Posts by virgili

  • A 90 lb wahoo capture.

    A 90 lb wahoo capture made in dirty green water by a colleague. The fish was patrolling in a wreck and got a killshot, at the time it was visiting the spearo pretty close. Gilles Calmes is one of the few local spearo chasing there...
    Exceptional size west africa. Action took place in the Togo/ Lome area/ Guinea Gulf.:thumbsup2:
    Did blue marlin hunting pioneering there last year and will probably get back in Ivory Coast area in october... if civil war get becalmed!!

  • The most amazing capture made in the Med Sea!

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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:

  • The most amazing capture made in the Med Sea!

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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...

  • 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.

  • Freediving with sailfish...

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    biggest Wahoo (60 to 80lb) came on a low with a storm the following day


    thank's for your experimented feedback!
    on th Med Sea where I'm native, it's wellknown among fisherman circle that during low pressure time the fish is more active and do hunting more often in the thermocline area in particular.
    Reeffish use to saty more longer hidden in the rocks and less eat if pressure is high...


    got this empiric observation from my family who had there a long pro fishing/ boating history...;)

  • An over 70 lb dorado record encounter...

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    Is the slip tip and cable assembly in the image the same one that failed at the slide ring cable end?


    yes, the same setup recently made.
    at the time I pulled the empty shooting line, I could check that the fish took away with the spearhead and the cable connected to the slide. I guess the breaking took place close to the slide?
    dorado swam in all directions during last min of the fight...
    a pic of the shaft taken back to the boat.

  • An over 70 lb dorado record encounter...

    The action took place last week at about 40 miles off the Nicoya coast of Costa Rica.
    After two weeks made of windy weather and ugly green water coming from the south, we finally got a becalmed sea and a clean/ blue water .;)
    The main goal of the trip was marlin chasing. The captain and me know in this area a couple of offshore "secret spots" where you may find in the same day blue, black or stripped marlin! So I could encounter the day before an amazing about 500 lb blue which did a pretty short visit close to drifting sargassum. Doing an instinctive medium range shot in this context doesn't work... better release the billfish while observing briefly this magnificent super predator.
    We were boating for one hour in the Pacific Ocean and looking for upwelling currents which usually bring food and stabilize drifting débris on the surface, I finally could spot there a dead turtle... and dove.
    I was using a T. Botha tuna gun 4 bands equiped with a 72" Riffe shaft 3/ 8", a tuna setup connected to the floating system...
    A lot of baitfish was patrolling all around the turtle. The school was made of tiny jacks, sardines, trigger fish and tiny yfntuna in the depth. Action!
    I was playing my home made flasher... At the time I was staying quite at about ten feet depth, suddenly came from nowhere a restless dorado. It visited the flasher, then swam to the surface by crossing my path . I aimed and did a shot in the "kill shot area": on the lateral line and just behind the gill plate.
    The fish took off in a split of second showing an explosion of energy, first by towing me a couple of minutes, then by sinking in the depth while pulling hard the floating system.
    I usually subdue and kill dorado in about five min, but the fight will last much longer.
    Only about ten minutes later and by pulling with care the bungee, I finally could see the dorado swimming in the depth. A huge cow: about the same length as the shaft ( 6 feet), I estimated the fish over 70 lb .
    At the time I was sure i would not lose the fish ( but I was wrong :( I could observe the spearhead sticked on the other side of the gill plate. So I thought the fish could not escape. I had only to relax, to be confident in the setup: the shooting line is made of a 3/ 32" steel coated cable ( 600 lb resistance ), as well as the cable connecting spearhead to the shaft ..
    Minutes later while holding the wood gun + video in one hand, I tried again with my left hand to pull the fish closer to me, but I could not make it. This fish showed strength and stamina again in abundance!
    Then the fish energy seemed to weaken... I tried pulling the line again, but the dorado took off by towing me and
    something broke suddenly in the set up!! The dorado vanished in the depth while taking away the spearhead. :(
    I pulled the empty line and checked the steel cable breaking on the slide ring... unbelievable!


    pic of the spearhead setup...

    Video: SpearFishingMotion.com

  • Spearfishing in the Cayo Coco area?

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    dad had a boat and it was to much trouble...


    a shame for your dad...
    but I guess you know the 3 basic cuban says :
    -It's not allowed!
    -It's difficult!
    -It's IMPOSSIBLE!!...:nono:


    will be in cayo largo area and have right connections there, so that I can get a sportfishing boat and discreetly do bwh or cubera chasing
    coast is 1/2 the day renting at Cape Hatteras or Miami...
    did a lot of hunting with ex Pipin colleagues
    Cuban spearo are, in my modest opinion, among the most skilled all over the blue planet.;)