Peacock rockcod

[Siam Spearo]

Hi All,

I almost got a 10kg (roughly) yesterday, I was using a 90cm euro, not rail gun as the trigger is faulty on my immersion 120. I don't have a camo suit, its to hot so i wear a black rash suit, full suit.
I had his attention, he was just out of range, head on watching me as they do, when i slowly slowly approached him he shot off, on his side like they do, as if teasing me....:head:head

Does anyone have any tricks to get closer to these fish, slowly approaching on the very bottom, face in the sand works with sweetlips and even smaller snapper but the rockcod was not having it.

Any advise will be appreciated, and don't tell me to get a camo suit, its to hot!:t

 

[irtrogdor]

Maybe squinting? Perhaps the fish is getting close enough to see that you do in fact have eyes which is spooking him.

I have never hunted rockcod before though, so what do I know?

 

[Siam Spearo]

could be right mate, I'll try it this sunday. I have seen him the past 3 times I have been to this spot. Cheers

 

[bluewaterkiller]

Hello Siam.
in FP our `` Cephalopholis argus`` named ``ROI``or ``roy`` are very easy to get but are also lot smaller ..
they are SO easy to shot that i do not see any tricks needed -over here- to catch it that i know off!!!sorry ..just need to shot on it..!!
on contrary some epinephelus that i meet in fiji were VERY difficult to catch!!

the only trick i found to get them was : to see them before they see you and to shot before they see you!!so they do not run...

 

[NunoDias]

Hello Siam,

There are different species of grouper in Mozambique, their behavior is different from specie to specie but mostly from spot to spot.
In some areas of the country they are most confident and pose no problem to the average spero, but in others its quite a puzzle to spear one.

When out of theire caves, a bit of calm and patience, a gently aproach and its a fairly easy target.
You should avoid a direct aproach when they show thenselves a bit suspicious, moving from side to side on a nervous manner.
It helps a lot to drift a litle away from them, but slowly, since most serranid are very territorial they will aproach to check as you fake a retreat.
Showing no interest on them also works.

Keep your gun tucked along your body as much as possible and avoid fast or strong movements, rather make small ajustments to posicion yourself as needed.

Nice and easy does the trick, try to shoot them a litle above and between the eyes on a frontal shot, or behind and a bit higher on a side or a back shot.

Usually the fight poses no problems even in the bigger ones.

After the shot, a firm grip is advised to avoid the fish from "caving" for it will try to take the line trough every hole available in the vicinity.

Other from that a correct and silent descend technique, good ventilation on the surface as usual and i guess its all in shooting them out in the open...

Best regards,

Dias

PS: Camo suits are not the awnser to spearing more efficiently.
They only work in full imobility techniques, and in enviroments in wish their pattern blends in.
In bluewater the break of the spero sillouete, making it less defined, seens to make some species more curious keeping then a bit more interested than with regular pattern wetties.
In some situations showing oneself, appeling to the fishes curiosity also works, contradicting the camouflage issue...
Still none of this is proved to be accurate and it does vary a lot, so camouflage is not a substitute for perfect technique...

 

[Coral Sniper]

If you have spotted one move yourself into a position that they cannot see you and then dive right at them and creep over the rock and be ready to fire.This usually work but sometimes they may just hide in there hole and you wont see anything.

Also just dropping straight down(from right above) on them in a VERY relaxed and non aggressive way with very little eye contact will work with the not so skittish fish.

 

[bluewaterkiller]

If you have spotted one move yourself into a position that they cannot see you and then dive right at them and creep over the rock and be ready to fire.This usually work but sometimes they may just hide in there hole and you wont see anything.

Also just dropping straight down(from right above) on them in a VERY relaxed and non aggressive way with very little eye contact will work with the not so skittish fish.

yes yes..exactly..

hey coral sniper , how is fishing right now in tonga?
is there many spearos there ?
have you seen DOC lopez recently around? chasing marlins?with rob torelli and ian puckeridge.??

Any big doggies around .(over 70 kgs)
or big GT`s?

thanks
rgds
Marco

 

[Coral Sniper]

Oh fishing is great over here, we hardly have any sport spearos,lots of night divers though.

Here is a 140lb wrasse I took a few weeks ago,ha ha it snapped 2 shafts and bent another one way beyond repair!

Met Darren shields a while ago have not met Rob,Doc and Ian though.

I dont run into doggies that big very often but I have seen some monsters:blackeye!

I do see massive GTs, I met a guy that was a peace corps that lived here in the 70s and he shot a 200lb GT!!
I told him that would been a world record,crazy stuff!!

 

[bluewaterkiller]

Thanks ..
200 lbs Gt is a very big one ..here some guys landed such too but never think of recording records.just eating !!ha ha..
rgds

 

[Siam Spearo]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the tips and advice regarding the coral trout.

I just got back from my weekly trip and went to a new island, I hit the water at 6:30am and had a full stringer at 10:00am.

I shot a fish that I have never seen before, it is the silver one that looks like a bass. It was in super shallow water in the rocks, he saw me approaching so i took a detour and then came around behind him and got him from behind a rock. I'm going to eat it tomorrow night so I'll let you know how it tastes.

Does anyone know what it is, after 8 years spearing here I have NEVER seen or speared on of these. It was about 2 kg, the Parrot fish was about 4kg. I love parrot fish in a tom yam curry.

