What was he targeting with that gun? Did you get a few zaps fromm the shark shield? Some reasonable looking cray spots there in and under those ledges.

Good job getting out, I wish I had of gotten a night dive in tonight, although the breeze is coming in now.

Stayed dry today as i was stuck on shopping duties in perth:| wish i was diving tho would've ended up a cheaper day.

Were there many flies out there? we got out last sunday boat was attacked by 1000's of flies! Haven't seen it that bad for a few years. getting underwater was the only escape. poor dive conditions tho, vis and surge.

See many crays? looks like some good country though

i think he was going for some type of cod.  We were hoping to see some big flathead though didn't come across any...

haha - yeah I was below him on the way up - I got a little bit close, then all of a sudden I got zapped on the side of the face!!! lol - learnt to keep my distance after that;)

yeah, decent ledges though no crays... we saw more crays a couple of weeks ago close in (8-10m).  The depth out there was around 20m - so maybe they'll start off in the shallows??

night diving off mindarie - or the river?

Yeah dave - the flies were full on!  it must be the hot easterlies blowing them out..??

no crays - we were hoping to find a "nest" of crays before the season started:)  I thought if we headed out deeper we may have found some though no luck. 

Has anyone ever come across a "nest" of crays?  I've heard blokes talk about them though I've never seen it.  Always seem to come across one or two crays - though no mass of crays...

Yea the flies drove us mad!

We have a few dives with ledges that i guess is wat people would call nests. We've found on some sites there are certain ledges in a reef that are always relied on to hold crays year round. when they'r in close u may find 10-20 crays in one spot under a tight ledge(same ledge year round and every year) and nowhere else on the reef, when they're out deep these spot will usually just hold a coulple of resident kackers. not sure about the science of it just seems they have a certain ledge that the seem to hang out/ congregate around.Me and the Mrs have dives at all depths to 27m where we get crays but I've found our spots that have reliable 'nests' are all on reef less than 10m. Although hear of alot of people finding them in all depths to 35+meters

The nests are around. I came across a spot in Mandurah late last season with probably 3 or 4 dozen monsters in around 35m. There also seems to be solid reports from Two Rocks that isolated bommies (if you can find them) hold big, Big, BIG numbers. From my year or 2 of experience early season is just a few metres of water in close, and then they start marching out.

Honestly I am not a fan of shark shields, they scare everything away funnily enough, including the seals, and possibly the fish in my opinion.

Night dives anywhere really. I much prefer the ocean though. River gives me the s*&$s.

interesting comments regarding nests.  This is something we have noticed - we've been diving out deeper and although we have found heaps of deep ledges and caves they all seem to be empty - not one cray in sight!  Though when we come in closer (bombies around 12-15m) there's quite a few around.

Maybe its time to go on search for some shallow strsy bombies up alkioms/yanchep way - hopefully theres a few up there that are a little less hunted;)

Yeah the shark shields are a new thing for both of us.  I guess with dving out in 20m+ it's something that is more 'piece of mind'.  It didn't seem to scare fish away on our last dive (including a little dhuie I was following) though its something i'll be paying attention too.

Where do you usually night dive off mindarie?  Just in close or do you venture out?

I dived on a spot in 35-40m last season that probably held 100+ crays, they were mostly just doodling around on the bottom and in ledges no more than 50cm deep.

till - that would be awesome to see!!! take a camera with ya next time;)  Have you done many dives that deep?  Keep meaning to do the advanced course though it's probably best if I get a few more seasons under my belt before I start diving 30m+....

I spent most of the first few months of last years season looking for crays in all the wrong depths, and also looking in big drop offs and big structure. The common factor when seeing big numbers is that they are in ledges not more than 1m above the sand. They generally just love a little plate coral (think baldies) to hide under and that is enough.

Early on in the season big depths are not worth hunting as they all hang around in close. At Mindarie take notice of where the old timers put their pots just off the groin outside the marina. The crays go wandering by from the shelter of the rocks early on.

I have been at this caper since January 07, did the AOW in Feb 08, and am very comfortable at all depths to 38m so far. If you feel comfortable to do it, go ahead, I am glad I didn't wait any longer. Going past 30m really gets you into a lot more interesting territory fish wise. As always you just have to watch the deco and air closely. When I decided to go past 30m I switched to 15L tanks. It will surprise you how fast the air disappears in the greater depths. Normally nights are out on the 3 mile, but I prefer a full moon and perfect conditions to do that.

I am currently boatless, so if you ever need a buddy just shoot me a PM.

Here is a couple we picked up late last season. These guys came from a couple ledges with probably 50. There were a couple the loop wasn't big enough to go around. That isn't me in the photo.

Hey so you didn't pick anything up at the boat show???

At that ledge I got mine there was one I couldn't get out from the ledge with both hands, and using my feet for leverage.

People say to snap their legs off to get them out, but I would have had a better chance snapping 5-10 broomsticks underwater barehanded.

Still waiting on the bank sadly. When your self employed the banks are a nightmare for small loans, but they work through mortgages really quickly. Makes no sense. I have been looking at the water all week too. It has been hard to cop.

I am 95% sure on the polycraft, but I want to sea trial a used commodore 670 as well, assuming it is still around come the time to buy. I just don't want to waste anymore of anyone elses time until the bank has delivered the goods. Who would have thought it took 4 weeks to arrange a $20k loan!

