The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

4.7 kg. , 10.3 lbs.

Triggerfish, Grey Balistes capriscus

Record Category: Men Sling / Polespear

Diver:		Christopher Prem
Date:		4/21/2020
Location:		UNITED STATES

Started off as a standard day where we had a one day weather gap for the next few weeks. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity with Trigger season coming to a close at the end of the month and headed out around 8:30am. We started diving a spot with some broken rubble on the bottom and noticed at around 55 ft there was a thermocline in which the visibility dropped from 40 feet to around 15 feet. Coincidentally that's also where the fish were hanging out at, which made it detrimental to dive into the murk at around 55-60ft. After the first spot I decided to try a spot I haven't been to in a while, but remember there being some decent trigger fish on. Karl dropped first and came up saying the visibility was very bad. I decided to just follow the marker line down into the murk and see if I could make out anything. At around 10 feet off the bottom or around 65 feet I was able to make out the structure and saw the fish sitting on top of a triangular type piece. I had a feeling it was a large trigger, but sometimes it's hard to tell in bad visibility and the size of the fish can play tricks with no points of reference. I loaded my pole spear and took a shot getting him center of mass and immediately began fighting to keep the fish out of the structure. After I got to the surface, I knew it was a large trigger. I threw him in the ice box and spotted Karl for the rest of his dives. After we got the fish back I said to Karl and Colin "That trigger might be over 10 pounds and we should weigh him when we get back in." The fish came in at 10.3 pounds making it the largest trigger I've ever harvested!