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My Midget MT-Zero works !!!

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Iyadiver

Mr. Long Post
Apr 22, 2002
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With the happy hunting of two weeks ago, I practically dream of those tunas....restless sleep. Like a virgin having first happy sexual experience....I craved for more fishes.

Been monitoring the weather sattelite as days goes closer to last Thursday. Wind report predicted no worse than 15 knots wind, gee that must be as good as my succesful trip....I thought.

On Thursday, I confirmed all requirement and we end up with a charter boat of 28 foot aluminum using 115 Hp x 2 Suzukis. Three of us on the trip. Spend Friday night close by the marina after 3 hours drive from my city and left at 5:30 next morning. The distance to go was 50 miles. Wind were blowing from the south in the evening and it doesn't look good. The boat was making good speed at 26 knots out of the marina. Later 1/2 way down the journey at a big bay we were hit with waves. The lousy small non offshore boat was pounding and aluminum was realy noisy. All of us we salt prayed every seconds, it was cold and wet. At some stage we could only progress at maximum 8 knots. What a lousy bone breaking ride.

Arrived at the only pier of the location 3 hours later, 1 hour behind schedule. Get rooms and lunch pack and head for the favourite rock. The wind picked up with occasional gust of 25 knots thrown in every few minutes. It was a stern wave ride to the rock, not too bad. We reached the rock only to find ( as expected ) that it was too rough to dive. Any experienced spearo with strong swimming skill might survive the 2 meter swell + confused waves smashing on the rocks, but not us scuba dudes. We can dive safely but no way we can surface and fight the surface current, our small boat was also thrown all over the place. If anything happens to the small boat while waiting for us, we will be doomed. So we sadly left the rock and head for the protected reef where the mass of land protect it from the wind, only 1-2 knots current will be the problem.

What a lousy trip. This 60 feet reef span like 1 x 2 kilometer wide. I know this place very well. The only fish to expect here will be trevalies and great barracuda. Sometime if in luck we might see jobfish. I did not dive this reef two weeks ago, no way, the rock pinacle was heaven. So we dove with so little excitement. We drift among the reefs. I came to my favourite spot only to find it was so lifeless. The holes under the rock has become shallower cause some bombing took place and have shifted the sand in front of the holes......DAMN !!! S.O.B fisherman. My last visit to this reef was over a year ago. It is degrading badly. A school of 5 Permits ( pompano ??? ) came, +-3 kg size, a common size to this area. Hit it and that was that, not much fight.

Look at my secret ledge to find lobters ( didn't bring any stocking ) but all I could see was the antena, no shot possible and seems the single lobster was not so big anyway.

I was frustrated and keep thingking of two week's ago..TUNA !!!!
The viz was 30 feet and degrading deeper into the reef area. No big trevalies...how how how ? I promised the boat crews that if I see a good size barracuda I will shoot for them, my MT Zero has only shot one Trevaly 2 weeks ago and I need bigger ones. The midget gun was lovely in this kind of current, doesn't feel like I am holding a gun. I armed it with the 3/8" shaft.

It realy sucks to dive a place that I don't intend to dive knowing there is a fish heaven some 8 miles away and I can not dive there. But on the other hand I realized that since my attitude is like " I don't realy care about the fish and not excited about them", they actualy wants to get closer to me.

After drifting from two of my regular spots, I need only to drift to one final place and that should end the dive. Then along the way to my final spot, I spotted this great barracuda. I already had my 5 bands loaded, took aim at maximum distance about 4.5 meters, I was aiming the shoulder but the shaft landed a micro bit lower on the middle small fin behind the gill. S*it, not a very good shot but I had total penetration. The cuda took off to the surface, I hang on tight, one hand on the rock I hand on my gun, I don't want the risk of air embolism. It drag me around for at least 5 minutes, I dare not grab it and drill the head with my knife cause it was still rather powerful. I was afraid it will bite me, I never shot a cuda this big before and 2 of my friends been bitten, not serious but it was smaller cudas.

