The DeeperBlue.com Spearfishing Hall of Fame.

[fleshy]

Re: Wisconsin Freedivers & Spearos

Carp 30lb



Species: Carp
Size: 30 pounds, 32 inches
Location: Egg Harbor, WI
Description: This fish was speared with an 80cm Rob Allen "TUNA" in 15 FOW. It was shot off of some pilings, Bay side of Door County.
Details: I'm about 6'1", although my friends say Im taller so the fish is longer than it looks. The guy next to me is almost 6'4".

The Story: It was a slow day, but we had been catching glimpses of a monster carp that kept us in the water. After about three hours, winks shot that decently sized drum, but I had come up with nothing. All I was seeing was schools of drum, lots of small mouth bass, and the millions of little round gobies. After four hours almost everyone wanted to quit, most had given up and were sitting on shore. I told myself that I would take three more drops before calling it quits. First drop nothing, SECOND drop...nothing, and then right as I kicked up off the bottom two carp that were about 75% of the size of the baby hippo wed been seeing, came around the end of the pilings. I tried to draw a bead on the bigger one, at a range of about 15'. He swerved off. The second one doubled back into the murky waters. I took another kick off the bottom, and the second carp pulled a u-turn and started comming back at me. I let myself sink slowly, and at about 8' of range I put the spear through the gillplate on one side, and out the gut on the other. She fought for about three minutes before I was able to dive down, and cut her gills out. When we got back out, everyone on the beach was amazed at the size of the fish.

Picture Info: U/W with the Fish, Beach Celebration, "Winks" and I

 

[spearslinger22]

The Deeper Blue Spearfishing Hall of Fame.

Yellowtail Kingfish 12.6kg & 11kg
Crayfish (NZ) 2.3kg


Thought I should post some of my recent kingy stabs. I'm Canadian but been traveling NZ for over a year now. Kingfish are great fun and even the smaller ones are capable of draggin a person under if a float line isn't being used.

I shot the first Kingy during the New Zealand Spearfishing Nationals and it weighed in at 12.6 Kilos. It was during the Big Three part of the comp (one kingy, one snapper, one cray) and i got my kingy and my cray...if I had gotten a snapper the day would been mine...ah well. My first Kingy, and so far, my biggest.

Another day on Capstain Rock in the Bay of Islands my friend Nick and I pegged a couple more. My second fish was an even 11 kilos.

We've also managed a few nice Crayfish. Here is My largest so far at 2.3 kilos. My lovely girlfriend Celina is holding it. Strangely she even helped me eat it, how nice of her! Recently a friend of mine got a cray that weighed over 11 kilos and was bigger than his dive tank he was shamelessly using...damned bubbleheads.:naughty

 

[rascolor]

Re: Dorset Spearing 2009

Grey Mullet (Common thick lip) 5lb 11oz


Ladies and Gentlemen, first good day of diving this year.

First I arrived at sunny chesil cove, water still cold , but good viz. Dive for about 1,5 hours but no fish and saw 2 another divers but they also had no luck. Moved to Portland bill and after 5 min in the water I saw a mullet shine in the distance, the first signs of a fish. 10 min after the first beauty was on my stringer. A mullet of 2.6kg (5, 7lbs) and another of 1.4kg (3.1 lbs). The big one was my personal best mullet , and first fish of the year.

I hope everybody had as good a day as me, good luck and stay safe.



.

 

[Trelawney]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Conger Eel 12lb 14oz

Tong and I dived Fort Bovisand this eve. Rowan and I did a night dive there last night and found three nice crabs, so I thought we'd give it another try today.

I was about 5m down looking in a big hole and saw a Conger looking at me. Tong had been wanting to get one for ages so I pointed it out to him. He got a good shot through its head which also meant it couldn't bite him. The gun-reel was essential. It went a bit beserk in its hole, and took me a bit of effort to get out. :martialI think it was an exciting swim back to the beach for Tong, as the conger slipped down the shaft that he was holding the end of.

They taste great, and I think are worth the effort. It weighed in at 12lb 14oz.
Going to fry the steaks tomorrow.:friday

 

[badlander]

Re: Cornwall 2009

Mullet (Golden Grey) 1lb 5oz

After a morning of working on the boat, I was pleasantly surprised to hear my wife suggest bringing my spearing kit for our afternoon down at Maenporth.Forgot my stringer so made a makeshift affair from my shoe lace and a tyre lever from my bike's repair kit!

Vis was 5m mostly but some patches were even better.Just billions of pollock straight off the bat and whilst viewing these a legal sized bass presented himself for the taking.Continued being joined by loads of pollock and the odd group of schoolies but didn't really see any more worth taking. Had a swim down the way a little but just more pollock and the odd lone mullet.

