Do any of you remember the first fish you ever dispatched with a speargun. If your experience is anything like mine, then it was a pretty embarrassing start.
It was the fist time i'd ever dived "deep". before my dive buddy and i would scramble around the rocks in the shallows looking for crayfish. we were diving this spot off the north coast of zululand. conditions were perfect. no wind, tiny swell and top-to-bottom viz. with borrowed spearguns we swam out till we reached a good patch of reef, in about 10-12m. the spearguns proved realy useful in marking the holes where the crays hung out, but the actual intention of shooting a fish was competely out of mind. after about and hour of diving i was feeling completely stuffed so i hung onto the float to grab a rest. thats when i saw them. small schools of brownish fish milling about in the midwater. i pulled the gun up from the bottom, and managed to load it. dipping under the water, i swam towards one of the closer fish, lined it up, and pulled the trigger. all i remember was the excitement of seeing the fish spinning around on the shaft. i pulled it in, took it off the spear and stuck it on my home-made stringer. my dive buddy saw this "action" and was amped to get in on it. then i spotted a very decent sized fish lying on the sand, just off the reef. i swam down towards it, but as i got closer, the short floatline pulled me back. i decided to have a shot, so i lined up and placed a solid shot right into the sand, about 10cm from the fish.:head the fish didnt even flinch. my dive buddy saw me miss, so he swam down. got to the fish, speartip almost scratching the fish's nose, tried to fire, pulled back, switched the safety off, aimed again, and let rip. the spear didnt even leave the barrel but he had a very nice catface rock-cod for his efforts.
back on the beach we had a better look at our prizes. the catface had a whole cray in its gut, with the two feelers still sticking out its mouth. the poor catface was greatful to be free of the indigestion. my fish wasnt such a prize. a nearby spearo identified it as an "old woman". he shook his head and said "you dont shoot those fish".
fortunately my fish selection has improved somewhat, but i'm thankfull that the passion that was ignited on that day still remains.
here's a pic off fishbase of the great trophy
It was the fist time i'd ever dived "deep". before my dive buddy and i would scramble around the rocks in the shallows looking for crayfish. we were diving this spot off the north coast of zululand. conditions were perfect. no wind, tiny swell and top-to-bottom viz. with borrowed spearguns we swam out till we reached a good patch of reef, in about 10-12m. the spearguns proved realy useful in marking the holes where the crays hung out, but the actual intention of shooting a fish was competely out of mind. after about and hour of diving i was feeling completely stuffed so i hung onto the float to grab a rest. thats when i saw them. small schools of brownish fish milling about in the midwater. i pulled the gun up from the bottom, and managed to load it. dipping under the water, i swam towards one of the closer fish, lined it up, and pulled the trigger. all i remember was the excitement of seeing the fish spinning around on the shaft. i pulled it in, took it off the spear and stuck it on my home-made stringer. my dive buddy saw this "action" and was amped to get in on it. then i spotted a very decent sized fish lying on the sand, just off the reef. i swam down towards it, but as i got closer, the short floatline pulled me back. i decided to have a shot, so i lined up and placed a solid shot right into the sand, about 10cm from the fish.:head the fish didnt even flinch. my dive buddy saw me miss, so he swam down. got to the fish, speartip almost scratching the fish's nose, tried to fire, pulled back, switched the safety off, aimed again, and let rip. the spear didnt even leave the barrel but he had a very nice catface rock-cod for his efforts.
back on the beach we had a better look at our prizes. the catface had a whole cray in its gut, with the two feelers still sticking out its mouth. the poor catface was greatful to be free of the indigestion. my fish wasnt such a prize. a nearby spearo identified it as an "old woman". he shook his head and said "you dont shoot those fish".
fortunately my fish selection has improved somewhat, but i'm thankfull that the passion that was ignited on that day still remains.
here's a pic off fishbase of the great trophy