The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

43.0 kg. , 94.8 lbs.

Tuna, Dogtooth Gymnosarda unicolor

Record Category: Women Speargun

Diver:		Rochele Davey
Date:		8/19/2023
Location:		TONGA

We were cruising in Tonga on our boat Manakai with friends. We'd spent the night anchored next to an island and in the morning I went for a solo spearfish. As I swam over the drop off I saw a school of dogtooth tuna. They approached me from up-current and came up over the reef to check me out, the two fish at the head of the school looked the biggest. I dived to intercept them and got really close to one fish, I didn't have a head shot so aimed for the lateral line and fired. Instantly the fish gagged like it was hurt and I thought Yes! But then it took off with incredible speed, the rope line was fizzing through my glove and it went down over the edge of the reef. It went under a ledge and was trying to rip the shaft out, the line was really tight and my first float which was clipped on at about 15m was getting pulled under. I grabbed the loose float line on the surface and started pulling hard to try and get the fish away from the reef and out to deep water. It took a while but eventually it worked, the fish came out from under the reef ledge really grazed up but much of the fight had gone out of it and I got it into clear water. As I was pulling it up Nat arrived to watch which was awesome, he'd seen my float going under from the boat. I ickied the fish and was absolutely stoked! It's taken me years of effort and frustration to land a big doggie and I was even more stoked when it weighed over 40kg, it's a fish of a lifetime for me.