I saw the motors of the Puss so were you on Slut Rock? Or another of Mick's lovely spots.

Some of the crays we saw that day were built like a staffy, big thick legs and barked at you.

http://www.youtube.com/user/deco1100#p/u/11/FWZvzE2nb6A

A couple years old now.

It was on the wet puss, well spotted, we were just out of OR though.

I haven't been for a spin in the Polycraft yet  but a used Commodore 670 also sounds pretty ace =)

I know what you mean about being self employed and banks, I was lucky to buy an apartment when they were happy to hand the cash around and it was bad enough then.

Cammos - cheers for the tips! Those crays in that pic are frigin awesome!  Would be fun trying to loop something like that!!!  So where do you dive when your out in 30m plus?



Are you going all the way out to the bank or do you usually look for some bombies out behind the three mile?  I've seen some nice ground out at the bank though to go out all that way for a couple of dives is bit of a hike...



Awesome video too - did you take that?  Are those Gemini clips yours aswell? would be cool diving on that...



btw, do you do much spear fishing when ya diving?  If so have you had much success?  I was thinking of getting a gun and go for a spear though i've wondered what scuba divers do when they get a fish?  I've seen plenty of free divers use a float, or swim back to the boat with the fish though I figured when diving at 30m+ this isn't really an option!



Yeah no probs on on the buddy side of things... my mate is pretty keen at the mo though if for some reason he can't make a dive i'll let ya know...

The vid is by DECO1100, both a member here and a founder of WA Divers. Its his boat I got the big crays in that snap on. There are a few of us that post on each site.

i see - whats the go with nitrox, eg, when do you need to start using nitrox?  Can you dive up to 30m with normal air/standard tanks?

Nitrox good because it has less Nitrogen than air, so you get better bottom times and/or shorter surface intervals than using air.

Nitrox "recreational" mixes of 32 and 36% have a max operating depth of 32 and 37m @ 1.5PPO2 off the top of my head but there is some flexibility in those limits yet.

Most places require you to have a special type of cleaning done to your tanks in order to get nitrox, and then you can only then exclusively use o2 clean air AND its expensive, say $25 for a fill.

What is so good about the new system that Callum put in @ Dolphin Dive is that you don't need any of that shermozzle, you just need an appropriate sticker, a MOD card, and $6.

There are spots in 30m+ all the way from 4mile out to 8, but you need to spend quite a bit of time educating yourself on sounders and maps, and be prepared to spend some hours at 8 knots trolling areas for ground.

Honestly, I would be nowhere near those crays if it weren't for some really experienced guys taking me under their wing last season and showing me the ropes. I hope that I will eventuallyhave enough of my own spots to fend for myself out there, but for the time being I spend a lot of time looking, watching and listening, and pleading for a spot on their boats.Without sounding like I am stealing you, have a look at wadivers.com.au. We are just as friendly over there.

Spearing is good fun, a real thrill and it feeds the family with some top shelf eating fish. Most divers carry something to despatch the fish (screwdriver in the brain will do it) and then either carry them on a line off the handle of the gun, or if your game hang a bleeding fish on your hip in a catch bag.

I dive air only, but I get maybe 12 minutes at 36m without deco. With my skills I would struggle to bag out on crays in 12 minutes. I also have long surface intervals. Nitrox helps with both these things, but fills near me are $12 I think, so not really economical for me at this stage. Plus it means buying more gear..................

Na, thats what is so good about the new system at Dolpin Dive; $6 for nitrox on a fill card and the only gear you need is a nitrox sticker and a MOD card!

Its just the 90 minutes driving that does it for me.

Apparently Dolphin Dive are supplying other dive stores with 32 and probably 36% so perhaps give them a call and see where they are spreading the joy.

Wow - 12mins at 36m - that would make a quick dive!  I think for now i'll stick with diving air even though nitrox seems to have its benefits.



Yeah I've got hold of a few nautical maps and have been been marking my spots on the map - hopefully over time I'll get a nice collection of dive spots! Maybe one day I might even find that nesty ledge!!!;)



What speargun do you guys use diving?  Before when I was looking I decided that the RA rubber guns looked pretty good though I figured loading a long rubber gun on scuba might be a little arkward.  My mate has the Asso 75 Pneumatic Speargun - seems easy to load and carry around - seems to shoot pretty well too.

Just going thru my logs, these are all air dives;
36m - 20min
35m - 17min
37m - 19min
42m - 22min

I hear the cress is a lot better fart gun than the asso, but never run them against each other. There is a new omer airgin which is very nice, but hideously expensive.

I shoot a Mares Cyrano 970 currently, although it has had limited use so far, so i am reserving judgement. I had a Pelaj 1200mm railgun last year. Great gun, but was convinced that loading an air gun would be heaps easier. I will seriously look at buying that beasty back if I can get away with it.

Had a look back and the 12 min dive was for the 2nd dive of the day. I did 22min at 34m, then 2 hour interval, and then 12 min at 36m. Reverse profile didn't help, but we found some very promising ground. Hard to resist.

If you want to give my gun a go first, see how you like it. Easier to decide then.

hi cammos - cheers mate, once I get some cash together I might take ya up on that offer.  My birthday is just round the corner so hopefully I'll get some $$$ then:)  Would be good to try before i buy!