The body was tearing and only a few more centimeter it will split open, I play the fish gently, I don't want to loose it. If I had a reel or a float, the flesh won't tear this bad. I kept my gun in front of me just in case it comes to attack me. This short gun only has about 60 cm of forward stock after my hand, I feel defendless if it come to attack me. The 4.8 meter shooting line plus the 90 cm shaft was not far enough to keep me away as far as I want from the cuda. I kept swimming away from the cuda as far as my shooting line allows.

I thought to myself, when will this cuda die ? As soon as I seen its power dropping, I head for the surface. Along the way, I tied my surface marker float to the gun, it has a 7 meter line. I feel safer now the fish is further away from me. There is no gaff on the boat, my spearhead is about to split the flesh, so I shouted for another gun. I don't want anyone to get bitten if they try to board the fish onto the boat. The boat crew pass me my #4 Riffe. I loaded 1 band and aimed for the head. The fish stoned immediately and the ice pick secured the fish.

Later on the boat I realized that it is actualy bigger than I first estimated underwater. No wonder it dragged me with much more power than my Spanish and my small Tuna 2 weeks ago.

The 3 boat crews were happy that they have some meat to bring home. My other friend landed a 9kg trevaly. After only two dives, we call it the day. We were still sad not able to do the rock pinacle. Sleep well and ate like pigs in the evening. The wind died down late at night. We were happy cause tomorrow we might be able to do the rock. At 7 AM the wind picked up again till 9 AM and grew even stronger. Every other boats already left the island first thing at 6 AM to avoid the nasty sea.

So what did we do ? Dive the shallow reef again, hell no way, we did not come this far for that reef. Get all our stuff ready and head home. So we were pounding and all wet again half way home.............sad sad sad :waterwork.

The only consolation was that my US$500 midget Riffe did what I expect it will do. It will be one hell of a close quater ( 4-5 meter ) , murky water gun. However the 7mm Hawaiian shaft looks like it will never see any service. With the blue water muzzle installed, I will stick to 3 bands at least with 8mm shaft. Since Riffe does not have any 8mm Hawaiian shaft shorter than 44", looks like I got to modify one for my midget. 8mm shaft at short length of 32" or even 34" does not deserve screw on bulky spearhead like the Riffe type, the penetration is poor cause the shaft does not carry enough mass.

It also got me thinking if the expensive floater wing kit is any use on my midget, the gun still sink anyway with the aluminum muzzle. One thing for sure, it looks like a Riffe blue water wing kit on a small scale, very small scale.....:D :D .....cute is the word.

I think on my next tuna hunting trip ( if ever go again soon ), I will carry this midget as a second gun on me permanently. It so light to carry around. If I ever get to do bad shot on a big one, without reel & float I will either loose my gun or the fish, this midget could be a fish saver. Like a Desert Eagle .45 on a sniper ????

Now I regretted I bought the Mares 85cm Cyrano. It will probaly never see any hunting service...ever again...too weak. Keep if for lobster-ing only.

The photo shows the happy crew carrying my fish. I should have fill in flash for the shot, bright background ruins the resolution. I think the cuda is only 13kg or something and about 140-150 cm long.
 
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Iya,

that is an awesome story and I really enjoyed reading it. I am glad your "midget" gun exceeded your expectations. That is a nice size fish. I saw a few of them this weekend of about the same size but I guess they new better than to get near divers. Good luck on your next trip.
 
:hmm :hmm :hmm

13kg Cuda with small MT0, 4.5 meter shot with onlt 5-6 cm error...

Mission Accomplished ! ! !


BTW all experianced counter-strike players buy desert eagle for backup to the sniper;)
 
Thank u gentlemen, I did not believe u guys actualy read the long post :D :D .

If I see a 30kg sailfish 3 meters away from me, I will shot the fish :eek: :eek: ...by then I will need to buy a new gun....:duh

Abri, I tried smoked marlin and it is very nice. I co-fished a Sail before but never get to eat the meat. How to cook nice meal with a sail ? People say swordfish is the best of all the bill fish and I tried sword, nice, just like Dorado I think.

