So today I droped down to 95ft to shoot a 20LB+ fish. I got my line stuck around a pilon and then proceeded to untangle it and retrieve my spear from 102ft which I spent almost 2 minutes going down, untangle, retrieve, and return. 1:40 actually. Fish are really deep here.
I felt though I was getting close to my limit. But Is a fish worth it? Hmmm WR Black Spot Tusk fish.... Uh I say its hard to entirely say its not. :D

Ya know, I'm constantly having conversation w/ people. I knew this dude that loved to fish but every time one holed up in 30+ft he was ready to cut his loses :confused:

So today I droped down to 95ft to shoot a 20LB+ fish. I got my line stuck around a pilon and then proceeded to untangle it and retrieve my spear from 102ft which I spent almost 2 minutes going down, untangle, retrieve, and return. 1:40 actually. Fish are really deep here.
I felt though I was getting close to my limit. But Is a fish worth it? Hmmm WR Black Spot Tusk fish.... Uh I say its hard to entirely say its not. :D


Hell yeah its worth it. If you do die can I have your rabi?:birthday:

you want to make sure you come back so you can do it again. that is the reason for the hunt...to push yourself...set the bar higher...but a one way trip...worth it no...

i have lost very close friends in the water....my goal is a 100lb black...i would trade the fish for my friend back without hesitation.

most guys are all balls till they have a close call....then they are humbled.

To me 90 feet is leaving somewhat the realm of spearfishing and entering the realm of competetive apnea. I think apnea for depth is 90% breath up, also you are not running any extra risks if your objective is strictly to go down and back up. With spearfishing any number of additional risks is present, before even the moment that you shoot the fish. With spearfishing a much larger margin for error needs to be present. Also a perfect breath up is not always possible.

To spearfish at 90ft, especially big fish, one must take it very seriously. Granted there are some divers for whome due to natural talent or experience 90ft is not such a big deal, but be honest with yourself about if you're one of those divers.

No it's not worth it, because when we'll read about it we'll all be sad and it will f*ck up our diving too.

Ya know, I'm constantly having conversation w/ people. I knew this dude that loved to fish but every time one holed up in 30+ft he was ready to cut his loses :confused:

I wish the grouper i shoot only get holed up in 30+ ft :smthumbup:

Deep spearfishing only means a massive amount of surface time. Its pretty safe if you take your time and dive with a buddy.

Deep spearfishing only means a massive amount of surface time.Well said, minus the "only".

Watch a friend or loved one die while diving and you'll no longer have this question. Having been there myself and seeing the impact it has on others, I chose to dive where Im comfortable and could care less about who goes deeper or gets the biggest fish.
Spearfishing glory is fleeting. Death is forever.

I would agree that fishing in that deep of water is based solely on your level of ability or experience. I think if you are at 90+ and are pretty close to your time of needing to come up within the first 30 seconds to a minute of your bottom time, with safety in mind, you really don't have any business hunting down there. Especially since the fish are much larger, therefore more dangerous to shoot, at that depth. As far as it being worth it. I would say yes it is worth it.

Of course, I am still building my experience, and ability one step at a time, and am nowhere near the point of hunting at 90' plus.

I'm with Ed; no fish is worth it no matter what the depth. Same with equipment. I had a close call trying to recover a spear that a coral trout shook off in the "jacks" near the blue beach power plant in Oki - got stuck in a hole past my waist. Changed my tune...

You have to know your limits. Its also hard to dive deep with massive currents and very poor vis. You dont fight fish at 90ft deep. You shoot them and surface. If they are grouper, let them hole up. Take your time. Breathe and relax. You dive down and shoot the fish again in the brain with your secondary small gun and then you surface. Then you relax and breath for 4 mins or so. You then go down and remove the spear from fish from the primary gun and grab the fish with the secondary gun. Of course you should have a buddy with you especially diving at these depths. The point is take your time and you will get the fish but it may take a couple of dives. Its a process but you can get some nice fish. :)

