SpearBlog

[caption id="attachment_690" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Julie Riffe, Suited, Smiling and ready to slay"][/caption][caption id="attachment_692" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Thanks to Yeti Coolers for keeping my first limit of White SeaBass happy in their badass coolers. www.yeticoolers.com"][/caption]
Same old story.
Big fish, hot ladies and good times.
I really do enjoy my vacation!
We had the Riffe Team in California this past week with Jay Riffe presiding over the daily design and hunting Forum. The opportunity to have some of the best divers in the world together to dive and use all the gear and put our thoughts on paper and into the new equipment is invaluable.
It is amazing to hear each of our varied tastes and techniques from around the world from five of the most travelled and experienced guys and girls and have everyone wanting the exact same equipment for the job.
Hearing and seeing the future of spearfishing equipment and putting it to use is something that I could only have dreamed of when I was still shooting Blue Tang and Slippery Dicks in the Caribbean with a three prong. Knowing that the Riffe Equipment that goes on the shelves is exactly what we want and the thought and patience it takes to design it is all worth it in the end.
DJ Struntz flew in from Costa Rica to document the week and as usual captured the striking photos that he is so well known for. www.djstruntzphoto.com
Mark Healey took some time off surfing 30ft waves to break the Croaker Curse and shoot a 45lb White SeaBass and some big Calico Bass at over 100 feet. He’s got some sick videos of 50+ ft Waves on the internet if you haven’t seen them and has had more tiger shark encounters than anyone I’ve ever met. Check it out: http://www.surfline.com/video/webiso…rfishing_22430
Kelsey Albert showed us all up by turning herself into the Hali-ho and shooting the hell out of the Halibut and landing a PB and potential WR for Halibut. Watch out for this one she has the mindset and the skills to be a contender for National Champ in the coming years.
Craig Clasen was his normal humble self quietly finding the biggest Bass each day and smiling each time he climbed out of the water knowing they were bigger than the ones I had. Dammit!!!
Jay Riffe shared his knowledge of each spot he has gathered over years of experience and networking through hundreds of spearos on the West Coast to put us on the best spots each day. With his guidance he led me to my first, second and third White Sea Bass within a few hours of each other on our first cold calm morning last Sunday.
All the White SeaBass I shot were stoned with a 120 Euro rigged with a 9/32 shaft with a Hawaiian Flopper.
The rest of the ones were stoned as well by the other guys with either the same 120 Euro or a 130 Euro with a mini icepick tip.
Those are big powerful fish but with the right techniques and patience in the water we were able to take 12-15ft shots and roll each of the ones we saw.
The Calicos on Catalina are some of the smartest I’ve seen so we were psyched to get our biggest ones there.
Kelsey used her Pole spear to land a good one at Bird Rock which is historically one of the areas that has the smartest ones in California.
Thanks to Beach City Scuba and the Sun Diver and Joel Olenik for getting us on the water and letting us do our thing. Can’t wait to do it again!
Pics courtesy of Rebecca Walker (Riffe cousin) and Richard Holbrook.
DJ’s photos will be in the Mags in a few months
The Riffe Life continues…
[caption id="attachment_695" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="White Sea Bass. Big, good eating, hard to find, dirty water loving fish."][/caption][caption id="attachment_697" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Having a 5 ft fish on your belt in Great White Shark land isn\'t the wisest idea "][/caption][caption id="attachment_699" align="aligncenter" width="479" caption="Calico Bass can make you feel like a total ass. They are the #1 choice for all of us to hunt there because they are so challenging and fun to pursue"][/caption][caption id="attachment_701" align="aligncenter" width="129" caption="The haul of Halibut. Most of which were slain by Kelsey Albert, that girl is a killer"][/caption]

I need your help, those of you that do a lot of boat trips or have lists that your check before you head out please let me know what I’ve forgotten!

Planning another trip the Bahamas and I have a few weeks to make all the preparations… except I’m on the other side of the world and when I get back I will have less than a few hours to pack the boat, my gear, girl, food, water, gas, etc etc etc for a week long trip.
So what have I been doing to get ready?
Sending a ton of emails and being a bit bossy apparently but it seems to be working.
The number one ingredient for a good trip is the crew you pick to go with you.
Most of us have a short list of people that we ask to go depending on where and when the diving will be. There are guys I call when I want to go international and try new things that are iffy, third world, off the beaten track, malaria ridden, and sometimes down right foolhardy.
Thanks to all the guys that indulge me and usually come up with some of the same ideas or even gnarlier. That is part of the fun is planning the trips and gathering information and talking about gear before we go.
Then there are the last minute guys. The ones that you know will drop everything the night before when the weather goes perfect and the conditions come together and be there waiting with plenty of ice, guns, beer, lunch and more gas money then they should be paying. They are good houseguests, they clean up after themselves and thats why they get invited back.
Obviously those are the ones that get invited back the most and I wish that I could say that I was one of those people all the time but I’m definitely not. I have pissed off more than one friend leaving early and not helping clean the boat enough or leaving my credit card in another state or messing up the house or shooting their fish. Sorry doesn’t do it so I hope to make up for it in the future!

So back the Bahamas…
I will get home, load the boat with my mental checklist that I say over and over in my head when I’m trying to concentrate or relax (works better than thinking of baseball actually)
Mask, snorkel, fins, booties, weightbelt, gloves, knife, floatline, gun (pole spear in this case), float
1. Naida Mask with Amber and a spare with a clear lens (low volume great vision and amber lens makes things stand out better in lower light and blue water hunting)
2. Stable snorkel for choppy water
3. Riffe Carbon and Fiberglass fins
4. Riffe booties
5. Rubber weightbelt with good stretch, 1 lb Adreno weights and black nylon pin type buckle
6. Riffe kevlar glove with extra pair
7. new (unnamed as of yet) knife we have been working on… don’t know if it will even be legal in the states its pretty badass though and exactly what I want…
8. Armor Spectra Floatline 50 and 100ft
9. Pole spears:
a. Three prong 8 ft hybrid
b. Riffe Slip tip rigged 9 ft Hybrid
c. Same as above but rigged for pelagics
d. Mr Miyagi Japanese pole spear 12 ft
e. three prong 6ft Lionfish killer

10. Riffe 2 atm float

Thats my basic list then I start adding on depending what time of year it is
11. Green cryptic Rash guard
12. Blue Cryptic two piece rash guard/jelly fish suit (don’t know if these are out yet)
13. 1.5mil Blue Cryptic full suit
14. 1mm Riffe Top with cocking pad
Thats a lot of gear for one person. When we dive deep I get cold easily but would prefer to just wear the 1.5 mil top.

