b'SPEARFISHINGCrays are abundant in the surging shallows and the weed helps to secure a free diver.My breakaway rig doing as it should,appeared they departed, and we werein this instance, I would recommend came away from the speargun andleft alone again in the swirling blueavoiding taking females as much as allowed me to fight the fish with thegreen depths. possible. Males however are on the menu line and float. The shot had taken mostand can be identified by their larger of the power out of the fish so I calledCRAYS front legs and females have pincers on the boat over and fought the fish toWith kingfish ticked off the list it wastheir back legs. The hardest thing about the surface before getting it into thetime to go and hunt some crayfish, a localcrayfish is finding them, however in tiger boat, speed is key here as sharks aredelicacy in these parts. It takes aboutcountry where the jagged unhospitable common and the longer you are in theseven years for crays to reach maturitycoast is often undiveable, the job is made water the more likely it is that they willand if they can avoid divers, big snapper,much easier with their better numbers.turn up and take your prize. and octopus they can live to about thirtyAfter grabbing enough for a feed that From there it was now all on, as theyears old. With crayfish stocks dwindlingevening, we jumped back in the boat tide began to change and its like theit is becoming ever so important to limitand made our way back to land. As we dinner bell went off and schools ofyour catch and understand the lifecyclesmotored back into the bay with the sun huge kingfish began circling the area,of the species you are targeting. slowly sinking, we made a call to the with one of the other boys gettingThe number of eggs a female crayfishCoastguard closing our trip report and a spear in one we called it a dayis holding is relative to the size, so a bigthanking them for their watch.and enjoyed swimming with thesefemale is holding a lot of eggs. So leaveThe ocean is an unhospitable place and magnificent fish. Just as fast as theythe big ones theyre breeders rings truenowhere more so than the East Coast. 64FISHING IN GODZONE MAY/JUNE 2022'