Pole Spear Spearfishing for Mullet

A few days back, I decided that it was time to test my new HD GoPro's underwater video capabilities. What better place to test this out than during a spearfishing trip?

With my pole spears, snorkel gear, and camera in hand, I took my buddy Johnny down to a place where I'd seen a bunch of mullet a few weeks prior. I had hoped that we'd find several schools of big mullet and have a chance to stick a few with the spears.

Sadly, once we arrived on site, we noticed that heavy cloud cover had moved in. To make matters worse, the tide was running out and silty water from the Escambia and Yellow River made visibility quite poor. I was only able to see a few mullet and they either spooked when I went to load the spear, or simply took off before I had a chance to react. I -almost- shot a HUGE Sheepshead, but it was his lucky day and I couldn't quite keep up with his swimming speed and load the spear at the same time. I did see 3 other sheepshead, but all of them were too small to keep. I suppose it's just as well. Justin over at http://www.kayakfishingnut.com/ told me that big Sheepshead are actually really old, and I guess I'd think twice about stabbing something older than I am.

I was, however, pleased that my camera performed beautifully underwater. I even got the hang of Movie Maker. Check it out!:

This video was just a test. I think I'll probably stick to music-less videos in the future (to avoid all the copyright bs), but it was nice to learn the ropes of Movie Maker. I still need to figure out why the quality is 380p in youtube, but I shot it in 720p...

And yes, I did manage to finally stick a mullet just before we left. The camera was (of course) off, and I didn't have time to turn it on. I was snorkeling in about 1.5 ft of water (skinny people for the win) and turned to see three BIG mullet cruising right by me. I quickly loaded the spear, aimed for the closest one, and fired.

The spear slammed into the fish and sent it cartwheeling off into the murk. I chased the spear down (which was being dragged away by the fish) and pulled the fish in. I noticed that my shot wasn't great. On a mullet, I usually try to aim for this area:

 

 

Instead, in my usual awesomeness, I hit here:

You might notice that the mullet pictured above is in perfect condition. This is because it isn't my mullet. *Sigh* No, my mullet successfully slipped my death grip on it's head, whipped itself back and forth, and managed to rip the spear from its belly. Then, in a feat of heroic bravery, swam away at light speed, never to be seen again.

It actually makes me kinda sick to my stomach and not because the fish's stomach was literally ripped out...well...sorta. I know the fish died, 100%. But I wasn't able to harvest it. Instead, I just simply killed it. I hate having it happen, but it's just one of those things. Hopefully I can make up for it with some well placed shots in the future.

I was quite impressed with the new set up I was using. During my trip to Port St. Joe, I used a longer, heavier spear with a three prong gig to shoot mullet. This spear was shorter, lighter, and had a single point to it.

I was shocked at the penetration power and speed that I hit the mullet with. Rather than stick a few inches into the fish, the spear rocketed through it, well over a foot, and the handle was the only thing that slowed the penetration.

Back at shore, I found out that Johnny hadn't had any luck all day either. He'd seen a few fish, but like myself, couldn't get the spear loaded quickly enough. Next time we'll try on an incoming tide and sunny day. Maybe our luck will turn out.