Hi Guys,
As a former competitive spearfisherman (15 years) and as someone who has been close to the tribe of athletes that pursue fish in the most demanding and challenging of ways, let me add my thoughts to this thread. Although I haven’t shot a speargun in over 10 years I spent over 30 years chasing fish with everything from eel gigs, Hawaiian slings, guns with bands, and pneumatics.
I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting hundreds of divers from all over this planet; many of the great spearos who compete in National and International events, and some not so famous divers from remote islands, atolls, and far-flung jungle regions. Talk about being committed to a sport, they put their lives on the line every time they hold their breath and drop down into the fish’s realm…you think crawling out on a breakwater on a rough day is a risky proposition, try diving the Race where the current is trying to rip your mask off and visibility is often measured in inches not feet.
One thing that is prevalent amongst divers vs. many anglers is a deeper (no pun intended) respect for their quarry and the environment they live in. The vast majority of divers are truly sport divers and they only shoot what they intend to harvest; often referred to as “release and catch”, they will refrain from shooting all the fish they see within range that are too small, or don’t meet their trophy aspirations. Many seasons I would shoot a 30 pound bass and then not shoot another striper until I got a clear shot at a 40, once I nailed a 40 I was on the quest for a 50.
There are commercial fishermen that catch more breeder size fish in one day then the whole community of divers will take in a season. Don’t even get me started on the wholesale piracy issue as it pertains to the illegal rape of stripers in RI, CT, MA, and NY. I would love to see a sting operation that targets: the aholes that catch their daily limit...four and five times a day; the arrogant anglers that think they’re above the law and take 40 fish out of RI waters and then sell them in MA; the longliners that illegally target stripers and then fillet at sea.
Do I feel that we need to impose some type of slot limit to reduce the number of big fish being culled from the biomass? Absolutely! And that applies to every manner of landing stripers. Just my opinion.
Good hunting and Good fishing,
Mike