Freediving for Wahoo

[Dude George]

My first spearing Video, hope you enjoy

 

[grantl]

Nice vid

 

[foxfish]

Really good, I long for a nice fresh Wahoo steak!

 

[Dude George]

Thanks guys, if I could post you a steak I would as my freezer is overflowing

 

[foxfish]

Thanks!
The last time for me was about 7 years ago in Cape Verdi islands although I have caught quite a few rod fishing but they were returned to sea alive.
Yellow fin Tuna & Wahoo are my two favourite pelagic fish to eat .

 

[MozSpearer]

nice. that would be an awesome fish to spear!

 

[Apneaddict]

Not a bad way at all to spend the day!
Productive too!

Where was the video shot?
Did you see anything else cruising the waters?

 

[Dude George]

Not a bad way at all to spend the day!
Productive too!

Where was the video shot?
Did you see anything else cruising the waters?

Well it was many days...lol.. Not always do I remember to turn on the camera or even to bring the camera. It was shot in the Caribbean, offshore the island I live on between 13-60 miles, in water ranging from 500ft to 15000 ft
Have shot yellowfin and have seen large marlin from the boat but sadly not in the water with me YET, but I am hoping for a shot on a giant pelagic next year.

 

[sharkey]

Are you looking at diving on baitballs or will you be teasing the fish to the surface with hookless baits & lures?

Cheers Sharkey

 

[Dude George]

Both Sharkey, baitballs here are very fast moving though. most success has been had with chumming the fish up, dont use flashers as I have found them to be one more thing to worry about and my boat natzi wont let me carry any more gear

 

[sharkey]

I have sometimes found flashers to be more effort than they are worth, but on some days they are priceless. If teasing up fish I use two different floats with keels (attached to two different guns. No breakaway rigs!) to take them either side of the boat into the clear water each side of the prop wash, so the bait/lure can surf down one of the wake waves giving a good window from below. Behind these floats/outriggers is a small "bird" followed by some flashy perspex fish, followed either by a large "pusher" skirted lure or a skipping dead bait (I prefer a bait to a lure). When a fish rises, your rig & float are already in the water (two actually, you have a choice of guns/rigs). As the boat slows or stops the "teaser" sinks to become a "flasher" this will often keep the fish interested long enough to do what you want to do. A dead bait instead of a skirted lure can also bring the fish back for a second or third look.

The floats are the top ones in the photo. They've been christened the "cool runners" for obvious reasons. lol Hope you like the "camo" on the gun in my avitar too. It's also very Carribean.

Your going to have to find a way to hide more gear. lol

Cheers Mate!
Sharkey

 

[Dude George]

The ice, gold and green(rasta colours) floats are de bomb! Can I see some more pic's of them actually rigged? How can you do this with no breakaway rigs? I see no large reel on your gun in your Avatar.

 

[sharkey]

I always have a "rig rope" from the gun to float. The rig rope could take on many variations from just 30m of ski rope with only a "speed rig" attatched for stringing fish, to four of the 7m bungees, straight from gun to float with small floats & clip on places at each join ( I dont like to clip on in the centre of a bungee in case the fish runs again). It just depends on how, were & what I'm fishing. No matter what I'm fishing for, the gun always remains as part of the rig & never detaches.

For "teasing up" larger pelagics I have enough rope to the "cool runners" so that they plane off the side of the boat & the "pusher" or skipping bait surfs down one of the wake waves . The length of this will vary from boat to boat depending on its wake. I only have one 7m bungee attached to the gun in this situation & it is curled up on the deck beside the unloaded gun. Bungees are great because they dont tangle like ropes. The diver should be wearing his/her fins already & the face mask cleaned/defogged/spit in, sitting in a bucket of water ready to go. Once a fish is raised the boat slows, the teasers sink to become flashers & hopefully this can keep the lit up fish interested long enough for the diver to put on the mask, undo the rope from the tow point & jump in with bungee & gun (the rig rope & float are already out there & ready to go). The rubbers are loaded & hopefully the fish has hung around & the game/dance between fish & diver can begin. For this, I never use a slip tip. I love them, but they are to slow for this, & have you ever tried to put the tip on & rig one when excited? lol. I save them for when I'm "teabagging". A breakaway is just extra complication I can do without. Don't even start me on reels! LOL.

I'll try to post some photos of the teasers & flashers I use in the next couple of days along with an explanation on their function & design. These are all 20 yo methods now. I have been worried that some spearos would abuse these methods & bring us all into disrepute by killing too many fish. Thankfully this hasn't happened, & I'm sure these ideas would be much more common knowledge in the spearing community now. I hope a strong ethic on "wise use" continues to exist.

Cheers Sharkey

 

[sharkey]

At the bottom of the photo is a flasher. It's like having our own little artificial school of bait following us around. I hang the the flasher on my rig rope which comes straight off the gun. This means its always below me & not 30m away hanging on my float . This also means I can quickly adjust its depth or work it quickly if I need too. Perspex is so much better than stainless as it is almost neutral & very lifelike in its movement. It dosen't effect my own bouyancy either, like stainless can. A quick flick of the rig rope makes the perspex fish move & flash in a similar manner to living bait. One of the tricks to using a flasher like this, is to chase the flasher once a fish is interested, rather than make eye contact & alarm the fish. I'll dive on my own flasher often & not the fish, which often makes the quarry even more interested in it, then shoot as an opportunity presents.

Above the flasher is a teaser. The teaser is trolled behind a boat ( I like to troll behind my own float & rig for better response times). A teaser is basically any hookless lure trolled to raise fish to the surface. I like the one pictured because as the boat stops it then becomes a flasher.

There are so many variations on these ideas & no doubt there will be better methods for different people, places, species & styles.

Cheers Sharkey

 

[Dude George]

Very interesting, so your teasing the pelagics up the same way we do for billfish. Please continue and more pic's if ya can bro.

 

[sharkey]

Teasing is best used for billfish as its difficult to get a visual on other species, it will however raise them too, but they may not surface or touch the lures like a billfish will. Often a "witch doctor" towed slowly behind a boat, several meters deep & past divers already in the water can produce good results on other species which are shy of the surface. These are similar ideas to what game & saltwater fly fishers do. We just have the added complication of getting in the water, then close enough to shoot & then to land the fish without assistance ( I have strong ideas around this, which others may not share, a topic for another thread one day perhaps). The added complication we have to consider as spearos as well is our public perception when killing flagship species (another thread & another day too? lol).

I don't think there is much more to add, unless you have a specific question.
You should try some of these things.
Stay safe.

Cheers Sharkey