Is raw shashimi good on sail fish ? I tried imported yellowtail as raw shashimi and I love it but my fish book consider it only decent but put Cobia as excellent........... I find it opposite, but never tried Cobia as shashimi....next time.
 
Heyaaaa ! !!! !


I know there are few swordfish Medeteranean sea.Some of the must be monster.I am really looking forward to play sword game with some of them.:D ;) :D
Guess who will win?:cool:

When i will shot my first Swordfish/Marlin/Billfish, all of you guys will invented to eat some sashimi.
 
Oh hell yeah!

Nice job, Iya!
That puts a serious hurt on those that think that bigger is better, and reinforces the idea of using a little more noggin.

Huge smoothness points. :cool:


sven
 
Sorry Iya ; the couple bites of billfish I've had were not that great , don't know how to prepare it .
I always gave my fish away to the locals ; improved my karma , right ...:D
 
I recently mated for a serious bluewater angler and good friend on his new 42 Bertram, anyway I showed him some pics of marlin and sailies taken by spearos and this guy flipped out! Not only is it illegal here to take billfish by spear but these hollier than thou rich guys would have you believe it was the 8th deadly sin:eek: . However he sees nothing wrong with killing them for a tournament, where often big marlin win huge prize monies...like the 1,056 lbs blue taken here this summer during the billfish classic this summer(it won over $700,000). Now he says my spear gear is banned from his boat! I think hes was kidding but if not the next time I wire a big tuna or hoo for him oops...Im not sure what happened captain:D :D :D
 
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you mated with a WHAT?

Yeah no kiddin! Damn if that wire doesn't loop and kink at the most unopportune times eh?:hmm kinda like looking to mate with a blue water angler...:mute


sven
 
No wonder the videos I got from Riffe, of which three showed a Marlin and Sail all already in shooting range and never get shot, illegal hey ??

On the other hand a blue water angler even in catch and release tournament can boat a Sail or Marlin if it exceed the current world record size. Unfair isn't it cause we spearos practicaly release alll undersize fish by not shooting any.

If he say that these big bill fishes ( probably not above world record size ) can be boated in a tournament cause the prize money is cool, is he a true materialistic guy or a conservationist when no money to be made ??? :D :D

Even the best method of catch and release might get fishes killed cause either they are too worn out physicaly or the hook entered to deep and damage some internal organ.

There is no law in my country on how u can boat a bill fish, I am just concerned that since billfish is not as abundant as Tuna-s, I realy want to enjoy the meat and not just killing it for photo sake, if I ever get a chance to get any........take years probably.

I was a sport fisherman before I start shooting and come to think about it, spearing with "mature mind" and a set of "disciplined goal" is hell a lot more a conservationist than any blue water angler.

Even in the US, or any place on earth where sportfishing is very popular, spearos probably take 1-2% of what sportfisherman take annualy. It all comes down to money, the sportfishing community are rich guys, hell a 42 Bertram full rigged with a tower and a 500HP x 2 diesels should easily cost US$500K. Judging from the amount of boats sold in the US for the past many many years, these billion of dollars industry sure can make or influence their own rules in the government.

I think Rig as a chartered captain and a spearo can share some light cause he knows both of the sport well. What do you think spearo stands ? Yep, I know there are those bad spearos who shoot at anything that moves just for the killing and not some dinner.
 
Youv'e hit the nail on the head Iya. Money talks. Especially with governments.

If you consider how much energy a fish has to expend to feed itself and then take away most of it by letting it fight on the end of fishing rod for a few hours its not too hard to figure out that a fair proportion of gamefish that are released will die from exhaustion. Not to mention those who can't defend themselves against sharks. There was a study done on mortality rates either here in Oz or the USA but the name of the program escapes me.

