Spearfishing Photos

[Wishbone]

Just as promised...

Cuban mate,

Just as promised, I've posted the World Spearfishing Championship '2002 photo-list of banned species on my website.
I won't post the URL here since it's not a place for advertising even in such case...
You can follow the link in my profile. You'd also be able to find there the official Spearfishing rules by the World Confederation for underwater activities.

This is just for your info. I'm not trying to make any points here or educate you in any way. It's all up to you!

I hope we can all reach the achievements of spearos like Mazzari, Amengual, Carbonell or March some day! (And strut we were able to find and legally hunt on the same species they do!)

Safe diving, man!

Ivan

 

[cubandiver]

what?

Ahh now i know ur a cuban because to be called a puertorican is to be insulted by another cuban! No iam not pr iam 50% cuban and 50% american. heres a pic of a cudda the was trying to get me. its pritty big but look at the shot i got on it! no movement what so ever when i shoot it, in spanish thats called el triro de palo witch means one shot kill. Give me ten more years and i will become pro.

 

[sturgeon]

Worlds

Wishbone,

Are you gonna be in Brazil? If so I'd like to meet you. I'm representing the USA and will arrive in Brazil on October 26.

Scott Turgeon

 

[rigdvr]

professional what? As long as cuban was within the limits that day he did nothing wrong. Your problem Cuban is not all that uncommon among 17 yr olds...Its your basic case of
know-it-all-isitis. It has a couple of cures one being age and the other happens upon incarceration the other inmates give you an injection of "peniscillin" and that usually takes care of it. Have you ever heard its not what you say but how you say it that matters. i too have had days where I speared my limit plus some for my friends having "bad" hunting days but it is your attitude that is upsetting people. You see breath hold divers do any and everything to relax but youre getting their heartrates up and damaging bottom times! relax.

 

[Wishbone]

Hey Scott,

I doubt it I'll be there myself unfortunately. It's too early for me to make it to the National team.
There is a chance though to go there as a member of the Bulgarian delegation. But it all depends on the BG Spearfishing Federation.
I'm working very closely with them (they use my website as their home) and they've asked me to collect as much info on the WC as I can. I've also had some questions from abroad so - I'm doing it.
There's not too much info coming from the CBPDS, as you may have noticed... So I have to approach members of the CMAS spearfishing committee and stuff. A bit hard.

I'm sure our delegation will arrive at the last moment - the BSF is not really rich and can't afford longer stay. The boys won't have any time for training and checking the zone. So I'd really appreciate it if you can post me some preliminary info when you arrive!

Anyways, if I ever make it to Brazil, I'd love to meet you too! If not - I'd ask our boys to look you up and say hi...

And get me some photos if I'm not there!

I'm off for a series of competitions tomorrow (incl. the Nationals), so wish me luck. I hate it - straight from the office and into the water! That can't be the route to success! (I'm ~250 miles from the sea) :vangry

Will be back in two weeks...

Ivan Bakardjiev

 

[icarus pacific]

Have fun, Ivan. And congrats to Scott on his finish in Carmel last month. There were some decent size lings taken there.

sven

 

[Abriapnea]

Re: what?

Originally posted by cubandiver
in spanish thats called el triro de palo witch means one shot kill.

Hi Cuban , nice fish . We call it stoning a fish when you brain it like that .Because of the big backbone that's also a favourite target . Don't want one of those MOFO's turning on me ...

 

[Hamrrhed]

On a lighter subject

Here's my latest Ling from N. Cal 8/02

 

[Abriapnea]

Re: On a lighter subject

Yeah , that looks pretty light ....rofl
Great fish , H/h ... never seen one of those before .Please tell me more about spearing them

 

[Wishbone]

Thanks Sven!

And Scott! Saw your name on the Carmel standings but never related it to your nick here... Congrats!

I've never used a Kayaks, BTW. And was very surprised you're using it for your Nationals!

IB

 

[Griff]

Hamrrhd, nice fish and what a decent guy. even gave the fish a last meal.
my buddy had a similar thing happen, he shot a catface rockcod with an almost legal size rock lobster in it. it still had the two feelers sticking out of its mouth.
do you think that the fisheries guy will buy that one.
"no, that cray isnt mine, that one belongs to the fish"
rofl

 

[Abriapnea]

I have often speared fish , specially mackerel and tropical yellowtail / seriola rivoliana /, only to have them puking their most recent meal whole and (relatively) fresh .

 

[Iyadiver]

Nice One Ham,

Come 2 the forum more often. I suppose Lingcod is delicous, we won't have one here.....yum..yum. Is this fish sand based on lurking in holes ?


Wisbone,
All the best for ur comp. Can't you sue someone for a chopper ride to the coast . I won't drive that far here...no way.


Griff,
Night diving he ? I see ur "Finless" status is gone, so u must be back on track.

 

[Griff]

yep, got the spare blade. just need some decent weather. i have had one freedive so far. but conditions were not great. strong sidewash, big swell and crappy viz. on the plus side i pulled the biggest cray i have ever seen (east coast rock lobster). it weighs over a kilo. thats pretty big for that species. it was the first time i have ever been bitten by a crayfish. i had to ask my dive buddy to hold it so that i could pull my glove out of its mouth.
hopefully the conditons will be diveable.