Bluewaterkiller - I see those grouper here in Thailand a lot, they are pretty easy to spear like you said, as long as you see them first. I saw one on the Andaman sea about 5ft long, it was way to deep for me to spear and shot off as soon as i saw him. These fish at about 3-5kg are common.

Diaz - Thanks again for the advice, the fish you posted a photo of is similar to the one i mean what is it? The fish I keep stalking is actually a coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus). I did some searches on the net, it is way smarter than the grouper I have seen and been spearing. I'm sure it is the same fish I keep bumping into because it is a fairly small reef, maybe 500m long. He will only give me a head on shot and will get no closer than 3m, I'm using a comanchee 90cm so it is kind of tough. My 120 railguns mech is broken so I make do.:rcard I shot a grouper in between the eyes with my 90cm and it bent my spear and shot off down the reef, I was totally destroyed because I'm sure it would have died a couple of days later for no reason, It was about three quarters the size of the one in your photo, it would have been a new personal best for sure:rcard:rcard I totally agree with what you say about a fake retreat, I have never thought about that before, the fish being teritorial, it makes sense. I'll try it next time, i didn't see him yesterday and dedicated my whole afternoon to finding him :head

I never keep my gun tucked away near my body, i always swim around with it in the prone position, do you think the fish are keeping a distance from the gun tip and not me? If so, how do you have time to get from the tucked position to the prone position?


Talk soon

 

[Siam Spearo]

Just noticed my manly 6 pack!!!! Sorry to make all you other spearo's jealous, you just gotta get used to fact that I'm on the forum to stay, so keep your hate mail..... good looks just come naturally to me, I was told the fish will follow some day!:t:t:t:t

 

[NunoDias]

Hello Siam,

Aldo i cannot precise wich one, the fish you are holding in your left hand looks very much like a grunter, (Haemulidae family), maybe a Javelin Grunter (Pomadasys kaakan) or some other sort of "Pomadasys".

We have them here in Mozambiwue but a diferrent specie, the Spotted Grunter (Pomadasys commersonn), lwich body is a bit looked like the one you hold but the head is quite different.

Here's a sample:

The grouper in the picture i sent before is a Malabar Grouper, (Epinephelus malabaricus), and yes, Coral Trout do behave a bit like snappers in some areas, being more difficult to catch them groupers.

As for the technique in hunting them i'm rather in favor of the one i explained before because a hidden aproach on some fishes, is not an effective technique (in my opinion of course), basicly because of the fish lateral line wich is a sense organ used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water and are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the gill covers to the base of the tail.
Because of these most of the times we are not seing the fish but they have already sensed us and simply drift away.
Other then that, when you surprise a fish you get im scared and running right away, wich means you wont have another chance on that fish again that day because you scared him.

Interacting with the prey on a calm and silent manner is the best way to do it, you get to better understand the fish's behavior and to adjust your aproach and technique and often more them one chance to do it. Snappers are a proof of this...

Fish will always keep their'e distance from the end of your body onwards. The gun is nothing but an extencion of yourself to a fish, and they will keep their distance from it.
The gun tip, if keeped extended also moves a lot making the fish restless and nervous. Try to avoid waving your gun around while prospecting for fish, and always keep it as near to your body as possible, this doesn't mean it has to be under you at all times, but something in between, that at least is confortable enough to gently aim as intended.

Congratilations on your fish...

Best regards,

Dias

 

[bluewaterkiller]

Perfect explanations..
Dias u re talking too much too good!!ha ha!! everyones reading yr posts will knows how to spear fishes now.!!
does not mean they will be able too..
the fake retreat trick was teach to me from Mr Jean Tapu ..(cuba world champ..)for maori wrasse /napoleon fish by example..
Rgds
Marco

 

[Siam Spearo]

Yep, your right Diaz, it's def a grunter, i just did some searches online to double check but looking at your monster specimen was enough to confirm.
So i got a new species, great I'm eating it tonight, it looks tasty. We must get very few grunter here in Thailand because I have never seen one before. That one of your Diaz, is massive, how many KG was that bad boy?
Thanks again

 

[NunoDias]

Hi Siam,

This grunter was 8 kilos, actually the biggest iv'e caught so far, and almost a record around here.
I have caught one quite bigger than the one on the picture but while retriving it a zambezi took half a fish right under my fins, leaving a 5 kilo hunk of meat on my spear...
They do get bigger but due to over trolling for shrimp in the bay area the average catch this days goes around 4 to 5 kg, making fish with more than 7 kilos excepcional.

Best regards,

Dias

 

[hydrohunter]

Hi Siam,
I was fortunate to take two large coral trout in similar circumstances at Bassas Da India in about 20m on the NW side of the atol. I swam towards their position unknowingly at that depth then spotted them. Both were posturing and appeared to want to stand their ground when I aproached from slightly below them! Niether seemed frightened and allowed me to aproach in a flattened out level attitude. They were both over a meter long, black with little electric-blue dots, and were shot from about 4m with a 1.4m Rob Allen railgun. The viz was about 20m so they saw me before I saw them and my route was about 30 degrees off to the side from direct. The fish is spectacular as is the eating!...is this the same species?

Rick