Catch and release isn't as fish friendly as recreational fishing lobbies make it out to be. :(

But as long as theres fish there will always be hunters. And we are amongst them. Its a pity that the Florida authorities have that anti spearing stance. But I guess its keep the tourists happy and the dollars rolling in..:hmm

Hopefully one day I will actually have to make the decision of wether or not to spear a Marlin. Certainly being in that position is all I can hope for.:)
 
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Well Iya I will, for the sake of argument, compare the mighty marlin to the king mackeral. Here they are considered a trash fish unless you are an SKA tournament angler(southern kingfish ass.) We catch the hell of of them this time of year trolling. I had a trip Fri. with anglers who had no intention of keeping them but when caught trolling the survival rate is very very low. Unlike many captains who would have pretended catch and release to appease the anglers, I explained the survival rate and told them I would do something with the fish and they WOULD NOT be wasted. What I didnt tell them however is that I traded their catch to a shrimper I know that loves kings for 30 lbs. of 20 ct. shrimp(grilling size!):cool: Hows that for smooth Sven? The bottom line is wasting a resource is wasting a resource. Many boats will stay in the fish long after catching their limit and "release" the rest, knowing the fish will likely die anyway. I refuse to do this on my boat.

Here the white marlin is being considered for the endangered species list. The Billfish Foundation, self proclaimed "champion of fisheries conservation" has made this stance, "the impact on on sport-fishing-related businesws would be too devestating." So saving the marlin is great as long as it doesnt effect anglers. Regardless of whos fault it is, commercial or recreational, you would think these guys would be all about what ever it takes to save the species. But then again...:confused:
 
Slick, very slick....

when I was a kid in the land of sand we used to trade Grouper to the local police, different sort of arrangement though...

they got free dinner, we stayed out of jail....

:D

Willer
 
We host one of the biggest billfish comps in Sodwana with over 90 boats entered . Recently they made a big deal about changing to catch and release . I happened to be spearing close to a boat that had just released a marlin after a 2 hour fight and dove down to observe it .
The poor fish was barely fluttering as it sank sideways to the bottom , I doubt it ever recovered .
Some fishermen do pull fish along the boat by the bill letting water flow over the gills , have seen some recover and swim away quite strongly .
At least we have good relations between fishermen and spearo's
 
May sound cruel to some Abri, but you probably should've put a spear through that marlin.

No sense it die for naught when it can feed several families. :(
 
There is no doubt for me that the anglers are killing marine reserves.The problem with the anlers is they continue hooking until they get what they want.No matter what will be the cost.These guys paying that much money to the boats and trips, so who cares about "few fish" will die.At leat this is what i observe from TVs.Then few dumb asses saying NO!!! to spearfishing. Probably these ignorant people don't know anything about spearfishing.They don't know how hard to find and spear giant tuna or marlin.On the other hand a newbie angler can hook them up easily.Look at the archives how many tuna and marlin speared worlwide against how many of them hooked.I think whats the wrong with spearfishing is there is too much wildness and blood in it.
I am not very experianced spero.I didn't saw greater AJ yet.But i know they are somewhere that i can reach and spear few if i am lucky.But what happened two month ago_One trawler boat came and harvest 183 of them and total 400kg spanish Mackarel in one night.Trawling is banned almost everywhere on the earth but the poletical shits goes on here and our governor starts permit these trawler boats that coming from Turkey.God damn trawlers desteroyed their reserves in agean sea so they start hunting in our waters.God damn to all of the trawlers that hunting in our waters and of corse our stupid poleticians.

:rcard to all of the trawlers and those anglers who doesn't care about marine life.
Let me clearify the point, i am not talking about the anglers who are responsible and care about marine reserves.
 
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We got a similar problem here. There has been several evalutaions of fish quantities in my area in the last few years, and all said one thing: fishing should come to a halt a few months per year for atleast 5 years, otherwise we're in a big problem.
the most amazing thing is that even the FISHERS agreed to cooperate, as long as the government will support them financialy(2-3 months a year of minimum wage) . but ofcourse, the governmet, who ordered the servuys, and debated with the fishers (since they refused in the last debate a few years ago)did nothing after it got the OK. and the cost of all this is pretty low, 1-2 million$ per year.
that's really nothing.

I prefer water sharks over the land ones - politicians that is.
 
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