The most amazing capture made in the Med Sea!

I have been using for years to stay twice a year in my native place : Nice in South of France. Each stay give me the opportunity to see again local colleagues/ friends and to do some dives on my favorite spots...
I had the chance in december 2011 to see Alex there.
He caught on a september afternoon inshore (!!) and at 60 feet depth an exceptional fish: a swordfish!!:thumbsup2::thumbsup2::thumbsup2:
Fish was shot with a 100 euro gun+ 8/ 32" shaft connected to a small floating system (!!): A kill shot in the head, his buddy did a second shot to the dying fish.
Fish has not been weighted... 10 feet long and about 250 lbs!

In my modest opinion one of the most amazing/ exceptional capture made by a spearo in the Mediterranean Sea.
On the pics : Alexis Hernandez and Jean Marc.

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I have been told that a swordfish could charge against a diver when speared...

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I don't have the balls for Broad Bill Swords...

In my knowledge, two reliable reports about spearo injured by a sword.

Action took place in 1966 on the south of Sicily ( one of the best spot in sword fishing)
At the time the 25 year old guy was hunting deep at about 100feet depth, a swordfish attacked him by hitting his face with the bill. The pelagic took off and left a broken bill (7" long!) planted in the head. The diver could get back to the boat and was hospitalized. The broken sword like bill penetrated the diver from the face to the cervical spine... after a long surgery he recovered and dove again.

Action took place years ago off the south atlantic coast of Spain: A scuba diver has been attacked by a sword in a bftuna net The swordfish was trapped with the tuna in the senne. The diver was keen to hunt the pelagic. He got back into the senne with a gun, shot the sword which immediatly vanished to the bottom of the net. Later and at the time he was diving again and checking with colleagues the tuna net, the sword emerge from nowhere and hit the diver in the chest. He was seriously injured and never could dive again...
a pic I took / freedving in Morocco of scubadivers cleaning a bftuna net by collecting "by catch" swordfish...

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How deep was the fish and diver at the time of the shot, was it feeding or just cruising by the diver?

The billfish was patrolling in the reef...
By opening billfish stomach (black marlin and sailfish in particular) you may sometimes fin tiny reef fish taken by these pelagic in shallow water...
Fish was caught in the Trayas area/ south of France at about 2 miles off the rocky coast.
First dive from the boat on a september afternoon and first encounter : My friend Alex spotted directly a great silver shape moving at about 70 feet depth : a great pelagic was passing through. Could it be an amberjack? A bluefin tuna? A shark?
Despite the excitment felt by the diver, he got back to the surface, relaxed briefly, prepared himself then dove again to the depth and to a potential capture encounter.
At about 60 feet he stabilized and waited still in ambush. Suddenly a huge fish swam slowly towards the diver left side. A swordfish! Fish was quite curious about the diver still in open water.
My colleague instinctively shot the fish at the time it was very close to him. He doesn't had any billfish hunting experience before and told me that if the fish has not be stunned by the kill shot, he could not obviously fight and probably had to release it. Just after the shot and back to the surface, his main concern was: is the fish really dying or temporarily KO? the fish was dying and a second shot has been made by his buddy.

Exceptional about 200 lb capture made with equipment used usually for reef fish.:thumbsup2:

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