 

[sturgeon]

Nats

Thanks Sven. We did ok (5th place team), the real bummer was that our 3rd teammate lost his mask early into the day and wasn't carrying a spare (can you believe that!!!!), or else we would have easily placed 3rd. No chance at 1st or 2nd though. Those guys kicked some serious ass! One of my 2 lings would normally be considered a pretty nice one (18 lbs) except for the 4 x 30+ lb'ers that were taken this year that make mine seem like a baby.

Wishbone,

In the USA, all Nationals (except in FL) are done from kayaks. It's a huge disadvantage for us poor FL boys because we always use boats over here.

Definitely tell your friends to introduce themselves to me in Brazil. I'm going over late compared to the rest of the USA Team. Two guys from my team are going over October 13. That gives them almost a full month to scout.

Best of luck at your Nationals!

Scott Turgeon

 

[icarus pacific]

easily placed third??? I think Dennis would disagree. He and I were doing some dives there clear back in April where I was remarking to him about that "Power Rangers" suit he's got. rofl The spot for the lings, now that all you clowns are gone, is out to the point, past the pink mansions and in 90+ feet. Definitely have-your-shit-together- diving...

sven

 

[icarus pacific]

Hammertime!

Nice healthy ling, Hammer. That's pushing 12 or so eh?

Where are you up this way?

The ling cod, for you poor schmucks out there in wherever, is a rock fish, and pretty much at the top of the rockfish chain and spearos here on the West Coast. It's a cave dweller that comes out and suns itself on top of the pinnacles and tables for a couple hours a day and to feed on smaller rockfish like blue and black Canary and vermillion rockfish. It's a regulated species, as are most all fish now here with a minimum size limit that Hammer barely cleared :t and it's got some teeth.

The meat is often a turqoise color reflecting it's diet of blue rockfish, but it cooks up white and firm, just like me :ban A good place to look for them is along horizontal and diagonal cracks in the rocks, as this gives them a good view of the goings-on and below any school of small rockfish. Their camo is pretty good, but when you look into a hole and see this snout much as a Greyhound's with teeth, turn the gun to the side and go for the eyes. Dinner!

I think the record for them being caught by spear, at least freediving, was broken at the Nat's last month with a fish pushing 40 pounds. Scuba-wise I've got them to 30 something and I've seen, in a reserve naturally, a fish that would have gone 100 plus. Commercial guys routinely get them in the 50's.

sven

 

[Hamrrhed]

a Blue for two (re: On a lighter subject)

Good Morning All,

A couple of weekends ago I went diving with a gentleman from my dive club up along a Mendocino County Beach (Navarro). Surf was low and the wind was non existant a great day for a beach dive.
We tied our kayaks to the bull kelp, jumped in and I played the jaws theme over in my head.
Nobody was on the site so I figured we'd have a good day. Peeking through the dense kelp I spotted a fat blue rock fish, what luck I thought as I made an easy three foot shot. The blue did his thing and ran to the bottom pulling line off my cheap reel as I popped back to the surface.
Slipping back through the kelp I followed down my reel line, I was about five to ten feet from the fish when something came slithering up from the bottom and snatched my blue all the up to its tail!
I couldnt believe what had just happened, hovering mid water I just stared in disbelief at this greedy ling with my lunch hanging out of its mouth.
With no way to retrieve the blue or ling I swam back to the surface and called for my dive buddy.
O.K. Ken this is the deal a huge ling just swallowed a fish I speared and the greedy guy wont let go, go down and shoot the ling for me, huh?! Thanks. He swims down I can hear the shaft fly, he swims up and Im like wheres the ling? I missed he says :duh !!!!!!!!!!!! I grab his gun load it chase down my reel line and here is the ling sitting out in the open with the blue still in his mouth! Thank you very much I say as I drill him in the head.
I couldn't believe it, it was one for the books all that ling had to do was let go!

*Often times the best way to get one is to chum the water with abalone trimmings left in a mesh bag tied off to your anchor line, this works well to draw them out of the holes they usaully hide in.
**The blue in his mouth was 15", I believe the ling was approx. 3o to 36" long and weighed about 15 to 17 lbs.
***Rarely will you find them out in the open but it does happen.

Anthony
Richmond, Calif.

 

[sturgeon]

Lings

The top 4 lings (30+ lb'ers) at this years Nationals were taken at an average depth of 21 feet. Largest fish of the tournament was a 32.7 lb ling. Dennis had a 35 lb'er in Russian Gulch and holds the IUSA 21st Century World Record with that fish.

I said my team would have easily placed third because we only missed it by about 30 points and one of my teammates only had a mask for about 2 hours of the tournament. Third Place Team had 192 points (mine had 168), 2nd Place Team had 331 points, and the Champions had 372 points. You can see the discrepancy between 1,2, and 3rd place Team scores, numbers 1 & 2 kicked some serious ass!!!!!!!!

Scott Turgeon

 

[Abriapnea]

Thanks , Anthony . Sven : verily thou art a fount of wisdom ..:king
Guys , I've asked this before :
Firstly MORE pix , but also some info such as what I had to drag out of Sven
We have a lot of fish in common , however there are also plenty that are regional . There's been lots of ling mentioned before - this was the first photo this year at least . Same with many other species .
Doesn't have to be record size , just the average fish you bag .