3 Day Spearfishing adventure with Anthony Hierro

myself and Anthony been discussing the trip few month ago and we both agree 3 day trip is best way to experience most of what Bali Underwater world have to offer.

Day 1 we went to North Bali to Hunt at the drop off reef. We manage to see few 5 star reef fish but it was a challenge to shoot them. One of my dive a school of 5-15 kg Giant trevally, I waited to see if there a nice trophy fish in the schoo but didnt see any. We drift with the current and saw big Midnight snapper, Redbass, Mori Seaperch and Bigeye Seabream but the current was not in our favor we couldn't hide on any spot to get them closer. 

The next spot we shot a good size Dogtooth Tuna , midnight snapper and Bluefin Trevally. It was good enough for the first day to have a good dinner. At night we have Dogtooth Caviche and midnight snapper pepes and sate.

The next day we went to Different spot and shot mangrove jack, Anthony miss a good size Spanish mackerel, we also got bluefin trevally and Giant Trevally. We also got Bigeye Sebream toward the end of the dive. We had another feast for Dinner at Anthony hotel, the owner prepare us amazing dinner.

Last day was epic. Never saw so many Spanish mackerel in one day. Firt spot we saw some GT and Spnaish mackerel but they kept their distance. The next spot John Shot Spanish mackerel, it was quiet murky and hard to spot them but john got lucky one spanish went straight toward him from underneath. The next spot we hunt at the reef and Anthony shot a good size flowery cod.  The next spot it was a war zone. I spotted a school of Spanish mackerel all around 10-15 kg size. Took a shot a miss. Not long after john got one and wahoo following after. Then Anthony finally got his first spanish mackerel after losing his first one the day before.

Mangrove jack

Anthony with his Flower Cod

Wahoo, Spanish mackerel, Bigeye Trevally and flowery Cod

The boys happy face

3 day trip in North Bali and East Bali from Indospearfishing on Vimeo.

Harry Hawkins with Josh Harris in the reef paradise + unoffical world record midnight snapper.

On the Hunt

It was an awesome start to the day, the weather was good, but the forecast was saying lots of rain and thunderstorms, but we had luck. We prayed with our captain Edi at the temple for good weather, a nice catch and  a safe return.  Which worked well.
On the way to our spot we shared some stories and tactics how to target some species and the tips and tricks with gear. All spearos love to share their experiences.

Midnight Snapper

As we arrive by the spot and jumped in the Fish activity was amazing, slowly approching some caves i heard a shot, it was Josh trying to get a Bigeye Seabream. But unfortunetly we all know how hard it is to shot. I gave it a try to, due to problems with my roller gun i missed aswell.
I recently put a MVD roller head on my 1300 rob allen, but it is not performing so well.

As we continue diving the bay, I noticed that Harry was staying in one spot for a while,
i saw over him and looked that he shot something down there in the cave, i asked him what it was and he responded with that he does not know because it passed by quick and he landed a shot in the stomach.

Mj and Midnight Snapper

But it went into the cave at a depth of around 15meters. So he decedet down and pulled it out. Luckly the visibilty was good at that time and i saw it being pulled out at first i thought its a Giant Trevally because it looked big but as we pull it up it becomes clear its a Midnight Snapper, we both we suprised how big it is, not thinking that it would be a possible world record, haha.
As we get on the boat to switch the spots Josh spotted few Maori Seaperch but with no luck.
On the Boat we did a huge mistake we threw out the guts of the midnight snapper because they where hanging out from the belly shot. If we would have had kept the guts it would end up in the record books.

So we moved to the next spot, and it was full of life, amazing diving that day ive went for some sweetlip snapper for our home barbeque party.
Josh spotted a Jobfish and landed it, a good sized Jobbie with around 3.5kg weight.
 Till now the quality was coming up and everyone was enjoying the day, the visibitly was great until we swapped for the last spot, it was turning tide and we had around 1 1/2h left of proper sunlight.

PB Mangrove for Josh

We dive along the edge and Josh did a dive right next to me , he followed the edge and i hear a shot and a fish just did the flip, a nice stoned deced sized mangrove jack around 5kg!!

Both of us where so excited , it was also his PB on that day, which ended up in an EPIC trip for both guys with Indospearfishing Charters !!

The trophy

So we slowly decided to head home and hit another spot, but the sun was going down and the tides where wrong from that time and we quickly decided to head home.

We where so pumped on the catches that the day passed pretty quickly.

New Spearfishing video around Bali Indonesia by Indospearfishing

Spearfishing all around the coast of Bali and blue water. Footahe of spearfishing for Maori Seaperch, Giant Trevally, Mangrove Jack, Cobia, Green Jobfish, Trevally, Cod and Barramundi.

Barramundi season in Bali Indonesia

We have been waiting for half year for the raining season to start. The month when the raining season is the best time to seee the gentle giant roaming our favorite spot for Barramundi. Hopefully after 6 month the Barramundi have fatten up and ready to be harvest. Well the waiting payoff the boys caught enough fish to have a feast for Christmas eve with their family. Merry Christmas everybody from the Indospearfishing crew..

