Metro Crays, southern paradise and the mother of all blues....
Been busy busy lately and got out for a few shore dives last week to bag a few more nice Crays with lots of soft or moulting Crays from what I seen. Also managed a line fish after work on Monday for a few pesky bait thieves and a big shark lost on the 20lb combo
back to Albany on Saturday and plans for Sunday where to go for a dive at a remote place a huge walk from the car that was a far enough drive as it was. My brother tagged along as I said he would be in with a chance of getting a blue off the rocks fishing.
45 minute walk from the car all downhill with the dive gear we arrived at our spot. Suited up, jumped in and instantly remembered why I love diving south. 20m vis, fish everywhere and deep water so close in. I left a heap of queenys and blues and few other reefys as I was thinking about the walk out, got a pb deepest recorded dive at 24.2m before I lost my spear to a cave from trying to get a big harley. I got out while my mates kept diving and help my brother land his first blue grouper off the rocks. Mates get back with the biggest blue I've seen over 35kg and a 80cm queeny and after packing up started on the 2 hour walk back out. That walk with just my dive gear was one of the hardest things I've done but well worth it and can't wait for the next adventure around the south coast.
always looking for a new challenge!!
deepwater
Posts: 1921
Date Joined: 09/05/07
Nice Blues
good to see you are stilll getting out mate and what a good Blue and finished of with afue crawlies as well ,it doesnt get better than that mate well done chris fish
jeff
Justin M
Posts: 1207
Date Joined: 14/01/13
Thats a big blue alright.
Thats a big blue alright. Good stuff.
Travis S
Posts: 67
Date Joined: 09/07/13
This will stir
The pot a bit but seems a shame to me to spear such a big groper.
scottnofish
Posts: 1617
Date Joined: 28/08/07
Have to agree with you
After eating an 18 kilo grouper I would never keep one again there was a layer of jelly between every flesh segment on the fillets and was not pleasent to eat
Travis S
Posts: 67
Date Joined: 09/07/13
These fish
Acording to the fisheries fact sheet grow to around 40kg but can take 70 years to reach that.
that fish would have been swimming before a lot of us were born.
Chris fish
Posts: 847
Date Joined: 23/02/11
Yeah I understand that it's
Yeah I understand that it's an old fish ect ect. This fish was very thin for its size so I think I must of been getting close to the end of its time. The meat on it was fine and tasted just the same as the little one my brother got the same day. Michael only wanted to crack 30kg with one so now he has we won't be targeting anymore big ones as I'm happy with my 25.
always looking for a new challenge!!
petervb
Posts: 447
Date Joined: 18/12/09
Well done chris, some great
Well done chris, some great catches there
re the crays are u getting them north or sth?
cheers
dkonig82
Posts: 2091
Date Joined: 06/07/10
That's a huge bloody blue
That's a huge bloody blue
When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:
n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or
n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you.
boora
Posts: 43
Date Joined: 10/02/13
Guilty
Speared one of similar size a few years ago on 5 fathom bank. Not a nice feed and felt guilty from the time I was swimming up with it until this day. Decided never to do iit again if opportunity presented itself.
Samcapp
Posts: 5
Date Joined: 14/12/12
south of margaret river?
south of margaret river?
Notorious
Posts: 914
Date Joined: 23/02/12
Feel guilty about killing a
Feel guilty about killing a blue, but dont feel guilty about killing a couple hundred other fish? Seems very hipocritical if you ask me, what makes one fish life worth more than another?
Regardless, good catch man!
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gene_brookes
Posts: 1
Date Joined: 17/05/13
Shame
Love fishing, love spearing love seeing catches. But that's disgraceful shooting such an old breeder. Bad fishing karma there boys.
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
dont feel guilty
Ahhh the age old fishing debate raises its head again. Guilt, pride, envy, emotion, conservation, trophy all words that stir to mind when people see a fish like that. Just remember, it is within the rules - whether you agree morally/ethically it is still well within the angler/spearo's rights to do so.
