check this out!!!! monster fish shot at 425'

[Rolando]

It certainly is a shame to see some folks on here and in other forums degrade this magnificent accomplishment. I for one am a freediver, but that does not prevent me from appreciating this for what it truly is: UNBELIEVABLE.

Negative emotions such as envy or jealosy will stagnate your own individual aspirations. This man risked his life accomplishing his dream of diving this depth for a fish that more than likely was approaching the end of its life. Why the negativity? This was a landmark harvest of a fish and it should be respected and glorified, not jabbed and belittled.

 

[Erik]

Im sure you will be sorely missed rofl see ya! :friday :friday :friday

He will be missed. Rig's been a voice of reason when others have lost their rationality. Rig presents good evidence and knows more about freedive/scuba hunting than most.
See ya next door Rig,
Erik Y.

 

[Oldsarge]

That is definitely one big fish.

 

[Huan]

To add my 2 centavos, This has been discussed on FDL etc ad nauseum with a broadly similar range of opinions.
In this case I do not know enough about the biology of these fish to have an opinion that is worth anything.
What I can see as someone with no real opinion either way is that Fishermen (I will use the term fishermen not fishers) should stick together, The old adage applies here united we stand divided we fall.
Your right to take fish can be eroded little by little especially when you see what divisions there are in the spearfishing community with Scuba Vs Freediving.
Legislators will produce laws that affect one camp and will be applauded by the other camp until they too are hit with the same restrictions.
In short it will be like Spy vs Spy an escalation that no-one wins.
Everyone should take a reality check, there are far more serious things affecting the sport than this one.
BTW Nice talking with you Rig, and hope I will see you again sometime.

 

[Murat]

Im sure you will be sorely missed rofl see ya! :friday :friday :friday

Have you been around long long enough to judge the value of his presence or absence?

I think you haven't, so why don't you keep your mouth closed and sit down? :rcard

 

[Murat]

The site is dead and honestly second teir in the spearfishing community to several others now. What a shame.

Mike,

I noticed you are telling this from time to time. Telling you that there are almost 6000 people on this forum and its impossible to everyone of them to evaluate the scenario from different perspective when its about freediving vs scuba thing. Probably you know about it.

Sometimes there are also some good chatting around i must accept not as lifefull as once it was (probably when there was less than 1000 members) but still calling the forum is dead and turning away should not be the action to take.

 

[QUETZAL]

To add my 2 centavos, This has been discussed on FDL etc ad nauseum with a broadly similar range of opinions.
In this case I do not know enough about the biology of these fish to have an opinion that is worth anything.
What I can see as someone with no real opinion either way is that Fishermen (I will use the term fishermen not fishers) should stick together, The old adage applies here united we stand divided we fall.
Your right to take fish can be eroded little by little especially when you see what divisions there are in the spearfishing community with Scuba Vs Freediving.
Legislators will produce laws that affect one camp and will be applauded by the other camp until they too are hit with the same restrictions.
In short it will be like Spy vs Spy an escalation that no-one wins.
Everyone should take a reality check, there are far more serious things affecting the sport than this one.
BTW Nice talking with you Rig, and hope I will see you again sometime.

Ditto !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[QUETZAL]

Yep have to agree with Amphi.
Why kill it, it must have taken a hell of alot of birthdays to get that big.
Can you eat it ???? (could feed a small town)
Sorry if its that far down and you have to use scuba i cant see the sport in it.

Crusty

"Sport" Please give a definition!

 

[biggsy]

should have left it alone. that's one helluva breeder.

no highfive from me.

A breeder that has lived out 98% of it's expected life. :girlie

 

[biggsy]

I am running into this freedive vs scuba shooter on thread with the guys from Australia, so I will just say my piece and be gone. It's a shame some of you that think you are better than the rest are really closed-minded.

I don't expect any of you to agree with our means of harvest or the fact that some of us mix SCUBA (to get deep water species) and free diving, yet we are not SPEAROS.

