• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Freediver turns predator!

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

sturgeon

Well-Known Member
Feb 1, 2002
392
94
118
This story's a little old (2 Saturdays ago) due to the re-vamp of the site but here it is anyway.

Went out of West Palm Beach last Saturday and had a good day. Although the most memorable part of the day wasn’t the fish I shot but rather the fish my friend Michael Antinori got. The reason for this is that Mike’s purely a freediver and not a spearfisherman. He joins us on my boat pretty regularly but usually only freedives while the rest of us hunt. Saturday was no different until we went to a spot in 80 feet. Since it was only going to be me and Mike in the water and vis was only 30-40 feet, I told Mike he’d have to carry some sort of float line with him so I wouldn’t lose him during his dives since we were going to be doing 1 up/1 down due to the depth. Well, Mike didn’t like this idea as he’s not too fond of floatlines being only a freediver and was putting up a little bit of a fight about carrying one, so I told him, “look, I’ll be carrying my gun with a line and a float attached to it so when it’s your turn to dive, just take my gun and carry it with you and when you come up give it back to me and then I’ll dive”. He agreed to this and we jumped in on the spot. On Mike’s very first dive, soon after disappearing from my sight, I heard my gun go off. My first thought was, he must have touched the trigger by accident (there are no safeties on any of my guns), then my next thought was, I hope he didn’t shoot himself. The next thing I see is Mike coming back into view dragging a lifeless 30 lb cobia behind him. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. But sure enough, Mike got a good shot (spine) on a very nice fish and there it was. He said when he first saw it he thought it was a shark but then realized it was a cobia (he’s seen several get shot while on my boat) and instantly pulled the trigger. And just like that a spearfisherman was born! And to solidify his new level on the foodchain on his very next dive, still in 80 feet, he shot a nice mangrove snapper.

Scott
 
Scott, when you told me that Mike (who is also a DB member) shot a cobia as his first fish, it seemed unreal. That's a real nice one especially getting it with a stone shot from 80 fsw!
BTW, there are plenty of accomplished spearos who haven't shot a cobia yet! Good job Mike but i think the beard has to go! :ban

Angelos
 
Hiya

To all those fish inhabiting the surrounding oceans............be afraid.......be VERY afraid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Another hunter has joined the fold!!!!!! :D :D

Welcome!!!!!!!! After a start like that, only greater things can follow!! (already hunts at 80ft and is a natural shot too!!!!!)

Nice fish guys!!!! Keep giving those fish grief!!!!

Regards
miles
 
Awesome fish! First shot too...amazing.
Another joins the dark side. Soon Mike will learn to love towing a float around too.
Cheers,
Erik Y.
 
Thanks guys. Even though Mike's relatively new to freediving (only about 1 year) he's not just any freediver. He was on the USA Team at this year's World's in Canada and hit 45 meters (150 ft) while up there. He's had a gun in his hand once or twice before but his only fish prior to the cobia was a cuda. It was pretty funny when he first had a gun in his hands to hear him complain about his bottom time going to shit. One day he was pushing almost 3 min dives in 60 ft then we handed him a gun and his dives dropped to barely over a minute. My comment back to him was, "welcome to spearfishing".

Angelos,

We tell him he looks like a Talliban. Pretty funny considering the guy's a lawyer. I guess he wants his clients to feel comfortable around him.

Scott
 
I love it!!!!! Michael did not let on to the whole story when we talked. Thanks for posting; great description, I can visualize the whole thing perfectly. What a kick!

Nice grouper too, perfect shots

Connor
 
sturgeon said:
then we handed him a gun and his dives dropped to barely over a minute. My comment back to him was, "welcome to spearfishing". Scott


Ain't that the truth.
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT