2011 Colorado River tournament

down

2011 Colorado River Carp Tournament

Twice a year, a local dive shop in Bullhead City, AZ puts on a spearfishing tournament. Now, Bullhead City might not sound like someplace that would hold great diving, but in actuality, it's got probably one of the best stretches of the Colorado River. The visibility is at least 30 feet in most spots, and sometimes even more. There is loads of structure, and the fast currents bring lots of nutrients for fish life. As with many bodies of freshwater, there are invasive carp, but there are also giant stripers everywhere (illegal to spear) and a healthy population of the indigenous - and endangered - sucker species.

As a freediving experience, this is an extremely unique place. Once you're swept into the current, you're going downstream whether you like it or not, and successfully finding and catching fish relies on being able to swim strongly and find areas of slack current on the sides, and finding holes and patches of logs and roots where the carp will hide. Sometimes they don't hide though - I took several shots at fish that were swimming upriver while I was being pulled downriver. Talk about a moving target! The moving water also effects the travel of the spear, so you have to account for that, sort of like wind correction with shooting on land.

The tournament just focuses on carp, though. Say what you will about the ethics of carp shooting, this event is a TON of fun. Daniel and I dove from 6:30am to 3:15pm, with only a few breaks here and there, and we pulled in 71 fish, just over 500 pounds worth. Daniel had some issues with breaking gear (mono snapping, losing a shaft), but he still managed to outshoot me numerically by quite a few fish after borrowing my aimrite 90. However, I was really fortunate to tie with my friend Paul Bonanno for the biggest carp of the tournament at just over 18 pounds. It was my first time receiving any individual honor in a tournament, so I was really happy.

A few pictures that have been posted online so far:

Quote from mrmike

very cool! I like your team name. What are the standings/results on the right side of the board?

Professional and novice divisions. Pro on the left, novice on the right.

Quote from spearstuff

Alex you know I was jealous when you pulled out that lunker of a carp to get weighed.

Which one? I had three over 18 pounds:captngrin:

Quote from Adrian

Cool tournament and a fun way of keeping and invasive species in "check" but where is all that fish going?

The tournament organizers took care of it. Some people cut out backstraps from their larger models during the 2009 tournament.

Quote from mrmike

I meant whats the difference between the teams in red vs. the teams in blue. I noticed the teams in blue shot far less fish, but are there any other differences in team grouping? IE: are the red teams 2 competitors/team and the blue teams are individuals?

Red teams are in the professional division. Blue teams are in the novice division. You could register in either category depending on how confident you felt. Pro division competed for cash prizes. Novice division competed for diving gear prizes donated by sponsors.