I had been ill for a month, and not been in the ocean for same, you know that land locked, gill drying feeling I'm sure. Well a 7 day break here due to Chile's independence from those ghastly Spanish (historical opinion, not mine) was very, very, overly anticipated, in an "I'll check over my gear again for the 20th time" way. Also, and amazing US Navy website https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/ww3_cgi/cgi-bin/ww3_loop.cgi?color=w&area=spac&prod=sig_wav_ht
showed "all good"
SCENE 1: LOST AND FOUND
My first trip out spearing was with a couple of easy going buddies. We went to a secret spot, that looked calm from the distance. It is also very shallow, about 6m, and full of fish, sometimes..
There was a huge swell and I was feeling nauseous, I accompanied a rookie in his first spearing session. He just happens to be a great swimmer (ocean swims, 8Kms) at our club, so it was more a pleasure than a chore. After taking a couple of 1Kg Villagay, a great tasting rock fish, I was ready to head back, the ocean was rough with a lot of white particulate in the water.
Now, a technical detail: I use a short airgun, a seac-sub asso 65 to be specific. Very weird as most people say. It has a detachable tip, it screws on. I find it very easy to remove fish as I simply unscrew the tip and slide them off.
So, a little dizzy already, I find the days biggest Villagay hiding from the current in a small crevice, and easy shot from 1M away. I fire, the spear thuds home and I begin pulling on my line to swim up with my catch. The fish calmly swims away like nothing had happened! Talk about dizzy. Investigating, the point of my spear was bare, no tip!
Surfacing, I handed my now falling apart gun to my buddy (irony increaser: please remember the 20 gear checks pre the dive week), the little line holder, spring and washer ready to fall into oblivion. I grabbed his gun and dived, convinced that the speartip had stayed in the fish as he swam off. The thought of wounding fish really pains me. The crazy stuff started happening: I saw the fish swimming slowly about 15M away, followed him and line up just behind a rock, but it was a no way shot. Having still not recovered properly from the fist dive, this one was too short, and I surfaced. My buddy then took up the search with no luck.
Fed up and getting cold, we started the quite long swim back to the shore. About 50M away from the hunting area, my buddy shouts, I turn to see the spear tip in his hand. He had seen it glinting on the bottom through the murk, and retrieved it! IT WAS my speartip, no questions, hardened stainless type that I buy in Spain, with the same dings. How the hell did it get there? A bit happier (but still lamenting the lost and insured fish) we made it back to shore..
SCENE 2: LOST AND LOST GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Three days later, and still no fish in the freezer, a very good diver calls me to buddy up for a hunting session. This is one of those guys who can HUNT at 40M. Yes, go down, hunt, come back up. I could not even imagine arriving at 40M, nor 30 for now, never mind hanging around there. It was an honour, and I was exited to show him some good local spots and learn some tricks.
We set out, and I lazily don't take my float because:
a. The bladder of the beuchat burst, and I'm using a crappy 5 liter water bottle for a float now
b. Its more fun under the kelp canopy without that line
c. (dumbest part) I felt "safer" with an experienced buddy around
We set off, wind picking up, into a deep area right in front of my beach house. About a 12 to 16M bottom, nice big rocks and amazing kelp canopies. The kelp here is quite top heavy, with 1" stalks about 1M long reaching up from the boulders, to give you an idea: each stalk is about 75CM apart, yes, about shoulder width
. There was about a 5M viz, and as is all too common, I only could see my buddy about half the time :rcard
I was keen to impress, and lined up on, but did not shoot, smaller stuff that on a freezer-needy day would have been on my stringer. Great apneas, for me, about 1:15 to 1:30 total dive time, in about 14M of water, gliding through bellow the kelp canopy: those kind of dives that force a smile on the face and make even the kick back up fun.
Just at my DR vs cold peak, I spy a nice big cave to my left, one I had not seen before. I am already a little too long into my dive, but nevertheless fin over:
DAYS LESSON LEARNED HARD WAY #1: don't bother investigating a scene you have no way of handling. I should have headed up then, breathed up and returned to look for the spot, or even better marked it with a weighted line to my float.