For the boat I make sure we have a full fuel tank as soon as we get within a few miles of the dock because I don’t want to fill up to early and be driving on the highway with all that extra weight.
Plenty of extra Outboard oil.
Foul weather gear
2 bean bags
Safety gear: EPIRB, flares, etc.
Boat documentation for customs

2 long sleeve shirts
1 short sleeve shirt
one nice button shirt for dinner out one night
light pants for mosquitos and hot nights
2 pairs of boardshorts
Yeti Baseball cap which is my favorite right now
and absurdly large straw hat for sahara hot days in the bahamas sun
basic toiletries:
1. tooth paste and tooth brush
2. deodorant
3. 2 in 1 shampoo
4. bodywash (also use this for cleaning suits to get the smell of fish and me out)

Supplies:
figure 6 waters per person per day so a few cases of water
case of gatorade
case of beer
pre made mojito mix
few dozen Uncrustables for easy meals
ceviche mix pre-made. just add fresh fish for on the boat
chips and crackers for ceviche
Spices, butter, tin foil, tongs, sauces, for grilling fish and steaks
Steaks
We also try to plan out at least half of the nights meals and pre-make most of it so we don’t have to do much more than throw some stuff on the grill or heat up some pasta at the end of the day.
2 gallon and 1 gallon Ziploc bags

Cleaning knives (serrated blade Dexter Russell and Riffe Filet knife)

Three trolling rods (Penn 30′s for Tuna)
2 light spinning rods for Yellowtail
1 heavy spinning rod for dolphin and tuna on poppers
rigs for all three types of fishing

Yeti 155 cooler with 6 slabs of dry ice and the rest filled with regular ice. Try and save this for at least the first day or two.
Yeti 65 cooler with 6 blocks of chum, 3 boxes of squid, and ballyhoo if the Tuna are around

Suntan lotion!

Fill the rest of the spaces on the boat with Ice and dry ice and try to keep it as long as possible. Ice is hard to come by in the Bahamas and it is as expensive as Gasoline and sometimes more so it sucks to buy it!

Lastly your camera, charger, batteries, tapes, cards, underwater housings etc.

There is so much stuff that goes into a trip we tend to forget how giant the list can get. When you add 9 people on the ride across it makes you try and think of everything because it gets crowded fast.
A bit of planning goes a long way. We have been dividing up the jobs of getting stuff ready and I’ll think of more stuff to bring and let you know…
Cameron Kirkconnell

I appreciate you helping me out. I’ve been to the Bahamas a few times this year but there are boats that run over every weekend and any help or suggestions that you have are always welcome from those that take long trips in their boat or plan meals for the boat etc.
Can’t wait to hear the words of advice and put the plan in action!

I’m so honored that you are visiting my blog and hope that the pictures and stories here will bring you closer to the feeling that we as spearfisherman, divers and fisherman enjoy in our lives. As of now we have more than 30 stories and dozens of pictures on the site as well as a good youtube following. I wanted to give you a bit of background on myself and how I started into this sport, working for Riffe, and traveling the world spearing so many places and so many great fish and meeting so many good people.
In brief:
My family is from the Cayman Islands and diving, fishing and ships have been at the center of our lives for almost as long as the islands have been on the map.
I’m 33 years old and work as a Captain on huge ships getting paid to travel around the world and with a four months on and off schedule I’ve been able to spend months at a time in the best known dive spots in the world. Even better, I’ve been able to travel with my friends and family and discover the newer and better dive spots that have been the envy of the rest of spearfishing world.
We are always looking for that which hasn’t been done, specializing our gear and finding the perfect recipe for every location and fish we pursue.
I work year round with Riffe International (www.speargun.com) developing the latest and most hard core spearfishing equipment so that I can have the best gear perfectly suited to our hunting and abuse we encounter in third world countries and in less than ideal conditions.
I’m lucky to have scored some great fish along the way with my top ten favorites being:
#1 has to be Steve Bennet. 155 lbs. Speared at 75 feet after he had blacked out and was sinking to his death. Luckily the shot was true and the story you’ve likely already read. Steve glad you are with us my friend.
50 lb Wahoo shot by my father this past year diving together and I got it on video. One of my favorite days in the water ever.
119 lb Wahoo
Blue Marlin 280 lb (WR) (shot in the open water NOT TROLLING)
280lb Yellowfin Tuna
201 lb Dogtooth tuna (WR)
102 lb Spanish Mackerel
105 lb Amberjack
60 lb King Mackerel (WR)
28 lb Blackfin Tuna (WR)
35 lb African Pompano (Diamond Trevally) with a Hawaiian Sling
I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the original hosts of the show SPEARGUN HUNTER by Terry Maas. I took the team overseas to a secret spot and within the first two days shot and landed a World Record sized Pacific Blue Marlin. On that first trip we also landed more than a dozen big Dolphin (Mahi Mahi), Wahoo, giant Trevally and Yellowfin Tuna. Terry captured all of the action on video and but the video has never made it to TV and I obviously am not the host. It was a great experience but my refusal to let the video of shooting the record Marlin be shown on National TV did not go over well with the producers. It worked out good, they have a great host and I believe we kept even more restrictions and bad publicity for the sport from coming down on us by keeping the fish private. I have nothing against shooting billfish, but the hypocritical Sportfishing World will only bring more harm upon our sport we value so much.
It also worked out well because I can still go to all the best spots in the world and not worry about giving them away on national TV!
Over the years I have always written for different magazines and put videos up on the web and through Riffe, Spearboard, Spearfishingplanet, Facebook, my seminars in dive shops and emails answered hundreds of question on everything from gear to girls around the world and the best combination in between for spearfishing.
I don’t know everything there is to know about the sport but I have gathered information from every corner of every ocean and retained it and I hope that I can help every diver out there dive safely and enjoy the sport for years to come.
I will constantly work to make the blog better, more navigable, more informative and useful to you. As my internet connection allows while I am traveling overseas (which is about 8 months out of the year) I will download pictures and video for you to check out and enjoy.
I encourage everyone to participate in the blog and ask questions and get out of it what you want. This is my way of sharing my life with you and sharing my knowledge with you as well to make you a better, happier and safer spearfisherman or woman.
You can email me at cameron@speargun.com
On the Riffe Website: www.speargun.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=32
On YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/cameronkirkconnell
Thanks for visiting and stay in touch. The best part about this sport is all the people you meet around the world and learning from every diver you encounter whether they are in Alaska or South Africa or an inland lake in Missouri.

