Hunting my first pelagic fish on Als

Taking my sons for a holiday to my parents on Als, the island I grew up on, I was determined to shot my first pelagic fish on the island.

Tuesday 14. July: Havnbjerg Strand 18:00
Soon in the water, I found that visibility was very low. I spent the first hour trying to spot a trout but gave up and hunted flounders instead and took some pictures of marine invertebrates. Caught one 1 kg flounder.

Wednesday 15. July: Pøls Rev 22:00
Hooked up with a fellow spearfisher, mad_HC, who borrowed me a diving torch, so I could try night-hunting. We searched the coast near Pøls Rev. I spotted a flounder which I teased and a small cod. Again visibility was low. But still no large pelagic.

Thursday 16. July: Pier by Sønderborg marina 18:00
Discouraged by the seemingly low visibility around the island of Als, I browsed the coast of Als by means of google earth in hope to find a good spot. A pier by Sønderborg's marina looked tempting. In the water it soon became clear that the water was not! However I followed the pier and came across several small cod bringing my hopes up. At the end of the pier I got lucky! A group of trout swam by and I picked out a 41 cm trout. At last my luck had turned - I shot my first pelagic fish on Als! But, alas my wishbone broke after this shot and I had to turn back.

Here are some pictures from the hunts in chronological order. Didn't catch the trout kill on the camera, I'm afraid.

A great summer evening at Grenå

Thursday evening was scheduled for spearfishing! The hot summer weather had warmed the water to 19 - 21 degres C, and a light wind for several days promised good visibility. However, this was not the case! Nevertheless, I enjoyed being among so many fish.
I have posted a video with a compilation of events from the dive. This shows the curiosity the fish have. It can be quite amusing when a fish swims head first to the point of the speargun and circles it to try and make out whether it is edible or not. The video also emphasises that I only try to pick out the larger fish, and that I do not always get the fish!

Notice on the 2. shot released in the video, the cod is dead straight away. Hit it in the spine!
3. shot is a miss! Tried to shoot a trout passing by.
I have attached a complete dive at the end. Here two pollocks (Pollachius pollachius) showed up. Got both of them eventually, but my battery was low, so not all shots are recorded.

2/7-09 Grenå, Denmark, Depth 6-8 meters.

Spearfishing with Elisabeth

Weather was great and I wanted to take a day out and go spearfishing. Elisabeth decided to join me for a spearfishing day and borrowed my Imersion 75 cm speargun. Elisabeth swam with her monofin and succeded in taking out two flatfish. These were her first kill, so she was quite happy! Visit her Blog: Elisabeth Kristoffersen.

21/6-09 Grenå, Denmark