International Underwater Spearfishing Association
World Record  
13.4 kg. ,   29.6 lbs.
Jack, Almaco    Seriola rivoliana
Record Category: Women Sling / Polespear

Diver: Skye Bailey
Date: 5/8/2018
Location: UNITED STATES


The first weekend of May and Amberjack season, my friends and I took The Poop Deck out to the Northern Gulf oil rigs in hopes of getting a few monsters in the boat. After getting our Amberjack limit, we decided to target Almaco Jacks and Mangrove Snapper. I noticed the water was a hazy blue green and hopped in with my Neritic Polespear with floatline attached. After making a few dives, I realized the largest Almaco was hanging out right in the middle of the rig, protected. It worried me to take a shot inside the rig with a floatline, but I took the chance. I dove down about 40 feet and let my polespear fly. I knew I had to control the fish and swim out as quickly as possible. The fish had other plans and dove straight down by the cross pipe. I made it to the surface and started kicking my way out of the rig toward the boat, slowly pulling the fish up as I went. With a quick glance down to see my progress, I noticed the fish wasn’t wrapped up, but my polespear was bent from it’s collision with the cross pipe. After a few more pulls, I had my hands in the Almaco Jack’s gills. I took a minute to catch my breath and swam him the rest of the way to the boat. He ended up being way bigger than he looked in the water, and he fought like it too!

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