The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

55.4 kg. , 122.2 lbs.

Grouper, Black Mycteroperca bonaci

Record Category: Men Sling / Polespear

Diver:		Joshua Crockwell
Date:		12/26/2020
Location:		BERMUDA

The day after Christmas, Nelson and I decided to pop out for a afternoon dive to one of our favorite spearfishing spots, close to Western Blue cut. After about 30mins in the water, I was chasing a decent sized almaco jack on top of the reef when I looked over the edge of the reef and spotted the grouper coming straight for the reef. As soon as it saw me, it went into a hole underneath the reef. I turned on the dive light around my wrist, cocked the spear and took a deep breath. Having dove on this reef quite a bit, I was familiar with this hole and area of the reef and quickly found him tucked deep inside the hole. He was laying there presenting himself broadside to me so I was able to get a good shot on him. Once hit, he went ballistic - kicking up loads of sand. I waited a while until the sand settled a bit and took another dive back in the hole and could see that the spear was still in the fish and he was bleeding out heavily. After several more minutes I was able to dive down and pull on the spear extracting him from the hole.