These caves are low to the ground, about 40Cm high, but very deep and dark, not that there was much light getting through the murk anyway. I am looking for a VIEJA, a shy, grouper-like cave dweller. These fish are the most fabled and talked about spearo prey here in Chile because they are difficult to find, extract, and make incredibly good eating.
I spy an eye, but have no idea of what it is or it's size. Getting accustomed to the dark, I get closer in the cave, and see a majestic Vieja move to the back door of his cave. It's huge, about 7Kg. I bend my elbow, point and fire. A HUGE TUG on the line confirms a solid hit.
DAYS LESSON LEARNED HARD WAY #2: Big fish, shot and frightened, are incredibly strong. Sounds dumb, but I had kinda got used to the pull from those 1 to 2Kg fish that I often take, and almost expected the same shoot-hit-tugging fish sensation.....:head
The spear line is 6M long, and all was in the cave, only the gun itself was outside. I pulled and pulled, NO WAY was this fish coming out. I headed up.
I doubt I was narced at such meager depth, but down there it seemed easy: leave the gun, go up, get friends float line and clip, dive back down and hook on to gun, call buddy over and extract fish between the two of us taking our time... WRONG
DAYS LESSON LEARNED HARD WAY #3: In the open ocean, and murky water, you'll never see that spot again unless your NOT looking for it
I called my buddy, retrieved his carabiner, and dived: nothing, no cave, no gun, no Vieja. My buddy dived, same, nothing, zilch. We looked for one hour and did not even see the cave again..
LOST GUN + ANOTHER WOUNDED FISH :crutch:crutch
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have your gun fixed to your buoy in similar conditions! I turned what could have been a great way to end a weeks diving into a stupid loss by not doing just that. I even went back in next day.......... NOTHING. Have you noticed when NOT look for stuff you will see the same shell, abalone, piece of wood etc two or three times in one dive in the murkiest of conditions????roflrofl
King Neptune took his tole. The kids and wife were happy to see me back anyway though, and I have earned a tale to tell. I have ordered another asso 65. Now, when will I see another Vieja that big again is another question entirely...
Safe dives...
showed "all good"
SCENE 1: LOST AND FOUND
My first trip out spearing was with a couple of easy going buddies. We went to a secret spot, that looked calm from the distance. It is also very shallow, about 6m, and full of fish, sometimes..
There was a huge swell and I was feeling nauseous, I accompanied a rookie in his first spearing session. He just happens to be a great swimmer (ocean swims, 8Kms) at our club, so it was more a pleasure than a chore. After taking a couple of 1Kg Villagay, a great tasting rock fish, I was ready to head back, the ocean was rough with a lot of white particulate in the water.
Now, a technical detail: I use a short airgun, a seac-sub asso 65 to be specific. Very weird as most people say. It has a detachable tip, it screws on. I find it very easy to remove fish as I simply unscrew the tip and slide them off.
So, a little dizzy already, I find the days biggest Villagay hiding from the current in a small crevice, and easy shot from 1M away. I fire, the spear thuds home and I begin pulling on my line to swim up with my catch. The fish calmly swims away like nothing had happened! Talk about dizzy. Investigating, the point of my spear was bare, no tip!
Surfacing, I handed my now falling apart gun to my buddy (irony increaser: please remember the 20 gear checks pre the dive week), the little line holder, spring and washer ready to fall into oblivion. I grabbed his gun and dived, convinced that the speartip had stayed in the fish as he swam off. The thought of wounding fish really pains me. The crazy stuff started happening: I saw the fish swimming slowly about 15M away, followed him and line up just behind a rock, but it was a no way shot. Having still not recovered properly from the fist dive, this one was too short, and I surfaced. My buddy then took up the search with no luck.
