MISSION:Interpacific 2009  -  Perth.

AIM:

To beat the Aussies (and Tahiti / Hawaii) on their home patch.

TEAM:         

Dwane Herbert

Julian Hansford

Colin Smith

Ian Warnock

Herb (Manager)

Geoff Crawford (Reserve)

METHOD:

There were various ways of getting to Perth, but with so many individual plans after

the event it was easier for each person to find their own way there and assemble on

the 21st April at a Caravan Park in Perth for that night.

Next day was vehicle pick-up and a three hour drive to Dunsborough. This small rural

town rests in the northern area of the Margaret River wine region, which meant my

assistant Paul Spence was somehow last to arrive four hours late, but with a sober

driver!

Shane Fitzmaurice met us at the Caravan Park in Dunsborough ready and keen to get in

the water that had been the area used for the Australian Nationals in January.  Dwane had

competed in that coming in 2nd place overall while  Shane was around 9th. Between

them their knowledge gave us a great jump in learning the fish list.

Arnie Piccoli, the Australian National winner in 2009 and Perth local, was kind enough to

lend us his boat for scouting, a 5.5m fiberglass open hull with a 90h.p. Merc.  We had

another similar one for our use from a local club member Brian.

First day scouting happened to be Eagle Bay which was the reserve day choice, and we

are glad it stayed just that.  It was a huge area of seagrass and two isolated patches of

rock.

 

Lucky for us Arnie hadn’t cleared his GPS so we had that site pretty well covered inside

4 hours with every diver in the water.  As the competition was a shore based competition

with the managers in a safety boat liaising with their teams, it was easy to set the

boundaries at 2.5 km radius and scout.   We had three main areas to look at and knew

from a pretty good hunch that the preferred areas were Hamelin Bay and Canal Rocks.

Two days in each area gave us a great understanding of what fish were likely and where

to target them.  It was looking and remembering where, how and “what if.” Our team was

well focused and did our homework well.

The prize fish in this area is a relative of the Pearl Perch, called a West Australian Dhu

Fish.   It only lives in W.A. and is a very tasty specimen.  We did find a couple of these

on practice days, Colin and Julian both getting 13 kilo+ fish.

During the lead up to the competition, Paul Spence nailed a flat head.  It was no real feat

until Alastair noted it could be a record.  After the scales indicated a new W.A. Longnose

Flathead  record, this now became a WORLD record Flathead shot in extreme

conditions using superior skill and of course years of experience combined with a high

level of Diver fitness, not normally seen by 25 year olds, let alone someone of Spency’s

age.  The rum didn’t help the story and it still lingered even after the main competition. 

For details go to www.spencevsflathead@bullshit.com 

During our scouting days, Shane had the call up and fled to London, and more sadly

Geff Cookson who was with us became crook for three days and spent the time in bed. 

This was the first time in 21 years Cookie had been sick so it was certainly a worry.

Luckily he had nurses Sandy & Sandy assisted by Annabelle to cheer him up and make

sure he took his medicine.

As competition day approached, it became obvious that Friday was a right-off because of

4m swells, and we Team managers decided to advance the competition by one day so as

to get the best out of the 3 days.  This proved a smart move as the two competition days

had pretty good conditions.

First day was Hamelin Bay.  8am start, 2pm finish.  There is quite a large area for eight

pairs of divers in a 2.5km radius, but as we know the best spots are usually small and of

course we had the usual crowding in the obviously best spots.  Dwane and Julian swam in

the shallows to start with,  picking up two nice flathead and a lot of basics, Black

Drummer, Leather Jackets, Trevally and Sweeps (Bonded and Sea).

Colin and Ian did the distant swim to rocks on the boundary of the area looking for

Samson fish and Kingfish, unfortunately, to no avail.

The teams covered the area and did a thorough job of time allocation for the swim.  The

catch looked good at 47 fish, but the Aussie team had us pipped on two Dhu fish (we had

none) and weight with 50 total fish.

Sitting second we were 10% behind Australia and 8% ahead of Tahiti.  Not a right-off

situation but a tough call to peg them back when our boys gave it a bloody good nudge,

missing nothing and sticking to our game plan.  In fact the Aussie team pretty much

mirrored our efforts.

Day two was Canal Rocks as expected, because Eagle Bay was the alternative tomorrow.

We knew the swell would be arriving around midday, so we had to get to our sites

ASAP and start sorting out species.

Things went to plan but early in the piece the Aussies seemed to pull ahead – again!

They had 3 salmon (our Kahawai) and we had two.  They knew the better spots for Black

Drummer and Brown Wrasse, getting their team’s four, whereas we struggled.

The swell arrived on cue and limited viz., from 10meters to 1meter in some spots.  Lots

of diving and swimming from our boys, but a local knowledge spot the Aussies learned

about from a local fisherman, gave them the edge.  Still New Zealand did far better than

the other teams, coming in 2nd on the day and of course 2nd overall.

Results:

Conclusion:

We finished up with a great presentation evening at the local winery.  Plenty of bullshit,

stories and big fish tales.

It never fails to impress me how the next year’s competition is going to be so good.

At every presentation evening the same inspiration appears, but when you get to swim the

competition venue, “the fish just weren’t around on the day!”  Still, it is a great appetizer

for keeping going back.

That was my 15th competition in a row and I guess I will be at Tahiti next year.  Then it’s

back to New Zealand in 2011, possibly at Flaxmill Bay.

A great trip. I’m sorry we didn’t pull it off, but it was a pleasure to run the team and

channel the spirit of Spearfishing NZ in our most iconic competition.

Herb

(Peter Herbert, Mercury Bay Spearfishing Club)

Appendix:

For those interested in making the team, costs are pretty well the same each year.

1.      Airfare

2.      $1500.00 (accommodation, boats, uniforms and good time)

Fish List:  (Those that scored)