35kg Samson fish, bit differnt to a welsh Bass!!!

[tecdave]

This is the largest of the Samson fish I shot while in Australia. This one was taken in 12m of water in Albany western Australia. Am now in New Zealand so hopefully there will be some more pics to follow

[tecdave]

Was ok eating.............for the first 3days!!!!! there was some serious fillets on the beast!!
Am in Auckland at the mo, so will look pablo up.

Hope you are still on the mend Alison,
Take care

Dave

[Murat]

superb fish...They are best on BBQ IMO

[shaneshac]

How many Samson fish have you eaten Murat?

[miles]

Hiya

Lovely stuff!!!!!!!!!

So, where's the story?? There MUST be a story..........

Eagerly awaiting!!!

Regards
miles

[portinfer]

Bass will never look the same again.

Bet you were freaked out by the size of the beast.

Nice one.
Ed

[Murat]

Originally Posted by shaneshac

How many Samson fish have you eaten Murat?

Am i slow tonight? I didn't get the joke

[Yeti]

Nice one dave, good fish!............ You smug GIT!!
Hope you're having a groovy time and c ya around.
I do hope you dont become so spoilt that we wont be seeing you in uk waters any more!!
I'm looking forward to some Bass with John this summer now you've stopped nailing them!!
I see your aim has improved!!!
All the best and happy new year.

[tecdave]

Sorry it’s a bit late but here we go!

Was diving of mysterious island just out of Albany WA, plan was to swim around the island starting from the northern side. Managed to pick up a few abs in shallow water and then headed out further. This side of the island was pretty shallow (max 5m) but there was a few fish about (leatherjackets and zebra's).
When I got to the point the viz started to really clean up and I found a few nice drop offs and ledges in about 12-15m. There were queen snapper and a few fox fish around one of which ended up on my line! At the eastern end of the island a number of smaller islands extend for a couple of hundred meters out. After swimming past the first one I was scanning the ground in front of me when 2 good Sambos came in for a look. I took a quick breath and descended making sure I was looking away from them, I levelled of at 5 m and looked round for them but......they had buggerd off!!!! I stayed around this area for a while and even tried to get them back with a bit of burley but no joy.

I continued round the smaller outcrops and to the Southern side of the main island, this is when it happened!! I had just done a few dives to 15m after seeing a sizable snapper and was resting on the surface when a school of about 30 large sambos came cruising in. I immediately dived and was amazed that they came in so close, they gave me plenty of time to pick out the largest of the group and I let fly. The spear struck and had gone all the way through, at first I thought I had stoned it but then after a few seconds it went off!! I was using a 2m rob allen bungee and it was at its max!! The fish was doing large wide circles and was not tiring in the slightest! I managed to make some ground on it a few times but no sooner had I gained 3m it would take it straight off me and more. After about 20mins I had my hand on the shooting line and thought it was getting close, but with a sudden surge it took off with me in tow, I managed to let go at about 4m depth; it was the closest I’ve come to a no limits dive!!! A lot of blood was coming out of the fish at this stage and it was definitely tiring. I finally managed to get my hand on the spear and my legs wrapped round the beast! And with a quick jab to the head it was all over bar the tow back! And what a tow back I was only about half way round the island when I got the fish so it was a good 40 mins swim against a slight current to get back to the beach. I was bloody knackered.
All that was left then was to get it weighed (went just over 35kg) and divide it up around the camp site!

Sorry it’s a bit long but was great to re-live the day again!

Take care
Dave

[Memo]

awesome story thank you!

[Murat]

very nice story. Take care in NZ, they are some GWS activity.

[daveking]

davo,
I finally found you on her. A boring day at school mate so I decided to trawl through deeper blue.
The samson fish looks awesome. I will have to get into that side of it soon. No spearing here (kuwait), but I will see what I can do.
Heading off to Sri Lanka on Fridayt and will take my fins...
Take care mate and Kia Ora!
Dave

[takeshi]

Really a nice story. Australia and new zealand seem like a spearos heaven. New Zealand is the farthest away that it is possible to go from sweden, so I guess I have to go there to fish. What gun and spear did you use? How did you cook it, on the bbq?

[Erik]

Great story, nice fish, thanks.
Cheers,
Erik Y.

[PhilLJCA]

forgive my ignorance, but is a samson fish a member of the jack family? we dont (to my knowledge) have them in the eastern pacific. how big do they get?