# Spearfishing Cobia off of Palm Beach, FL 4-10-12



## FLnewfisher (Jan 2, 2007)

Got the call from Ryan on Wednesday morning for an afternoon spearfishing trip to target Mahi. With reports of big Mahi being taken recently we were hoping to score. Loaded up the boat with Kris, Kyle and Jeff and we were off. Ran due east 14 miles out of the inlet looking for weedlines or debris and came up empty handed. On to plan B - targeting cobia off of the bullsharks. Got to our spot and jumped in with the flashers and within a minute the sharks showed up - but no cobia in tow. On the second drift we finally see one cobia but it was just out of reach. Finally we see a pack of cobia on one of the bulls and Ryan dives down and nails the biggest one. We drift a while longer as the suns gets closer to the horizon and call it a day. We would have had a nice yellowjack in the boat too but the bulls got to it before Kyle could. I had my new underwater camera setup with me and captured some photos of the action. It was very cool to see the hammerhead come in to check out our flashers!


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

Wish I lived a bit closer... Free divers are a rare breed.

How long are you able to stay down?


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## Samblam (May 22, 2011)

Thats badass!!!! I have to do this before I die. I see a go pro on your or your friends head, you should upload it to youtube and post a link!!!


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## FLnewfisher (Jan 2, 2007)

solid7 said:


> Wish I lived a bit closer... Free divers are a rare breed.
> 
> How long are you able to stay down?


Pretty much all of my dive buddies and I have taken freedive training classes and have max breath hold times of 3:30 - 5:30. However when hunting our average times are 1:00 - 1:30. That is usually enough time to get down there and get the job done while not tiring you out.



Samblam said:


> Thats badass!!!! I have to do this before I die. I see a go pro on your or your friends head, you should upload it to youtube and post a link!!!


Yeah, I think he is working on a video from that day. Here are a couple that I made recently

http://vimeo.com/30129505

http://vimeo.com/28904432


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## solid7 (Dec 31, 2010)

FLnewfisher said:


> Pretty much all of my dive buddies and I have taken freedive training classes and have max breath hold times of 3:30 - 5:30. However when hunting our average times are 1:00 - 1:30. That is usually enough time to get down there and get the job done while not tiring you out.


That's nice. What type of training do you have to do to pull those sorts of down times? I can do about 2 minutes when hunting, but no more than 1:30 most of the time when static. Admittedly, I've never taken any kind of training, so I'm sure that my technique isn't great. In fact, more than once I've gotten sick, and realized only too late, that (through repeated dives) I'm diving and spending more time holding my breath than breathing air.


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## FLnewfisher (Jan 2, 2007)

solid7 said:


> That's nice. What type of training do you have to do to pull those sorts of down times? I can do about 2 minutes when hunting, but no more than 1:30 most of the time when static. Admittedly, I've never taken any kind of training, so I'm sure that my technique isn't great. In fact, more than once I've gotten sick, and realized only too late, that (through repeated dives) I'm diving and spending more time holding my breath than breathing air.


I took a course by FII (Freediving Instructors International) and it was the best thing I have ever done. The courses teach you the techniques you need to know to dive deep and for a long time and most importantly how to dive safely. Most of my friends have taken the same course too and have had amazing results. I went from 20' max depth and a 2:10 max breath hold to 132' max depth and 5:00 max breath hold! Those types of results are pretty normal for a lot of students.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

That's awesome!! Great post. Congrats on the Cobia.


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## Samblam (May 22, 2011)

thanks for posting those vids!! looks awesome!!!


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