Ya man this is how I feel entirely on it. Push yourself and set the bar.
Now I have seen people dive 120ft search for fish and come back up. All Im asking is if its worth to shoot fish so deep?
The last time I went out I shot a tusk fish from 94ft and I didnt hesitate to let the 11kg+ fish take all my reel line. But what sucked is he got tangled in the pilons. Well my shooting line actually. What I should have done was faught the fish while surfacing but that would just be arogant and egotistic. Now I had to dive 102ft to get my shaft but I did so with a bulky ass c4 with riffe reel.
Now its not about how deep you go or the big fish... Well unless you like to shoot fish that dont get much bigger than 5kg. Well I only want the big fish cuz realisticly I feel as though its only fair. The big fish give more of a challenge and its more personal. I get tired of shooting the small fish. I feel like some bully. Plus I didnt buy all this equipment to dive shallow and shoot small fish that are full of bones cuz they barely have any meat. If I were god I would have placed the game fish shallow but Im not and they arent.
I can tell you that I have have safety divers and Im a safety diver for them when they drop. Surface time isnt much longer than for any other dive. Its just depends on your Heart Rate. I honestly dont think it would safe to shoot a fish much deeper than that for me. I know what depth I can reach stricly freediving but this is spearfishing.
Well lets just say this, it was a totally different experience here in Oki. I have never seen such big fish and I see why. they are all deep.

you want to make sure you come back so you can do it again. that is the reason for the hunt...to push yourself...set the bar higher...but a one way trip...worth it no...

i have lost very close friends in the water....my goal is a 100lb black...i would trade the fish for my friend back without hesitation.

most guys are all balls till they have a close call....then they are humbled.

ah, your dumb just go find where the fish are shallower. We have all dive deep, remember that time we went to ZANPA on the boat and we dove the big coral head and it was in 70+ plus feet of water, it wasn't fun but for the size of the fish down there, yeah i would dive deep, but why when we found fish in the 30 feet of water. LIKe rob said, you can dive deep all you want and push yourself, but can you put your Rabi and Custom gun to me in your will?

No fish is worth dying in my opinion.
I also wouldn't lose an arm defending one against mr Grey Suit.
In the bahamas the sharks seem to have balls of steel. You can't chase them off like you can here. I'm so respectful of them that if I see one in the area I'll avoid shooting fish until they've not been sighted for quite some time. I avoid all confrontation with them.

The one and only reason I keep my stringer on my floatline is to keep those bastards as far (90 ft) away from me as possible. THey can have my float if they really want it that badly. So far I've not lost a single fish in 3 years with my system of Braining the fish the second I have control of it. Period. The noise and the electrical pulses injured fish make signals sharks far sooner than the blood does.

I haven't had a problem finding fish here on the South East coast of Florida. We're fortunate to have a plethora of species in less than 90 feet. I personally wouldn't risk going deeper than 85-90 for a fish. Any deeper and I'll use a rod and reel.

"is a fish worth it"
Thats the dumbest question I have ever heard, or course its not and if you think otherwise you are an idiot and I feel sorry for your dive partners.

If you can safely dive to 100ft and shoot fish with ease, then good for you. If you werent going for "trophy" fish would you still have to go deep to bring home dinner?

I dont think you understand the question. I asked if a fish is worth all that trouble to you? To me it was all fun and I had no problems what so ever going down to get the fish. But it was a very demanding physical challenge. But I dont swim for miles at the pool every week or bike 50 miles a week for nothing. You might feel bad for my dive buds there but they were doing the exact same thing as I.
Now my close buds I dive with... You might feel sorry for them but I dont do stuff like with them. Actually CHEEKYBASTARD is the most craziest guy out of us 3. This fool had us in deadly horizontal/vertical current, away from civilization, and diving deep drops. It takes me a few minutes everytime I go out with him to get in the water. I only happen to be able to dive deeper than everyone.
Well I can shoot anything for dinner, it would just be nice to have fish that have meat on them.
Ya Prayot we can shoot fish at 30ft but quite frankly Im getting tired of roaming the ocean for hours and the biggest fish we caught last weekend was 6lbs. Coral trout are the only descent fish I have seen at that depth. Maybe if your lucky a sweet lips and if the planets align somekind of oversized jack or even an ulua.
Once again all I asked in your opinion is if you saw a big fish deep would you shoot it? Is it worth you loosing your gear, diving deep, and making lots of dives to retrieve it? Thats all I asked, not if a fish is worth your life... DUH! :slap:

No fish is worth dying in my opinion.
I also wouldn't lose an arm defending one against mr Grey Suit.
In the bahamas the sharks seem to have balls of steel. You can't chase them off like you can here. I'm so respectful of them that if I see one in the area I'll avoid shooting fish until they've not been sighted for quite some time. I avoid all confrontation with them.

The one and only reason I keep my stringer on my floatline is to keep those bastards as far (90 ft) away from me as possible. THey can have my float if they really want it that badly. So far I've not lost a single fish in 3 years with my system of Braining the fish the second I have control of it. Period. The noise and the electrical pulses injured fish make signals sharks far sooner than the blood does.

