The time is now

the time is now we were out at Cable bay on Wednesday spent 5 hours in the water (and on the a couple of beaches) swam out past the close in spots saw bugger all got into sum weed on the outside the water temp was off the scale and the vis was close to 30 feet

we stuffed around just being blown away by the fish life massive shoals of yellow eyed mullet & i mean massive tons of fish bloody great shoals of bait fish we swam past them all day. Huge fish (well for a mullet some were up to a foot long) one shoal wood be all 6 inch fish and then a shoal of foot long... fucking amazing

we found the weed beds and some very spooky moki then like fuck me this is one of the most picked over areas in Nelson I found a handful of paua ..bugger me the little bastards still exist in nelson town ...under size but hay they're out there.

So then i fucked up ... my mask was anoying the shit out me and i was feeling the pinch so I dragged my sorry arse up on to a gravel beach for a break blood (blake) swam in to see what was up.. I told him I needed a break and he said yip all good he would just go up and have a look round those rocks over there ..the next reef ..so i had a blow a pee and some calm down / relax time ..righto go find blood he'll be amongst these rocks ...round round round ..bugger no blood ..ok little shit (he's 19) must have seen the next reef and couldn't resist having a look round that "next corner"..swim swim ..no blood ...ok now I'm going ... ... .. I'm a dad and where is the little shit.. swim to the next reef fins off up on the rocks looking ..nothing .. ... ... ... .. yell ..yell ...yell ... ok this is getting real serious ...yell yell climb to the top of the rock ...fuck ...think think think....not a nice feeling at all it's being an hour and since I've seen him... shit...righto slow down..where was he last ..what turf was he diving ...shit he was going for the deep stuff the vis was great so we could see the deep holes. right to the edge of the vis ...(about now I realise how fucking big the ocean is looking for a head & snorkle)..think think we have have missed each other ...I'll just go over to the next reef and make sure he's not over there...nothing ...fuck fins /weight belt off up the hill ..climb climb sweat sweat ... yell... yell ...dad???? dad !!!!I hope you all never have to experince this feeling .relief love madness frustation happiness......me I sat down and a little cry...fuck me the large lump is on a rock looking for me.. you ok blood?? oh hell yeah come over and have a look at the size of this butter I've speared....he'd got a beauty 53cm's fat as mud .....we swam home saw some more cool shit a BIG moki with a hole thru em but he was still healthly az .. some juvi butters and knock me down with a feather blue cod ...in Cable Bay ..I've tanked this bay or over 20 years and we finally see blue cod not one but 8 all bloody small but shit they've arriv'ed

so we wandered our way home with the current behind us and blood by my side .. he dropped down to 30 ft just to show me he could and then I did the same just to show him that the old man is still in the game... bugger me I've got some work to do..

When we got back to the shore we had a de brief ..it went like this ..

where the fuck did ya go??

blood;you gave me the thumbs up ...so I hunted round those rocks

me: fuck me blake you were diving deep ..I was worried .

blake: na I was ok ..

me: FUCK..(calm down!!)

me: I was worrried about you.. shit blake you were getting some serious bottom time

blood ...yeah did you see that huge ray ...

me ...Hay next time I need a break can you come have one to??

blood: yip no worries dad ..I was worried about you to....

so we got back after we spent half an hour with an occy in the rocks cracking kina's for it watching it go shy and defensive to hard out hungry competing with the spotties for a fair share...

So the old man & the young Man learn't a few LESSON'S this week ....

Stick to fucking TOGETHER your dive buddy is you life line. If your alone and get into the shit they're looking for a body!!! period ... no get out of jail, no free chances...Yes I was F#*kING worried I would see a large lump on the bottom all the time I spent out on the edge looking for blake.

Get a dive Bouy...and a flag ...Amaturish mistake's I know ...where my buddy ..ahh over there easy as ...YIP I"M kicking myself..

We got home ... I learnt a shit load of lessons I truely ope Blake did to ...

Back to the good stuff ...the coast is going off SMALL crays in 5 feet of water ..vis in one bay can be nil drive down the coast 500 meter's and it's 20foot
the good crays are deep ..well that's 25ft plus for us..that said after 8 months and 10 trips and close to 70 hours in the water were getting sum spots sorted and now the Paua are just that paua...find a good patch go 10ft plus and your into the beauts.I've seen turf that is barren as no paua walk 100 meters and they're stacked on top of each other... the butters and moki they're getting educated every calm day so you have to work for em...

my tip of the month will be this ....don't pull you weight belt tight in against your gut.....get it low on your hips so you can proparly fill your diagharmge

my final say as the night draws in...the bay is ....choka full of feed went for a ride round past he mdf plant last night ...the mud is alive with crabs and the creeks are black (seriously) with mullet ...this is the summer of the big snapper/ kingi's the bay is fucking full of plankton..and now they've finshed spawning ....game on...Kenerapu will fire up soon...we will see some massive fish...