More long winded about me:
My parents had us in the water at and early age and we started freediving for conchs and lobsters in the shallows and holding on to our parents while they searched the reefs and drop offs for hours on end hunting Groupers and Hogfish in the crystalline waters of the Caribbean.

As I got older we continued to spearfish and scuba dive in Florida from Jacksonville to Key West and up to Tampa.
When I was 14 years old I started saving for my first speargun and after two years I bought my first gun, a Riffe Hawaiian with a reel. One of the first days out on the water we found a school of cobia and I jumped in to be surrounded by more than a dozen and shot a 45lb one.
I self proclaimed myself a bluewater hunter on the spot and knew that there was nothing more I wanted in life then to be near the water and enjoying all it had to offer.
With my cousin I applied to the US Merchant Marine Academy and after a long selection process we were both accepted and began 4 years of military school life studying the sea and how to be professional mariners. I graduated in 1999 and went to work as a third officer on a cargo ship and set off to the Indian and Pacific Ocean. With all the charts of the world at my fingertips for 4 months at sea I saw the world of spearfishing shrink to a million possibilities and my mind started racing at the potential.
With no car, no house, no girlfriend I paid the ships agent $100 when I disembarked in Singapore and convinced him to delay my ticket back the USA for two months.
A new ticket in hand I set off for Bali Indonesia and fell in love with the incredible waves and huge fish that lived there.
For the last ten years I have traveled to spearfish in Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and half a dozen islands in Indonesia searching for bluewater fish and learning techniques and meeting the best in the world in their home waters. Whether it is your first day or your 60th year there is something to be learned from everyone you meet.
Diving in Australia I met Robbie Lewis and Tim Neilsen of Adrenaline Spearfishing in Brisbane and Robbie and I became instant friends. they set me up with my first sponsorships and quickly my emails to my friends telling them the latest tall tales of big fish and crazy shark encounters started showing up in Spearfishing Magazines which I had no idea even existed.
For so long we had dove just to hunt dinner and to think that there were spearfishing clubs and competitions seemed completely foreign to us.
I made a lot of friends and slept on a lot of couches and didn’t pay rent for about 8 years and owe more favors to more people in more countries than I can possibly ever repay.
From all of it I gathered more knowledge than I ever would have imagined from so many different situations and waters that have led us to be able to plan trips any month of the year any where in the world and with high rates of success.
In my travels I’ve been blessed with some memorable fish and a handful of world records and record size fish that were just short of the mark or disqualified for one reason or another. The most common cause was being in the middle of nowhere in Fiji or Indonesia without a proper scale (or refrigeration.)
Some of the most memorable records or near records: King Mackerel 58 lbs, Blackfin Tuna 27lbs, Hogfish 21lbs, Golden Trevally 34 lbs, Pacific Blue Marlin 272lbs, Wahoo 119lbs, Blackfin Tuna 32lbs, Spanish (Narrow barred) Mackerel 102lbs, Dogtooth Tuna 201lbs, and a few other close ones.
We’ve figured out how to be in the right place at the right time. How to read the weather and water and where to be in the water and how to approach fish and how to get the biggest one to come close to you even in the middle of the blue 100 miles from land.
I’ve only entered a few tournaments but have had decent success.
In three visits to the Hatteras Bluewater open in Cape Hatteras North Carolina I’ve won twice and finished 4th on the other. I enjoy tournaments for the main reason that it brings together like minded people together and gives you a chance to rag on your friends and for them to give it right back to you.
No one believes me but I am happier when someone else gets the fish of their lives or the fish of the day then I am for myself usually. Through my work with Riffe, dozens of dive shops and thousands of divers around the world I’ve had a smile on my face doing what I love for as long as I can remember. Even when I’m not there every email from a young diver telling me how stoked he is on my new camo pattern or some bands or a tip on shooting black groupers that helped him get the fish of the day makes me so happy.
I can’t wait to meet every one of you and hope that each can get something out of these pages if only a laugh or a temporary escape from normal life.
In the coming months I will be opening a few other sections of the website that are VIP access. This will be How-to videos and detailed trip advice for divers around the world who are ready to take it to the next level. Planning trips is one of my favorite things and doing it right and being successful having done it with your friends help and all your hard work is by far the most rewarding way to go. It pays to have someone on your side that has been there, done that, and has the scars and fish scales to prove it.

Dive safe and send me pics of your adventures anytime

Cameron Kirkconnell

One of my first memories is of the East End of Little Cayman in the Cayman Islands. I must have been about 3-4 years old and small enough that I couldn’t keep up with my father and mother who were snorkeling on the surface on either side of me. Holding on to my dads arm as tight as possible my eyes worked quickly across the bottom trying to spot a grouper or snapper or the massive hogfish that lived there.
If you asked me then if I believed I’d ever be able to dive 90 feet and spear fish as big as my dad I’d probably boast and say I could only hope to be as good as him and my mom one day but hopefully better.
In those days their were no records, no float lines and no reels in our vocabulary and each fish was shot and dragged to the surface on the same breath of air. That we never had any blackouts is amazing and a testament to how good of shape we were in each summer visiting the Islands and diving for lobsters in the Keys.

This blog is a work in progress that I’ll try and keep you up to date on our trips and adventures around the world. Bear with me I do have a real job!

http://www.youtube.com/user/cameronkirkconnell for the full video

It has been terrible visibility for so long in the USA between the rough weather and oil spill it has been a difficult past few months. This day was supposed to be 3-4 ft waves and poor visibility again but as my cousin Blake would say “Cam read the bones” (referring to my less than dependable internet visibility and weather forecasting abilities) and we went out anyways.

After some hunting around we pulled up to a spot with a lot of bait and a 11 ft hammerhead shark on the top to greet us and we slipped into the water to find this. The other guys with me were good enough to have patience and let me take pics and video and shoot a cobia with the pole spear.
It was an incredible day. I think we made about 20 dives on this school of cobia who were more than happy to swirl around each time we made it to their depth.

