Yellow fin shot with Rabitech Stealth Carbon Railgun

Sunday the 13th October 2002 was a day I will never forget. After a poor day at sea on the Saturday we were again 25nm south west of Cape Point in search of the mighty yellowfin tuna - a fish we had tried unsuccessfully to shoot in the past. Only this morning we were greeted by a sight that none of us were prepared for. A large shoal of tuna was on the surface slamming into tightly packed shoals of anchovies. With my heart beating so hard that I was actually shaking in the water I swam towards the action. Huge silhouettes flashed passed me on the surface and then a large yellowfin came straight towards me. As it passed slightly to my left about 8 feet below me I instinctively swung my gun onto it and pulled the trigger making a good shot down into the middle of the fish. The next thing I knew my bungee cord was stretched out to sixty meters and I was being pulled through the water all the while praying quietly to myself that the spear would hold. After a further thirty minutes of pulling and being pulled around I had the fish within 10 meters of the surface and managed to load a second gun and dive down to deliver the coup de grace. With my heart pounding more than ever I swam the fish back to the boat. At 62 kg it was the biggest fish I had shot and my first ever yellowfin. Tommy had by this stage also managed to land a smaller fish of 42 kg - also his first.

After sorting out our gear and taking some photographs we were soon chasing after the fish again. Repeating the procedure I quietly slipped into the water with my 1.3m carbon gun manufactured by Rabitech Stealth. This time the fish were moving faster and I managed to get a shot into another brute, but I was not so confident of the shot. Fearing that if I played the fish too long it might tear out, I tried to pull the fish in as quickly as possible. It had other ideas though and took forty minutes before I was able to get a killing shot into this fish. Immediately I realised that this one was even bigger than the first. Finally weighing in at 72,85 kg it was just shy of the current SA record of 73 kg.

We ended the finest day of my spear fishing life with 4 yellowfin tuna weighing 42 kg, 51 kg, 62 kg and 72 kg. Special thanks to Rabitech Stealth for making my gear to the specification I required.

(Jacques with yellowfin tuna of 62 kg)

By Jacques Tresfon

Jacques’ biggest - 72,85 kg