Returned to the original spot on the way back and I had a group of about 12 or so mullet go overhead and pretty much focused in on the biggest one which due to it's svelte look i imediately thought 'golden grey!' I'd describe their way of swimming as almost fluttering.Took the shot and got two mullet on the spear, the second was smaller than i'd normally take but he'll still do nicely.

I weighed it before i filleted it after a night in the fridge it came to 1.3lbs.The second mullet was identical to the GG but had no golden markings whatsoever but the pectoral was of equal length relative to the size of the fish..A trait both fish shared however was slime,they were both very slimy compared to a normal mullet.

The flesh of the GG I thought was noticably lighter than a normal mullet also. Obviously pleased now as I agree that they make superb eating.

 

[mortenkv]

The Deeper Blue Spearfishing Hall of Fame.

Halibut (Atlantic) 11.5kg

We were gone to Norway to catch big fish.

1. Hallibut (all above 5kg), 2. Big Coal fish ( Above 10kg), 3. Big Cods (Above 10kg)
- and less important: Haddock, Wolffish, Anglerfish and Pollack

Water was cold ( 5-7 degrees), current strong and visibilty tricky. But we knew that if we endured, then some of us would get big fish.

After some days without any big fish we tried a new spot. But we have to time the tide so we wouldnt get swept away. So we were drifting (diving form boat) 5 spearos on the same 800m long and 250m wide strait of 7-20m water. Continuosly diving taking turns picking divers up and sailing them back. we saw lots of small coalfish, small cods and some wolfies... and after a few hours we lost the faith. But determined on diving until the tide changed we took another hour diving, drifting, beeing picked up and sailed back, diving, drifting and so on...

When the current stopped, the vis got worse, and my friend surfaced shouting "Halibuuuut" we all gathered in that area diving like crazy. After 10mins I started hunting for haddock instead - but then suddenly a good Hallibut left the bottom and before I knew of it my spear was in its neck and it took off while i Surfaced and Shouted "Halibiuuuut"... the boatman got my buoy (with gun and spear attached to it) and I swam down and embraced the mighty fish, surfarced and shouting vitoriusly: "Halibuuuuut". There it was. Not the biggest of the trip - but my biggest (and the only one) so far.

Hallibut, northern Norway, june 2008 11.5kg


Morten Villadsen

 

[Old Man Dave]

Re: Guernsey 2009

Grey Mullet (Common Thick Lip) 6lb 0oz

I went down west today to look at one of my good bass spots. The surf was humungus. Must have been 20 foot on the outermost reefs and 5 to 10 foot on my reef. Went round the corner in the lee and it was flat calm and .... crap vis. It was fishable but overcast and 6 to 8 foot vis ain't my idea of good fishing. Shot one big mullet and that was it. Gave it an hour plus and went home.

Weighed the mullet next day and it was exactly 6lb. Entered it for the Hall of Fame and in the Fish of the Month.

Dave

 

[sunfish]

Re: ireland spearing 2009

Spider Crab 4lb 6oz


This afternoon I took the kayak out along a headland near Skibbereen to look for pollack. There was a little swell, nothing really. I saw no pollack and it felt cold and barren, maybe too early for top class pollacking, so I soon headed back in to try for crabs. I found no brownies but got a nice spider of 4lb 6oz.

On the way back up the beach I was towing the kayak when I came on a big flounder. I had the anchor in my left hand so I grabbed my arm knife but the movement scared him off. I swam round for another 10 minutes but couldn't find him again. Drat!
I reckon tomorrow must be Cork harbour area again.

 

[shiny1]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Red Mullet 2lb 1oz

Today was my second dive of the season. My first dive last week didnt last long,it was to cold for me.

Dived Plymouth Breakwater with Greenhorn,didnt leave the mooring until 6pm. Tide was dropping,not the best of tides to fish it. Didnt see many mullet so went out deeper,viz was bad on the surface but once down below it viz was great,seeing large shoals of pollack up to 3lb.

I took 2 pollack, I then came across a nice ray which is my mums favourite eating fish,he was soon on the stringer. Not long after that I found a nice eating crab, I picked him up then waved to my brother in the boat to off load it with the pollack and ray.

Light was going fast now but the light colour of the bottom made it ok to carry on.There were still large shoals of pollack ever time I dived,on the edge of them I noticed a different type of fish heading my way, first I thought it was a wrasse but when it got closer I thought thats Trelawnys Red Mullet he'd seen yesterday. He was soon added to the evenings catch which rounded off a nice start to the season.

I weighed him back at the quay and he came out at 2lb 1oz or 96kg.