I don't insult what the breath holders do, I admire it. I saw it up close and personal when I was an observer at the Florida State Freediving Championships this past month. At times, some of you that think you are better than the Scuba divers should go back to holding your breath and do the rest of us a favor...don't take any more breaths. I am not current on the practices that freedivers use in your neck of the woods, but I don't think it's real sporting to float on the surface looking for pelagics and then pop a shaft with a break-away tip and a float attached and hundreds of feet of line on a reel into the first one that comes along. I don't see the challenge in that but that's just me. Me, I will stick to scuba and freeshafting and proper shot placement, I just think it's a more effective means of harvesting fish. You guys like what you do, I like what I do...I don't see any of you free diving to 400' to spear a reef fish, yet I don't see scuba divers shooting tuna and marlin either...

Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to advance this sport, that's for sure. Be proud of what you do, don't try and belittle the accomplishment of others.

Although I did not shoot this fish personally, all of the men with the exception of Ritchie (the one in the Wahoo pic) are in my spearfishing club. They have years of experience and I am just happy they shared the adventure with us.

Bottom line is what we do over here is legal. There is almost no bycatch. You might not like it, but we are not breaking any laws. You should be angry at what the longliner commercial boats are doing. Commercial fishing in the gulf accounts for 90% of the take, that leaves 10% for those of us that do it recreationally...now tell me who is raping the reef of it's species. If you haven't noticed we are governed heavily over here when it comes to fisherman's rights. We are losing our rights to spear fish (free or scuba) to commercial fisherman all the time. That is a cause worth figthing over.

There are several freedivers on Spearboard and any of you are welcome over there to share information, stories, pics or a good laugh. It's a great community, free and scuba alike.

Have a good one!

john biggs

 

[crusty]

"Sport" Please give a definition!

Sorry i do not see the Sport in hunting on scuba, you dont have to train your body to spend a long time without air while stalking or chasing a fish.
To become a good spearo takes allot a time, effort and practice and just strapping a tank on your back dosent cut it for me.
Having said that and after reading the other posts I can see that this fish was taken by a Professional Fisherman for the right reasons and not being a breeder i dont have a problem with it.
With the spearing on scuba stuff, I have been diving on Scuba for 20 years and was a working Padi instructor for 2 years, i have speared on scuba ( not alot ) as well as free diving and i find Free diving is just a more Pure version and more of a Sport for me.
Lets not turn this thread into a spearo/ scuba fight it happens all to much and is getting a tad booring, the two sides will never agree so leave it at that.
Again after reading the threads I have no problem with the killing of this fish , it was done for the right reasons and done corectly, But i do agree with Amphi that there are alot of idiots who do the same thing world wide and the fish just ends up in the bin

Crusty

 

[efattah]

I don't see any of you free diving to 400' to spear a reef fish, yet I don't see scuba divers shooting tuna and marlin either...

To my knowledge the deepest big fish ever caught while freediving was caught at a depth of 200 feet by an Italian spearfisherman. I also know that Alejandro Ravelo of Cuba caught a giant grouper at 175 feet while freediving.

With a large stone to help the descent (like the old pearl divers), there is technically no reason why a freediver couldn't catch a fish at 400 feet....

 

[biggsy]

To my knowledge the deepest big fish ever caught while freediving was caught at a depth of 200 feet by an Italian spearfisherman. I also know that Alejandro Ravelo of Cuba caught a giant grouper at 175 feet while freediving.

With a large stone to help the descent (like the old pearl divers), there is technically no reason why a freediver couldn't catch a fish at 400 feet....

I am waiting for the day and will applaud their efforts or send flowers to their funeral, whichever the case might be.

