Update on Recent NSW Spearfishing Competitions
July 29, 2014 4 min read
ADRENO Junior Diver, Josh Green, gives an update on some of the recent spearfishing competitions he has competed in down south. Josh and his brothers have all placed in the top 3 for their age categories for every major competition they've competed in this year!
NSW Spearfishing Competitions in the past Month.
It’s been a massive few weeks in NSW with 3 Major Competitions in four weeks: The NSW State Titles, The rescheduled Australian Pacific Coast Championships and the 3 Way State Titles at Eden.
NSW State Titles 17th & 18th May This is a two day rock hop (no boats) so everyone is on the same playing field, with 6-7 hours swimming in the ocean collecting as many different species of fish on the Score Sheet as possible at 2 designated areas pre-determined the day before.
Day 1 Bateau Bay
The conditions on day one were excellent with little swell and no wind. The vis wasn’t perfect but it was good enough to shoot fish. It was hard diving searching for fish. I teamed up with good friend Hayden and we dove together during the first day. We both struggled to find fish, but other people found it great with a few people weighing in around 15 species and some awesome fish including a 17kg kingfish and a 5kg giant boar fish shot by Pete Saunders! Both Pete and his old timer partner Joe Martindale smashed day 1 and ended up taking out the pairs for the whole comp.
My younger brother Lachlan also killed it on the first day absolutely smashing me! He came in with some awesome scoring fishing including a 42cm whiting which was mistaken as a little Jew by some. He also shot a massive red mowie which was the biggest shot through the whole comp! It was a good day and I weighed in nine fish which put me mid field.
Day 2 Norah Head
The second day was a lot better than first day with viz up to 20m, literally no swell or wind and lots of fish. I managed to weigh 15 fish, although pelagic fish were few and far between. This was surprising. I was one of many divers who swam the long haul to the Bull, almost a kilometre out to sea which is normally a hot spot for Pelagics. It was a case of ‘should have been there yesterday’. The winner of the weekend was Ben Bayfield who dived hard and aimed well on both days. He said he was ‘just lucky’ but this was not the case. I ended up 3rd in Juniors. Sam Morgan the Australian Junior Champion won juniors and came 3rd overall! My brother Lachlan took out the Sub Juniors. I also won the 3 man team with Connor and Darren McCook.
Josh with Hayden, Lachlan and Sam.. Josh placed 3rd in juniors at the NSW State Titles
Joshn and the McCooks won the 3-man team category at NSW State Titles
Australian Pacific Coast Championships 24th May
Due to being rescheduled twice the APCC became a 1 day event instead of 3 days.
The comp turned out well with some clear water around the bay, but strong winds made it difficult in the boat I was diving out of. There were plenty of fish around, and a few really nice fish were shot including a 3kg snapper, maorie cod, blue bar parrot fish and 2 nice king fish.
I dove with Hayden Montgomery. He wasn’t very familiar with the area so I took him to the spots I dive in comps there and he ended up beating me!!
Even though the comp had been cancelled twice, it still was a good turn out and a good comp.
Ben Bayfield with largest fish at APCC. Ben is also the current NSW State Champion 2014.
I ended up coming 13th overall. I came second in Juniors and also won a few other prizes for biggest fish and biggest flathead. Ian Puckeridge took out the day with a great catch and Ben Bayfield, a week after winning the NSW State Titles won the Bluewater shootout with the biggest fish, a 16kg kingfish.
Joshn won the Mark Searle Memorial Trophy for larges fish shot by a junior at the APCC, and he also came 13th overall.
3 Way State Titles at Eden 7th June
Again, another competition re-scheduled due to bad weather (my fourth rescheduled major this year). Thankfully, the Organisers made the right decision and brought the comp forward 1 day to Saturday, before the southerly change came through. Conditions were great with almost no swell, SW winds and 10m+ vis. The water temperature was around 17-18 degrees. This sounds cold to all you Queenslanders but it’s much better than I expected. I’ve been told about Eden horror stories of 13-14 degrees and green grubby water for comps in the past.
112 competitors turned up even though it was bought a day forward, with 42 boats on the water the water police where there to check us out!!
Lots of good fish where weighed in with the warmer water even a blue bar parrot fish was weighed in by Hayden. A few kingfish where weighed in as well and lots of bonito which aren’t usually around down there at this time of year. Murray Peterson took out the day for the second year running (I think he is going for the trifecta).
Taylah came first in the Ladies, Aaron Puckeridge won the Juniors and came third overall. Hayden won the Sub Juniors and my brother Lachlan won the rock hop, shooting more fish than a lot of the divers in boats.
Josh's brother won the rockhop division, spearing more fish than most people in boats!
I came 3rd in Juniors, about 16th overall and also the received a trophy for the biggest Bream 1.1kg – an 88 point fish. Had a great weekend with 20 Newcastle Neptune’s making the trip.
ADRENO junior diver, Josh Green, with largest Bream for the Eden spearfishing competition
Final note that sponsors like Adreno are really appreciated by all competitors. Cheers.
Safe diving, Josh.
