BLUE - "Escape ch.2"

Travel logs a fisherman - Joseba Kerejeta

Text: Josetxo Errondosoro

Thailand, October 2000. Life is full of surprises, especially for someone who lives like him, but nothing presaged his great journey that was to change course so unexpectedly.

Had long since lost the sense of the time, and sometimes did not even know what day he lived. To reconsider a bit, I realized that it took more than two years traveling and still felt the impulse that had brought me to Australia, in principle, the end of my second stage. And nothing prevented me from continuing, but after all this time near the sea, missed him another of my passions: mountain. Well, it was decided from then on my way going to the highest mountain range in the world: the Himalayas.

A strange message

Although I hate to admit it, I do not I could not resist the advantages offered by new technologies, for little money I make communication with my family from anywhere in the world. Thus, when passing through a city that allows me to use the advantages of the Internet, take the opportunity to receive and send messages. In those walking through Bangkok when I found a curious and unexpected message: "Hello. My name is Christopher Cartwright and would like to hire you as a cameraman on apnea and safety diver for recording a video in Vanuatu ... ". What a surprise. En route to Australia, Vanuatu was some time, and became very good friends, but I was not expecting this. At first I did not take the offer seriously, and replied that message more politeness than interest in returning there. And what are the things, proved a serious proposal would be ... irresistible. It was involved in recording a video of spearfishing, most notably the capture of tuna "dog teeth" (dogtooth tuna), which try to shoot the achievement of a record catch. My job would be to shoot and escort the fisherman and another chamber of the many sharks that lurk in those latitudes, a very serious matter. What a small world, had spoken well of me and know my availability, so that made me a very tempting offer in every way. "What do I do? Go dilemma. Every day is an opportunity not so: fishing for large fish in the blue, with the best resources and charging. Total for one month delay my plans ... I'm off to the Himalayas through Vanuatu. "

Vanuatu: a pleasant and unexpected return

When I arrived in Port-Vila, the capital of the archipelago, was a little surprised by the situation. There was no reluctance on the proposal received in Bangkok because I made sure that all follow the path we had agreed, but could not help feeling a mixture of curiosity and excitement about how the events were elapsing. And there I was expecting Christopher, an educated and caring that was impatient to be off to our destination. Soon we were getting into the details of my work. He had hired a boat of 20 m. in length, which would serve as home base, and an 8 m., towed by the first, which was to fish. In addition to the crew, fishing equipment were writing it four: Christopher, a French professional camera, an expert local skipper (skipper) and me. There are no great distances in these islands, and soon after zarpábamos south of the archipelago. How is life, a few months had passed through these places with little money and fishing to get ahead, and now back in luxury.

The world records

Before I met Christopher, had any experience in this fishery, but did not know much about the record attempts. My approach was more serious when I was in San Diego, California, in 1996. There I enjoy a great days fishing, but it was an uncomplicated experience. The first thing I realized then was that it was a very expensive hobby, and after meeting Christopher add that also have to be pretty crazy. I think what we define as obsession feels for the record is no exaggeration. But what we were, getting a record is not only to the greatest catch ever made, you must meet certain strict rules to validate it (see box). In this case we were behind the mark with the Australian Ian Puckeridge, with a catch of 83 kg A number of only two numbers may not seem like much, but it is a particularly combative usually weighs between 15 and 20 kg Copies large swim among the sharks often without any fear, and they fiercely compete for prey, even if it's a fellow wounded. I could not imagine what had to be faced with a fish of this species over 80 kg, but here I had the chance to prove it.

Knowledge, luck and patience

The fishing day began every day at five in the morning and ended when the sun was setting, about six in the afternoon, after we waited long hours reviewing all the recordings. At first light, we left the boat in areas of support that our guide knew. His contribution was essential to project success because the ocean is too big to be a search without a good knowledge of the area. When we reached the place chosen, which generally coincided with a deep bass in the middle of the sea, we looked at the activity of the birds (frigates). It was curious because of the way our guide to fly fishing know whether or not find (I was unable to learn the method, but I can assure you that it worked). Once localized, beginning a routine that lasted long enough. First we followed the birds until one dived: that was a good sign, but only indicated that we were on the right track. So we followed the path of fish stocks, until, when we were lucky, the trajectory of the frigates was stabilized and began to hit the water in a frenzy of diving: suddenly the sea appeared to boil. It was time to dive. In all honesty, the tension was rising between us as we approached the moment: we saw the tuna jumping and no time to lose, but common sense told us we had to go carefully.

