I was in Vancouver all weekend for a wedding and got the call from Capt Mattson just before catching the red eye back. Myself, BreathlessSight(kevin), and Kyle were invited on the Snapper Slapper for a day of freediving and spearing. We all got about and hour of sleep from excitement and new gear preparation. We drove around for a while looking for bait to use for chum but had no luck there. Super nice ocean and we headed to 100 ft. The Vis was pretty good and we did well getting 6 cobias in the first hour or so we were anchored. The other fish we were after stayed further away for fear of the Critter Killer.
We put 3 AJs in the boat to use for chum and then headed out to 140ft. We anchored up and started chumming in hope of some wahoo coming through. Kyle and Michael were first in and started yelling about snapper and before i could even get in the water they were throwing cubera snappers over the side of the boat. The school kept moving around and stayed deep so it was hard to stay with them and we eventually lost em. We had a some shots on some nice kings but never the wahoo we were looking for. So we decided to head on back.
We stopped at another spot on the way in and after some coaching, Kevin confidently went down to 80ft, hung on the anchor line and shot the only African Pompano of the day. I had a feeling there was one down there waiting for Kevin but no one believed me. Either way, a strong man makes his luck and a weak man has no luck. Good day to enjoy the ocean and company of good friends. Thanks to Capt Mattson as always for the invite.
This is kevins “O Face” that we only see when an African is on board
This is kevins “Im a Serious Killer Face” that we always see
Bug Catcher this day was all freediving but i am nitrox and up to divemaster certified- tank diving is more gear and stuff to deal with and easier most days not to have all that on the boat
That is an awesome report and even more of an awesome job doing it free diving! That is impressive work. Nice job! R yall using float lines & bunjees or reels.
Freediving is the most fish like you will ever be able to achieve. When you are down you become part of the environment. Its has given me a way to watch fish behavior you can only experience while freediving. You can actually hear schools of fish when they are swimming rapidly.
Yesterday we were surrounded by hundreds of jacks, bonita, rainbow runners and sardines. I have just began editing hours of HD footage to put a freedive DVD together for next year. I hope to have it ready for everyone to enjoy in the spring. For now we have to enjoy the kill photos.
Satisfied- some of use reels and some of us use float lines- it depends on the gun being used and how it is set up- i personally don’t want the added drag and annoyance of a float line unless im trying to shoot a tuna or something on that power level
most of our dives are 1-2 minutes with some being longer or shorter depending on the situation- im not sure about my buddies best times holding their breath but at my freedive course down in FL last summer my best time was 4:40 in a pool- the instructor of that course is the world record holder at 402 deep on one breath and he can hold for 8:30 in a pool and 3:50 seconds diving deep- Martin Stephanek is his name
Is there a regular group that goes free diving to spear?? If so, who could I speak with to get onbaord and out on a trip. Please let me know guys!! Nice work btw !!! Excellant job !!
“If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, then try standing in front of them”
That’s an awesome post once again barrels. It makes it hard posting my successful 15ft dives shooting spades anymore. I like the repsoonse from Capt Mattson and look forward to seeing the video.
You guys need to start putting a disclaimer at the bottom of your posts! Ha. Hope everyone realizes this takes training and planning.
Are those red colored fish on the right side of your picture the Cuberas? I believe they are Mangrove Snappers. Just limited out on a bunch of Groves down in La. couple weeks ago and they looked a lot like that.
