Giant black sea bass video

[Bill McIntyre]

Yesterday I went diving with Dam Nguyen and Mike Winn. Dam has been murdering the white sea bass this year, but he complains that he has never seen a black. He finally saw some yesterday and got some nice video. He thinks the fish went from 200 to 300 pounds.

[ame=http://vimeo.com/4642561]Black Seabass on Vimeo[/ame]

The short boat segment at the start is my boat, coming to pick him up to leave the first spot of the day.

BTW, black sea bass are protected. They cannot be taken by any method, including hook and line.

 

[Bill]

Thanks Bill. Brings back a lot of memories from the 15 years I hunted them. From memory, 'shot' over twenty of them, never killed one, tried to save four and succeeded twice.
Looks like they're making a great come back. I only saw that many in one place once. They look huge on the video. From memory again, at 350-400 the dorsal starts to turn white.

 

[podge]

Great Vid Bill, and a fine choice of music to go with it.
Got any more footage?

 

[basilisladias]

Best video and music to finish last day to work! Thanks!
BTW do you know the scientific name of the fish?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Best video and music to finish last day to work! Thanks!
BTW do you know the scientific name of the fish?

Stereolepis gigas

 

[Spaniard]

Wow fantastic video! Thanks for sharing it! I hope their numbers are recovering since they were protected.

 

[strangelove]

Very nice, thanks for sharing !

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Wow fantastic video! Thanks for sharing it! I hope their numbers are recovering since they were protected.

Oh yes, they are becoming very numerous, as that video indicates.

I was just talking to a friend about his dive trip late yesterday at one of my favorite spots. The water was very murky and there were apparently a lot of black sea bass, so he was spooking them without being able to see them. They make a hell of a boom when that big tail cavitates. You feel like someone through a bomb at you.

 

[strangelove]

I wonder how old is a fish that big ?

 

[foxfish]

I also enjoyed the vid - nice atmospheric music & interesting filming.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I wonder how old is a fish that big ?

I just went searching for that info, and it seems that not much research has been done on growth rates. One source said that their life span is about the same as ours. But that would put them up in the 500 to 600 pound range.

I had an interesting experience a few years ago. My dive brought me down right on top of one, and it swam off a few yards. I held on to a kelp stalk, and it came back and stopped right in front of me. I wondered if I could touch it, so I extended my hand and started inching forward very slowly. I was probably within a foot when it spooked and made that huge boom with its tail, and I damn near had a coronary.

 

[azapa]

so nice to hear that in some parts of the World they are protecting stuff, and that it's coming back. I hope more (like the other 99%) of the World follows these examples.

thanks for posting

 

[Erik]

Beautiful fish and video. I really want to get to California someday.

 

[UK Spearo]

What fantastic fish - great video!

 

[fearthespear]

Loving that - thanks!

 

[strangelove]

I had an interesting experience a few years ago. My dive brought me down right on top of one, and it swam off a few yards. I held on to a kelp stalk, and it came back and stopped right in front of me. I wondered if I could touch it, so I extended my hand and started inching forward very slowly. I was probably within a foot when it spooked and made that huge boom with its tail, and I damn near had a coronary.

Great story, one lucky man to be able to get so close to one of those monsters !

 

[cdavis]

Great stuff, Thanks for posting, Bill.

On another big fish species, Goliath grouper in Florida were severely reduced and harvest was banned about 20 years ago. They grow fast and have since recovered in such numbers that most spearos and a lot of line fishermen in Florida would rather they opened the season again. Its common to see 20 or 30 or more on a small wreck.

Connor

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Great stuff, Thanks for posting, Bill.

On another big fish species, Goliath grouper in Florida were severely reduced and harvest was banned about 20 years ago. They grow fast and have since recovered in such numbers that most spearos and a lot of line fishermen in Florida would rather they opened the season again. Its common to see 20 or 30 or more on a small wreck.

Connor

Yes, I used to shoot them when I was a teenager, but I hear they are so thick that they're a nuisance and fight divers for their fish. Luckily, our BSB are not quite so aggressive. I have seen one chase a speared yellowtail around, and one time when I had a white sea bass tied up in the kelp on the bottom, one was gumming it until I ran it off, but we don't have nearly as many problems as I read about with the GG.

 

[cdavis]

You heard right, the goliaths have been a pain for a while and getting worse. Prohibiting harverst was necessary and has been a great conservation/regulatory success, but IMHO, its time to shoot a few. Put some respect back in the rest of them.

I'm used to the goliaths and can tell roughly how big they are from a video. Not so with the black sea bass. I would have thought those were 40-50 lb fish. They are much sleeker at a couple of hundred pounds than goliaths.


Connor

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I'm used to the goliaths and can tell roughly how big they are from a video. Not so with the black sea bass. I would have thought those were 40-50 lb fish. They are much sleeker at a couple of hundred pounds than goliaths.


Connor

Dam said he really didn't know what they weighed, but they were at least as long as he is.