Earlier in the day at another spot I dove down on a 6ft Silky shark that was coming in for a look and he allowed me a short ride on his dorsal fin. As I let go I looked to my left and a 7-8 ft Bull Shark almost yellow/white came cruising up from the depths. I stopped in the water and threw my arms up in a “What’s Up!” and he came straight to me and then turned only inches away allowing me to run my hand down his side and then grab onto his tail. With my fingertips on his flank he had no problem but as soon as I grabbed him by the tail he did a quick kick and luckily went away instead of snapping back on me. I looked to the surface to see if the other guys had seen what had just happened so I wouldn’t be the only one dreaming and they both had their heads out of the water. Dammit!
I hit the surface and they both said, “You’re and idiot.”
“But you saw that right?!?!?!”
“Yeah you are and idiot.”

Sweeeeeeet.

Diving deep for Grouper on the East Coast of Florida is something usually reserved for Scuba divers. There are a few groups up and down the coast that have the patience and skills to spear these big bottom fish in water 75 feet and deeper and the rewards are usually worth the effort.
While the Scuba guys spend all their time on the bottom and the rest in the boat doing their surface interval, we as freedivers get to spend the whole day in the water and are always hunting even when we are resting on the surface. With the advent of new restrictions on limits and fish species the old way of thinking like a commercial fisherman and shooting as many fish as fast as you can is disappearing quickly. Now you see even the scuba guys buying better quality guns with more range and better line setups so they can save their shots and land those 3-4 trophy fish per dive instead of hurting and losing the big Cobia, African Pompano, Amberjacks and monster grouper shot with a freeshaft or heavy scuba diving gun.
Freediving this week my cousins 11 and 16 years old both had chances at good fish and shot multiple big pelagic fish including a 61lb Cobia. At the other end of the spectrum my Father who taught me to dive freedove alongside me and speared a solid cobia and had 20+ lb Red Snapper around us all day. Freediving is so much easier with less gear and freedom in the water and the amount of time spent hunting is incredible. We are so lucky to have a sport we can enjoy at any age.

This was such a cool spot with Amberjacks and Cobia and big Red Snapper all the way to the surface. We had the Big Snappers chummed up to where they were hitting the baits as soon as it hit the surface. Incredible and painful to see at the same time. I took the three prong and sat inches from their heads counting the days until the season opens. Good times can’t wait to get out there again.
Cameron Kirkconnell

For some reason I always seem to miss the FSDA Florida Spearfishing Freedive tournament held each year in Tarpon Springs.
I think for excuses I’ve blamed weather. Girls. Warm beds. Dirty Water. Small fish. Cold Water. Big fish somewhere else. Work etc etc. Girls is the only excuse that I ever thought was any good but those are the ones that get you in the most trouble and catch the most shit from my friends.
This year it worked out though and I listened to my cousin Blake Gaylord and Charter captain Ed Walker and teamed up with them to participate in the yearly tournament. We watched the weather the week before and I cursed the bad vis I was seeing and predicting black out conditions and that no one would show up and blah blah blah.
Preparing for the worst I packed my 5mm suit, three prong pole spear and 75 cm break down Riffe gun thinking I’d just make the most of the day and try out the new equipment.
Morning of the tourney found that I was wrong.
Thank god!
We had 9 teams of three and a good mix of new and old divers from around the state. After a shotgun start with Pit’s 38ft Intrepid leading the way with his triple 350 Yamaha’s throwing a roostertail way way way up ahead of us all, the rest of us followed as fast as we could but even running at 55 mph we were no where near catching him.
Fast or slow everyone had an equal chance this year with the species list reduced by taking Amberjack and Cobia off.
Now we had to concentrate on a solid stringer of good fish but couldn’t really hope for anything massive to even the score except the wild chance of a big King Mackerel to jump away from the pack.

On the menu were:
10 sheepshead
5 Mangrove Snapper
5 Hogfish
2 gag Grouper
5 spanish mackerel
2 king Mackerel
1 red grouper

By taking Cobia and Amberjack off the smaller boats were saved long runs trailing the bigger faster boats who could get to the best spots first and shoot those key fish. Now it would just be a solid days catch with as many species as possible to fill a 20 fish limit. Each fish counts one point per pound plus one point per fish with a maximum of 20 lbs for fish therefore a 20lb Grouper and a 100 lb Grouper would both count for only 21 points.

Arriving at the first spot we found good vis and cool water and not another boat in sight. We anchored up and within seconds the three of us were in the water and fish were on the stringer steadily for the next few hours. After shooting the first one with the gun I was restringing and fiddling with the stringer and float line and got frustrated and put the gun in the boat to give it a go with Three Prong Riffe Pole spear.
First dive a solid 6lb Sheepshead swims past at speed and I track him lining up the shot when he is only 5 feet away. It hits him in the head and his momentum carries him a few more feet as I swim forward to catch him. By the time I hit the surface he is already off the spear and on the stringer and 45 seconds later I’m ready to leave the surface again for another. This is the way to go!
Next five minutes found 2 more good sized sheepshead taken in similar fashion.
Meanwhile Blake and Ed are filling their stringers with Big Sheepshead and their grouper within the first two hours in the water!
On one dive I was cruising down and saw a 20lb Gag slipping through the rocks on his way out. I approached as non confrontational as possible and almost had him but at 7 feet away and a quartering shot I held back and surfaced to tell the other guys who had guns.
Next dive down I find two other gag grouper cruising and this time anticipate their path and am able to stone my biggest fish of the day from only 4 feet away! Stoked.
Ed and I found one good spot for a while and both managed to take 3 Spanish mackerel each mine with the pole spear (except for one) and he with the Euro taking the largest mackerel of the trip and tourney at a modest four lbs.

