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Community Spotlight: Spearofjords
Army Sergeant To Spearo
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Hey there, spearos. This is The Stone Shot, your weekly dose of spear content (and maybe some fishing, but we try to keep it below the water line)
It’s the 3rd Thursday of the month! That means it’s time for our monthly Community Spotlight. Here’s what we have for you today:
Community Spotlight: Eivind Larsen
Life 180: Army Sergeant to spearo
The Mile Long Battle: First ever halibut
4 Questions: With Eivind
Community Spotlight
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Eivind Larsen
5 years ago Eivind (aka spearofjords) didn’t even know spearfishing was a thing. Why would he? He grew up above the Arctic Circle in a place called Tromsø, Norway.
To put it in perspective, Tromsø is significantly closer to the North Pole than to the equator. It’s about 1,200 miles from the North Pole and 4,800 miles from the equator…Not the tropical spearfishing we all dream about.
So what happened? In the last 5 years, how did Eivind become obsessed with spearfishing, gain a following of 400K across socials and spearfish the Great Barrier Reef for a year?
Army Sergeant To Spearo
“In 2019, I decided to quit my job as a Sergeant In the Norwegian army and travel for 6-7 months. Halfway through the trip I met a local boy on a beach in the San Blas Islands of Panama. I remember watching him swim around with a speargun and after 10 minutes he came up with a huge barracuda. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. 30 minutes later, I had already bought gear that waited for me when I got back home to Norway.
My first dive ever was the same day as I returned from my trip, the 23rd of December 2019. It was 2 degrees in the sea and a cold experience but I was instantly hooked. I knew that this is what I'm gonna do the rest of my life.”
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Your Favorite Spearfishing Story
Dragged A Mile To Sea
I asked Eivind his favorite spearfishing story and he gave a banger.
“I think a have to choose my first ever halibut.
After a lot of unsuccessful halibut-hunts I was really, really keen to land my first one. I went on a solo shore dive in a pretty strong current a couple of hours from Tromsø. When I jumped in, the current was a bit stronger than expected (around 2-3m/s). After some time I decided to swim out of the strong current and give up. Just as I was swimming out of the current, I saw a black barn door just 3 m underneath me.
The current was too strong for me to stay above it so I took a quick duck dive, and tried to swim closer to take the shot. I swam as hard as I could, but I just got further and further away from it. I was about 6m away from it when I thought this is my last chance. So, I took a blind long shot and I was 100% sure I missed. I went to the surface and screamed of frustration. When I tried to bring the shaft back to reload I felt that it was stuck, and i got even more angry since I thought I had to cut the line since the current was too strong. In frustration I yanked the line and suddenly the line yanked back.
I have never felt such a power before in my life. It emptied 50m of line on the reel gun in 5 seconds and all I could do was to hang on. It dragged me for 2 km before I finally could get It close enough to brain it. When putting the knife in its head I clearly didn't hit the brain and it went on another run with my knife in its head. When I got It up the second time the knife was gone and I was 2km from shore with the halibut underneath me.
After struggling for a while I managed to hold the halibut close underneath me while I swam to shore. The halibut continued to swim and with a bit of steering from my part It swam us both back to shore, where I found a small boulder to unalive it.
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4 Questions W/ Eivind Larsen
Advice for new spearos?
I agree with Daniel Mann, Dive everywhere! My most memorable dives had been when I wasn't really that keen to get in. Take every opportunity you get. The best way to learn is to dive with people more experienced than you.
What’s your favorite species to target?
100% Atlantic Halibut. Just because of the pure dedication needed to find these barn doors. The feeling you get when you finally spot a giant after hours and hours of endless searching. It also helps that they are absolutely amazing eating.
Where’s your favorite place to spearfish?
It's hard to decide! But I think I have to go with great barrier reef, Australia. I lived one year in Townsville, Queensland just to spear as much as humanly possible. The biodiversity and the amount of different, tasty fish species - is was absolutely incredible. Dreaming of going back every single day!
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How has spearfishing impacted your life?
Spearfishing has become my life. It's all I think about. Im starting up as a guide this autumn to take people out hunting halibuts in Norway, so hopefully I can start to spearfish full-time and make a living doing what I love the most.
Links:
That’s it for us! We’ll see you back here in two weeks.
PS - Who do you want to see us interview next? Let us know and we’ll
Any stories of your own that you'd be willing to tell? Respond to this email and we’ll send over a short questionnaire!
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