Spearfishing the Marianas Islands
The OneDrop Spearfishing Team hunts one of the most demanding locations in the world. Spearfishing the Marianas Islands has major challenges including strong currents, remote locations, crazy weather and really deep fish! Now that you’ve seen our videos, here’s some tips on how to put these kinds of fish on the table!
Breaking the comfort zone
Spearfishers often ask for advice on where and how to find the “big fish”. Excitement stirs when they see big fish in posts and videos and want some of that action! What fisher wouldn’t? Unfortunately, I find that these people rarely take the advice they asked for. Most spearfishers are used to doing what they always do, which is (mostly) working the shallows of the reef. This is fine, but they often end up coming out with the same catch they usually do. I completely understand not taking my advice because it’s scary to venture out beyond the reef. In the water every move you make can be a life or death scenario. Here is something that I hope will guide you in hunting. A few different methods, depths and species to target to help you feel better about breaking that “comfort zone”.
The shallows
6ft – 25ft (2-8m). Also called the NO HEADACHE ZONE. The shallow reef makes for easy dives and usually a guaranteed way to put fish in your frying pan. You can check in cracks/holes that sometimes hold Mangrove snappers (Buha) and other species. The Blue Fin and Giant trevalley feed in the shallows using the surging waves to their advantage. They’re after schools of minnows found swimming just outside of the surf. The ‘shallows’ always provides, and that’s why most people prefer it. However you miss out on soooo many other highly sought-after species that just never seem to be found on a shallow reef.
The Mid
When we say “let’s hunt the mid” I get a little excited because this is where you’d hunt the ever so elusive Mu (Big Eye Emperor)! I think the reason they’re so damn hard to hunt is the fact that they have huge eyes. They probably see very well that you have 2 bands and 2 wraps on your 130 speargun and you mean business! Seeing this, they stay just out of range. This depth ranges from 25ft – mid 40s (8-14m). Its best to lay on the bottom as this depth is still a bit too shallow for dive bombing the Mu. Although sometimes you may get lucky on particularly dumb fish. I find for hunting this depth, the best method is to hide inside a crack or find some really good cover. Parrots, Uku, baby doggies, and trevalley are all very acquirable at this depth as well. These depths are the best training grounds! Spend your time in them and work them hard because a longer bottom time at these depths will eventually lead to a shorter, but deeper dives at the next depth range.
The ledge
In the Marianas, due to the limestone islands and historical ocean levels, the reef structures vary so much but there is a fairly consistent depth for where “the ledge” will be. This is usually about 60′ (19m). Diving the ledge, we’ll stick to the 50-100ft. These depths are kinda intimidating to most people because well it is DEEP! There is good news though, You don’t have dive ALL THE WAY to the bottom! Chum and flash here and the fish will meet you halfway. I routinely put flashers at 30-50ft. Thankfully the ledge is your “international border” where you will find both reef and pelagic species here. Delicious fish such as Rainbow Runner, Blackfin Baracuda and the prize – Dog Tooth Tuna can be found on the ledge. Good for the plate and the GoPro vids?. This is the depth where you can put enough distance between you and the blind spot of a fish and successfully make “the divebomb” work for you. Big uku will come in on the chum and sometimes dogtooth tuna during the peak of winter when our water is the coldest. Keep an eye on the surface here for the delicious and ever sought after Mahi MAHI! Spearing the ledge has proven to be very effective technique. Here, you may not shoot many fish but you will make up for it in size and variety, which in my honest humble opinion, is what makes a better spearo and a better meal.
Blue water
Already the term BLUE WATER is intimidating. Swim out until you can’t see the bottom and when you can’t see it, swim out a little further. After a solid few years of diving BW here I’ve learned that 90% of the time it will be a fail for spearing fish except during wahoo season (late November – January). Even during wahoo season, putting the shaft into one is still gonna be a challenge. A nice part of blue water hunting is it will be done from the surface to about 20ft of water. My wahoo hunting technique: when you see a wahoo don’t move! Watch the wahoo circle the flashers and as soon as he’s not looking at you, chuck a shiny mackerel from your chum, or launch a throw flasher about 10ft in the direction of the wahoo and let it sink a bit. I’ve seen wahoo that were barely visible and swimming in the opposite direction bust a full on U-turn and come straight in for the shiny mackerel. This will present a distraction for the wahoo and ultimately bring it closer to you. I acquired all of my Wahoo Mahi and billfish this way. I prefer hunting blue water both for the thrill and because the species you will be targeting are usually big migratory fish. These pelagic fish like wahoo and Mahi Mahi are both listed as “least concern” by the UCIN, as are all species described here. That means harvesting these fish one at a time with a spear, doesn’t ecologically impact the species. Great for the table and the conscience. Failing to shoot a fish while spending time in deep blue water is not completely a fail. The blue water is home to whales, sharks, dolphins and other amazing sights that one can see in this vast blue desert, and just seeing any of these (to me) makes the trip worth it already.
The wrap
There’s a shit ton more that I haven’t covered about Spearfishing the Marianas Islands but I think we’ve got the main things down here. Remember it is already an amazing experience just to get into our clear blue water, the fishing is just a bonus. Keep this mindset and you’ll never be disappointed spearfishing in the Marianas Islands. Dive safe!
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