The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

37.7 kg. , 83.1 lbs.

Mackerel, Narrowbarred Spanish Scomberomorus commerson

Record Category: Women Speargun

Diver:		Erin McGinty
Date:		10/9/2019
Location:		AUSTRALIA

This was a dream day for bluewater hunting. On my first drop I had a 25 kg wahoo swim into the flasher. It kept its distance so instead of taking a long shot I left it for my mate to shoot on the next drop. After securing the wahoo we moved to a different location. I spotted a 20 kg dogtooth tuna swim into the flasher so I dived down. As I reached the bottom of flasher the dogtooth had already taken off into the depths so I sat at the bottom of the flasher in 23 m for a while to see what else would come in. While I was sitting there my dive buddy noticed from the surface the mackerel swim in and sit behind me looking at my fins. He said it was there for a while before it started to swim away. At this point I turned and seen the mackerel swimming just out of reach. As I was close to needing to go up for a breath, I took a few strong kicks towards the fish and just got within range. I pulled the trigger and managed to get the slip tip through the belly of the fish on a breakaway setup. It took off with unbelievable power, pulling two 3ATM floats under. At this stage I thought there was minimal chance of landing this fish due to wire on the slip tip likely to pull through the fish and due to the amount of sharks around. As with most mackerel, their run is short lived. I grabbed the float line and started pulling the fish to the surface as quick as possible. Amazingly no sharks came near this dinosaur. When the fish was close to the surface I dived down to grab it. I realised the size of this fish when I couldn't get my hands around its tail. I came up for a breath and on the second attempt to secure the fish I grabbed it in the gills and brought it to the surface. On the last dive of the day I also shot a 50 kg black marlin but unfortunately it wasn't a secure shot the spear pulled out. It was amazing just seeing all these bluewater species in one dive trip, it was definitely a day to remember.
Make Certificate