| On August 4, 1997, we set our due west of Cape Blarro, Oregon to fish for
and hopefully spear albacore tuna. The weather was foggy, but calm, as we cruised
offshore. At ten miles from the coast we had a dramatic water color change and according
to the temp gauge we had water temperature of 60 o F, as
compared to 52 o near shore. We cruised another ten miles
and finally came in to 64 o F water, clear skies and
sunny attitudes. Several schools of fish were spotted on the surface and we approached
near, trolling our jigs. Every school we approached, I also slipped in the water and tried
to swim and get close to no avail. On my seventh try to swim close I was able to see the
school and at the same time the boat had three hook-ups on the jig. This brought the
school closer and I spotted two stragglers to my left and twenty feet below. They seemed
curious and were not swimming as fast as the school. Visibility in this area was about 70'
and water temp was 64.5 o. I picked out the second, it
seemed a small bit longer, swam another 5' toward them and fired. At this time I was
approximately 15' below the surface and the tuna were 15' from the tip of my gun. I shot
at an angle and downward as they swam from my left to my right. It was a mice shot, and
after several runs the fish soon tired. I had control of my 50' float-line and buoy at all
times and the fish managed to pull me down from the surface three times. Amazing power!
After returning to the boat, with tuna by the tail, I learned of the fish staying near the
boat when the hooked fish were on the lines. We have also had in the past, tuna school the
boat as we pulled our lines in. This was a very successful day for me, since I have been
trying to shoot one of these fish for 4 years.
Andrew Ruddock
Meritorious award for albacore, Andrew Ruddock—14.44 kilograms (31.8
pounds) by Andrew Ruddock
On 31st May 1998, Rob Torelli Mark Scicluna, Mathew Barber (skipper), Mark Cull and
myself boarded the MV Margarita at 5:00 a.m. to head out to Bay Canyon on the Continental
Shelf of Batemans Bay NSW a trip that would take us approximately 3 hours.
At daybreak we started trolling some lures behind the boat to catch some burley and
also find the area where the Albacore would be congregating. After a couple of hours we
hooked a striped marlin approximately 100kg and then started trolling again half an hour
later we hooked a couple of Albacore. We then decided to stop the boat and start drifting
and burleying, with the Albacore we had caught and some that were caught the previous day
by Rob and Mark.
Rob (with video camera) and Mark (speargun) entered the water first and I stayed
onboard to setup the burley bag (open mesh bag filled with cubes of Albacore and hung off
the side of the boat) and keep throwing pieces of burley into the water until some
Albacore were sighted, once sighted I then stuffed some cubes up my wetsuit and entered
the water.
The Albacore were racing in and taking the burley released from the burley bag about 5m
to 10m below the surface, I dived down and lined up a piece of burley and waited for a
tuna to take it, when one came in I fired and landed a tuna 9kg.
I then reloaded my gun, released some burley that I was carrying allowed it to drift
down about 5m and then dived down and lined up on a piece and waited for them to come in
again. When they started feeding they took the pieces that I was not lined up on first,
then finally it was my chance, a large Albacore spotted the last piece and raced in to
take it, I fired and hit the fish halfway down the back from the top the spear penetrated
all the way through and the flopper opened up, the fish was secured and landed without
taking too much effort.
The speargun and equipment used was a slightly modified Picasso 1.2m with a 1.2m carbon
fiber barrel, single band 20mm by 30mm surgical rubbers, articulated bridal, 1.4 by 8mm
single flopper stainless shaft, Demka trigger mechanism and handle with a Demka reel
attached holding 200m of 300kg breaking strain cord. No float attached to gun.
When we arrived back to shore the fish were then taken to Australian Fish Pty Ltd
(abalone processing factory owned by John Vairy) and weighed in at approximately 7:00 p.m.
on May 31, 1998 by Brian Stephenson an employee of the company
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Greg Tellis
Notable catch for albacore, Greg Tellis—40.5 pounds by Greg
Tellis
It was Sunday morning July 15 and I had planned to
go diving with my son to look for He'e for his wedding reception. Weather was kind of
gloomy but the water was fairly smooth. I headed down to a local spot we call Pine Trees
where I met up with my son Alika. Alika and his friend had already did a morning dive and
he was planning on jumping in with me again. Alika realized that he was too tired after
his first dive and decided to not do a second dive.
I decided to still go diving so I jumped in my truck and drove further to the end of
Pine Trees where there were no boats or activities in the water. That's where the
adventure began.
The first 2 hours of my dive was fairly slow. I was disappointed that there wasn't any
He'e around that I was hoping for. I decided to start shooting for reef fish. As I zig
zagged from shallow waters out to the ledge, I continued to search for He'e. 3 hours into
the dive, I found myself south of Kaloko Fishpond and about 1/2 mile from Honokohau Harbor
when I ran across an opelu kala school. I shot 6 of them and decided to turn around and
make my way back to shore. I knew I had a long swim ahead of me and my stringer was
feeling heavy.
I lined myself up from the point of Kaloko Fishpond to the point of where my truck was
and started to head back. I continued to spear reef fish on the way back. I started to
feel disappointed because I had only caught one He'e at that time for my son's wedding.
As I looked ahead of me I saw a shine in the water and I thought it was a big Omilu. I
was in about 20 to 25 ft. of water and this shine was moving parallel & away from me.
After seeing his side fins wide open, his dark back and silver sides I realized that it
was a tuna. The tuna then took a turn and came towards me. I was really excited & I
took a good breath and went down. The tuna was moving fast but I was able to get off a
good & steady shot.
I shot him about 12in. behind the head, a spine shot. My shaft totally penetrated the
tuna all the way through. I knew it was a good shot & I braced myself for the run of
my life, but like I said, I spined him. As the tuna quivered, I went down to stab him in
the brain with my knife to secure him. As I brought him up to the surface, I had one arm
holding the knife in him and my other arm wrapped around the tuna. My arm barely made it
around the tuna. I removed the knife and put the tuna on my kui. I never really knew how
dense weight a tuna is in the water. At this point all I could think about was getting
this tuna back to shore.
After 1 1/2 hours of swimming & watching if any sharks would come and take this
tuna, I finally made it to shore safely.
When I got out of the water I saw a young man & I asked him to take my picture with
my camera phone. He couldn't believe his eyes. He thought my fish was a large Aku at
first.
I then called my wife and told her that she wouldn't believe what I had caught. As I
told her the story, she suggested that I go to Honokahau Harbor to weigh my fish. So I
did. I stopped by the charter desk and they weighed my tuna in at 40.5lbs. As I went back
to my truck to put the tuna in the cooler, I met Mark Barville. He couldn't believe that I
had speared this tuna free diving from offshore. He thought I was pulling his leg. He
asked where did I spear it and I told him and he still didn't believe me so I opened my
cooler to show him the rest of my catch and then showed him the picture on my cellphone
that the young man took when I first came in to shore.
I showed Mark my spear gun and told him it was a Daryl Wong gun with my own home made
shaft. Mark gave me his card and asked me to send him pictures along with a story so that
he could share it with Daryl.
I am very proud to own a Daryl Wong gun, it has been very reliable and has caught many
different fish for me. This spear gun has caught 10lb Uku's, 35lb. Ulua, many Uhu's and
lots of reef fish to name a few and not to mention the75lb ulua that got away. I may not
have caught the He'e that I wanted to but I did have a great day in the ocean.
Thank you Daryl, I really enjoy your spear gun and the sport of free diving.
Aloha Greg Telles
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