 

[dave]

Re: Cornwall 2009

Pollack 14lb 3oz


Despite family commitments all weekend, I found time for a quick dive on sunday morning. Took the boat out to a favourite South Coast spot, and despite the easterly and reports of plankton, found clear water on one of my favourite spots. After a few dives to locate the structure,I was lying next to a sandpatch downtide in 17m, when I saw 3 large shapes come over the top of the reef on the limit of visibility. They moved slowly towards me, and the nearest one presented a perfect shot. Didn't quite stone it, but nearly. I could see the spear was not fully through on the other side, and when I grabbed the fish to push it through, realised that it was bigger, and farther away than I though.
14.2lb, my biggest pollack yet, home made fish and chips for tea, perfect

cheers
dave

 

[Spiderman]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Conger Eel 13lb 4oz


Great day at Meadfoot, good company, good conditions, not very many fish and then I found this brute in a hole, all 13lb 4oz of him.
Going to have to do some work on my spear before I use it again.

 

[Tong]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Edible Crab 4lb 5oz



ME and trelawny did a shore dive from meadfoot beach next to the carpark. We got in the water at around 11ish and headed left up towards an island (not sure what its called) I only saw a few large wrasse and dogfish so gave up trying to find fish and started looking for crabs and lobos. Trelawny found a monster lobster but he was in a really deep hole and we just couldnt get to him, then trelawny pulled a nice sized crab and a few mins later i found a crab that took about 20mins to get out of the hole! it weighed in 4lb 5oz trelawny has the pics and he will be posting them shortly.

All in all it was a great day.

Pete

Just got the pics of my crab from trelawny. it is a big boy i dont think its as big as olivers though!!

 

[crazywind009]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Edible Crab 5lb 15oz


Thank to scott for the bbq a great day :friday
The beast from the abyss weight 5lb 15 oz3/4 that is my record smash:friday
Really enjoy the day, we need to organize a bbq in budleigh for you guys ,need to speak to the budleigh boys for the date.Thank again to scott

 

[kdutoit]

Re: Dorset Spearing 2009

Squid 3lb 2oz


Went for a swim in the harbour with Tonyiannu and also met Fishfox. It was nice to have some company and pick up a few more helpfull tips, THANKS GUYS !

The dive was ok, a bit windy and choppy in the harbour with viz 4-5m. Tony took a small bass just as we got in and also some crabs. I got a nice size squid that weighed in at 3.1lb Are they quite common in portland harbour? I never thought the first thing I'll shoot with my speargun would be a squid.

Here is a pic of the squid.

 

[birchy]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Spider crab 5lb 0oz

Hi folks

Got in for only the second time this year at the small cove near Start Point, scene of my pb last year of 3 bass to 5lb. Of course the easterly arrived in good time, stirring up the bloom with a nice bit of surf!!

Good to be in though and eventually saw 2 cruising mullet in some reasonable viz. Trouble is they were just over my right shoulder, and there was no way I could swing the Beuchat 85 round in time. Maybe I should get a 50cm gun for such occasions!

Just about to head back through the building surf when I caught a glimpse of orange and white through the green and brown. Biggest spider I have seen for years, and well worth the hassle of getting him back. He came out at 5lb exactly, and the pictures show before and after - with before and after wine.

Well made up for the lack of fish, and thanks to Foxfish for the cooking tips!

 

[shiny1]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Sole 3lb 3oz


Picked Janner up 6pm this evening.We were crossing the border in to Cornwall for a shore dive to raid there fish stocks.
From the cliff top it looked handsome my beautys.We were both excited trying out some new ground.From the cliff top looking down a big reef stretched out half a mile,to the sides there were big areas of sand with dark patches where smaller reefs were.
Janner went right i went left.There was about a 90 mins before low tide.we hope to pick up some nice bass on the young flood just when the light started to fade.
10 mins in to the dive i had a nice flounder.He was on the stringer and i was just moving on when i noticed a second flounder,i didnt fire just pressed the 100 gun onto him.Number 2 on the belt.15mins more a third was added.I was in flattie mode now not really looking for what i was there for,bass.Then 2 caught my eye darting away,switch back to bass mode.There were a lot of deep gullies here i hunted through many not seeing a single bass,just when i thought to myself,get back after them flounders i founda bass hidden in a kelp covered gullie,he was'nt no monster but a nice eating size.I started looking for flatties again but the sand became more reef and i didnt see much for ages.
Just when i was thinking of going back to where i had started and concentrate on the flatties i noticed what i thought was a turbot swimming below me on the sand but up tight against the reef.He passed below me and passed i turned to follow waiting for a clear shot,the kelp from the reef was'nt giving me a clear shot but i couldnt wait and took the shot,a sand storm erupted on the bottom.I soon pinned it to the bottom then got a good grip on it.It was my first sole and a big one at that,3lbs3oz.I searched the surrounding area hoping to find another but that was it and the light was fading fast below the steep cliff.On my swim back to small beach i did get a second bass.
When i got back the car Janner wasnt back but he was only 10 mins behind me.He had 1 bass a lobster and a cutle fish.It was 10 o'clock now and stiil a little bit of light.A good spot and im sure we'll be back again soon to look for a few more sole.