I haven't had a problem finding fish here on the South East coast of Florida. We're fortunate to have a plethora of species in less than 90 feet. I personally wouldn't risk going deeper than 85-90 for a fish. Any deeper and I'll use a rod and reel.

Luckily we havent seen many sharks due to the hunger pains of the japanese.
ya I dont think Im going past 100ft for a fish. Thats where Im comfortable. But I will try freediving further while Im here in HI.

Wow, 95 feet then spearing a fish freedive and bringing it up? That's talent. Honestly I'll probley never be that good but your life is more important than this thing.

I may not have read your original post correct, or you didnt word it correctly, either way I get what your saying now, I think:confused:.
To answer what your asking above, no I wouldnt want to risk losing gear over a fish, diving deep to you may be different for others so for me diving to 100ft to shoot a fish wouldnt even cross my mind, im not in it for the pictures and I know I can shoot ono fish in relativley shallow water.

BTW are you in Hawaii now, Oahu, how long?

I will be in here till the 11th. Tomorrow myself and Kurt Chambers might dive a wreck for freediving. Then head to the NW side thursday for some fishing. I have an appointment on wednesday at 1pm but after than Im free of the military. I leave sat. morning.

PICTURES??? Didnt you hear MFD? I dont have a camera anymore. The best I can relate my goal for that trip was to the movie Predator which I enjoyed watching the other night.

Wow, 95 feet then spearing a fish freedive and bringing it up? That's talent. Honestly I'll probley never be that good but your life is more important than this thing.

I hear ya. But have you ever thaught that maybe that doesnt mean much to some people? Travis Pastrada hit the first double backflip on a dirt bike. Could have lost his life everytime he tried. People who skydive, or ski down thousand foot mountains escaping avalanches, or people who bungie jump or reverse bungie jump and then parachute down. Its all passion. Life/death is part of the risk since its their passion and they find no other happiness in life. To die doing the only thing that brings joy to your life would mean dying happy. So maybe the fear isnt there but the respect is. But still like any extreme sport, man flirts with the thaught of how much can my human body take, how far can I go, and little by little you push yourself to your limits so to speak.
If I have dive buds and enough reel line/float line I feel comfortable shooting fish at that depth and bringing back all my gear... well at least the important and most expensive part of my gear, my gun.

I was thinking about this topic in the same or similar light, and I came to the realization that all of what we do as spearos is like you said a passion thing that happens to be a rush and very exciting at times. I, as many of you probably have too, have come home from a fishing trip empty handed, and still thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the dive. So my answer to this thread is that, all things considered, the fish isn't even the most worthwhile part. Merely a bonus that comes with the experience of freediving/spearfishing. If that makes sense.

agreed. Nothing like a perfect calm day diving with friends with amazing visibility.

Exactly why tomorrow Im diving some wrecks w/o a gun. I love just diving.

Ya know, I'm constantly having conversation w/ people. I knew this dude that loved to fish but every time one holed up in 30+ft he was ready to cut his loses :confused:

I guess you are referring to me last weekend, seeing as I'm the only guy you fish with.:FIREdevil:

LMAO! Today I got some awesome shots of me with the atlantis submarine at 85ft. I had to go down and sit on the deck of the ship with my cameraman and we waited for it to pass. We got off the wreck and headed toward the port holes and waived to all the tourists. :D It was fun. Next to trying to pet the sharks near the wreck I actually suceeded in petting a huge sea turtle. I gave him bear hugs too :D

I dont think you understand the question. I asked if a fish is worth all that trouble to you? ... Once again all I asked in your opinion is if you saw a big fish deep would you shoot it? Is it worth you loosing your gear, diving deep, and making lots of dives to retrieve it? Thats all I asked, not if a fish is worth your life... DUH! :slap:

From my perspective it's worth the risk of loosing your gear. You only live once so live it to the fullest - but don't gamble it. The gear isn't alive so don't ever risk your life to hold on to it.

I think it was in "Last of the Bluewater Hunters" that related the story of a guy that spent months building a new gun. He had to make a decision after the first shot with it to hold on to it and risk death or watch it swim away and bolt for the surface - and life. He chose wisely.

Thats illegal BTW.

Only if you have possetion of the thing. The way I saw it he was trying to rape me and I was only defending myself from that beak. Dont be HATIN!!!

Thank you I appreciate it.
I knew the rules, but he came on to me. :D

see the white man always thinks he can go to other peoples home and screw their women, eat their food, and do what he feels like, that's why the white man get no respect in the islands.

Imagine how you would feel with your best friend lifeless in your arms while you are shouting at him. He wakes up your a hero, he doesn't how do you live with yourself. Go there wants or twice and you will know the answer.

Jason