Me...Kenerapu samlon berly ..out going tide well out off the portage in the deep hole over the far side pilchards stray lined.
and above last two hours of the tide up towards sandy bay or waitatira
or if you can down at he Kenerapu mouth on the wellington side 110 ft they will be there ...oh and some pain in the arse BIG BLUE COD to big to be legal...30cm's --- 35 cm's ...sorry I'm serious...

post pic's here

or I'll see you at rabbit island high tide ...kina and Mapua go off as well ...
Joe.

Thanks for sharing Stingray. Scary shit losing track of a dive buddy. Made worse in your case because it was your son. Sounds like it is a larder down there. You should put a snorkel in VC's mouth and drag him out. I am sure that he would take to it like the proverbial fish to water but just don't let him try and use a 308 under there.

That would be bloody scary stingray !
I lost my boy (4)for 2 or 3 mins over at anatoki. Wife had taken girl to toilet i was fixing his tangle cast out turn round and he was gone. Steep bank down to swollen river behind i was Shitting myself. He had just gone to find mum thank god.
Not a nice feeling at all.
Rushy id like to give it a crack but it would probably take me a year of goin hard out to get to 10 feet!
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Cam you can still spear shit at 10 ft , and believe it or not the odd cray . Kaikoura the place to try it plenty too see . Stingray I'm pleased that story had a happy ending , good butter @ 53 cm . Cable bay is that where the boulder bank is ?

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

That would be bloody scary stingray !
I lost my boy (4)for 2 or 3 mins over at anatoki. Wife had taken girl to toilet i was fixing his tangle cast out turn round and he was gone. Steep bank down to swollen river behind i was Shitting myself. He had just gone to find mum thank god.
Not a nice feeling at all.
Rushy id like to give it a crack but it would probably take me a year of goin hard out to get to 10 feet!
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Nah it is easy once you get the hang of it and it is amazing how quickly you breath hold ability develops

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Originally Posted by Munsey

Cam you can still spear shit at 10 ft , and believe it or not the odd cray . Kaikoura the place to try it plenty too see . Stingray I'm pleased that story had a happy ending , good butter @ 53 cm . Cable bay is that where the boulder bank is ?

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Yeah was a bloody beaut butter..it goes like this boulder bank ...about a 2k of buffs and shit and then Cable Bay from the end of the boulder bank(Glendune..the glen) to Cable bay is now a marine reserve and has being for about 12 years now.

the vis at Cable is normally shit or close to it.. even on a good day down past 40ft (on a tank) the vis will drop from 10-12ft to 3-4..
the coast I refer to is Kaikoura and is is my new mecca I love the place ..that said on a good day it's amazing on a bad day ....it's fucking evil...and I've seen it go from good to very bad in 20 mins...

VC or anyone else wants to give snorkling a try Iv'e got a bit of spear gear and weather n work dependent I'm keen as to help show you the ropes...Snorkling is piss easy and bloody great fun 10 foot would see you amongst the paua and crays at Kaikoura not the big ones but you would find some legal stuff.. message me if your interested shit we could even do a get together for th ch-ch mob and the top of the south ..Kaikoura ..nice place plenty of shit to see and and some neat pubs.

Joe.

I'm keen as for that . Bring my boat up not a problem . Was talking too my mate yesterday his worker got two butters in kaiks 59cm and 58 cm and fat as , good fish alright !

righto I'm down next weekend for a charter but any weekend after that would be good..I'll keep an eye on the weather and those who are keen are welcome ..were just shore diving eh

I also Have great pleasure of being in the company of the top of the south freediving spearfishing champions ..congrats to Alex and Jordan. By the sound of things it was a great competition with a huge range of skills on display. some divers were getting down to 30 meters!!!the lads have a big kick arse trophy and a free diving course each..Biggest moki Jordans went 7 poound and alex shot the biggest butter i belive.

Munsey those are HUGE butters truely epic fish well done those guys.

30 mts far out that's insane ! . Can take boat , give more options . Will be keen in a couple of weeks if the conditions are favorable .

Could you flick me a pm if your heading out stingray ? Im pretty time poor but you never know i may be able to tag along sometime.

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i just got back from 2 week spear trip to the sounds
there are lots of small crays in sub 3m water stingray but also quite a few big ones in the shallows aswell:thumbsup:
big plus 1 on the bouy with the flags its a must if you cant see your dive buddy the knobs driving fast boats cant aswell