Everyone has the right to an opinion, but I personally would much prefer to see the photo's than not, so please keep sharing Chris and don't take the negative comments to heart. Make sure you submit that big blue pic individually as well, I think its a screamer for POTM. After all, we are a fishing website and we go out to catch fish.
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poida
Posts: 234
Date Joined: 08/08/05
Makes for an interesing
Makes for an interesing debate though Ads.
Saw the biggest one i have ever laid eyes get moved quickly from the boat to a car at boat harbour. The guys were sheepish about it and not overly keen to show it off. I saw the remains in the offal bin at the tip a few days later and the locals were not impressed either. Even in the offal bin the size was incredible, a fair bit bigger than the one above. I have no problem with them taken on hook and line as you can't choose what size will take your bait, and a biiig blue round the stones will generally sort you out. But yeah, think where possible the breeders should be left to breed as there is a reason they have reached that size.
poida
Posts: 234
Date Joined: 08/08/05
I don't think that is in the
I don't think that is in the class of too big to spear.
I thought spearing Blues was banned over east, not too sure why, but with the southern coastline we have they have a fair bit of protection as you can't access all that much of it to fish.
Great effort Chris
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15610
Date Joined: 29/11/05
fair point
Fair point simpo, here's a reason not to shoot them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27UAKEPPZ-I
It's like shooting your pet dog. I don't shoot cobia anymore for that exact reason. Within the limits, within shooting range, your decision I guess..
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Chris fish
Posts: 847
Date Joined: 23/02/11
I wish they where all
I wish they where all friendly. All but 2 big blues I've seen know exactly what's going on and haven't got that big being dumb. But I do agree with the no spear fishing for them over east as they can be wiped out from an area very quickly if irresponsible spearos take advantage of them.
always looking for a new challenge!!
Notorious
Posts: 914
Date Joined: 23/02/12
To be fair, that video is
To be fair, that video is from the East coast where they are protected (and they seem to know it)
West aussie fish certainly dont behave that way
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carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Big Blues
Have found that the eating quality of big blues is no different to small ones, in fact possibly better. Used to get lice eaten ones in the net and kept them for ourselves, no giving them away.
Top effort and keep the pics coming Chris.
scotto
Posts: 2470
Date Joined: 21/04/08
Here here.
No difference in taste of blues, whether big or small.
No no laws broken = no worries, and no reason to whinge like a bunch of bitches.
Good work again dicko, reward for effort and it's made a lot of people jealous.
Chris fish
Posts: 847
Date Joined: 23/02/11
cheers guys, we always leave
cheers guys, we always leave a lot of what we see and are choosy with what we shoot anyway so its not like we are stripping a reef of all fish and because the south coast is so remote its very hard to get to a lot of spots so fish have plenty of untouched places to hang out. seen plenty of blues over 30 that we have left but my mate michael wanted to crack the 30kg mark so now we will stick to the 8-10kg fish as there plentiful and easy to get a good feed and dont go to waste.
always looking for a new challenge!!
axey45
Posts: 1758
Date Joined: 26/11/13
Well done!
Well done!
Syked
Posts: 37
Date Joined: 04/12/12
Well done, nice big blue
Well done, nice big blue
Notorious
Posts: 914
Date Joined: 23/02/12
I wish blues were easy to
I wish blues were easy to shoot! every one I have seen seem to split pretty quick when I saw them
Dhufish, Baldies, Harlies and Breaksea are easy to shoot
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poida
Posts: 234
Date Joined: 08/08/05
Chris do you ever come across
Chris do you ever come across any southern crays while diving around albs?
Chris fish
Posts: 847
Date Joined: 23/02/11
Yeah found a few but if any
Yeah found a few but if any Crays we see they are normally monster westerns over 2.5kg. Found a few spots where they are always there.
always looking for a new challenge!!