Winter coalfish Norway spearfishing

In early December last year I had the fortune of being invited to spear big coalfish with a couple of my buddies that live further south.
The coalfish or saithe (Pollachius virens) is a very common, and usually small, species which are a very common prey for the most commonly speared fishes in Norway, such as cod or pollack. The coalfish congregate in giant schools all along the coast from early spring until late fall and prefer areas with lots of current. The predators are usually lurking just below the school, waiting for their chance to grab dinner. However, as the year draws to an end and the majority of the fish are leaving the Norwegian fjords for deeper and warmer waters off shore, some fish stay behind. Among those are schools of large coalfish, which have outgrown their congeners but still maintain their schooling behaviour. These fish are very sought after by anglers and spearos for their fighting capabilities and tasty flesh. They are also the only somewhat pelagic species that can be commonly found in Norwegian waters and is the closest thing to blue water hunting you can do in the Norwegian fjords.
In early December the water still has some of its summer warmth left while the air temp often drops below 0. The boat ride to the spot was therefore a bit cold, but the water still nice and warm at 9 degrees. As I jumped in and started my decent into the green (commonly known as the blue), dark shapes appeared everywhere and suddenly I was level with the school. What an amazing sight! Hundreds of coalfish, swimming about in their normal schooling way, were circling me as I met them eye to eye. The only difference from the norm was that these fish were not the bait; they were 10 times the normal size. All the fish in the school were somewhere between 5 and 15 kg and I was half expecting a 100 kg cod to come up from the abyss to grab dinner. Needless to say, we had a blast and got some really nice fish, my biggest being about 12.5 kg and the biggest between the three of us went about a kg more (~30 lbs).

My buddy even got some video of the action, I think it was my first fish of the day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtM3DJGKO_Q

All in all a very good trip that (almost) has me looking forward to the Norwegian winter again!

Thanks! It was a trip to remember and almost unreal considering how many big fish we saw. On an average day I'd be thrilled if I got a 10 lbs coalfish, but these were almost three times that size..

Most seawater fish are legal to hunt in Norway, cod included. My biggest was in the 13-15 kg range, I never weighed it.. Here's a pic:

I know that close to where I live now there are some really good spots for cod in the late winter and I'm trying to figure out a way to get out there and beat the Norwegian spearfishing record at 28 kgs.. We'll see how it goes

Quote from Dan

Fascinating report Anders, and beautiful fish.

How thick is the wetsuit you're wearing and is it open cell? Are you cold in the water with it all?

It's an open cell from Elios with camouflage smoothskin on the outside, 7mm. I do get cold after a while at the moment (ca 7 C), especially if I find areas with low current and am doing aspettos. For the winter and spring diving (2-3 C) I hope to get a 8 or 9 mm suit, but a 7 mm is usually OK for me up to an hour at that temp.

That's nice to know Dan, thanks. I'll be sure to let you know if I need one when we're getting closer to spring again.