The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

19.0 kg. , 41.8 lbs.

Pompano, African Alectis ciliaris

Record Category: Men Sling / Polespear

Diver:		William Gillett
Date:		11/28/2021
Location:		BERMUDA

We got to our first location for the day, anchored in a 40 foot sand hole in search of black grouper or hogfish. Water visibility was great at between 50-100ft. My dive buddy, Drew Conyers, and I were only in the water for a few minutes and had speared a couple Almaco Jacks. Since we had only just entered the water, I offered to swim both fish back to the boat (~200ft away) so that Drew could at least keep checking out the reef. Once the task was done, I slipped back into the water to put my fins on and had my Black Reef Co Vandal-R polespear ready at the side door of the boat. As I turned around the solo African Pompano was right behind me, at least within 10-15ft. I reached for my spear whilst quickly and calmly placing the slip-tip on the end and powered the band, not to waste time as we were in very open water and i was worried it would start to leave the area. I took my surface breath and made my approach as the fish slowly descended. Meeting the fish at around 10ft below the surface, I placed a shot behind the fish’s right gill plate and the fish began it’s fight heading for the bottom as I held onto the spear. I released the shot from a fair distance, so wasn’t sure if the tip had made it all the way through and I didn’t want to risk it ripping off by applying too much pressure during the first kick. The fish had almost reached the bottom and started spinning slower, at which point I could see the slip-tip had made it through the fish and was in a strong position out of the left jaw so I started firm kicks to the surface as the fish kept pulling. Once at the surface I was able to slowly bring the fish towards me and grabbed it by the tail as it expelled the rest of it’s energy. With my hands in the gills I was able to then kill it with my knife.