The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

11.5 kg. , 25.3 lbs.

Tripletail Lobotes surinamensis

Record Category: Men Speargun

Diver:		Mark McCloskey
Date:		9/29/2013
Location:		UNITED STATES

We left from Venice, LA on board Funny Shoes II about 4:30 AM. This was to be our first yellow fin tuna trip of the year. The first boat we came to, we jumped in and saw 100lb-150lb tuna, but none would get in range. We then chased boats all day and never saw anymore tuna, and missed the lone wahoo we saw. We were about 100 miles from Venice and decided we needed to cut our losses and head back to land. On the way back, we decided that since the trip is going to cost us an arm and a leg, we needed to get some meat. So we jumped in on a few rigs on the way home. We shot a few cobia, mangrove snapper, sheepshead (the normal fish we get on the rigs). Then I made a drop to about 25' and saw this monster triple tail. I didn't know what it was at first as I've never seen them this big. I put a good head shot on it, but it took off and got tangled in the rig. It was a good thing that I breathed up before this drop b/c I had to untangle him before I went to the surface. On my way up, Blake (the capt) made a decent and saw my fish. It startled him and he immediately came to the surface and said "Did you shoot a warsar?" I told him no, it's a triple tail. He said there's no way a triple tail is that big, that it had to be some kind of grouper. Once I got it to the boat, everyone had that "WOW, that's a BIG tripletail" look on their faces. High fives were given around for the big - and great tasting fish. I then shot another 21 lb tripletail and caught some red snapper in LA state waters. (Louisiana has it's own state season, and we were in total compliance with the states regulations.) We made the best from a horrible tuna trip, and had a few adult refreshments on the way back to the launch to celebrate a good day.