Andrew has been diving for the third time with a lot of luck. We always have a good time no matter how hard the ocean conditions. We started early in the morning and it pay off. almost all the spot we stopby we manage to shot a fish. We finish the day with a nice catch of 2 wahoo, 1 rainbow runner and Giant Trevally. We didnt waste time and cook the fish in Chez Nina Restaurant.
3 day trip spearfishing at the eastern part of Bali is like running a marathon for 3 day. We experience strong current, unfriendly swell, but its all worth it because we witness school of dogtooth tuna, GT and plenty of giant reef fish..
Day 1:
Spearfishing in East Bali is a nice Challenge , the fish are smart the spots are variating in depth around 5-15m, everything can be found from big midnight snappers, maori seaperch, red seabass , job fish , and the occasional swimming by Giant Trevally. Justin our customer already was on the island and booked a 2 days trip to go spearfishing with us, i arrived the day before and cusulted him on the evening whats about to happen the next f
ew days and what we are going to do, organised our boatman so everyone is on the same page and there wont be any miscommunication.
Next next morning at 6am I picked justin up from his Hotel and we made our way on the scooter to Made’s house and grabbed all our gear and walked it down the beach to the boat, the Tide was very low so we had to slowly drive out of the bay to not damage the propeller of the engine, after we hit deep water we started steaming out with 25knots heading for our first fishing spot on the side of nusa Penida the island next to Nusa lembongan,
Stunning coastline
We geared up and had a quick communication how the spot looks like, how to hunt it and where to look.
As we jump in the water is a bit colder due to incoming tide and the upwelling of the colder water from the deep , and its early in the morning where the sun is still low , perfect hunting conditions since the fish wont be able to see our shadows and we can sneak up easily,
i went down and did a bottom time, and spotted few Maori Seaperch but they where really shy , also few midnight snapper but since it was just the warmup dives my Mammalian dive reflex was not fully in action yet. So we let the fish be and hope we can shot them another day.
We left the bay for another bay to show some other reef fish species and ended up with few sweetlip and dived few caves which where really cool, the structure in East Bali are awesome, sometimes you don’t need the gun and can just enjoy the freediving part. The big caves and rocks are perfect hideouts for Red Seabass so you always keep an eye open and try to maximise your bottom times and hiding skills.
Hotel View
We dived bit along the coast and then decided to change the scenery to a beach break where we can find some Maori seaperch, the swell was around 4feet so the spot had lots of surge but the more active the fish are, we tried our luck at few nice 10kg seaperch but due to moving surge underwater at the point of shooting we got moved, it’s a nice smart and challenging fish, which ends up not only as perfect food but an amazing trophy for every spear fisherman. As the day passes by hunting the fish , we slowly get tired and decided to finish after 6hours of diving to be ready for the next day.
Day 2:
On that trip we are a bigger team , as Alexander and Peter join us for some hunting
We swap it out to be more exciting , Alexander joined up with me to hunt some big trophy GT’s and Justin went with Peter to slay reef fish.
In the first spot we experience some murky water , despite that fact we still jump in , the swell was big too so we couldn’t get to close to the wall but managed to do some good dives,
Offshore lifestyle
Alex dove down and shot a perfect sized Golden Trevally for Sashimi and we both where stoked, but the conditions were getting worse so we decided to move spot to another bay and hunt for some reef fish.
Justin and Peter seen many reef fish but due to surge the hunting was hard and they shot few parrot fish for dinner that day.
In the next spot Alex and I did some few deep drops on a Seamoun, i’ve spotted a big Giant Trevally on my first drop and called Alex over so he can have a go with his custom made Andre Speargun Quad Roller on the big dark GT (approx 35kg) despite the current we had to fight we stayed at the spot at hoped for something big to pass by , but as we know the famous GT sometimes they just patrol the area and that guy was a patrolling one , he didn't return and continued to look for his lunch at the next pit stop.
Peter and Justin landed a nice jobfish and travally when they where hunting in the reef, which is an amazing catch and perfect sashimi as we know the famous job fish for his soft white flesh.
Green Jobfish, Parrotfish and Trevally
After around 7h we all been tired but wanted to save our energy for the next day because thats when the action begins!!
