With the thought of warm blue water teasing me we
left the harbor, I became nervous as the boat fought
the treacherous currents 45 minuets later. (5 minutes
away from the dive site)
My first day of diving the deep depths of the
tuna, 4 knot current and clear water made hunting
these prehistoric looking tuna the greatest challenge
I have encountered when hunting fish. I saw the fish
twice and managed to take shots that were out of reach
both times.
The last Day.
Dropping down to 40 feet 6 large shadows grow
closer with curiosity. They were bottle nose dolphins.
They stayed within 10 feet of me for the next 3 dives.
It was a beautiful experience. Once further out off
the drop off I made a dive to 60 feet and upon
leveling out I could see the white coins of Dog Tooth
Tuna creating a wall in front of me. Knowing that
these fish are best hunted like white sea-bass I sank
motionless and did not look at them. Sure enough the
school split and out came the Big Daddy with a length
of almost 5 feet. I kicked 4 more times to close that
gap and by this time I could probably reach out and
touch the 50lbrs around me. I took the shot as the big
fish was swimming away. (17 foot shot)The shaft went
in from above the spine just behind the half way mark
and came out on the other side near the belly.
The fish paused, then went into a ballistic race.
I could see the shaft bending as it hit every boulder
at the bottom 90 feet away from the surface. I pulled
hard on the float line with no success of lifting him
off the bottom, so I turned towards the surface only
to fee a 40 letter hard foam buoy passing me at 40
feet. WOW, it was being followed by bungee and another
float.
Upon hitting the surface I realized that my dream
of 4 years was about to come true. 30 seconds later my
second buoy surfaced and I was taken for a FAST ride
with the current raging its 3 foot standing waves at
my back. After pulling and giving line for 5 minutes
my second buoy surfaced and now I knew the fish was
only 150 feet away. 20 minutes and 1/2 a mile down
current my friend was waiting with a second gun.
He was a smart man and even had his camera on his
wrist. As I came up with this large fish with 2 shafts
in it, he was taking pictures of the fish as the blood
was pouring out of this magnificent fish.
The next 4 shots taken, I hit 4 more tuna even in
the presence of many 14 foot great hammerhead sharks.
That was an experience I will save for later, but I
managed to land 3 smaller tuna.
This fish has my respect after having seen 3
floats sink in the whirlpool down-currents and their
ruthless power pull me and my large floats everywhere.
Fish on!!!!!
Dan Silveira