We hit a few more spots and were in need of snappers, hogfish, and another grouper so we made a move only a few miles away and hit pay dirt. The vis was in and out but Blake quickly had a few mean looking little hogs who despite their 3 lb actual sized fully believed with their dark snouts and markings they should have in the Middle Grounds shouldering other 20lber’s out of the way.
Watching Blake as we did one up and down working a ledge taking a Hog on almost every other dive. As he is coming to the surface with a nice hog at the end of the line I see him look to the right and instantly kick harder and try to bring his gun up as a 7 ft shark rushes up to him. The shark veers off and swims wide and he continues to bring the fish up as the shark streaks in again. I dive to intercept and the shark changes direction and comes straight up to me at speed and turns only a few feet away to continue his circling. Blake pulls the hogfish out of the water as the shark circles and with some convincing I get him to give it to me and stuff it in my wetsuit and continue down the ledge instead of losing the spot and heading back to the boat.
We continue for the next ten minutes taking 4 more hogs and don’t see the shark again and then move to another spot.
Ed and Blake have their 20 fish so Ed puts me on a “grouper” spot as they position to Anchor. First dive I shoot a legal gag and have him in my hands on the surface taking the shaft out. I was kind of in that zoned out mode where you forget everything around you when a movement underneath me instantly materializes into a 7 foot shark blasting up and into me and the fish. I always push to fight sharks for your fish and this time I had no choice but to toss it as the shark was already only a few feet away and coming so fast I thought sure he was about to take my hands and the fish.
As I tried to push the fish away it scared the shark and he turned on a dime and was so close his wake pushed me sideways through the water.
The guys got a good laugh at me wussing out with only a 7 ft shark but the aggressive little buggars seemed to hit almost every boat in the tournament so we weren’t the only ones who the tax collectors visited but like most we denied any requests for handouts.

We take an easy run back the dock and then see the blue bullet (Pit on the Intrepid) coming up from the horizon and despite Ed hammering the throttle down a bit further they pass us with ease and we are only able to catch up by running across the flats at 50+ and backing off only fifty yards behind the others.

At the dock all the boats are there and everyone is visiting and comparing catches and it looks like most everyone has about the same stringers.
I think my favorite part of tournaments is catching up with all the divers that are together and have shared a good day on the water. The vibe is good and everyone is stoked just to be there and everyone is catching up and giving each other flak from trips gone past.
We weigh our fish and there is a bit of a buzz that it is solid and the best so far.
Ed Blake and I were all only a few lbs difference so as a team we knew we had a chance and there was no one that really stood out. We worked together and during the day called each other over when we found a good spot and it paid off steadily shooting good fish hoping that we would get a monster but not throwing it all to luck.

Weigh in complete Ritchie makes the announcements and Team Running with Scissors (Blake, Ed and Cameron) is on top by a good margin and I’ve taken 3rd place individual.
Stoked!!!
Thanks to all the guys that came out and making it a good fun tournament.
So many good and beginner divers alike shy away from tournaments after witnessing the craziness and unsportsmanlike attitudes that has infiltrated the sport in years past.
We all spearfish because we love it and tourneys are a way of having fun, getting everyone together, and testing our skills against our friends.
When guys cheat, trade fish, argue at weigh ins, make up lies about others in the tournament and get them disqualified, run to the Bahamas or shoot outside of the boundaries it takes away from the value that everyone gets from the sport.
This was a solid tournament with good quality divers, well run, fair, and fun.
I hope that the success of this one brings more divers next year!
Cameron

Final Results

Top 3 Shooters:
1st- 102.25 points Ritchie Zacker
2nd- 99.55 points Austin Burneo
3rd- 95.20 points Cameron Kirkconnell

Biggest Fish:
Austin Burneo-18.90lb Grouper

Teams:
1st- Running with Scissors- Ed. Walker-89.15, Blake. Gaylord-93.05, Cameron Kirkconnell-95.20 =277.40 points
2nd- Red Tide- Sasa. B-58.55, Ritchie. Z-102.25, Eric. G-85.40 = 246.20 points
3rd- TBSC Apollo Beach- Aaron. S-93.25, Bill. V-78.25, T.A. M-70.05 = 241.55 points
4th- Fintrepid- Pit. G-77.25, Jason. W-92.95, Ben. F-65.40 = 235.90 points
5th- E-Searider- Pat. B- 48.55, Chris. H-79.05, Austin. B-99.55 = 227.15 points
6th- Pescasub- Jose. S-62.30, Eric. S-80.55, Ciro. L-81.80 = 224.65 points
7th- Stinky Pinky- John. P-66.65, Conner. E-66.30, Bill. F-63.05 = 196.00 points
8th- Seals#1- David. S-62.55, Skip. L-64.80, Gary. D-60.10 = 187.45 points
9th- Scales- Bryan. A-57.55, Trey. S-72.00, Chris. G-35.15 = 164.70 points

[caption id="attachment_482" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="32lb Blackfin Tuna shot with the pole spear. NEW WORLD RECORD!!! Super stoked. even more so because it was with a pole spear and I had the video camera in the other hand. I\'ll put it up on here asap so you stop calling BS on it. (For good measure I shot a 24 and 27 lb on video too. Not a bad day!)"][/caption]

 

Because there are so many people travelling in Australia and it is such a gigantic country, it makes sense that you should purchase one of the cheap vehicles there for trips of more than a few weeks.   I’ve always rented a car or borrowed from friends while there but knowing that I was going to be spending the better part of 3 months there I decided in 2004 that I would go ahead and take the plunge and purchase a chariot that would take me to all the places I’d ever wanted to go and then some.

In past trips, I had been particularly fond of some of the SUVs there. I envisioned myself with a 4WD Mitsubishi Pajero (Trooper) tricked out with a Snorkel for fording deep rivers on the way to secret surf rendezvous and deep in the Bush.  Cruising in style and picking up ladies along the way.  Those Pipe dreams were quickly squashed though as soon as I opened up the Trader and realized that with a budget of $2000 AUD, some ugly vehicle (SUV) would be the only thing I could afford.

With 3 surfboards, 3 spear guns, all my dive gear, camera equipment, clothes, Eskie (Igloo Cooler) and countless other gear I was still going to need something big enough to get all my stuff into but more than likely not as tough and cool as a Land cruiser.  So I started looking at station wagons and vans.  In NZ, all the surfers drive station wagons and everyone thinks they are pretty cool.   In the states, you look like a soccer mom. (Not that there is anything wrong with that.  Thank you mom for driving me all those years But when you are 27 years old its tough to get away with and pull the fairer sex.   Vans were my other choice but they were the hardest by far to find since every other feral European backpacker seemed to be looking for one as well.

After a week of looking at the absolute worst vehicles imaginable, I was beginning to lose hope.  Every one I looked at was a fright, missing headlight, no door,  only one window that would roll down,  Spider Farm, 10 year old tires, it was looking pretty bleak.  Then as if in answer to my prayers appeared the Corona.

