Latest report for all from the water off Gero

Left the marina early yesterday morning thru intermittent showers and a squally sth west wind forecast to drop right off. So we hoped....

Along for the trip was robbie my usual spear buddy and a sponsored diver from queensland - Chris Peiro with whom id made contact on a dive forum. Chris had been working in perth and is now heading north and back towards his home in the east. Hopefully we could put him onto some fish!

Fairly average wet trip to the area we had chosen to dive and a quick sound showed some promising grounds in 12-16m. Set the anchor and geared up. 0800

My first drop to the bottom in 14odd m showed promise with small baldies , trout and dhuies about along with the usual buffies. Good signs early. With all 3 of us now in we decided to get to work on some burly so a couple of buffs found the end and a steady stream of scales and flesh was soon drifting to the bottom.

First casualty was a 6kg dhu for robbie followed by chris with a 4kg trout. A monster spangled emp joined in and looked headed to join the other fish in the eski but as i lay in the kelpy weed waiting for the right shot , a couple of average bronzies came flying in and spooked everything! spewing

Bit more burly in the water column soon saw a school of spaniards arrive! Small school fish of around 10kg. I dove first and stoned one , chris second following suit and then rob in pretty quick succession. Sweet

Back at the boat i took some snaps for chris of his trout and everyones macks, we then discussed the next dhu. Being a east coast diver and having limited time in the water of Wa so far he was yet to shoot one. Decided between us that the next dhu was his. What a decision it was!

Rolled back into the drink , breathed up and dropped to a small ledge in 16m. Staring into the gloom and watching my dive time tick by steadily... Felt comfortable but also had that feeling of a large something close by.... Very slowly i turned 180 degrees.... HOLY $hit..... The biggest dhu ive had in range was slowly cruising past.

Looked up at chris and pointed , watching him do circles trying to spot wat it was! No good i surfaced after the min plus dive and screamed at him to dive! BIG DHU!

Chris took a hook breath and was gone..... From the surface i watched him scan the area first left then right... then he extended his euro 120.... Closed the distance a touch and fired!

The rest was history - he had stoned the 15kg male dhu cold! high fives and handshakes between all! AWESOME

Big pic session followed understandbly and we where all very chuffed.... The following 10 or so dives we awesome! Dhuies everywhere! Counted atleast 6 fish over 8kg in the one area and quiet a number of smaller fish aswell. Great signs & a spot to be kept veryyyy quiet and probably left alone for another 6months to avoid over fishing these beautiful fish.

Ended the session with myself nailing a nice 4kg trout.

Moved location 2 more times in search of a baldie but not to be despite considerable burlying and good ground.

Finished the day off in style tho - everyone had spread out just a tad and with the quiet fish action i decided to have some breathhold practice. First drop into a sand hole saw 1min 17.... Feeling comfortable and after a extended breath up i dropped again after 4-5mins. This time set on a min 20 or 30.....

Laying on the sand with my arms folded and eyes closed , my euro laying beside me i felt so relaxed it was great. Opened the eyes to check the watch.... 55 secs and a big spaniard.. WHA! A thumper spaniard with whiting disease had cruised in on the sand checking me out... Grabbed the gun , extended and fired - 20kgs thanks muchly....

Back at the ramp at 1230 for fillet session with 4 macks and 4 demersals between the 3 of us.... no where near our limit but more then enough fish for us all....

Apologies no pics as they are all on chris's camera and he has limited internet access whilst travelling... Will post a couple when they are sent thru.

Cheers guys poddy