New Year's Eve spearfishing in Russia

[hyeparis]

2 ILDiver .
I am starting to think Wisconsin is the place to go next time I visit US. I have a fellow journalist I used to work with living there. Also another buddy of mine has recently visited a Wisconsin university where a local professor (British btw) told him that he was hunting and spearfishing every week-end! and each time would get a trophy.
Spearos here also go to NPP's - one nearest to Moscow is called Desnogorosk NPP and for the same reason the channels don't freeze there, but the trophies are real modest - small "channel" catfish could be found there as well as roachfish - result of overfishing again and general bad ecology.

[ILDiver]

Hyeparis, I just checked out your Youtube again. The Russia with Brittney did make me laugh. But the small rivers of Central Russia, the open country out of water shots...still my favorite.

[Erik]

Bastards!

[hyeparis]

Originally Posted by ILDiver

Hyeparis, I just checked out your Youtube again. The Russia with Brittney did make me laugh. But the small rivers of Central Russia, the open country out of water shots...still my favorite.

Thank you for your kind words! As for Britney, after I have recently read the following ultimate wisdom uttered by her, I think of my fishing with b. spears video as a sort of a visionary piece of art: „In the future, I will refrain from discussing my private life in interviews. It will be expressed solely through art" - Britney.

[monchan]

Oh my god where's it gone? I'm in need of an immediate hot bath due to shrinkage just by looking at those pictures.

You are one brave fella.

[hyeparis]

Thank you, Monchan!
I am not alone in doing this either in Russia or beyond. ILDiver is informing us that they diving in winter in Wisconsin. This gives me solace that when the Measurement Day comes I won't be alone at the bottom of the table with final results.
May I ask whether you spearfish in Japan and, if so, where I can read up on this subject. A group of spearos from Moscow visited the Kuril islands last year and they filmed how they speared off the Shikotan island - mostly it was morray eels.

[monchan]

Mate I take my hat off to anyone who dives in those conditions. Yeah I do spearfish here, Although last year was my first season and I have only ever used a pole spear.
I did used to do a bit back in Australia when I was young. Again only with a polespear. But I get plenty of fish and I don't go hungry. I have got myself a gun for this coming season, I hope it's not too difficult to get used to. The rest of my kit I'm trying to put together bit by bit. (when the wife in in a good mood)

Anyway the fish I mainly get are

Ishidai/ striped Knifejaw , Great eating / good sashimi
Kurodai/ black sea bream, also great eating/ sashimi.
These are the two I hunt for the most.

others that I like to get are

leatherjackets although easy, I like eating them
flathead
flounder
rockcod
squid and oysters/ really big ones in the summer.

‹›“Ë‚«�EƒXƒsƒAƒtƒBƒbƒVƒ“ƒO‘��‡ƒTƒCƒg MOGULER'S DELIGHT this is a site with an English page not much info. It's a club that uses homemade polespears. It's got a photopage you can see some of the fish I mentioned.

�é‹ÊŒ§�âŒËŽs�EƒGƒLƒXƒp�[ƒg�@ �…’†�e�E”Ì”„�@ƒXƒsƒAƒtƒBƒbƒVƒ“ƒO(‹›“Ë‚«)�AƒXƒsƒAƒK ƒ“(�…’†�e)�AŽèçó(Žèƒ‚ƒŠ)�Aƒ�ƒ“ƒOƒtƒBƒ“�A–À�ʃEƒGƒb ƒgƒX�[ƒc“™�A”Ì”„‚µ‚Ä‚¨‚è‚Ü‚·�B‚¨Žæ‚舵‚¢ƒ��[ƒJ�[�@RIFFE(ƒ‰ƒCƒt�Eƒ‰ƒCƒtƒ‹)�EKOISAN�EDIVEWAYS�EOMER( ƒIƒ}�[�EƒIƒ}�[ƒ‹)�EO.ME This one is an equipment shop (expensive)
but has some good photos pages of some of the fish we have,

On spearfishing planet there are a lot of people who spearfish in Okinawa, but I don't know much about things done there. I'm sure it's different and better than where I am. But I get good tasty fish pretty well everytime I go. I'm usually in and out within two hours with a good meal or two.

And the best thing is the beaches are mostly deserted. And I just bought a house 5mins from the beach. And my closeest spearfishing spot is about 15 mins by car.
Can't wait for spring. So I'll give you an invite as well, if you feel inclined to visit japan.

[monchan]

Wow those links look funny, They seem to work though??

[ILDiver]

Originally Posted by monchan

Wow those links look funny, They seem to work though??

I found this out too, converting links to a Ukraine site. The program that goes and gets the page titles does not like UTF-8 characters. So the link gets scrambled. I just edited mine to say what I want or found the text on the page and copy and paste it in. But the link is still good.

[hyeparis]

2 Monchan.
Thank you. The links did work. The first one opened up with quite a few impressive photos.
Lucky you! I wish I could live by the sea too.

[hyeparis]

Video I have just finished from clips flimed in 2005-2007
it is about spearfishing (sort of) in winter in small rivers of central Russia

YouTube - Winter spearfishing (sort of) in Russia

[ILDiver]

GAH! I am so jealous. That opening scene is Great! The building in the distance. Love it. Nice video!.

[hyeparis]

2 ILDiver.
Thank you for the kind words! The building is a former monastery built several centuries ago, but turned into a sanitarium during Soviet times. Recently, they have restored the cross on it and pained the walls - so it looks magnficent.

[hyeparis]

I went to the Seliger lake - 300 km away from Moscow - for a three-day get together of spearos that hang out at the spearfishing/diving club of the Russian Naby's central sports club which culminated in a cup hosted by this organization. We drove for about 3 and a hafl hours (heavy traffic) and then rode about 3 km in a fast boat by a beautiful monastery to a wild spot where about 50 spearos and their families were camping out. The visibility turned out to be low - only about 1 meter in most of the lake, but 3-meter in one of the parts connected to the main lake by a small channel. We scouted the lake for two days on boats, but could not find anything decent, other than pikes, tenches, although more experienced spearos (mostly local guys) got some eels. The second day was my birthday so my buddy (it was the second time in his life that he tried to spearfish - I convinced him to give it a try) got real drunk and the next day when the cup was to take place he would not wake up! So my team, which I officially designated as Nagorno Karabakh team, turned out to be a one-man show. First I dove for eels - there is a grassy spot in the middle of the lake - at about 6 mm, but visibility is real low there - less than a meter - and only if use a flashlight - so that affected my breath holding ability and I switched to a place with better visibility and scouted the borderline between open water and reed(?) that way I got two pikes - but I was braining one, I let go of my Belarussian-made gun and it sank! (the spear rod didn;t come out fully so it didn't go up as it usually does) - I spent about hour looking for it - but water got real murky after one dive in that spot so I could not find it. And the other gun failed me in the end too -- Omer Tempest - it would not shoot. I ended up being second to last amont those spearos that had fish, but there were quite a few that didn't get anything at all, including the guy who won the spearfishing cup in Anapa, Black Sea, in May. The winner got about 10 kilos of different fish, including dog fish, eels, as well as pikes and tenches. You can find some photos of scenary here. moscowhack - Селигер�ка� Охотопь�нка
I made them using my phone cause my camera had drowned in Portugal. But I will post pics of fish as soon as my friends send me shots they took with their cameras.

[slingshaft]

Oh man, sorry to hear that you lost pneumo. If memory serves, that particular gun is a hand made custom design. Still, moment by moment, you moved through the event as a true competitor. Kudo's to you,your effort was with out a doubt "Against The Odds"

Kerry