swordfish speared UW ?

[peterk]

Hi fellows,
hi fellows

I spearfished freediving for a living in the Med for 3 years(8 long summers) in the 60s.


In 73 in the Sea of Cortez,
off Espiritu Santo Island ,
I speared a very long, skinny
(8 ft - 2,40 meters, 90-100 lbs - 40-45 kilos)

swordfish,

freediving of course
The fish attacked me twice on the surface
I fended him off with my flippers
then I got p.o.ed and went for my speargun(arbalete champion)

New England Divers in San Diego
told me this was the first swordfish
ever actually taken by a freediver
- apparently one guy had tried in Southern California and gotten hurt badly.

Anyone got info on similar stuff, records, where when?
I'd appreciate it!

try my website: http://www.juprowa.com/kittel
go to 'fotos' - near the bottom you'll find
a nice grouper
- observe the humble arbalete I got him with.

good hunting!
...p

 

[SASpearo]

Records

Just for records:

IUSA

Ibsrc


These are the two most well know world record committees. You can find a lot of info on fish and records there. I can't seem to find anything on Swordfish - congratulations on your catch!

And welcome to Deeper Blue.

Rageds,
Riaan Coetzee

 

[Hennie]

Watch out for a wounded bill fish!

Our chairman of Freediving South Africa, Craig Scott, nailed a 25kg striped Marlin last year at Cape Vidal on the Northern Natal coast of South Africa.

The fish was struggling weakly on the sand when he asked Allan Ubsdell, his dive buddy to finish it with a second shot - Allan dived down on it and it whipped around,spearing him in the chest.....

Most fortunate for poor Allan, the bill glanced off a rib and deflected through the outer muscle wall.....leaving him alive but very sore!:waterwork

Craig has a photo of his prized marlin and Allan sharing the boats deck on their way back to the beach.

Just shows you they can spear you back!!!!!!

 

[peterk]

re swordfish

hi riaan,
thanks for your nice comment!

I could open one of the sites you suggested -
indeed no swordfish on the list...

I don't see much point in reporting this though.
After all it happened 29 years ago.
I did have two witnesses,
whose camera promptly screwed up -
As the poet says: sh.. happens!
New England Divers in San Diego were notified at the time.

I still have the sword on 'Tehani'
during one haul-out rats got on the boat
and gnawed off the first/inboard 3 inches of it
a dead swordfish gets no respect.....

a LIVE billfish is another story.

On the last leg of my solo sail
around our big pumpkin,
in March of 98
I cleaned the hull snorkeling.
in water
too deep even for Jacques...
about 3000 meters,
the nearest dry land was Easter Island
- 900 kms to the West

I was almost done
when three solid yellowfin tuna
almost a meter long each
hid right next to
my right shoulder! in the shadow of T's hull.
They NEVER get that close to a human.
Before that I'd never even seen them swim slowly....

I grabbed my arbalete from the deck
and looked around.
There, about 30 feet down
was a large striped marlin,
seemingly
very aware of the boat
and the tuna and me.

He actually came up and slowly approached.
The tuna and I ended up on the other side of
Tehani - next to each other again,
and, if you can say that of fish:
holding our collective breaths!

I was within touching distance
of that striper -
I watched him through
the rudder opening as he slid by.
He was massive - I guessed
nearly 3 meters long
One of the tuna panicked and took off.
In an unbelievable explosion of
power and speed
the
marlin raced after him.

Later I read that billfish
in bursts can outswim anything in the ocean
-that's how they CAN feed on tuna,
that's why the tuna freaked...

respect, respect.---------------------------------------------------------

ps. when I was the the Royal Cape Y.C. in Cape Town
a father and son team were doing underwater
maintainance work.
the father was one of your famous S.A. freediving hunters.
sorry I forgot his name

good hunting everybody!
...peter

 

[Erik]

Hi Peter, nice to have you around!
What a fantastic set of stories. I think we all could learn a lot from you, if you care to submit more tales and info.
Cheers,
Erik Y.

 

[andrsn]

billfish

i still marvel at the beauty and splendor of billfish when i see them in the water. it's illegal to spear them where i go(florida) but even if it were legal, i'm not sure i could bring myself to do it.

anyways, welcome aboard peter. make yourself at home, and enjoy the plethera of personalities here in our group

aloha,
anderson

 

[Pekka]

I just looked at the world records from the IUSA web site....heck, almost 300kg fish, now I have never done any spearfishing, but as I looked at the picture af that huge fish and the little spearfisher....:duh how in the millioin years he got the fish..now I have looked at the stuff...float and but get real 300kg pure muscle that guy could absolutely do nothing!
So my question is how do you spearfish 300kg bluefin tuna!!???? How.....

 

[crazyfrenchmen]

Stone em

Hi,
the best way to spear a big fish is to stone em. You shoot the arrow in the brain so the fish pass out immediately. You can also shoot through the spinal cord and paralyze it. If you want to rock a lot, shoot through the gillplate and wait for it to tired, then finish him up with a ice pick. I've read that in "Helldiver's rodeo" a very good book about killing stuff and living hard.

 

[Pekka]

Underwater rodeo from hell! I can imagine that when you are pulled underwater by a 300kg swimming machine/torpedo that would be a ride from hell, I would pass such ride...thanks.:t

 

[peterk]

hi everybody,

THANKS
FOR MAKING ME FEEL WELCOME HERE !

Since my pro-diving days spearfishing seems to have become a
dirty (12-letter) word.
Except amongst you people
and us bluewater sailors -
we get enjoyment and great food from mother ocean,
and we try to be nice to her in turn.
sh-t, without her we'd be earthworms!

I used to think of myself as a pretty
mellow dude before that heart attack at sea in 1998.
now I am,
at first by circumstance
and now by learned philosophy,
even more so.

When my boat goes back into our element
in a month or so
I'll head first for the Galapagos.
Of course you can't spearfish there.
Later, later (heavy breathing...)

But I'll do something again
that I enjoy madly:
I'll try to touch wild animals
above and below the ocean's surface

or be touched by them, voluntarily!
(no - I'm not trying to tame 'em!(

this is a supreme kind of stalking
sort of like the
American Indian's 'Counting Coup'
it takes oodles of patience+
Is every bit as much meditation
as any spearfishing I've ever done

On my website:
http://www.juprowa.com/kittel
click on 'animals of the ocean',
you'll see what I mean

I appreciate your opinions on this...

I'm sure glad I found this website,
Happy hunting!

...peter