Day 3:
We shot a unicorn fish to bring out the big boys and it works like a charm. The first batch was 30-50 GTs average size was 20 kg. The biggest was atleast 40kg to 50 kg. Hubert Shot a 19kg GT.
The second batch after the GT was shot the fish we all waiting for the famous Dogtooth Tuna. 3 Doggie 10-20 Kg size, then not long after 20-40 kg size in group of 20-30.. We try our best to come close but the attempt was not successful.
Heavy gear for the big boys!!
later of the day Hubert attempt to shot few Green Jobfish but the jobby manage to break off.. but he manage to secure 2 small doggy for sashimi lunch. To sum up all the trip we are very happy that nature still manage to fight back. The spot that we visited have been overfish the last 10 year. But what we saw that day put a big smile in our face.
I have great respect for famous doggy spot, my advise you must always dive save, dont take any risk, and think positive. On Day 3 i almost fainted twice due to equalizing problem, i experience extreme dizzyness going up to the surface after a dive and lost balance. luckly i have my bouy not to far and i quickly hang on to it to rest. For 2 weeks i have problem with migrane and low blood pressure. The problem was blood was not flowing properly to my head. A quick fix by mr Ketut, my migrane and blood probem dissapear. Healing Bali style...
North Bali is perfect if you want to experience both blue water and reef Spearfishing. We have 6 FAD to hunt the famous Mahi-Mahi , Wahoo, Sailfish, Skipjack Tuna, Tripple Tail, Rainbow Runner and Yellowfin Tuna.
Alex Personal Best Spearfishing Rainbow Runner
Second personal best Beautiful Female Mahi Mahi
The reef we have several spots to choose from acording to the tide, visibility and moon phase. The first day we hunt at the FAD and the result was good, Giant rainbow runner 5 Kg, 8 kg Mahi Mahi, and 3 kg Skipjack tuna.
The next day we hunt at the reef but visibility was not so good we manage to hunt few medium size. Overall is a the trip was good experience with good dive buddy.
The second trip with Kevin Noone ended with spectacular spearfishing hunting result. we came back with a smile in our face with disbelief with all our experience hunting at blue water.
FAD #1
First drift we got a taste of what is coming for us. Second drift bam!! first Mahi Mahi Down, and 2 more follow (Even Capt. Edi Van Halen caught one on his handline)
FAD# 2
First Drift we scouted and saw what we came for. Seond Dirft and third drift was Bulls on Parade. Kevin Shot his first Bull. There was 2 other bull roaming but kept it distance. Then i spoted a Wahoo by iteself. I drop and waited for it to come closer and bam!! wahoo on the boat.
FAD # 3
more Mahi Mahi and we each shot one and call it a day. Our Cooler was full :)
Kevin Noone and Peter Oprandi Posing with Mahi Mahi and Wahoo
We started the dive with really good visibility during high tide. We did a drift dive with mild current through different bays. Result was a good size Maori Seaperch, Parrotfish, and small GTs..
We Start the trip with few trip toilet run, i guess is a routine between the 3 of us. Is either before or in the ocean we do the number 2. Sorry guys to many information, but can't help it, it is the reality after eating Spicy Balinese food!!
Captain John was amazing, He have positive vibe and keep our spirit high even though the visibility was getting worse. First spot Hubernator (Hubert Haciski )shot the first fish for chumming at the next spot. We have to move because all the bible maker start surrounding the spot into massive bubble maker orgy.
Second spot looks very potential but visibility was not compramising , so we give it few try but didn't see any monster.
Merman and his weapons
Third spot 3rd dive Seagrizzly (Brett Levingston) shot a good size Spanish Mackerel. The moral just went up so high all of us start hunting like snipper.
Fourth spot the visibility was perfect Spanish Mackerel and Wahoo. But all we see is big Rainbow runners and Queenfish. The lost spot we all hunt for reef fish. Shot my biggest Black and white Snapper. It was huge and my personal best.
