The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

International Underwater Spearfishing Association

World Record

10.8 kg. , 23.9 lbs.

Jack, Crevalle Caranx hippos

Record Category: Men Sling / Polespear

Diver:		Ben Choi
Date:		1/19/2015
Location:		UNITED STATES

City Service Oil Rigs are a group of Oil Rigs 55nm East of Corpus Christi TX. We ran out on the Crude Rules, leaving around 6am. The seas were calm inshore, but kicked up to 3-4' offshore. We tied up the the rig and jumped in. There were thousands of Jack Crevalle and horseeye jacks at the rig. After trying to shoot other fish, I decided to get my pole spear from the boat and shoot a jack for the world record as I knew it was open. I did a few drops looking for the biggest one, and finally had this fish come within range. I took the shot with my pole spear and it hit the gill plate on his right side. The slip tip deployed an the jack ran. I let my 70' floatline tire him out. He suddenly gave up and I started pulling the float line up towards me. As the fish came in sight, I saw that there was a big mako shark following it. The fish was subdued and not fighting as I pulled it up to within sight (viz <40'). I was not close enough to the boat to feel safe and by myself with no other pole spear to defend myself. I let the line go and swam back to the boat because I did not want to be in the water with such a large Mako. This was the first mako that I had ever seen. There was no one at the helm of the boat to come pick me up at the site of the bouy so I had to swim back to the boat. After letting the fish sit for a few minutes and after the guys had finished gutting an Amberjack they had shot earlier, we moved the boat moved to near the site of the bouy. The bouy did not move more than 20' from where I had left it (when I swam back to the boat) as the fish was subdued and not moving or fighting. We did not use the boat to subdue the fish, I just swam back to the boat because of the shark. The fish had already been subdued at the time I saw the shark. I jumped in the water by myself and pulled up the fish by the float line. I then threw the fish into the boat by myself. Moving the boat in no way aided in the capture of the fish, it was purely a safety decision.
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