 

[Janner]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Thornback Ray 10lb 12oz.


Shiny 1
Did a boat dive last night with Janner.Viz was looking ok and the tide was still running out.When i got back to the boat Janner had allready unloaded his catch,a big thornback 10lb12oz. Another nice evening diving with great conditions.

Janner did that Thorny take much finishing off or do they go bananas and try to tear holes in your suit?

To be honest mate I spotted it at the end of a breath hold. Came up for a quick few breaths of air as i wasn't sure if it would put up much of a fight then went back down and shot it (i don't normally shoot ray but i know shinys mum and dad love eating them, so this one had it). It didn't put up a fight at all, i swam straight back to the boat with it though as it would of been a nightmare trying to dive with all that drag around my waist.

 

[Broseidon]

Re: Spearing north wales

Spider crab 6lb 14oz & 5lb 3oz


Yawn! Got back at 1am this morning after deciding to stay at the coast to watch the sunset, which was really quite special:

Had a great 4 days; the underwater highlights were getting my first bass and catching the most ridiculously massive spider crab.

In general, I saw very, very few fish - I didn't see a single Pollock over 1 lbs, saw 1 Bass (which I shot), one flatty which I left alone, the usual Wrasse including one very big one which I crept really close to (just to look) and one smallish dog fish which I actually stroked!

I did 7 shore dives in total:



Trevor Pier: Not the prettiest of places but in quite a dramatic setting with the hills etc. Got in as the tide was beginning to come in, got a few dirty looks from the bubblers who were having their lunch on the bench.

Viz was ok further out but the only interesting thing I saw was a smallish flatty.

Was returning from this fruitless dive when I came across this Spider on the sand in about 3m of water - I almost left him alone as for some reason I didn't think he looked that much bigger than some of the other I'd seen the day before.

It was only when I tried to pick him up and found I couldn't get my fingers to reach across his back that I realised how big he was!

He weighed in @ 5.2lbs! I transported him in a big pot of sea water down the coast. Made a perfect post dive lunch after we came out of the water at Porth Iago!



Porth Dinllaen: Quite murky with viz at about 3m - got my first Bass which was a great experience! He wasn't the biggest but definately legal size. Got followed around by a seal for a while, he didn't come in really close but could just make him out underwater which was really exciting.

Saw lots of Spider crabs, very small pollock and wrasse and a friendly dog fish.

Got in without my suit later on for a quick swim around the rocks as I was getting too hot in the sun - was pottering around the rocks in about 2.5m of water when I spotted this stupidly massive monster Spider crab hiding in the weed.which I grabbed! Weighed in at 6.9lbs!!! Was genuinely shocked when I saw how huge he was - so was everyone else on the beach who came for a look! To say he was unhappy about being caught was an understatement! He was definately not a 'curl-up-and-hide' crab!



Had a great few days - definately need to work on my bottom time but it felt like all of my breath hold training had paid off. Still got a HUGE amount to learn but felt that I really progressed from my first dive to my last. Looking forward to my next trip!

 

[Trelawney]

Re: South devon Report 2009

Sole 4lb 11oz


I had a late dive yesterday afternoon in the sun. I picked up a couple of flounders on the way to the mark, and then spent an hour in the stringweed after bass. There were none around at all, even after 2min aspettos. Saw Shiny1 motor past a bit off-shore, off to a deeper reef. Gave up looking for bass and went poking around in holes instead and found a nice lobster. Looked for more flatties on the way back, and found this little beauty in about 6ft of water. Trying to juggle a lobster and a massive angry sole isn't much funrofl. Weighed in at 4lb 11oz.

 

[rascolor]

Re: Dorset Spearing 2009

John Dory 1lb 11oz


Hi spearos, drove yesterday morning to Ringsted, but waves and strong winds made us drive to Chesil Cove to shelter from the winds. Water still 13 deg, but viz was about 8 m.

Lots of small pollock, sand eels and bait fish with scars on them from hunting bass. Saw only one decent bass but unfortunately missed the shot, lol.

Shot my first John Dory, 38.5 cm -- 1lb. 11oz and that was worth the 4hour drive from London .

Take care,and happy hunting.