On the way back Captain John engine stop because of fuckers throwing thrash in the ocean and got stuck in the propeller. Guess where the engine stop? right where the reef and wave break. We all panic and jump out of the water making sure the boat don't capsize. lucky captain John skills with the knife manage to untangled the propeller on time and switch the engine on and escape without harming the boat!!
Filleting station
SeaGrizzly with his Mack
Overall it was a good trip with the Boys and always dive save people!! there is always another day, to drill a hole on the one fish you dream about!
Eastern Bali during this month is the month of love for the manta ray. So you can see hundred of them everywhere. Matteo try to join the party but was shortly left out. He is not the manta type.
Manta Ray Swimming at The Bay
Then he hunting begin, he shot a good size maori seaperch, barracuda, big rainbow runner , GT and jackfish.
Since my first trip to Nusa Penida, I know what people really mean when they talk about crystal clear water. As a former diver I've already seen clear water in the Red Sea, on the West Coast of Australia, in the Andaman Sea and even on one or two occasions in the South of Bali. But seeing close to 50 meters under water was something I haven't been privileged to experience so far. This was reason enough to really look forward to my second trip to this little, beautiful island off the East Coast of Bali.
Already before I jumped into the water, I noticed that something was different this time. At my favourite spot around the island, a lot of things were floating on the water. Some wood, some leaves and a lot of plastic trash. It was strange to see the Canang Cari slowly drifting from the boat to the massive garbage carpet as soon as it was given to the sea. So this offering for the gods given by my two local friends ahead of every fishing day was for once not the beautiful and impressive tradition I've learnt to appreciate so much. The trash just didn't fit to this underwater paradise full of beautiful, healthy corals, turtles and all kinds of fish. I'd rather wanted to see some sharks instead. But it seems that we humans see trash as a replacement for everything we take out of the sea...
Also not impressive was the water below the surface. A visibility of around 15 meters might be highly welcome in South Bali, but for sure not at this underwater heaven. The reason for the poor visibility was not only the milky water, but also some more trash. Huge amounts of garbage were floating in the current. My eyes didn't want to believe it at first, but there was no doubt that this was the very spot where the term “crystal clear water” was explained to me a little while ago.
I didn't have a lot of time to be disappointed though. Because soon I noticed that between the pieces of plastic were also some fish. So I dived down to take a closer look and soon met a big group of Rainbowrunners. I tried to get myself into a good position, but wasn't able to get close enough to a fish. On my second dive I was more lucky. I didn't even have to dive deep to meet the Rainbowrunners, because one approached me from behind and swam right into my reach.
I had no time to enjoy the catch of this beautiful fish, because luck decided to be on my side this day. Right after my first catch I spotted the silhouette of a fish right in front of me, but quite deep down. The fish didn't look that big, but I was sure it was not one of the Unicorn or Surgeon fish roaming around this spot. So I took a deep breath and dived slowly straight down. When I was at the same depth as the fish, I noticed two things: I was right about the species, but wrong about its size. Just 6 or 7 meters away was a big Giant Trevally swimming around.
My first reaction was the same as always: Excitement. The moment I notice a big fish around, instinct takes over. My heartbeat doubles in a matter of seconds and my bloodstream is taken over by adrenaline. All the skills I've acquired over the past two years are gone. My inner voice screams like a maniac and my ego already sings a song about the great fisherman.
I know this feeling pretty good, because I've already had the luck to see a few big fish before. But for the first time I could calm down my heart and successfully control my instinct to rush towards the fish. Gently kicking my fins I managed to slowly approach the fish without scaring it off. The moment I shot, all the suppressed excitement came back up and put myself in a fight I'll hardly ever forget. I gave my everything to land this fish. And my efforts paid off: It was finally time to take home my first really big fish...
Actually this is not even true, because the fish of almost 10 kilos never left the island. I had the opportunity to share it with my friends, their families and their friends. Close to 20 people were around when we barbecued the fish over an open fire in the evening and enjoyed it with delicious Sambal Mentah. And because I know that nothing of the fish was wasted and that the fish was really appreciated, I'm very happy that I still have to bring my first big fish home...
