61st Australian National Spearfishing Titles – Sydney 2013 Final Results

Pet Walsh

Congratulations to Ben Thomson on a win over Ian Puckeridge on day 3. It was hard diving with everyone giving 100%. This was a highly decorated field of divers where missing or losing a fish was very expensive!! 2 or 3 fish over 3 days of competition was enough to see big changes in positions. Jarod Eriksson lost a marlin today after being towed out to sea.

Ian Puckeridge shot a State record Remora and Adam Smith shot a nice Mangrove Jack.

Congratulations to all divers and Thank You for attending.

A big Thank You to Adrian Wayne, his partner Jackie, Matt Poulton and Lee Dalli for their excellent work to run this comp. Also a great Thank You to Oliver Wady for running a very professional weigh in. Brett Waddell provided excellent food for starving divers!! Thank You!!

Pete Walsh

Results:
Self NominatedPairsResults
State Pairs Results
Super diverFinalResults
Nationals Four Man Teams and Pairs
Overall Score sheet

SSD South West Rocks social weekend away 2012

This was a short video filmed on the Dolphins yearly trip up at South West Rocks where all the guys get together and hire a house, take a couple of boats, go diving during the day and then share the stories from the day with a couple of “light” drinks in the night. Always a great trip and well worth the effort for an amazing adventure!!!

Christmas Party Meeting / AGM – 2012

Dolphins Christmas Party

Firstly I would like to thank you all for the great year. 2012 has been fantastic for most of us and especially for our club as we have won the Alliman Shield!
That is thanks to the all round effort of everyone that competed this year and especially to our Vice President and Sports Sec Parry!
Parry has done a great job this year and we all owe him A BIG THANK YOU!

So to top off this great year we are having a big Christmas Party/Last meeting of 2012/AGM on Tuesday the 18th December, 7:30pm at the clubhouse!

Continue reading Christmas Party Meeting / AGM – 2012

Mangrove Jack Research in NSW

Toby Piddocke from the National Marine Science Centre at Southern Cross University in Coffs Harbour is conducting a three-year research project on the biology and movements of Mangrove Jack in NSW.

We can help with his research by providing any Mangrove Jack frames (filleted skeletons with head and guts intact) we selectively spear. Toby is not asking anyone to kill a Mangrove Jack they would otherwise release or not shoot.

This research covers the entire NSW coastline, so it’s important that frames are collected from as many areas as possible. Of particular interest are frames from Sydney and South Coast.

If you can help and donate a frame, just fillet the fish (please leave head and guts intact), put the frame in a plastic bag (an ordinary shopping bag is fine) and put it in the freezer.

Then contact Toby using the details below, and he will arrange to collect the fish at a time and place convenient for you. Everyone who donates a frame will be eligible to win a ‘mangrove jack research’ t-shirt. Continue reading Mangrove Jack Research in NSW

Information Session: Collaborative research project between USFA and CSIRO

When: Thursday 15 November
Arrive: 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start
Duration: Approx 1 hour including questions
Where: ASHFIELD WESTS LEAGUES CLUB, 115 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield, NSW Sydney Australia (Proceed to level one)
What else: Bring a dive buddy
You will hear:

  • What has really changed since the 60’s?
  • Will these changes affect your future fishing opportunities?
  • Specifically how USFA (spearo) data has contributed to this project.

Continue reading Information Session: Collaborative research project between USFA and CSIRO

2012 Frog Dive Coral Sea trip catches an Australian Black Marlin record

A 230kg ‘pending’ Australian spearfishing record Black Marlin was speared by Andrew (Amod) Moderer on the latest Frog Dive Coral Sea spearfishing trip.

The previous Australian spearfishing record was held by our own Ian ‘Pucko’ Puckeridge coming in at 150kgs caught at Long Reef back in 2007.

The fish was speared with a 1.4m Rob Allen speargun with a Riffe 7.5mm shaft and Riffe slip tip onboard the Eastern Voyager.

Congratulations Amod!
Continue reading 2012 Frog Dive Coral Sea trip catches an Australian Black Marlin record

GoPro Hero3 announced

Allot of divers now use GoPro cameras to capture footage of the fun we have in the water. The smallest GoPro camera yet has just been released. The GoPro Hero3. The Black edition sells for $399 US. It’s certainly more pricy compared to the previous models and I’m not sure if a free diver will really benefit too much. There is a Silver & White edition for $299 and $199 US respectively that miss out on a few features like ultra high resolution and framerate. I really do like the new size and that they have learnt to make a decent underwater housing, for free! A good review can be found at CNET.

For $199 the entry level camera is so cheap, I can see divers heading out with head & gun mount on the same dive. I hope to see some Dolphins sending in footage for all to see 🙂 Be a Hero! Continue reading GoPro Hero3 announced

Roller Spearguns

Emanuel Bova, a Dolphin member, explains the benefits of a roller spear gun and how to modify an existing speargun with a rollergun kit. Benefits include:

  1. Little to no recoil make the gun easier to fire accurately.
  2. A smaller gun length enables you to access caves and swing the gun around more easily/faster in water.
  3.  A large increase of power gives more penetration on the target, faster speed of the shaft and more range of your shot.

Emanuel works for Down Under Spearfishing Charters and more info on Roller Guns can be found on their site.

Ikijime – How to care for your catch

iki jime (ike jime) Humane killing of fish
Ikejime (活け締め) or Ikijime (活き締め) is a method of paralyzing and bleeding fish to maintain its quality. The technique originated in Japan, but is now in widespread use. It involves the insertion of a spike quickly and directly into the hind brain, thereby causing immediate brain death. A fish brain is usually located slightly behind and above the eye. When spiked correctly, the fish fins flare and the fish relaxes, immediately ceasing all motion. The blood contained in the fish flesh retracts to the gut cavity, which produces a better coloured and flavoured fillet. This method seems to minimize the pain.


http://www.ikijime.com/