Excitement and danger

The sea was calm, clear water, and before we had an image that seemed to fit into that picture. The vessel was placed upstream and quickly were entering the water. Christopher and I we loaded the guns while our guide helped us with buoys (each gun wore rod attached to two rigid plates, especially for this type of fishing). In these cases, I did not fish, but, along with the camera, wearing the same team as Christopher. If the show was impressive from the surface, below was breathtaking. In a scenario of intense blue, a small bank bank fish was being attacked and tried to run away aimlessly, while tunas and sharks were given a feast, blind attacks by the bank. When Christopher believed it appropriate, dived to 10 meters and went to meet him, and us at a safe distance behind. The tuna are very suspicious of any danger that they sift from above, while if the approximation is below, offering the lowest possible figure, are more confident. As we approached, some tuna came to browse, but if they had the right size were not fired. When it appeared a large, Christopher tried to stand in its path without being aggressive, until he began to throw. After shooting the problems began. Although the impact of the heavy rod momentarily stopped to fish, the backlash caused the first moments of danger when they are wounded, they dive at high speed, and if the fisherman tangled with the rope connecting the harpoon with the buoys, can have a very serious accident, nor can forget the buoys, which can hit very hard. The next danger is sharks, which make difficult the recovery of fish, especially if it is not the first capture. If the harpooned fish is large, are kept at a distance because they know that is so strong and aggressive as them. But suffice it to attack the other one to follow him in a flurry of runs and bites, where the blood of the dam is sometimes mixed with that of the perpetrators themselves, who, blinded by the feast, may end up biting each other.

When the birds do not appear

But not all the birds came to our aid. Especially at lunch, tuna retreated to the deeper zones and was difficult to find them: then we changed strategy. We were going to traffic areas (some are near the coast), where little or a lot, there was always current. This, to hit the low, deflected upward, carrying away carrying microorganisms. They are places where marine life is abundant and where the presence of large predators is common. When our probe marked the presence of "balls" of small fish that were visually confirmábamos rainbow runner, and we proved lucky. We fished on the cliff, beyond the reef where it ends and begins the abyss, falling walls to where the probe is not enough. Another important fact: almost always the tuna appeared from where the flow collided with the reef. First he had to convince them, and for that we placed an artificial lure consists of a series of brilliant pieces hanging from a buoy like the ornaments of a Christmas tree. The reflections produced by the lure simulating a bank of potential prey, and I've even seen shark bites the undertaking to them. But usually this was not enough, and had to attract the tuna cebándolos with pieces of fish. To do this, while Christopher remained on guard, I was in charge of catching a fish of good size to go after cutting it into large dice should fall into the cliff. When acertábamos with the area, appeared tuna bottom of the cliff, like out of nowhere: the first small and then, sometimes, great. But it was not always so.

Coincidences

One day, after spending many hours in the water without being able to attract any large tuna, suggested to Christopher that we would dedicate to fish for the mere pleasure of it, forgetting for a few hours of their projects. It was a lucky than most. With the mess that we organize with the first shots came, of course, the first sharks. It seemed that the day of fishing is going to end when there was a surprising fact. A tuna of about 30 kg was struggling in my rod when there were two gray reef sharks. But that was not a surprise, what was surprising was that, as beginning to be a feast, there was a huge background copy of tuna (could be 100 kg) than charged, making them flee. In the end, there were more sharks and between all ended with my prey. In such a situation was not fully down to the piece, which would have been high, but we won something: we come up with a good formula. From that day, this was the method that we use and which gave us better results.

