![]() ![]() After 80 feet of line was stripped from my reel, the fish got tired and I pulled it up. ZZZZZZZ ripped my reel as the fish took off towards deeper water. Virtually there was no hole in the fish, which translated into a great fight with only a reel on my gun. The slip-tip penetrated under the gill plate and out the upper lip. ![]() I lined up on the closest fish and placed a clean shot. White seabass from 20 to 40 pounds were drifting by like a river stacked five fish deep and as far as the eye could see in either direction. At 1:30 minutes, the school decided it was time to check me out. One minute into my dive I could see a massive school milling around in the sand. I used my Sporasub Sea Green wetsuit to blend in with the eel grass and waited. After I strung the fish on my belt, I reloaded my gun and made a dive at the edge of the reef. Already this shore dive was becoming a victory.ĭuring my battle with that yellowtail, I had seen several white seabass jet by at the edge of visibility. I dove down and bear hugged the fish when I had the chance. The fish went under a ledge and was destroying my thin euro shaft. I did everything possible to keep the fish of the bottom, and at one point I was seriously loosing the battle. Handling a hot game fish in ten feet of water is not an easy task. I placed a good shot and the fight began. I looked in the opposite direction and a 35 pounder was coming straight for the tip of my gun. I lined up a shot on a ten pound yellowtail when suddenly it bolted. Once the school started swimming away, I decided that a small fish was better than no fish. Most of them were small, so I watched to see if anything bigger was around. I swam out to about 15 feet of water and immediately, I was greeted by a school of 20 or more yellowtail. He told me that the diving would be shallow, warm and loaded with fish. Without a flinch, he said, “you read my mind, lets go.” Driving past fish camps and several huts build out of driftwood, I was able to see his secret spot where the dessert met the Pacific Ocean. After all, we needed some fish for dinner. I quickly unpacked my stuff and asked Al if he could take me out for a short shore dive. ![]() He is a legend in Mexico, and this got me all fired-up about potentially shooting a world record fish!Īl has been leading spearfishing tours down to Baja for the past five years and in the short amount of time he has had 20 divers shoot their first white seabass, over 30 divers shoot their first yellowtail, 70 divers shoot personal best fish, and to top it all off, his spots have produced five IUSA world records!įinally after diving for two long days, we arrived at our hotel. At this point in his story I said “ya right”, but the story was true and Al had photos to prove it! Every baja restaurant we stopped at to eat had photos of Al, either with massive grouper, white seabass, or yellowtail. “Stoned” he yelled to the boat driver as he pulled his prized fish up to the boat. With his years of experience shooting fish, he placed a perfect shot rolling the fish over. Al made a ten foot dive and let the shaft fly. Ten feet from the boat and only five minutes after loading his gun, the massive grouper appeared in front of him. Upon approaching the dive spot, the sun on his back was plenty of encouragement to suit up quickly and get into the water. During the one hour boat ride, he prepped his gear and enjoyed the calm flat seas. Basically, they left the harbor at 8:30am on route to a remote island 18 miles from the dock. One of them being about shooting a 91 pound broomtail grouper. During our drive down to Central Baja California, my friend, Al Schneppershoff, told me stories of shooting amazing fish in shallow water. ![]()
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