It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, the thought of swimming around at night with a torch looking for squid, but veteran spearfisher Darren Shields has done lots of diving after dark over the years, and loves it…

Preparation is key to any successful night dive. When it gets dark, it’s easy to become disorientated. I make sure I understand the terrain I am about to swim around. Have a look in daylight at the area you’re going to dive in. It’s important if shore diving to know where some lights will be on shore so you can keep your bearings. If your diving from a boat, leave lights on in the boat. It’s amazing with no moon how dark it can be when you are in the water looking ahead or around you for an object.

Safety is paramount. I don’t suggest you try night diving if you’re new to the sport.

I have three torches with me – one to do the job and two backups just in case I stay longer or an issue arises with torch number one.

Always team up with someone and agree to keep a few metres apart with your spearguns – they shoot a long way remember. Make sure you have a clear picture of where your dive buddy is during the dive. Don’t dive areas with any boat traffic – the helmsman will probably not see you.

Darren's Wettie float boat all set up ready for the night dive.

Make sure all your gear is secured to you, your float or your float boat. It may not be best to anchor your float, but rather you should probably stay attached all the time. In the dark it’s easy for things to drift off and they’re much harder to locate than in the daytime.

We lost my float boat on a recent dive. It was looped through one of the diver’s arms without a drop weight. The diver realized after quite some time that the loop had slipped off his arm. When I found out, we both had a quick scan around the edge we were diving with our torches – no sign. I worked out very quickly that the float boat would travel quite quickly straight out to sea with the offshore wind at the time. This was happening around 12:15am on a very dark night!

I swam straight out to sea going with the wind and scanned ahead with my torch every few minutes. After quite a while the torch light caught a flicker of white – it was my dive flag on the float boat. I couldn’t see the float boat at that stage, just a flicker of white every now and then. I knew it could only be the float boat so I swam as hard as I could in that direction. After a few minutes the float boat showed up with the torch.

It was such a relief. Inside were four Go Pros, five squid and my car keys. As I grabbed the float line and the adrenaline ebbed, the demons of the darkness started to fill my head. In the torch light below me, darkness, emptiness. “How deep was the water?” I thought. I was a long way out to sea on my own, the dim streetlight a long way off!

Panic can set in at times like this. I decided it was best not to stare into the emptiness below me, so I turned the torch off, looked up at the street lights and swam steadily thinking good thoughts for what seemed like forever in complete darkness. I settled into my rhythm, my head cleared, the night demons defeated. Back at the rocks the world did feel a whole lot better.

Barry Baxter examining his catch.

So, night demons aside, how do you actually go about spearing squid at night? Scan slowly with your torch – it’s easy to miss a squid as their camouflage is very good. The flutter of their wings normally gives them away, providing a contrast to the static background behind them.

Aim for the middle – fancy head shots at the best of times are hard. Your shot will hold better in the middle as well.

When you do hit one, don’t be surprised by the amount of ink they fire out. It won’t hurt you. Some people try and iki the squid before it empties all its ink so they then use the ink in their recipe.

You can get quite close in the dark. They don’t tend to take off like in the daylight, especially if you can get right over the top of them. This is the best tactic when you see one.

Squid are hunting baitfish mostly. If you find a school, it’s generally a good indication of where the squid will gather. I think they hold better over weed than the sand. I believe that when a squid spots you over the sand without anything to camouflage themselves against, they will bolt.

I prefer, as during the day, an incoming tide up to midnight – outgoing to low has been disappointing. Of course, you will see plenty of fish, but on most dives, I leave them to sleep.

The reward after the late night mahi.

December 2021 - Darren Shields
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
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