Anto and his Barramundi

Spearfishing Barramundi

Anto and David Catch

Good size of mullet and Baramundi

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Spearfishing at the last refuge of the Java Tiger Day 2

I had a good sleep until 5:00 a.m.; it was still dark so I try to sleep until 6:00 am; the excitement of the fishing prospect kept me awake and all I could think of was getting ready to explore the coast. I ended up getting up just when the morning light started appearing; it was worth waking up too, the sunlight penetrated the dense forest and lighted up the bay giving a spectacular show of nature. The sound of bird chirping, the small waves breaking on the beach, and the water passing through the small river added to a marvelous experience that one can never forget!  I call this waking up in profound peace of mind, with a profound contact with nature, only our senses are active by hearing the pleasant sounds of nature, by smelling the pure air of the forest and sea,  and by seeing peaceful and natural surroundings unaffected by the growth of civilization and all that this entails. It is an amazing feeling to experience nature at its purity and magnificence.

Morning at Camp

I had some breakfast and drank my Argentinean mate-tea. Fabio and I then quickly went for short dive in front of our camp to explore the natural condition of the coast. We saw a lot of small Snapper, Mullet, small Blue Fin, Trevally and many other reef fish. Then the other camp mates finished getting ready and we all took the boat to check the potential big fish spots. The first spot had a lot of big rocks and the coral destroyed by heavy dynamite bombing was sad and very depressing. This has become a common problem in most remote areas of Indonesia; it a shame that there is nothing that can be done about this chronic situation.  Unfortunately responsible people close their eyes to bombing that is obvious and recurring all the time.  What is also appalling is that fishes are sold for cheap prices because all the entrails are destroyed, their eyes are popped out and the body texture looks like has been beaten up. The majority of the fishes end up as farm animal food, aquaculture, fertilizer and small local fish markets.

The second spot was on the edge of the bay facing the Indian Ocean. The swell was big, the wind was blowing hard, and the current was mild. Again we witnessed the sad situation of the reef habitat destroyed by bombing and we could see very few fishes and it looks like it has been fished out. The boys saw some good size Trevally but they were easily frightened. Arvid saw a good size reef Shark that disappeared in a few seconds before we saw Arvid. After the dive we found out that fishermen set net everyday on the spot. No wonder the place looked like a desert. They set their nets in the afternoon on the right side of the entrance of the bay and they then collect the fishes next morning. We saw the catch the next day and it was impressive Southern Threadfin,Red Sea Bass, and few Snapper.

Arvid and Peter Spearfishing East Java Sea

The third spot looks more promising; it is Small Island in the middle of the bay. Judging by our experience, it’s an ideal location to spot big Trevally and Snapper. We saw group of Pompano and shot one, but nothing else after that. Rob was close to wave break against the rock which forms white water and bubbles. He shot twice and both fishes were massive Pompanos.  Both fish ripped off and got off from their spears, a common problem when you are in the middle of white water, wave and choppy water caused by strong wind. The other companions only saw small Trevally and call it quit because they were too tired from the previous two dives.

Time for lunch and Arvid made a delicious rice and fish soup with blue fin Trevally. We all enjoyed the meal and were full, ready to rest for a short siesta and then go back to the water and try our luck again. Based on his previous experience, Bob was pumping himself up for his new adventure.  He is now focused and prepared to avoid making the same mistake again. We first warmed up on the reef close by our camp. There were a lot of rubbish fishes like small snappers and small Trevally. We could not see anything big and I ended up shooting a good size bream; we then headed back to the island; Rob wanted to test his luck; the wind and current were stronger. We were just on time for the peak fish activity, just before it reached low tide. I came across two Cobia, one small was in a good range but I then saw a bigger one at a distant place that slowly came closely but it then quickly turned back.  I didn’t wish to miss the chance, so I took the shot and missed at point blank. My moral went down and I called it off for the day. I dived twice to wait for the Cobia to come back but it never happened. The water visibility was getting worse, strong wind and it was getting dark.

Fresh Fish for dinner

When we returned, we were happy to see Arvid with a few fishes, Mangrove Jack, Trevally and nice size mullet. Dinner time and our menu consisted of grilled Pompano and Snappers, some grilled vegetables and spicy fried rice. After we finished dinner a fisherman went to the camp fire with a serious face. He warned me to tell everyone not to throw any chili to the fire because of the locals’ believe. Moved by curiosity, I asked this gentleman:  
“What is the believe about throwing chili into the fire?” He answered with firm conviction: “If you throw chili into the fire, the big Tiger will come; there are still a lot of big Tigers and Leopards around”.
Usually we throw away any uneatable food such as bones to the fire. We don’t want to attract any wild animal to our camp. It is an old Javanese believe and made all of us thinking what is the logic behind: fire + chili = angry/hungry tiger? In respect for our neighbors’ believe,  we didn’t throw any chili into the fire. Our conclusion to the myth was that once upon time a hunter or fisherman put a chili on the fire and coincidentally an angry tiger happened to be nearby and decided to try a different menu. The National park top predators are Civet, wild dog, Java Leopard and a handful Tiger population. Every fisherman has a story about his encounter with the king of the jungle. They believe that during drought season all the jungle animals go down the mountain to search water holes and that’s when one has the chance to see them; they normally hid out in the mountain forest.

Endangered Java Leopard

Later on during the night, Rob the ukulele master made an awesome song for the night called: "Don’t put chili on the fire"; we enjoyed the rest of the night stars gazing, making a lot wishes due to the amount of shooting stars across the sky. Rob and Wolou made more lap photographs. The sleeping arrangement changed a little bit in the tent since, instead having fish in our heads, we were now affected by tiger-paranoia; we positioned ourselves in lesser vulnerable Tiger attack position!

Ukelele master Rob

Click here Spearfishing at the last refuge of the Java Tiger Day 1
Click here Spearfishing at the last refuge of the Java Tiger Day 3

All Picture are taken by Arvid Nicholas , Velere Terrier and  Robert Koster