Thread: Beginners guide to freediving/snorkeling

It was Gibo, just waiting for the warm water. It's hovering around 13.5 just another 2 degrees and it will be all on.

Originally Posted by stingray

It was Gibo, just waiting for the warm water. It's hovering around 13.5 just another 2 degrees and it will be all on.

13.5 degress, madness, swimming is only for when the boat is sinking Snapper are already here in the bay

Then the hunt begins!!

went for a dive at a good possie at tora last weekend, water was nice and crisp with about 2-3m of vis. got my quota of pauas withing 10 mins, half a dozen kinas and one cray, wouldve got more but my dive was interrupted by mr stingray mooching around me seeing what i was upto so i decided to get out haha.

dont worry about the stingrays mate they are friendly enough
they are just after your paua

i went for a freedive yesterday and got 5 paua a full catch bag of kina and 2 reds and a pack horse, pretty good fathersday gift for ol dad
not too bad for the first time back in the water since bieng spoilt by tropical warmth in niue mid winter

spear gun rubber broke and gave me a hell of a fright too

Any photos of the packhorse?

Originally Posted by Bill999

dont worry about the stingrays mate they are friendly enough
they are just after your paua

i went for a freedive yesterday and got 5 paua a full catch bag of kina and 2 reds and a pack horse, pretty good fathersday gift for ol dad
not too bad for the first time back in the water since bieng spoilt by tropical warmth in niue mid winter

spear gun rubber broke and gave me a hell of a fright too

You get up to much in Niue? Was there last year, apart from handlining yellowfin just offshore things looked a little bit quiet there....

No photos sorry. They are just a black crayfish tho not too different from a red

Niue was great. The locals catch yellow fin tuna from their vakas on dead bait but I never saw any when diving

I had one charter, caught a wahoo on a lure trolling and hopped in the water at a deep fad 700+m and shot 2 mahimahi and another and got a third

I also night dived and got a bag of painted Crays and a Spanish lobster saw loads of sharks guys using scuba didn't see any

Had one shark try me out and had to poke him a few times
He ended up swallowing a 20+lb parrot fish I had on my float line
I had to cut him off which was interesting

Water clarity is unreal 80m is not unusual


Was a good trip pm me if anyone's planning to go and I'll give you a few tips

Man that is some beautiful blue water, real game fishermans colour!

thats 700m straight down gibo
its definitly different from bieng happy with 4m of vis in NZ
they do catch GT and marlin there but aparently no one wants to?
and aparently GTs are hard to find/catch

Who doesnt want to catch marlin? Rocks in their head ha ha!!

I love being out the back (way out the back) when you cant see land and the water is like sappires and its over a km deep!

Las t time I was in the Solomon Islands the boat I was working onwas installing FADs in 4300m water depths. 5 ton lup of concrete and a lot of rope with a raft 20m below surface and buoy on surface. I can tell you swiming in in water that deep is a little nerve wracking as lots of bitey things live there too

I expect the GT's are riddled with ciguatera?

Yea my thoughts exactly, I was hoping to see a marlin at the fad and poke a hole in it no luck tho

Yup all big reef fish were a no go for me

I sure do miss that deep dark blue and I'll be trying out a bit of marlin trolling this year
My spear gun and gear will come too, keen on jumping in at those massive bait balls and seeing it up close
I ate mahimahi the whole time we were there best fish iv ever eaten

Originally Posted by Bill999

Yea my thoughts exactly, I was hoping to see a marlin at the fad and poke a hole in it no luck tho

Yup all big reef fish were a no go for me

I sure do miss that deep dark blue and I'll be trying out a bit of marlin trolling this year
My spear gun and gear will come too, keen on jumping in at those massive bait balls and seeing it up close
I ate mahimahi the whole time we were there best fish iv ever eaten

Mate if you are up at the Mt/Tauranga this summer we will chuck you in amongst them no worries. Most people go trolling straight past them all