Fed up and getting cold, we started the quite long swim back to the shore. About 50M away from the hunting area, my buddy shouts, I turn to see the spear tip in his hand. He had seen it glinting on the bottom through the murk, and retrieved it! IT WAS my speartip, no questions, hardened stainless type that I buy in Spain, with the same dings. How the hell did it get there? A bit happier (but still lamenting the lost and insured fish) we made it back to shore..
SCENE 2: LOST AND LOST GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Three days later, and still no fish in the freezer, a very good diver calls me to buddy up for a hunting session. This is one of those guys who can HUNT at 40M. Yes, go down, hunt, come back up. I could not even imagine arriving at 40M, nor 30 for now, never mind hanging around there. It was an honour, and I was exited to show him some good local spots and learn some tricks.
We set out, and I lazily don't take my float because:
a. The bladder of the beuchat burst, and I'm using a crappy 5 liter water bottle for a float now
b. Its more fun under the kelp canopy without that line
c. (dumbest part) I felt "safer" with an experienced buddy around
We set off, wind picking up, into a deep area right in front of my beach house. About a 12 to 16M bottom, nice big rocks and amazing kelp canopies. The kelp here is quite top heavy, with 1" stalks about 1M long reaching up from the boulders, to give you an idea: each stalk is about 75CM apart, yes, about shoulder width
. There was about a 5M viz, and as is all too common, I only could see my buddy about half the time :rcardI was keen to impress, and lined up on, but did not shoot, smaller stuff that on a freezer-needy day would have been on my stringer. Great apneas, for me, about 1:15 to 1:30 total dive time, in about 14M of water, gliding through bellow the kelp canopy: those kind of dives that force a smile on the face and make even the kick back up fun.
Just at my DR vs cold peak, I spy a nice big cave to my left, one I had not seen before. I am already a little too long into my dive, but nevertheless fin over:
DAYS LESSON LEARNED HARD WAY #1: don't bother investigating a scene you have no way of handling. I should have headed up then, breathed up and returned to look for the spot, or even better marked it with a weighted line to my float.
These caves are low to the ground, about 40Cm high, but very deep and dark, not that there was much light getting through the murk anyway. I am looking for a VIEJA, a shy, grouper-like cave dweller. These fish are the most fabled and talked about spearo prey here in Chile because they are difficult to find, extract, and make incredibly good eating.
I spy an eye, but have no idea of what it is or it's size. Getting accustomed to the dark, I get closer in the cave, and see a majestic Vieja move to the back door of his cave. It's huge, about 7Kg. I bend my elbow, point and fire. A HUGE TUG on the line confirms a solid hit.
DAYS LESSON LEARNED HARD WAY #2: Big fish, shot and frightened, are incredibly strong. Sounds dumb, but I had kinda got used to the pull from those 1 to 2Kg fish that I often take, and almost expected the same shoot-hit-tugging fish sensation.....:head
The spear line is 6M long, and all was in the cave, only the gun itself was outside. I pulled and pulled, NO WAY was this fish coming out. I headed up.
I doubt I was narced at such meager depth, but down there it seemed easy: leave the gun, go up, get friends float line and clip, dive back down and hook on to gun, call buddy over and extract fish between the two of us taking our time... WRONG
DAYS LESSON LEARNED HARD WAY #3: In the open ocean, and murky water, you'll never see that spot again unless your NOT looking for it
I called my buddy, retrieved his carabiner, and dived: nothing, no cave, no gun, no Vieja. My buddy dived, same, nothing, zilch. We looked for one hour and did not even see the cave again..
LOST GUN + ANOTHER WOUNDED FISH :crutch:crutch
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have your gun fixed to your buoy in similar conditions! I turned what could have been a great way to end a weeks diving into a stupid loss by not doing just that. I even went back in next day.......... NOTHING. Have you noticed when NOT look for stuff you will see the same shell, abalone, piece of wood etc two or three times in one dive in the murkiest of conditions????roflrofl
King Neptune took his tole. The kids and wife were happy to see me back anyway though, and I have earned a tale to tell. I have ordered another asso 65. Now, when will I see another Vieja that big again is another question entirely...
Safe dives...
Last edited:
