From Brandon Wahlers
“For the past 3 years Ive been putting a lot of effort and research into putting a trip together to this spot, and this year I was able to finally set it all up and get out to these few spots where I have heard of monster tuna being taken.
I managed to get out there twice before, and both trips were good, with fish up to 250lbs, but no chances at anything in the 300lb range.
This trip it was just Justin Allen and I on the panga diving, so I was stoked to have half the pressure on the fish as we had on the last two trips.
As soon as we made it out to the spot late that afternoon, we could see action all around: birds diving, bait popping, and nice tunas jumping. We tried dropping a marker buoy, but there was so much current that even with plenty of line we couldn’t get the marker to hold. Scrapping that Idea I quickly made the decision to start our drift about a mile up current of the spot, just in front of where the birds were working.
On my first dive to 50ft, I found the vis to be only about 15-20 ft, but I was immediately schooled by tuna from 80-200lbs that followed me up to the surface. The next dive I made was a to 60, and I saw some bigger fish in the 200lb range. Things were looking good, and I knew we had a chance for a monster.
Justin was still getting his rig ready in the boat and I told him what I saw. Him and the Pangero both hinted that I shoot one quickly so we would at least have some fish to cook on the grill that night since we were camping.
The next dive I saw mostly 80-100lb fish, and I lined up on one 5ft away, ready to get a brainshot. I ended up missing the brain by less than and inch, but fought him up to the surface quickly and clipped the buoy off to my shooting line. I went down to brain the fish, and saw my slip tip toggled perfectly. Struggling and spinning around a few times trying to dispatch the fish with my knife, the slip tip somehow pulled back out and stabbed me in the palm, opening up a fairly deep wound.

I got back in the boat completely confused and in pain, telling Justin I was done diving for the day, and he should take my big gun in and look for a monster. After his first dive he yelled that he was seeing big fish everywhere. I checked the sounder and it was lit up with tuna from 30ft all the way to 150. With my hand bleeding like crazy and nothing on the panga to fix it, I grabbed Justins 140 euro gun and got in the water. I made 3 dives in a row getting schooled by 80-200 lb tuna each time, with some fish coming within 3 ft of my face. This was as wide open as I’d ever seen tuna while diving.
The next dive, I was again schooled by fish in the 150lb range. I sank down to 67ft trying to see if there were bigger fish deeper, when looking up I saw a super long bottom sickle fin behind 5 fish in front of me. That being the sign of a monster, I had to almost push the 150 lb tunas in front of me out of the way, and I finally got a full view of this MONSTER tuna. Its sickle fins almost made it back to its tail, and it was an incredibly tall and fat fish, not swimming how the other fish were at all, rather it was waddling. As soon as it saw me, it started to move off pretty quickly, so I lined up and shot it just as it was going out of visibility from about 14ft away.
The fish took off like a freight train and towed me over 3 miles in over an hour. I was using Justin’s rig with 50ft of hard floatline and 50ft of bungee, and the clip on his buoy was not holding the bungee very well. For the life of me I couldn’t get the fish above 80ft, so all my dives trying to second shoot the fish were to at least that depth. The first 4 times I tried to get a second shot the fish would see me from 10ft away just as I was about to shoot and take off for another 5 minutes. I finally got a second shaft into the fish and it started to bleed a lot, really slowing him down. Soon enough I had the buoy clipped off at the shooting line and took my trusty Riffe 130 Euro down to shoot him in the brain.

Only once I got my hands in this fishes gills did I realize that he was WAY over 300lbs, an absolute toad!!
It took 3 of us to get him in the boat, and he ended up 77inches long, with a 61 inch girth.
Using the girth squared X length, divided by 800 formula the fish came out to 358lbs, truly the fish of a lifetime! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a certified scale within 100 miles to weigh him on, but Im still on cloud 9 after shooting this monster!!”

For more on Brandon Wahlers check out Team Riffe at: http://www.speargun.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&Itemid=37

Riffe Iberica (Portugal) asked me to write for them 7 rules for Bluewater hunting. It was hard as I think I could have gone for about 70 rules for bluewater hunting!  These are some of the basics that come to mind and are good to remember for Beginner to Advanced Bluewater Hunting.  Help me out here,  I bet we can add another 93 to this to make it 100 Rules for Bluewater Hunting…. 

Go on the Facebook Spearblog company page and add your Rule for Bluewater hunting.  I’ll give a free 3mm Riffe Cryptic wetsuit to you if your Rule has the most LIKES after we hit 100 Rules for Bluewater.  To keep it fair after we hit 100 Rules we’ll give it two weeks so that everyone can vote. 

To help yourself get your friends to vote for your rule.  Its a free wetsuit after all!

Cameron

Metal Tech Mach 5. Notice the slim outline even with the padauk wings, they are barely wider than the bands

Rear handle makes the Metal Tech Mach 5 shoot and act like the most powerful euro gun on the market with a 5/16 shaft for big pelagics you can't lose

In September 2010, Jay Riffe invited the Riffe Spearfishing Team to California at the peak of one of the White Seabass runs of the year.  Having never shot or even seen one I was blessed the first day with Jay putting me on three 40-50 lb ones while the other guys slept in after a big night of traveling and hell raising.  That week  Craig Clasen, Mark Healey, Brandon Wahlers, Jill and Julie Riffe, Kelsea Albert and myself went through all the Riffe gear meticulously and talked about our ideas on gear for the year ahead. 

In 2010 we introduced the Armor Spectra line and it has proved to be even better than our exhisting float line.  We went one step further in September and changed the design of the line so that now a 75ft float line actually stretches to 100 feet making it even more versatile for deep or shallow, reef or pelagic fish.  

Bungey Float Line combo.  We dive in such diverse conditions and there are a lot of situations where we need both bungey and a floatline but not all of only one.   We came up with the combo.  50ft bungey/50ft Armor spectra floatline. For Dogtooth and Wahoo this is the best set up I have found.   I can’t live without it now. It is available through Riffe as a special order item but if you are a bluewater or deep reef hunter this is a must have.

As we talked about different new products (I won’t reveal them all here…) and  Jay showed us a rear handle metal tech that he had been working on.

We all shot it and found it had incredible power and was dead accurate at even 20+ feet on Calicos and small pelagics.  We kept the evolution going back in the workshop and I designed some very slim Padauk wings to reduce the recoil and make the gun neutrally buoyant in the water.

Back home first day in the water I could feel the difference and the power on it was even greater than my 130 Euro and just as accurate.  I dislike going from my Euros with a rear handle to a mid handle Bluewater gun and this was a perfect solution.  The Metal Tech Mach 5. I called it the Mach 5 because it is the same gun as the metal tech I just felt like I had a suped up version of it and was unstoppable with it.  From Florida to Dogtooth and Wahoo Country it has crushed it. Since I’ve had it we have made multiple Mexico trips for Tunas, Wahoo and Pargos and a few other trips for big dogs overseas as well.

The guns stock is 62″ long (making it between a Bluewater and an Island)  and shoots a 5/16″ shaft with three 28.5″ x 5/8 Power bands and an enclosed track.  It has more power than any gun of its size I’ve used and little recoil and very quiet which is hard to find in a big gun.  For guys that shoot rear handles most of the time this gun and the Baja 5 are a great step up for Bluewater hunting when you want that heavier shaft. 

It isn’t so big that I can’t shoot Calicos or Groupers with it and I’ve been using it as a Bluewater gun for everything with the exception of big (200+) Yellowfins it has been the ticket.    On my last trip I landed 3 Dogtooth Tuna 120, 145 and 243 lbs and multiple Wahoo and Giant Trevally. It is a weapon.

I will get more pics of it and post it but you can check out some of these action shots underwater. The pairing of the dark beautiful wood and jet black metal make it one of the most badass guns in the Riffe Line.  Thanks Jay! 

To get yours talk to your local Riffe Dealer and special order it. We will be making a limited line of them each year so get them while they are still some left!

Cameron

Slim profile, easy to manuever and versatile for hunting Pelagics or Reef Fish. Perfect gun for me right now.

Cameron Kirkconnell

I’m so honored that you are visiting my blog and hope that the pictures and stories here will bring you closer to the feeling that we as spearfisherman, divers and fisherman enjoy in our lives. As of now we have more than 30 stories and dozens of pictures on the site as well as a good youtube following. I wanted to give you a bit of background on myself and how I started into this sport, working for Riffe, and traveling the world spearing so many places and so many great fish and meeting so many good people.
In brief:
My family is from the Cayman Islands and diving, fishing and ships have been at the center of our lives for almost as long as the islands have been on the map.
I’m 33 years old and work as a Captain on huge ships getting paid to travel around the world and with a four months on and off schedule I’ve been able to spend months at a time in the best known dive spots in the world. Even better, I’ve been able to travel with my friends and family and discover the newer and better dive spots that have been the envy of the rest of spearfishing world.
We are always looking for that which hasn’t been done, specializing our gear and finding the perfect recipe for every location and fish we pursue.
I work year round with Riffe International (www.speargun.com) developing the latest and most hard core spearfishing equipment so that I can have the best gear perfectly suited to our hunting and abuse we encounter in third world countries and in less than ideal conditions.
I’m lucky to have scored some great fish along the way with my top ten favorites being:
#1 has to be Steve Bennet. 155 lbs. Speared at 75 feet after he had blacked out and was sinking to his death. Luckily the shot was true and the story you’ve likely already read. Steve glad you are with us my friend.
50 lb Wahoo shot by my father this past year diving together and I got it on video. One of my favorite days in the water ever.
119 lb Wahoo
Blue Marlin 280 lb (WR) (shot in the open water NOT TROLLING)
280lb Yellowfin Tuna
201 lb Dogtooth tuna (WR)
102 lb Spanish Mackerel
105 lb Amberjack
60 lb King Mackerel (WR)
28 lb Blackfin Tuna (WR)
35 lb African Pompano (Diamond Trevally) with a Hawaiian Sling
I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the original hosts of the show SPEARGUN HUNTER by Terry Maas. I took the team overseas to a secret spot and within the first two days shot and landed a World Record sized Pacific Blue Marlin. On that first trip we also landed more than a dozen big Dolphin (Mahi Mahi), Wahoo, giant Trevally and Yellowfin Tuna. Terry captured all of the action on video and but the video has never made it to TV and I obviously am not the host. It was a great experience but my refusal to let the video of shooting the record Marlin be shown on National TV did not go over well with the producers. It worked out good, they have a great host and I believe we kept even more restrictions and bad publicity for the sport from coming down on us by keeping the fish private. I have nothing against shooting billfish, but the hypocritical Sportfishing World will only bring more harm upon our sport we value so much.
It also worked out well because I can still go to all the best spots in the world and not worry about giving them away on national TV!
Over the years I have always written for different magazines and put videos up on the web and through Riffe, Spearboard, Spearfishingplanet, Facebook, my seminars in dive shops and emails answered hundreds of question on everything from gear to girls around the world and the best combination in between for spearfishing.
I don’t know everything there is to know about the sport but I have gathered information from every corner of every ocean and retained it and I hope that I can help every diver out there dive safely and enjoy the sport for years to come.
I will constantly work to make the blog better, more navigable, more informative and useful to you. As my internet connection allows while I am traveling overseas (which is about 8 months out of the year) I will download pictures and video for you to check out and enjoy.
I encourage everyone to participate in the blog and ask questions and get out of it what you want. This is my way of sharing my life with you and sharing my knowledge with you as well to make you a better, happier and safer spearfisherman or woman.
You can email me at cam@spearblog.com
On the Riffe Website: www.speargun.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=32
On YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/cameronkirkconnell
Thanks for visiting and stay in touch. The best part about this sport is all the people you meet around the world and learning from every diver you encounter whether they are in Alaska or South Africa or an inland lake in Missouri.

More long winded about me:
My parents had us in the water at and early age and we started freediving for conchs and lobsters in the shallows and holding on to our parents while they searched the reefs and drop offs for hours on end hunting Groupers and Hogfish in the crystalline waters of the Caribbean.

Its hard to not want to be a Spearfisherman with huge fish and lobsters at your feet as a one year old. Mom and Dad are still in the water whenever they can and I still wish I could have a day like this with a 10+lb Lobster and Giant Dog Snapper in the Caymans

As I got older we continued to spearfish and scuba dive in Florida from Jacksonville to Key West and up to Tampa.
When I was 14 years old I started saving for my first speargun and after two years I bought my first gun, a Riffe Hawaiian with a reel. One of the first days out on the water we found a school of cobia and I jumped in to be surrounded by more than a dozen and shot a 45lb one.
I self proclaimed myself a bluewater hunter on the spot and knew that there was nothing more I wanted in life then to be near the water and enjoying all it had to offer.
With my cousin I applied to the US Merchant Marine Academy and after a long selection process we were both accepted and began 4 years of military school life studying the sea and how to be professional mariners. I graduated in 1999 and went to work as a third officer on a cargo ship and set off to the Indian and Pacific Ocean. With all the charts of the world at my fingertips for 4 months at sea I saw the world of spearfishing shrink to a million possibilities and my mind started racing at the potential.
With no car, no house, no girlfriend I paid the ships agent $100 when I disembarked in Singapore and convinced him to delay my ticket back the USA for two months.
A new ticket in hand I set off for Bali Indonesia and fell in love with the incredible waves and huge fish that lived there.
For the last ten years I have traveled to spearfish in Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and half a dozen islands in Indonesia searching for bluewater fish and learning techniques and meeting the best in the world in their home waters. Whether it is your first day or your 60th year there is something to be learned from everyone you meet.
Diving in Australia I met Robbie Lewis and Tim Neilsen of Adrenaline Spearfishing in Brisbane and Robbie and I became instant friends. they set me up with my first sponsorships and quickly my emails to my friends telling them the latest tall tales of big fish and crazy shark encounters started showing up in Spearfishing Magazines which I had no idea even existed.
For so long we had dove just to hunt dinner and to think that there were spearfishing clubs and competitions seemed completely foreign to us.
I made a lot of friends and slept on a lot of couches and didn’t pay rent for about 8 years and owe more favors to more people in more countries than I can possibly ever repay.
From all of it I gathered more knowledge than I ever would have imagined from so many different situations and waters that have led us to be able to plan trips any month of the year any where in the world and with high rates of success.
In my travels I’ve been blessed with some memorable fish and a handful of world records and record size fish that were just short of the mark or disqualified for one reason or another. The most common cause was being in the middle of nowhere in Fiji or Indonesia without a proper scale (or refrigeration.)
Some of the most memorable records or near records: King Mackerel 58 lbs, Blackfin Tuna 32lbs wiht pole spear, Hogfish 21lbs, Golden Trevally 34 lbs, Pacific Blue Marlin 272lbs, Wahoo 119lbs,  Spanish (Narrow barred) Mackerel 102lbs, Dogtooth Tuna 201lbs, Dogtooth Tuna 245lbs,  and a few other close ones.
We’ve figured out how to be in the right place at the right time. How to read the weather and water and where to be in the water and how to approach fish and how to get the biggest one to come close to you even in the middle of the blue 100 miles from land.
I’ve only entered a few tournaments but have had decent success.
In three visits to the Hatteras Bluewater open in Cape Hatteras North Carolina I’ve won twice and finished 4th on the other. I enjoy tournaments for the main reason that it brings together like minded people together and gives you a chance to rag on your friends and for them to give it right back to you.
No one believes me but I am happier when someone else gets the fish of their lives or the fish of the day then I am for myself usually. Through my work with Riffe, dozens of dive shops and thousands of divers around the world I’ve had a smile on my face doing what I love for as long as I can remember. Even when I’m not there every email from a young diver telling me how stoked he is on my new camo pattern or some bands or a tip on shooting black groupers that helped him get the fish of the day makes me so happy.
I can’t wait to meet every one of you and hope that each can get something out of these pages if only a laugh or a temporary escape from normal life.
In the coming months I will be opening a few other sections of the website that are VIP access. This will be How-to videos and detailed trip advice for divers around the world who are ready to take it to the next level. Planning trips is one of my favorite things and doing it right and being successful having done it with your friends help and all your hard work is by far the most rewarding way to go. It pays to have someone on your side that has been there, done that, and has the scars and fish scales to prove it.

Dive safe and send me pics of your adventures anytime

Cameron Kirkconnell

This blog is a work in progress that I’ll try and keep you up to date on our trips and adventures around the world. Bear with me I do have a real job!

Aaron Kirkconnell Scott and his big cousin Cameron. Same stoked smile on the first big yellowfin Tuna he has seen up close on his first bluewater trip

Yeah there were a few sharks around too....

Aaron and one of 8 Blackfin Tuna he shot in the few days we dove. He got the hand of it pretty quick and was only picking out the 25 lb'ers. Spoiled Rotten.

Aaron's first Wahoo at 50 lbs. I was on the surface beside him watching the whole thing screaming in the snorkel to swim towards them. On the drive over I had talked for 6 straight hours on how to hunt them and all the other bluewater fish, telling him things I don't even let on to my friends. He listened, and he already had a lot of raw skill and 15 years under his belt of being surrounded by the sport. He shot this first one from about 6 feet away and had his choice of the entire school. Mad skills. I'm scared he is going to be better than all of us...

Still smiling 6 months later I'm sure

Admittedly this one was a fluke. I was looking for Wahoo and a school of 10 big Yellowfins came up. I had the camera in my left hand and made the dive following them to a whopping 56 ft to take the shot. They all had long sickle fins back to their tails so I knew they were 130+lbs and was praying they were bigger. With a single Riffe 2 Atmosphere float and a 100 ft bungee I had him up within three minutes and Aaron put the second shot in him. Chad had the video camera so for fun I brought him up while he was very much alive and as he came to the surface snatched his tail out of the water. Predictably he went batshit and made a circle of whitewater about ten yards wide. His tail beat against my left bicep so fast and hard it was like getting hit with an axe. When I finally let him go my glove and my brand new dive knife got caught in the cable and I lost them both. Could have been my hand, or my leg or my neck. Just goes to show (practice what your preach) always kill your big fish before you try to get your hands on them. It happened the very next day with Lindsey grabbing a feisty one the same size and he lost all the bungee he had worked so hard to get to him and it took another 5 minutes to get the fish in.

I won't be doing that again. It didn't even make my muscles look bigger

Chad Morris with a stud Wahoo. WE never seem to have a bad trip when we go together.

Nothing better then seeing your friends happy. Chad Morris with the biggest fish of the trip and a huge smile on his face

119 lb Wahoo from last year. Just a few lbs short of the World Record. The visibility was about as bad as it gets. On the surface was less than a few inches. I had to put my watch against my mask to see it.A fins free ascent in the Grotto in Saipan. Another DJ Struntz Photo

11lb Lobster Freediving last month in North Carolina

11lb Langosta Freediving

Big Bull Dolphin in Gulf of Mexico

Dolphin Camoflauge. Riffe Cryptic suit and this fish fit perfect.

A nice Pacific Cubera Snapper dragged up on a deep dive off Mexico. Brad got this one on film from start to finish then I filmed him stoning the smaller one with a Hawaiian sling. I'd put him up against anyone with a Hawaiian sling he is arguably one of the best in the world with them for sure.

Nice East Coast Cubera Snapper shot by Chris Gardinal. I'm claiming the assist since I saw it floating a half mile from the Wreck enroute to the next spot and then we gaffed it to land it. 63 lbs.

Nice Black Grouper in the Florida Keys. This is one of the first trips with the 130 Euro and the results were pretty good.

119lb Wahoo.

100+lb Yellowfin Tuna in the Gulf of Mexico. On my fourth drop of the day he came up and coaxed me deeper. I pulled the trigger at 77 feet and it was a long drop for so early in the day at 1:34. Just goes to show that being in shape is important so you can be ready at any time.

There is so much to this photo it goes to show why DJ Struntz is one of the best photographers in the world. This is Craig diving down to get his hands on a nice Rainbow Runner, It had just started raining and we were rushing to get some pics in the clear water before the sun disappeared. The angle of the pic is just right so that he is facing the part of the sky away from the black ominous cloud that is sending the rain to sprinkle the surface and give it that amazing texture. The Yellow/orange glow in the upper left is actually the oil rig through the surface of the water. Amazing picture. Craigs posture and the action that you can feel through the picture doesn't happen every day.

I first met Stevo in East Nusa Tengarra (Indonesia). I was there with a few of my buddies hunting Dogtooth Tuna and Waves and he was there with Wes Mannion and his cameraman catching snakes and monitors and anything else that moved. The first afternoon I surfed with just the three of us out and we talked about all the different travels we'd had and he said he was jealous at what a good life I'd been able to lead. Hearing him hooting on the shoulder as I dropped in on a wave and doing the same for him was one of the coolest experiences. As it turns out two Cyclones trapped us all on the little island and we were stuck together for 2 weeks trading stories and catching snakes and waves. We all became good friends and when we finally escaped back to Bali we had some big nights out on the town together. Steve and Wes were one of the big reasons I started going to Australia. Great people. He was as passionate about life off camera as he was on and the smile on his face in the mornings when he'd meet us to get on the boat to take out surfing and spearing couldn't do justice for how stoked he was to have spent the last four hours chasing cobras in the Rice Paddies while we were out shooting breakfast. And he thought we were nuts! Classic Steve, we're surfing double overhead Nusa Dua and he suddenly bails off his board to chase down a sea snake that has surfaced in the lineup.

My first Mulloway (Jewfish) Australias version of a White Sea Bass. Not the smartest fish in the ocean. If you can find them you can get them most of the time. This one was in a huge school of fish on a drop off. The swim so tightly together its a wonder more doubles aren't speared. Its difficult to choose the big ones out of the school. A week later we were diving the coast in 6 foot vis and I crept up on a school of 10 lb ones that were schooled up in front of a big rock. Waiting trying to figure out which one was the biggest the rock suddenly turned and I realized it was a Mulloway that was easily 80-100 lbs. I sent a hail mary shot into the dark but to no avail. I'm still bummed I missed out on that one. I've never even seen one like that in pictures.

Big Black Grouper and Amberjack Pole Spearing in the Bahamas. Brad Thornbrough hit the AJ with a hawaiian sling and it took us 10 minutes to chase him down and get him in the boat. I know you could care less about where the fish came from though. Not too shabby for a crew huh?

275 lbs Pacific Blue Marlin World Record

GR (RedTide) Tarr and my dad Kirk Kirkconnell with a good day of Wahoo in Florida. One of my favorite days on the water watching my dad shoot his first hoo. This was also one of the best 5 minutes of my spearfishing life. GR and I let my dad shoot all day and we filmed until he was ready to take a break for a bit. Next drift the school came by and I stoned one, reached the surface and yelled for dad to get in the water, strung the first one, reloaded, stoned another one, strung him, reloaded and had the third within 3 minutes. The boat was only about 150 yards away and it happened so fast I don't think the wahoo, me or anyone else really believed it when I handed the gun and 150 lbs of fish into the boat. What a blur. This same day GR shot a big one and stoned it but it fell off the shaft. While he was reloaded we drifted over the fish which was laying on the bottom at 100 ft. GR dives down and grabs it in the gills and it instantly comes to life and like a striped underwater scooter, shot him to the surface so fast I could almost hear him laughing underwater and his eyes were bugging out of his head it was so hilarious.

I think it was the Saint Pete Open that was coming up the next day and I couldn't get anyone that wanted to dive it with me. The day before I went out and took pictures and video of each of the fish that I wanted to shoot and sent them to a few of my friends trying to convince them to do the tourney with me. This is a 15 lb Mangrove Snapper. We took 1st and 2nd Place in the Tournament. Nole Karcher couldn't handle seeing this one and made the drive to the east coast...This Amberjack was the same day that Steve blacked out and I ended up shooting him. In all that day I shot an 85 and 105lb Amberjack and Steve Bennet who was around 165. One of the best and worst days of my life.

Craig and the Tiger Shark. This was a gnarly day as you can imagine. I spent most of it in the boat so DJ and Ryan could get some time in the water spearing. This is the only pic we have with both me and the Tiger shark in the same frame. If you look really closely you can see a little white speck over craigs shoulder. That is me, swimming with a beer in my hand, no fins on, chasing the boat which is drifting close by.