Lying in about 15m of water with my back to a reef facing out to sea, i suddenly note a large very glowing "blue" backed fish cross infront and below me from my rear right side and have a look at my flasher.
I dive immediately pointing my gun at the spot i want to shoot at and as soon as i feel im in range i sneak just a bit closer with my finger on the trigger focusing intensely on my chosen aiming spot incase he decides to move off before im ready, at which instant i will quickly zap him.
He does not move and i make a good square shot from above and somewhere behind the gills ( who really knows how good though ) with my 7.5mm hawaiian floppered spear out of my staunch 1.4 RA reel gun.
That was the last i saw of this 35 kg plus fish. I did not see him leave, he left so fast. He stripped 50 m of line off my reel in less than 10 seconds and a fellow diver remarked that it sounded like a Penn reel underwater whizzing off line.
I noted the alarming rate my line was vanishing at and still lying static in the water at this time i shouted for the boat and grabbed my reel in an attempt to slow its run.
Within a second however, i noted that the line would be all out in about another second and i choked up the reel with my hand and a second later i was being towed through the water with an unbelievable force. I weigh 115 KG and it instantly pulled me flat out like i was a small child.
I liken it to the hit you get from a speed boat as the throttle is jammed open to try pull you up when skiing. My mask flooded and my suit hoodie filled and ballooned with water. I was being pulled down and the thought occurred to me that i hoped i would not have to let go of the gun. About 10 m into the ride the line went abrubtly slack, as if i had been hanging out of a tree off it and someone cut it.
What an experience in its self but obviously i would have liked to have landed the fish.
Four things:
1) I know sailfish can flash blue and green, but do they not usually only do this when extending their dorsal fin ? This fish had no visible dorsal fin and i have only seen them before looking black and grey.
2) Just how tough is their flesh ? Is a tear off a reasonable outcome, given that i did not ( the only thing i can think of that i could have done differently.. ) swim like hell in his direction to lessen the shock of him hitting my static weight in the water, or is it more likely that i did not shoot him as well as i thought ?
3) What else could i have done to land this guy given the equipment i had ?
( im convinced, considering just how fantastically hard he pulled me for 10 m before tearing off, that i shot him well enough that if i had a float setup he woud have not pulled off and i would have likely landed him.) ( and if i had been specifically targeting these fish thats what i would have done, but... what could i do, i had to give it a go.)
4) I was so fixated on my shooting spot not to stuff up the opportunity that i did not take time to look at the fish in its entirety so i never did register seeing his bill or even his eye for that matter.
From above though it was distinctly a sailie or marlin looking fish. ( eel looking with large pectoral fins ) But his back was broader than i have seen on sailfish before.
Could i be mistaken and could you ever get a monster wahoo with irridescent blue on his back ? ( but with some vertical dark barring ?) and if you could, how tough is his flesh ? What are the chances of him pulling like that and then tearing off after a "decent" shot on hitting the end of the line ?
Thx
Skin.
I dive immediately pointing my gun at the spot i want to shoot at and as soon as i feel im in range i sneak just a bit closer with my finger on the trigger focusing intensely on my chosen aiming spot incase he decides to move off before im ready, at which instant i will quickly zap him.
He does not move and i make a good square shot from above and somewhere behind the gills ( who really knows how good though ) with my 7.5mm hawaiian floppered spear out of my staunch 1.4 RA reel gun.
That was the last i saw of this 35 kg plus fish. I did not see him leave, he left so fast. He stripped 50 m of line off my reel in less than 10 seconds and a fellow diver remarked that it sounded like a Penn reel underwater whizzing off line.
I noted the alarming rate my line was vanishing at and still lying static in the water at this time i shouted for the boat and grabbed my reel in an attempt to slow its run.
Within a second however, i noted that the line would be all out in about another second and i choked up the reel with my hand and a second later i was being towed through the water with an unbelievable force. I weigh 115 KG and it instantly pulled me flat out like i was a small child.
I liken it to the hit you get from a speed boat as the throttle is jammed open to try pull you up when skiing. My mask flooded and my suit hoodie filled and ballooned with water. I was being pulled down and the thought occurred to me that i hoped i would not have to let go of the gun. About 10 m into the ride the line went abrubtly slack, as if i had been hanging out of a tree off it and someone cut it.
What an experience in its self but obviously i would have liked to have landed the fish.
Four things:
1) I know sailfish can flash blue and green, but do they not usually only do this when extending their dorsal fin ? This fish had no visible dorsal fin and i have only seen them before looking black and grey.
2) Just how tough is their flesh ? Is a tear off a reasonable outcome, given that i did not ( the only thing i can think of that i could have done differently.. ) swim like hell in his direction to lessen the shock of him hitting my static weight in the water, or is it more likely that i did not shoot him as well as i thought ?
3) What else could i have done to land this guy given the equipment i had ?
( im convinced, considering just how fantastically hard he pulled me for 10 m before tearing off, that i shot him well enough that if i had a float setup he woud have not pulled off and i would have likely landed him.) ( and if i had been specifically targeting these fish thats what i would have done, but... what could i do, i had to give it a go.)
4) I was so fixated on my shooting spot not to stuff up the opportunity that i did not take time to look at the fish in its entirety so i never did register seeing his bill or even his eye for that matter.
From above though it was distinctly a sailie or marlin looking fish. ( eel looking with large pectoral fins ) But his back was broader than i have seen on sailfish before.
Could i be mistaken and could you ever get a monster wahoo with irridescent blue on his back ? ( but with some vertical dark barring ?) and if you could, how tough is his flesh ? What are the chances of him pulling like that and then tearing off after a "decent" shot on hitting the end of the line ?
Thx
Skin.
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