b"SPEARFISHINGTOP VISIBILITY On my swim to the point promising signswould return in fifteen minutes to check Upon reaching the islands we werewere abundant as lots of pannies werewhether the berley had worked.greeted with calm conditions andparked up in nooks and crevices slowly classic winter visibility for the outerwaking up to start their feeding. I knewPAUA TREATSislands. Although the sun was stillI did not have a lot of time on my handsIn the meantime, I headed into the coming up over the horizon, thebefore the golden hour of snapper huntingshallows to search for shellfish. I found seafloor was visible 15m below. A nicewas over, so passed up the opportunitysome large paua, a real treat for the reprieve from the 2-4m visibility backto take a few pannies and insteadnorth island. It is important to sustainably on the coast. concentrated all my time and energy onharvest an area so when I do find crayfish Winter diving can be prettygetting to the point.or paua, I only take a couple as there unmotivating but when you are greetedAs I got closer the pannies became moreis no reason to wipe out a whole area with 15m visibility at the Mercs, youabundant and the viz got slightly worse (asjust because they seem abundant. It is know it is going to be a great day andto be expected when reaching a pressureimportant to note that paua are anemic, so with that I slipped over the side intopoint.) On reaching the end of the pointmeaning they will bleed to death if cut. the cold, clear water. After catching mythe rocks tapered off slowly beforeTherefore, it is crucial to measure the breath, I began swimming west along adropping directly off from 10m to aroundpaua before you take them off the rock, rocky part of the coast. My destination12m and then beyond.Knowing this wasthey do not move so you don't need to was the point, where I knew deep waterthe perfect spot for a big snapper I beganrush and scrape them off as soon as you would not be far away and that thehunting around for kina. Collecting a bagsee them. There is no reason for juvenile location would cause currents to meet,full I dumped them on the ledge, smashedmortality. Know your limits, take only swirling and creating a pressure point.them up and headed off, leaving themwhat you need and measure them before The perfect location for a deep berley.to bring in the snapper from out deep. Iyou take them using a round blunt tool. Measure your paua first before prizing them off the rocks as this can kill them if undersize.The writer only takes a few legal sized paua from a spot to help their limited numbers.The Mercury Islands offer good crayfish diving if you can get out there in between the bad winter weather.42FISHING IN GODZONE SEP/OCT 2021"