 

[Chad Carney]

Sorry i do not see the Sport in hunting on scuba, you dont have to train your body to spend a long time without air while stalking or chasing a fish.
To become a good spearo takes allot a time, effort and practice and just strapping a tank on your back dosent cut it for me.
Lets not turn this thread into a spearo/ scuba fight it happens all to much and is getting a tad booring, the two sides will never agree so leave it at that. Crusty

Crusty,

So you take your shots at scuba shooters, and in the same paragraph state not to turn this into a freediver/scuba fight, and to leave it at that?

You sound like my wife!

Many divers from the two sides can and do agree, because they realize that scuba spearfishermen of far less caliber than Headhunter are still certainly attempting the hunt against extreme conditions, much like those of an accomplished freediver.

Managing factors like great depth, gas planning, decompression, heavy equipment, navigation, and spearing big fish, are absolutely sporting!

Many Florida divers like myself and guys I know from Louisiana switch hit, side by side in the biggest of tournaments.

There is nothing sporting when an experienced diver shoots a stupid, weak, small fish in shallow water, whether holding his breath or breathing on a tank.
These are the fish to pass up... let them grow and become educated sporting prey.

Chad

 

[Jon]

425' makes for a pretty impressive wreck dive and I would like to see some more details on the dive- mixes used, deco program followed, bottom times and deco times used, bailout plans, ect. It sounded pretty nice to be able to trimix dive without a drysuit and argon bottle- plus, the 100' vis made cansiter lights uneeded. Whether ir not the fish shoud have been taken isn't important to me since it was all done leagally. I just want to know the planning details that went in to pulling off such a dive.

However, I don't consider it a sport, but then again I don't consider scuba diving a sport, an nice hobby maybe, but not a sport. It's kind of like the difference between bicycling and motorcyling. One takes money, and a bit of skill, while the other takes lots of physical training. All one has to do is look out at the "athletes" you see on most dive boats, especially "tech-dive" boats rofl , and you can tell that the word sport doesn't apply. I've dove with my share of two-pack a day overwieght trimix divers to realize that they couldn't swim a lap if they didn't have their gear, and a scooter or two.

Having said that I don't mean to take anything away from the dive. It takes some serious planning, work up dives, and a lot of CASH, to pull off a dive that deep in openwater. There are a million things that can go wrong and bite you in the butt, besides the fish, on a dive to that depth. These guys must have done something right. I thought it was also pretty slick how they just used the fish's own stomach as a lift bag to bring it up to the surface instead of hasseling with extra gear at that depth- did it spoil any of the meat doing that???

As far as the rest of the debate goes, well it is a freediving board and I wonder what bowhunters would say about gun hunters on their own board? Since both are legal there's nothing much to get worked up about, but both are still probably best talked about on their respecitive sites. People choose their own hobbies/sports for their own reasons and jumping on another site to tell them they are wrong hardly ever works. If you enjoy both, great, then you know where each side is coming from and can leave their opinion to themselves.

I do remember George Irivine talking about spearfishing on trimix at depth and he declined to call it spearfishing, but likened it more to a harvest for dinner. Didn't matter how sporting it was, it put food on the table at the end of the day and everyone had some fun, and a little bit of a challenge, along the way.

Jon

 

[Chad Carney]

However, I don't consider it a sport. It's kind of like the difference between bicycling and motorcyling. One takes money, and a bit of skill, while the other takes lots of physical training. All one has to do is look out at the "athletes" you see on most dive boats, especially "tech-dive" boats rofl , and you can tell that the word sport doesn't apply. I've dove with my share of two-pack a day overwieght trimix divers to realize that they couldn't swim a lap if they didn't have their gear, and a scooter or two.

As far as the rest of the debate goes, well it is a freediving board and I wonder what bowhunters would say about gun hunters on their own board? Since both are legal there's nothing much to get worked up about, but both are still probably best talked about on their respecitive sites. People choose their own hobbies/sports for their own reasons and jumping on another site to tell them they are wrong hardly ever works. If you enjoy both, great, then you know where each side is coming from and can leave their opinion to themselves.
Jon

Jon,

Glad to hear from a diver with a broader perspective. I have yet to hear all the details of their tech dive, but the gear photos on Spearboard tell a lot.