Sharks, sharks and more sharks

To fish in these latitudes, it has to be patient and leave the sharks. The people of Vanuatu fear them so much that there is little spearfishing, I am told, on some islands, especially in the black sand (Vanuatu that a very volcanic), every year there are serious accidents, it seems tiger sharks that have a preference for such funds. The tuna are always accompanied by his entourage of shark and recover a dam is a difficult and risky. The chances of recovering an intact dam are inversely proportional to the time it remains in the water. Given that it is difficult to instantly kill these giants of the sea, is very common for fights to reduce a large tuna last longer than an hour, during which time, sharks surround the tuna in ever smaller circles until one decides to attack. From that moment, it is best to stay out until satiate. If we are lucky to recover the prey quickly, have not finished our problems, because even try to snap out of hand. But of the many stressful situations experienced on this trip because of sharks, there are two that I will remember for some time. The first was when, after crossing a number of gray sharks tuna pounced on him. The situation was not unlike others who lived every day, but something strange happened: suddenly disappeared the life of the reef and sharks too. I can not explain how it feels in a moment, but it was evident that something would happen, and the tension was tremendous. I could not recover even a couple of meters out of my spear when, to my shock, a large oceanic shark appeared out of nowhere to liquidate what was left of tuna in the blink of an eye. When finished, had the courtesy to come to us and then he had come away. The second story happened when he was fishing on my own with a local boatman. We were on a cliff near the shore, plunged me to wait on a background of 20 meters, overlooking the blue. It was like being on the balcony of a large skyscraper looking down. The tuna came up out of curiosity, but no one put a shot, and the stream every time I walked away more of the pot. When I saw fit, I started to scream the boatman to come and pick me up, but I heard. After much shouting, and a little angry, took off his glasses and began to scream louder and gesturing with his arms to make me look better. I do not know my time well, I guess a few minutes but when I finally heeded, and was floating quietly, my legs crashed hard against something, "Look to be a reef here," I thought, not without some nervousness. When I turned to put the glasses, my heart stopped beating for several seconds: multiple sharks were investigating whether I could be your lunch. Punctures my harpoon convinced them the inappropriateness of the menu, but my hair looks more gray since. In these places, losing control of the visual background can be the difference between life and death.

Luck: an indispensable element

In the end, after a month of hard work, Christopher did not get his record, but was very pleased with the recordings. We made great catches, some in excess of 60 kg, and could do more ... but the big fish approached the fisherman who should not, and each must know how to do the most appropriate in all times. Although luck was elusive with Christopher, the experience was great and began to tempt me with new ideas, but was a little tired of pursuing a goal that I had to identify. He looked so obsessed with his record that I did not enjoy the wonderful scenes that nature provided us. On the other hand, wanted to go my way and with the satisfaction of having done a good job and promise to continue writing, I returned to Bangkok.

(To be continued ... "Dark Habits")

Frame 1

Steve rifles Alaxender

He is considered the ultimate in its field. It is built virtually on demand and cost a fortune (complete, about 300,000 pts.). With the rod installed, is about 2 meters and weigh 15 kg ...! It is built of wood and rod runs through a Teflon guide embraces three-fourths of its circumference. Its six tires move well the heavy harpoon 9.5 mm. (Weighs over 1 kg and is tipped removable) and has little recoil due to the enormous weight of the weapon. It may seem odd, but the gun is ballasted with lead, then added floats to achieve neutral buoyancy. It is obviously difficult to move a rifle, slow to load and it only serves to catch large fish, but their scope and accuracy are great.

 

Frame 2

The periods of activity

The biological clock of fish is a mystery, although its activity increases at dawn and dusk, not always. Australian fishermen use tables to find the best time to fish, what they call "periods of activity." They are made ​​according to the conjunctions of certain stars, and many follow them faithfully. I am unable to assess whether these tables are accurate, but I'm sure some of all that has to be true. Sometimes, at dawn or dusk, not fished nothing much burley that were to blast, no sharks were the case. But others, at high noon, supposedly a bad time to fish, the activity in the same places was frantic.

Frame 3

The rules records

At least there are several organizations that regulate these activities (in the U.S., South Africa and Australia). Although there are differences between the rules, basically driven by the same spirit: the capture should make it a freediver using a loaded gun by the strength of your muscles (band guns and pneumatic) and should reduce harpoon and their prey without any help . Not even admitted that an assistant will spend a loaded gun, if needed, you will eventually downloaded and there all the help it can get.

Photos: Joseba Kerejeta (if you find them ...)