The $1200 For Sale sign caught my eye as she passed by me in traffic.  I quickly pulled a U-ey and caught up with her as she pulled into what would be her former home.  A quick test drive and $1100 AUD cash and she was mine. And I was instantly in love.

I drove her home proudly showing her off for all to see and reveled in the fact that she had some of the core qualities of other women in my past. At first glance she was clean, cool,  young(relatively that is 1984), fast(130 kph), had plenty of booty(boot is Aussie for trunk), and as we would find out later wasn’t afraid to get a little rough and dirty or pound some drinks.

After a few days of driving around Sydney, Brad Thornbrough and I set off on our adventure with my girl stacked to nines with gear and booze and ready for action.   Within an hour of getting on the highway we started to get to know our girl a little better.   Seems she not only liked her drinks, since we had to put a quart of oil in every few hours, but she could also shake her booty with the best of them.  Not knowing cars, I couldn’t say exactly what the problem was, but I do know that when you push the gas pedal or release it, the car is not supposed to seem to realign itself on its chassis each time.   But,as they say in Australia, no worries.  The AC that I was so proud of was the first thing to go as it just gave up and began exchanging the hot air from inside the car with that of the engine compartment.

With no major disasters though we arrived at the small beach town of Crescent head in NSW which is the home of some of my favorite waves on the entire coast.   With a few hours of light remaining, we left the main town and navigated the dirt road that would lead us to  Brads first Austrlaian Surf session at a secluded break just 10 k’s distant.   This road runs along the swamp land and is graded “every couple of months” as our local friend and certified Wildman Simon Latta informed us.  It hadn’t rained in a while so the road was in good shape and we made 80 Kilometers per hour and were in the water in no time.

A few hours of trading good waves washed away the dirt and stiffness of the long drive and with the sun setting we celebrated our good fortune with a  cold Victoria Bitter and headed back to town to set up our campsite for the night.

Laughing and talking about the prospect of seeing a Kangaroo on the way back we cruised along the dirt road at a safe speed  until it changed into asphalt again and I was able to pick up speed.  With thick brush on either side we were only afforded a milleseconds glimpse of a brown shape before a thump and crunch was heard as a Kanga commited suicide on the front left side of the vehicle. “Whoa!  Did you see that!”

It happened so fast that there was no way to avoid the animal and even if there had been it would have resulted in us going off the road and hitting a tree.   We stepped out to survey the damage and found that the front left side was crushed in and under, the headlight was smashed,  under the hood the battery had broken loose from its mounts,  the grill was pushed in and the Kanga was a complete and total loss.   It was the equivalent of hitting a furry rock for the amount of damage it did to the Corona.

As we’re standing there in the road in the middle of no-where,  a car full of Aborigine’s pulls up and says,”You goys’ awlright?”  Yeah we’re fine but the Kanga has seen better days.  “Mate, you got some good meat on her. Should take those hind legs for the barbie.”   Yeah that’s a good idea, Thanks.

Despite the stellar advice from the thoroughly intoxicated Abo’s we decided against adding to the destruction of the Cerveza that would surely result by throwing a bleeding carcass in the back seat and instead cleared the road to continue on our way.

My girl was beaten up a bit but the damaged only seemed to be skin deep. And there is so much more to a relationship than looks right?   Brad reminded me  of that fact the very next morning as I backed my girl over the water spicket in our campsite crushing yet another panel and the passenger door therefore modifying her even more.   Dumbass.  The door still opened but it now made a hellacious creaking sound and took away from her over all astetics.

The night of the Kanga it started raining and it didn’t stop for the next week and a half.  Back-tracking to the scene of the crime and then past, we discovered that our smooth dirt road had turned in to a continuous series of potholes, rocks and mud.   Where we had done 80 k’s the night before we now bounced along at 25 and it still felt like we were Off-Roading.  We had no business in our vehicle on that road but I’ll be damned if we didn’t give it our best effort and as the days went by and we figured out where the biggest pot holes were, our speed increased and our lack of regard for the vehicles well being plumeted.  Twice a day back and forth we sped, blowing past 4WD vehicles picking their way carefully along the dirt road and scoffing at their babying their machines that were better fitted for the task at hand than our own.

And then our girl started to get angry.  There was a Surf School in town and having made friends with the instructors and some of the sexy young students were invited to join them for dinner our last night in town.   Enroute to our date the Corona must have caught wind of our intentions and showed her disgust with us by sputtering and gliding to a stop right at twilight in the most mosquito infested section of the road way out in the middle of the bush.  Brad was quickly under the hood but despite his jiggling of wires and cleaning of the fuel filter she made not a sound for 30 minutes.  Temper tantrum over, she started up like nothing had ever happened and the remainder of the evening we let her rest while we (unsuccessfully) chased around sunburned hotties who thought the world of us after we delivered a cooler full of fresh fish and lobster for the feast.

Hung over or still half drunk at 0500 the next morning we crawled back to the Corona on our way North to meet some friends for a dive 200 Km’s away.   Back on the open road once again it felt good to smash the pedal down and we laughed once again at the booty shake and as we became more cognoscente we started to notice some new quirks as well.  With the exception of a muscle car or Harley, no vehicle has any business making as much noise as we seemed to be now.  The roar that resulted from the pushing of the accelerator quickly overcame that noise of something rattling underneath us that could only mean that there was something significantly wrong with the Muffler, if it was there at all.
So what do we do about it?  Nothing.  Drive on, go diving and we’ll worry about it some other time.

That some other time turned out to be the very next day as we attempted to climb the hill to Simon’s house back in Crescent Head.  As she sputtered 50 meters short of our destination I spun her around to face down hill in hopes of keeping the gas flow going to the engine and possibly saving her from passing out on us again.  No luck. I glided to a stop in the shade of a big Gum Tree and let her sleep it off while Brad and I both tinkered with whatever we could think of underneath the hood to get her going again.  As before it didn’t seem to matter what we did and she just decided after 45 minutes or so that she was ready to go again and fired right back up.  Whatever.  The next couple days proved that she didn’t like hills so we avoided them at all costs.  Since we were now staying at Simons, we would navigate our way up the hill at short increments like stairs one block at a time until we were on the same level as his house.  It was a longer route but it seemed to prolong her daily run and prevented her from passing out before we did, a role reversal that neither Brad and I were comfortable or had experience with.

