The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

5.8 kg. , 12.7 lbs.

Snapper, Pacific Cubera Lutjanus novemfasciatus

Record Category: Women Sling / Polespear

Diver:		Kaitlyn Michelle Alise
Date:		5/25/2018
Location:		MEXICO

It was the 25th of May in 2018 when I shot my Cubera Snapper. My boy friend, Chris Flack, surprised me with a trip to Baja, Mexico and told me I’ll be coming back with a world record! We met our guide Jose (pepe) Calvillo and he put us on the spots. Pepe jumped in the water where there was a cave he knew of. I got my 9 foot headhunter pole spear, hammerhead gloves on, and a Florida free divers wetsuit on (because the water was very cold) and jumped in the water. As soon as I jumped in the water I saw big cuberas. They were about 40 feet down just swimming. Pepe told me to come over to where the cave was. He pointed in the direction of the cave and I dove down about 40 feet and saw the cave. There was about 4 cuberas swimming outside of the cave. I took my shot on the biggest one but missed. I went back up for air and now Chris has joined us. I went back down with determination to nail one so I went a little into the cave and Bam! Landed the snapper right behind his fin and I hit him hard. The slip tip went all the way through so he wasn’t going anywhere, except deeper into the cave. I tried to pull him out for a second but needed air so I left my pole spear in the cave with the snapper and went up. I told the boys I got him but he’s in the cave. Chris threw me the float line to attach to my pole spear incase the fish dipped out of the cave. So I went back down and attached the float line to the rubber band on my pole spear, gave him a few tugs and headed back to the surface. At this point my heart is racing from excitement so I am taking a breather at the surface while pulling the float line and I feel the snapper trying to escape from the cave. So I keep pulling and I start to see the snapper from the surface. I keep pulling as I swim down and meet the snapper in about 20 feet of water and grab him by the gills. I swim to the surface and celebrate with Chris and Pepe! We weighed him on the boat with a scale we brought and he was about 13 pounds. We weighed him on a digital scale when we got back to land and he weighed around 12.45 pounds. He was kept on ice and wasn’t weighed on a certified scale until two days later which came out 5.75 kilograms/ 12.67 pounds!
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