Interview with Bryson Sheehy and Tim McDonald
Today’s interview is with 2022 Australian Spearfishing Champions Bryson Sheehy and Tim McDonald! Get an inside look into a national spearfishing competition from the winners of this year’s championship! The allure of competition spearfishing is captured well by their thoughts here, the appeal of planning and executing the perfect day and making some awesome memories! Listen to stories from the 3 day event and some of the memorable fish they encountered before and during the competition. They also give us some of their top tips for scouting, finding new ground and hunting efficiently for a competition – shooting fish on the way to and from spots! Some mega diving here, enjoy it! We hope this inspires you to enter a spearfishing competition!
Important times:
- 00:13 Intro
- 02:50 Welcome Bryson and Tim: the 2022 Australian Spearfishing Champions!
- 03:50 When did you decide to enter?
- 05:40 Team mate mentality and competition rules
- 09:30 Hunting the Maori Sea Perch
- 10:20 Why we love spearfishing competitions
- 13:20 Day 1: Fitzroy Lagoon
- 16:20 What did you get on day 1?
- 20:10 Hunting massive Red Mouth Rock Cod in dark caves
- 22:50 Planning and strategy
- 27:05 Mental approach to diving
- 35:15 What makes your team click?
- 41:00 Understanding fish behaviour
- 44:15 Why do you love competition spearfishing?
- 45:35 Tips on exploring new ground
- 47:40 Time management: things to consider
- 55:50 Scouting: to shoot or not to shoot
- 58:50 Diet and warm up tips for competition days. Dealing with cramp.
- 01:01:05 If I can’t equalize – I am dehydrated.
- 01:07:10 Day 2: Lamont Reef – shooting fish while swimming to spots
- 01:08:40 Finning hard and diving strong: how?
- 01:13:10 How to dive quietly and hunting in the shallows: don’t break the surface
- 01:18:25 Day 3: when do you feel fatigue?
- 01:22:30 The fish of a lifetime that got away
- 01:26:10 You both love your Riffe spearguns
- 01:28:50 Massive dives getting awesome fish
- 01:30:25 Searching for the massive Maori Sea Perch
- 01:33:45 What was it like finding out you won?
- 01:385:35 You two like the pairs competition format
- 01:42:10 How do you feel about the next generation of spearos and divers?
- 01:45:40 Social competitions at clubs
- 01:48:50 Extra things we forgot!
- 01:51:45 It was a massive team effort!
- 01:54:50 Shooting 3 Striped Boarfish with Daniel Mann
- 01:56:05 Mick McDade
- 01:58:05 Where has your fish knowledge come from?
- 02:00:00 Minimum sizes vs maximum size limits: fisheries management
- 02:08:15 The Australian Museum wants your fish?
- 02:10:20 Outro
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