 minutes and set anchor before slipping into the water.
I swam over to the edge of the reef and breathed up before dropping to the bottom and looking under the ledge, I immediately spotted a very large Crayfish and wasted no time in looping it. I checked the Cray to make sure it was legal and finding nothing to the contrary in the bag it went. A short time later I added another large Cray to the bag, having 2 decent sized crays and feeling the arrival of the sea breeze we decided to call it a day and head home.

The days Crayfish.

My dog is not too sure what to make of this.

Over the weekend I spoke with my friend Will and we agreed to dive on Monday and look for some Jewfish and Crayfish. We launched at the Leeuwin boat ramp on the Swan River and headed out to Stragglers Reef.

We dived a few of our regular spots and it wasnt long before Will had a reasonable Jewfish in the boat. I concentrated more on finding Crayfish and soon had 4 in the bag, I even had 2 nice sized Mackerel swim past as I was swimming out of a cave with a Crayfish. 

Will and I moved location a couple of times and it didnt take too long before we both had close to a bag limit each. I added a nice sized Queen Snapper to the Esky and we decided to call it a day at around 2pm.

My Esky with the days catch after cooking.

The trip back to the ramp was nice and relaxing and we both soaked up the light cool sea breeze as we made our way through the port of Fremantle. We had a nice day out on the water and with a fitting end and a wonderful catch to enjoy with a bottle of wine for dinner in the coming days, a truly fitting start to the Christmas Season.

My Mentor and Best friend, Attacked by a Great White Shark.

It's Tuesday the 8th of October 2013 and I have just stepped off a plane in Darwin on my way to work. I turn on my mobile phone as I am waiting for my transport to the hotel and the usual barrage of  messages comes through, one catches my eye for all the wrong reasons.
First off its not from a number in my contact list, second is the subject "Greg Attacked By Shark" meaning only 1 person, my best friend Greg Pickering.

Greg with a Record sized Amberjack from one of our many Bluewater Trips.

First I must rewind back to 1999 when I first met Greg, I had just returned to Western Australia after a 12 year absence working out of the Eastern States. I had taken an internal transfer with the Copper mining company I was working for and moved back to Perth. I was working fly in fly out and looking to get back into Spear Fishing in my time off so I contacted an old friend Alistair McNeil, he suggested I get in touch with Greg as he was always looking for someond to dive with during the week.
I contacted Greg and he was keen to have someone to dive with and we arranged to go on a day trip to Corner Break off Leeman a few days later. We were joined by Lee Paxman for the trip and even though I spent half the time laying on the deck sea sick I had a good time and learnt alot. I also learned how inadequate the gear I had was. I realised I was going to need to upgrade almost everything if I was going to have a good go at Spearfishing.

Slowly over the next couple of years and with Gregs guidance I got together a set of gear that was adequate to handle just about any fish I was likely to encounter in local waters. It was during this time that on a visit to Gregs house I first saw his IBSRC World Record Yellowfin Tuna. The moment I laid eyes on it I knew that was what I wanted to pursue, and so began the journey I am yet to complete.  When I told Greg I wanted to chase fish like that his first piece of advice was, unless you are prepared to invest thousands of hours in the water watching good fish swim past waiting for that one, be happy with what you do right now. I decided right then that I was in for the long haul.

I spent many hours talking to Greg about the gear I would need and how to best use it. One day I asked about freedive training to dive deeper and longer and Greg gave me what I consider the best advice I have ever got. He said if you can dive to 10 meters and hold you breath for 30 seconds at that depth, then given time in the water at the right location and time there is no fish that you cant get. It was around this time the two of us took a trip to Exmouth and I speared my first Spanish Mackerel, a nice fish of around 20kg. This gave me a new perspective on the gear I would need if I was ever going to land a record sized fish.

Over the next decade Greg has encouraged and supported my every venture providing me with invaluable advice on how to deal with any number of fish species. He advised me on tactics and strategy regarding competition Spear Fishing, and I have no doubt that my success in winning the 2010 20Fathoms  La Paz Bluewater World Cup was in no small part due to his advice and guidance.  I am still to get my Yellowfin Tuna and the holy grail a big Dogtooth Tuna but I know when I do Greg will have had a hand in my success.

Now back to the present.
I am stunned Greg is an Abalone Diver and although I know it is always a possibility it still hit hard. Is he alive? has he lost any limbs? there are just so many questions running through my head. I called the person that sent the message but they were not able to provid me with any more information. I called another person I figured would know and was relieved to find he was alive, had not lost any limbs and would indeed survive. Now just on a week after he was attacked and after many phone calls and emails I am relieved to be able to say that Greg will in time make a full recovery. He has since been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home, he is carrying some serious injuries that will take quite some time to heal but heal he will.

He will be the first person I visit when I return home from work and I will be there for him during his recovery just as any good mate would.  Will he ever get back diving? I dont know, time will tell, I hope he does he loves the water too much not to. I know one thing for sure I will be there for him if and when he does.
Get well soon Greg.