A week later and she was still dying on us every so often and we were convinced that it was a fuel problem.   We decided we could live with it.   By now it was nearing a month since I had bought the car though and in order to keep the Transportation Authority off my back I had to reregister the car before the 30 days was up or I would have to go through a big to-do in order to get the title switched over.   So we headed north again to Coffs Harbor and Civilization.

Once there we checked in to the Hoey Moey, our little Hotel on the beach and then headed off to the RTA to do the paperwork.  After getting there we waited in line for a half hour before being told we needed our passports to register it.  Back out to the car we go again and head back to the hotel only to have her sputter and die again only a K down the road.  We tinkered around under the hood unsuccessfully as usual, until a feral Aussie Bum came over and offered to help. Not wanting to risk saying something to my girl that I would regret later, I told Brad I was going for a walk and took off before I lost it completely.  So now we were so helpless that a Bum was going to work on our car!?

Returning I found the engine purring and the bearded vagabond elbow deep in grease and oil telling Brad how to keep her running smooth.  Amazing!  I offered the drinks in my hands to him and he said, “No Worries Mate, you don’t owe me nuthin.”   Typical Aussie hospitality, even if you live on the streets.  I dropped Brad off at the Hotel and headed back to the RTA and she died again on the way.  Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!  With the temp near 100 degrees now I walked down the road and bought a $2 six-in one screwdriver that we would from henceforth refer to as “the tool kit”.  I called Bazza and within 30 minutes I had taken everything apart that I could think of with no success. He hitched a ride and true to form she cranked up as soon as he was in sight.  By now though the RTA was closed and the only thing I wanted to do was get the hell away from this damn car.

Happy that she was running but a bit wary as to her life expectancy we decided finally to give in and take her to the mechanic to see if he could figure out what was wrong with her.  They looked her over and an hour later told us that they couldn’t find anything wrong but cleaned the fuel pump and said try it as is. And she was, in a sense.  $150 and a new fuel pump and a little cleaning of the fuel lines and they said she should be good to go.   Excellent.   We hopped back in and a few blocks later were parked in front of the RTA again. 30 minutes later the paperwork was done and the Corona was officially in my name.

And then the obvious happened.  We turn the key and nothing.  C’mon.  Again. Nothing.  Ahhhhhhhh!!!  Damn this car!  To make matters worse, every single person that walked into the building had to walk right past us and every comment just added to our embarrassment.

I called the garage and told them to come get the car but they wouldn’t do it because they said their truck was away and we’d have to get another company to do it.  8 blocks away.  We would have pushed it but there was no way I was going to embarrass myself more in this small town by doing that.   A redneck tow was offered by some teenage White trash wanna-b hip-hop gangsta kids but then we found out that they in fact, didn’t even know anyone that had a car to do it, so that was out as well.  An hour later I was so frustrated I called a tow truck and forked of the most painful and pointless $100 of the trip so far to have him pick it up and take it not even 5 minutes away. Even now it makes me so angry to have had to do that.

‘Whatever you did didn’t work.’  I say to the mechanics.  “Ok leave it with us and you can pick it up in the morning.” After plying them with a few more beers they said they’d do what they could to make her road worthy and told us to sell it as soon as we got a chance.   We left it over night and slept well knowing she would be all better in the morning.

What was wrong with it?  A lot, apparently.  “How much do you want to spend?”  The mechanic asked me over the phone.  “The carburetor is screwed, as is the fuel pump, fuel filter, and most of your electrical lines and connections.  The Muffler has been abused something fierce and needs some repairs, that loud noise is because of a hole it has in it.  Mate, that wiggle when you use the accelerator is not from the alignment being off, she’s real f-ed up.  That’s the universal axle or the bearings deteriorated so much that she’s losing it. She ain’t  Road Worthy.”  Just make it so she’ll run and keep it as cheap as possible.

There was a little drinking involved that night.  OK, a lot.  This damn car was driving me insane and I just wanted it to run.   We decided the next morning to push up to Byron Bay to chase this girl that Bazza had met after we picked the car up and planned on selling the car once there.   We picked the POS up and packed all of our stuff in for the trip North feeling confident that the $150 we’d just invested in it would be sufficient to get us the 3 hours North to Byron and Freedom from this machine. Home free….

Or so we thought. Once back on the open road, my foot found the gas pedal and we were passing cars and cruising at 130kph in no time.   And then we got pulled over.  Dammit!  The policeman was driving in the opposite direction and flashed his lights at us before spinning around and pulling in behind us.  Bazza and I just started laughing.  What luck we have.

He took my information and when he came back I asked him what seemed to be the problem.

“Please step out of the vehicle.”

“Besides the fact that it looks like you’ve been using it as a 4WD in the bush and is dirty and dented.  Your taillights are out, as are your blinkers and left headlight.  You’re going 20 k’s over the limit, you have no rear view because of all the stuff in your car and it sounds like your muffler is damaged.”

“This car is a POS.” Yes sir I know.

I gave him the spiel about us making a movie and how we had hit a kanga the night before and it must of done the electrical in.  Him, I, and Bazza laughed our asses off at how bad of shape the car was in and we talked about diving and surfing.  He said he’d write us a ticket for just the Blinker being out but we had to promise to stop and fix everything at the next Petrol station.  All the while Bazza is filming and taking pictures as I stand beside our battered car and have this cop telling me that I don’t have to pay the ticket if I don’t want to.  “If you are thinking about coming back to Oz to live I’d pay it but if not I’d just throw it in your photo album for a good laugh later.”  Priceless.  That is the first and last time I ever expect to hear that from a policeman anywhere in the world.

(As luck would have it that is the only ticket I didn’t pay of the 8 or so I received from speed cameras and will no doubt be the one that screws me when I try and come back. Handcuffs at the airport anyone?)

WE kept our word and Bazza fixed the lights at the next gas station and we were back on the road again, recharged knowing that lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice so we figured we had paid our dues for the car that day already.

“You hear that?” Bazza asks me.

Hear what?

“That clicking noise.  That’s a new sound.”

Where’s it coming from?

“Sounds like from the engine.  See! It gets louder every time you step on the gas.”

What do you think it is?

“I don’t know but I can tell you its not good and it sounds like its getting worse.”

