Two Shots, Two Fish

Spearfishing is the most selective way of fishing, because the fisherman sees and chooses his catch. At the very beginning of my spearfishing, I was delighted that I could always catch a small fish, but as the years passed, I became more and more selective. Going to the sea was never for profit, but as a hobby, and ultimately, as a way of life. A day spent in nature, the sea, outsmarting the fish, tiredness from a full-day excursion…that is pure pleasure for me!

Basically, every time I go into the sea, I hope to meet the “fish of my life”, and in the process of waiting for such a fish, I miss a lot of smaller fish, and so many times I return home without a catch. But I know that the reward always comes in the end, and the following text is the story of one such unforgettable day, when I shoot only two times, but I caught two nice fish !

Stephan & me

That fishing trip took place on 08.12.2022., when I had agreed with my friend Stephan the day before to try our luck at a fishing position on the southern Croatian coast. The weather forecast was not good, a stormy south wind with a lot of rain, but I was most worried about what the visibility would be below the surface?! Anyway we decided to go, and the weather was bad the whole way…however, when we got to the position, the rain stopped, and we relatively easily put on diving gear and entered the sea. Visibility in the sea was not even bad, it was murky, especially the upper layer of the sea, but still you could see a few meters from the tip of the rifle. Just the way I like it!! In these condition in the sea it is very important to have good reflexes, constant focus on the hunt, and a short but powerful and precise spearfishing gun….like my Neo Carbone 85P roller gun!!

It wasn’t difficult to determine which spearfishing technique I would use because winter has begun, the sea temperature is between 15 and 16 degrees. Of course, I expected to catch sea bass! Shallow dives up to 2m deep have proven to be the best for hunting this winter predator. Honestly, I’m not exaggerating in holding my breath, most dives are a minute or even less?!
I did cca 30 such dives and nothing bigger has appeared…of course I’m still focused when I am on the bottom, ready to react quickly if a big sea bass appears.
In the next dive I lay down at the very end, parallel to the shore, at a depth of 1.5m, when suddenly after about 30 seconds of diving from the very end, a large gilthead seabream appears, and at one point it opens its entire side to me, and I fire a shot that hits it in the middle of its body. The fish struggles for a while and tries to break free, but I know that the shoot was good and that it is mine!
I catch it in my hands and enjoy the sight of a beautiful fish, a Queen weighing over 3 kilograms!! Excellent!!

Overjoyed with the catch, I continue fishing as if nothing had happened, I patiently continue diving, only less worried about whether I will catch anything else. I decide to turn back, towards the place where I enter the sea, but I continue diving. Halfway through, I come to a place where the terrain looks like there could be sea bass. It is simply a “feeling” that you get by birth, but it develops with more and more hours spent in underwater fishing. A lot of younger colleagues, spearfishermen, ask me why I made the dive there, how did you guess that the fish would come? The answer is , that is instinct, that why it is hard to explain! This was my first time at that location, I have never been here before, so I can’t say that I have seen/caught big fish there.

Then, I do a really shallow dive, I would say about a meter deep, lying parallel to the shore…and I wait. Nothing at all, but then suddenly spot the silhouette of a large sea bass, which is on the side facing the shore, near the surface…in that murky part of the sea.

I quickly turn the gun and just at the moment I was about to pull the trigger, the experienced large sea bass jerks and accelerates, the shot hits it badly, more towards the tail! Instinctively I drop the gun from my hand, so that the fish doesn’t accidentally break away. Since the fish is bigger, it run away with the harpoon and gun without any problems. After a few minutes I manage to reach the speargun, dive in, grab the tired “King of the shallows” and calm him down.

Uffffff….what luck, emotions are overwhelming me….two fish of over 3kg in one day. Fantastic!!