Thank you guys for your time and sampai jumpa lagi
We start diving at 6:15 A.M. The visibilty was poor. The fish was not there. The usual big GT, Barracuda, and Snapper are no where to be found. Search at usual spot but nobody is home. Then after an hour the water started to change and Matteo was on the right spot and start shooting rainbow runners, blue trevally, queenfish and the fish we all want longnose emperor. Myself and luc finally saw and speared some rainbow runners. But didnt see and other fish. After half an hour water change again. So we left to check another spot.
The next spot was a sea-mount the usual resident are GT, and Dogtooth Tuna. The sea current was quiet strong which was good because usually the big guys are out. Again me and Luc didn't see any fish worth shooting but Matteo manage to find a spot where there is a group of Bigeye Trevally. He shot the biggest from the group. Not long after the shot, the current direction started to change. The fish move spot. Matteo manage to locate the spot and i went to dive. But i only found small Bigeye Trevally. This trip was Matteo luck.
Thanks to Matteo he left me my favorite fish Emperor Snapper. Cooked the fish for dinner and rainbow runners fish n chips for the kids.
Waking up on Monday morning at 3:30 took a lot of effort! Thanks to yerbas mate tea it solved all the problem. Dimas showed up late, is his first spearfishing trip and Enk showed at 4:00 am already smoking Kretek cigarette. 5:00 am we head straight to East Bali to hunt.
I haven't seen Ketut the boat owner for 2 year and he is one of my favorite, he never judge or question my demand. He so patience and chilled.
Before sunrise we were heading to the first spot. A bit nervous about the visibilty but it payoff waking up extra early to watch the beautiful sunrise. The water is great and visibility was acceptable. We didnt see any Dogtooth or big GT. Only saw 1.5 kg skipjack and few grouper.
The next spot was the same nothing worth pulling the trigger, but it was good dive. happy to see sea turtle on both spot and some whitetip.
Third spot is where i encounter big Dogtooth in the past but today result was nil. We chum the whole area but no sign of them. The place is also a favorite spot for local jiggers. Ketut also said the whole year his customers only caught one 40 kg Dogtooth. Is sad to hear that and is even more sad not to see any big fish. Enk manage to shoot a small GT and that was the highlight of the third spot.
second spot good visibility
Heading back from the third spot
The last spot was our last hope in bringing dinner home. The visibility was really poor, Milky on the top but clear on bottom. I have no choice but to start shooting anything decent, which was Rainbow runners for fish and chips. Then queen fish start coming when i still have the rainbow runner on shaft. As soon as i reload they were gone. It was nice 3-5 kg size. Then me and enk start shooting more rainbow runner and i shot trevally. But the queen fish is nowhere to be seen.The last spot is famous for Mangrove jack and Scribbled snapper but they all decided to chilled at their hiding spots.
Overall it was a nice day at the ocean, we save in total 5 turtle in different spot, enk saw the biggest one in his life, so it must be a huge one. We also saw solo dolphin, it either sick or ready to give birth because it was swimming in seclude bay. There was few 1 kg size Dogtooth hopefully it will grow and get super fat soon to reach a good size. We also saw 10kg size school of rainbow runner but dissapeared in a second. Thank you to Dimas for all the nice Picture and hopefully one day will join us future hunting trips.
Start early in the morning, current was strong, but the water is still crystal clear. I love blue water spearfishing, you never know what to expect from the dept.. First spot we were greeted by small Mahi mahi, then finally the size we have been waiting for since the beginning of this year. 10 kg mahi mahi went right in front of Arvid and he claim the spear didnt go through, i reckon he miss!! unfortunately that was the highlight of the day. the rest of the fish was amberjack, rainbow runner and triple tail. All the size weren't too big. Again a sad day for Bali...
Enter water around 6:45, big swell, water visibilty was average, Low tide was around 1 meter. There was a lot small school of rainbow. so it was my first shot of the day.. i choose the biggest out of the crowd which was around 1.5 kg. Then i spotted 2 Golden Trevally and it took me to dive to finally spear one. The rest of the day only found smaller golden spotted trevally. There was Big 40 kg grouper but it was to far and it wont let you go close. After 1.5 hour the water was merky move to another spot and was so happy to see school of juvenile Dogtooth tuna. I hope in year is big enough to bring home.
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