At this point we were about 20 K’s short of the turnoff for Yamba and in the middle of nowhere.  (Not that Yamba is really anywhere either.  It’s a town of about 6000 if that.)  There are no Servo’s (Service Stations) until then so we have no choice but to keep going.

With the temperature gauge rising Bazza leans out the window filming and wetting himself he is laughing so hard because the “tink, tink, tink, tink” sound has grown steadily louder and is now “clank, clank, clank.”

Moving over to the slow lane the noise increases to the point where we are both laughing so hard I can barely steer.  Really now what the hell could this be!  We reach the Exit and have to make a decision whether or not to gamble and go the 18 k’s to Yamba(which actually has surf and things to do) or take the safe route and go left to Maclean (town of 1200) which is only 4 K’s distant.   The choice is easy.  We go left.

There was no reason to call ahead, the entire town knew we were coming and why we were here.

200 meters ahead of us people were whipping their heads around at the god awful sound of our approach.  There was no hiding our shame so we embraced it.  Brad waved to the towns people like I was escorting him to Homecoming but the shouts of encouragement (or so we’d like to think) could not be heard over the now deafening sound emitting from underneath our hood.  Little kids were covering their ears and pointing as it now sounded like someone was hitting the engine block with a sledgehammer every half a second.

So it was with great surprise that before we even came around the corner to the service station the three mechanics started walking outside and laughing at us.

“She’s fucked Mate!”

Tell us something we don’t know.

“No Mate. She’s really fucked.  Go ahead and get your gear out she needs a new engine before she’ll run again.  That sound you hear, that is the bearing at the bottom of the engine that has dropped out and it’s banging around inside the block.  There is no fixing this one. “

OK. It’s beer o’clock.  Thank goodness for the eskie.  We cracked a few beers and tried to get as much info out of the mechanics as possible about the chances of getting on our way again.   They freely accepted the beers but there was no getting around the fact that it was time for me to part ways with the Corona and we set forth to find a new chariot to take us on more adventures through the country. As luck would have it, our new chariot was closer than we thought and the sight of the purple curtains and the column stick shift did little to deter us from claiming our prize and heading off into the sunset in record time.  The Toyota Lite Ace (a mini van of microscopic proportions) was to be our new home and with no time to lose we put her back on the open road barely hearing the mechanic say to keep her under 90 kph. Or did he say it at all?  Anyway we were back on the road and out of Maclean and… overheating and broken down on the side of the road 10 minutes later.

Stripped of our new car we were forced to wait out  repairs before we could get on the road again.  That night we slept in a room above the most raucous, and possibly only, bar in the town of Maclean and being the only Americans trapped there in the history of this Scottish Australian  town, you can only imagine how well we fit in… but that’s another story.

Video:

Why you need an Official Scale. World Record Dogtooth Tuna

Yesterday I was moved to tears by the most incredible fish i have ever seen in my life. 
Diving in Indonesia is one of the most frustrating and difficult projects I have ever embarked on and without an amazing amount of patience, stamina and skill there is no way that you can be successful in a diving environment such as this.
Starting the day we jumped in to a mere 4 knots of current and drifted for 4 hours landed two Dogtooth tuna 40 and 100 lbs which are both excellent fish in any locale. 
Taking a break during the day we went and visited a deserted beach on a faraway shore and as we explored teh little spit of sand and the surrounding countryside Craig and I gave thanks for such a beautiful and unspoiled place on earth that we were able to enjoy.
With the two fish in the boat and our time expired we decided to head back to the mainland 2 hours away. Something in me felt wrong though and I persuaded the boat driver to stay another hour ($15 more) so that we could dive in the ever increasing current for one last shot. 
With a rain squall coming hard on us and the visibility darkening we decided on one last drift. Craig had just broken one blade on his fin and told me, “This is the last drift, make it count, I’ll ride shotgun and bring the second gun so you can shoot your fish twice…”
5 minutes later i was relaxed and diving down through the warm surface layer to the cooler water below relishing the change in temperature that these type of Tuna love so much. At 50 feet i stopped kicking and glided down to find a school of dogtooth tuna surrounding me from 15 to 120 lbs. Patiently i glided deeper and caught sight of the black back of a slightly bigger one on the bottom at 90 feet. Passing the other smaller tuna the big fish turned slightly just as i reached the end of my float line and i squeezed the trigger.
Thunk!
The fish immediately shook his gills and then made two circles on the bottom banging the shaft against the coral in an attempt to break free of the object now lodged in his after half. 
As the great fish strained for deep water i pushed hard for sunlight and grabbed my passing floats on the surface just in time to tell Craig, ” I shot a TOAD!!!!”
Nervous the the fish would pull out i fought him as gingerly as possible and within a few minutes we had him in sight. As he neared the surface I could see he was hurt bad but there was no way i was going to lose this fish and I grabbed my 115 Omer America with a reel from Craig, cocked it, dove and approached him. At 12 feet my lungs were screaming for air at the exertion of the last few minutes and I prayed that my shaking hands would aim true.. whoosh! The fish went stiff and i surfaced pulling the ever growing fish to me.
Oh my god. Oh my god.
I can’t wrap my arms around him! I have never screamed so loud in my life. The rocky cliffs a mile distant reverberated with the sound of my voice and then mingled with that of Craigs and the boat driver. 
With a raging 10 kt current approaching I handed the tail of the fish to the boat driver and jumped in the boat to relieve him but even with Craig and I pulling we could not budge the fish from the water. Trailing the fish to calm waters the three of us pulled the beast into the boat and then there was complete silence.
Looking at the 6 ft long fish at my feet my mind shut down and I was flooded with emotion at what I had before me. Never in my life could i have imagined this possible. Craig and I stared in utter silent disbelief. 
Dogtooth Tuna. What I have always preached as the most challenging and difficult fish in the world to land. Diving 30 miles from civilization in 6-10 kts of current. The whitewater rafting we had done the week before doesn’t even compare to the whirlpools and down currents and 5 ft standing waves we encounter every drift here. 
I can’t describe to you how incredible this day is and how meaningful it is to me. Of all the fish in the world this is the one record i have coveted the most. 
200.6 lbs. 6 feet long and 4.5 feet in girth.
I am the luckiest man alive. 
Cameron

VIDEO:

World Record Dogtooth Tuna on boat