The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

23.5 kg. , 51.8 lbs.

Seabass, White Atractoscion nobilis

Record Category: Men Sling / Polespear

Diver:		Scott Blumer
Date:		5/25/2017
Location:		UNITED STATES

I headed out to a spot that had been producing an amazing amount of quality fish this season for the local seabass divers and decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to start putting some time in with the polespear before all the big fish disappeared. I stopped by the spearamerica shop to put some new spectra on my slip tip and get a couple other odds and ends dialed in before making my way out to the dive spot. I met up with my buddy Mike Morgan who only had a couple hours to spend in the water and we trekked down the cliff and headed out to the zone. At some point during the long swim we got separate and he never made it to the right part of the bed and bailed before I was able to return to shore. As soon as I got right area of the bed I began to have sightings. All the fish I saw were singles and the right quality of fish, 50lbs or more. Unfortunately they were little touchy for my 10ft riffe polespear in the relatively good visibility of 20-25ft. After about 4 sightings I was down on a dive and saw a single quality fish rolling through the sparse stringers of the kelp bed and headed in my direction. He passed behind a small patch of kelp allowing me to close the gap and be waiting for him when he emerged on the other side. I passed on the perfect shot as I had lost some big ones in the previous years due to lack of penetration and took a back 3/4's downward angle shot breaking the spine but not toggling on the other side. The fish gave up relatively easy and tied up shallow making for a quick retrieval followed by the long sim back to the beach.