Yeah, I know this is a freedive board, but it looks like it wants to be more. Someone new would surely see the scuba, spearfishing & technical categories, and Scubastore online store and think otherwise, until they caught the negative drift.

Spearboard is dominantly scuba, but there is a difference. Many of us there that also or only freedive will not put up with any condescending attitude from the majority, the way it's condoned over here.

Dan, Ricky and Ritchie of team Headhunter and all the divers I shoot with regularly will swim stroke for stroke with any freediving athelete if he were to go deep diving on tanks with them. And half of us will beat you or make you work your butt off to out shoot us freediving as well.

There's no motors or scooters with this spearfishing crowd.

It's more like the way tournaments on the west coast of Florida are run; from power boats instead of kayaks, because 25 to 50 nautical miles would be rediculous to paddle.

If you don't enjoy both sports fine, I respect your right to your preference.

I wonder is it condoned for purist fixed ballast divers to rag on variable ballast or no limits divers over here?

Chad

 

[crusty]

Crusty,

So you take your shots at scuba shooters, and in the same paragraph state not to turn this into a freediver/scuba fight, and to leave it at that?

You sound like my wife!

Chad
Glad to see you married a 40 year old, 6ft2 100kg, Hairy Australian Male who dosent like spearing on scuba, each to their own i suppose.

Ive only been on Deeper Blue 6 months and im allready board with the endless spearing on scuba threads, some of us like it some dont.
If it rocks your boat well good luck to ya.
I really dought you could keep up to a good free diver with all your scuba kit on i have done both and a spearo will leave you for dead, if you can keep up to a spearo in full scuba kit than he aint much of a spearo.
This arquement could and will go on for ever

Im out of this one its all been said before

Crusty

 

[Chad Carney]

Crusty,

Glad to hear you're out of this one... I'm sure no one has ever said it quite like you!

Chad

 

[Bucket One]

Man there is so many terrible comments because this fish was taken on scuba its crazy!!! I for one can say that scuba spearfishing can be very sporting. I'm a very avid freediver and in fact I'm the one in the picture holding the warsaw grouper in the water. I freedove down a 100ft just to congragulate them on their victory and are damm proud to be part of that historical day. I've been freediving all my life and scuba diving 15 years of my life and love every bit of it. No matter what it is. I can assure you that myself and my partners can hang with any freediver. Anyday. You think that all that shit we are swimming around with is easy. Well you got another thing coming. We are very good at what we do and are in excellent shape. Most people marvel at some of the things we've done and do. I really hate to see this freediver vs scuba diver shit all the time. I love what I do and make my living from it and love the passion that freediving gives me but I don't hate ANYONE because they choose do one over the other. My biggest fish to this day was taken while freediving and it was a 200lb yellowfin tuna and it was like this jump in the water in front of a school of dolphin, go down 20ft, see the tuna, point aim and shoot. Really easy!!! Yet, I'm more proud of a 101lb black grouper that I got while scuba diving. It took more skill and technique to stalk and land this fish then most and at the depth that I shot it at, there was no way in hell that I would have ever seen it while freediving. So in closing. Think what you want and hate me if you want but I've kicked the shit out of some of the best freedivers around and I'm considered a bubble blower. So if you've got the skill and the will power you can accomplish anything you want and I'll guarantee that I won't hate you whichever way you choose to hunt. Happy Hunting!!!

Ritchie Zacker

 

[zeN]

OK, I'm gonna get stoned for being the one to ask, but, jeez-over 400 feet? Is that possible? And spearfishing at that depth-doesn't that pose an incredible risk attempting to spearfish, with all the additional tanks etc you have to bring to that depth?
I guess I have been spearfishing in the lake at 20 feet too long, I had no idea people were diving 400 plus feet except specialized navy divers, is there a reason to spearfish at that depth, as in the big monsters lurk at those depths? :hmm

awestruck, zeN