Spearfishing in Russia

[mvk]

http://www.ee.sunysb.edu/~mvk/v64web.jpg
cat fish, Volga river, Russia

[jeffe]

The stripers ain't half bad either.
I surfed your web site and enjoied seeing some of your nice fish.
I notice that in your Photo you are a pocket pool player.
I have been playing for years myself.
What skill level do you play at ?

[Steel Shootin']

That has to be the ugliest fish on the face of the earth! :D

That thing is giant. What did it weigh? How is the quality of meat on those things?

[fernandezh]

you have to give us the details on that one! Story! story!!


:D

[mvk]

http://www.ee.sunysb.edu/~mvk/som1.jpg
More spearfishing, Catfish, Dniper river, Ukraine,

[BurlyEarl]

If any fish ever needed shootin', those did.

[clavinr]

What kind of fish is that? Holy shit! Was it self-defense or what? Nice shooting!

[frogman]

Looks like a jewfish that didn't go through proper evolution. Scary. That's what nightmares are made of.

[mvk]

Well, stories…
I was surprised that here in US catfish is considered as usually small fish. Everybody says – never saw anything like this. Maybe you guys just don’t do much of freshwater spearing here. In my region (Volga river, central Russia) usual weight range for catfish is 15-30 kg, I personally never met catfish smaller than 5 kg, they grow pretty fast. 30-50 kg is also not a big deal. That one on the first picture was about 50 kg and nobody got much exited or at least did not show that. I did, though. To deal with that beast under water – that was full-size bull fighting, I’d rather say. The problem is – you cannot use a reel – way too many snags in the water, so after you shoot you have to put you hands on the fish rather quickly, no delay. And that damned thing is pretty slippery. With smaller size I usually grab them by the lower jaw – the jaw is very conveniently designed – like a suitcase handle. And you cannot put the hand into the gill, only in the mouth, thanks God they do not have teeth, only a kind of wire-brush. With bigger catfish it is more problematic.
The second picture shows my friend Georgy from Ukraine. By the way, he organizes guided tours for spearfishmen. Everybody’s welcome.
Catfish is very testy. My favorite with beer. With Russian beer I mean, :) - what you drink here in US is :(

[contender]

I am impressed. Shooting in our waters seem easy by comparison !!