Man Jumps Off Pier and Spears 50-pound Yellowtail

For this week, instead of talking about my most recent fishing experiences, I came across something much more interesting! A local fisherman best described as a “Multi-Species Angler” by the name of Brandon Dawson, accomplished something few will ever get the chance to even attempt. If you want to check out some of his other recent catches give him a follow on Instagram. He fishes hook and line and often goes spearfishing too. I thought one of his most recent stories was worth the share. So here it is from his eyes!

The Story

“I was fishing the pier and the water was super clear and there was bait around but no bites anywhere. So, I told my friends I was going to go down and get some lobster. I went to my car, grabbed my gear and suited up. I was diving along the pier going towards the end when I grabbed a nice size legal lobster. So, then I go the to the end to yell at my friends to lower a bucket down so I can put the lobster in it. I call their names for about a minute and nobody comes. In my head I’m like, “what’s going on?”. Little did I know they were casting baits at a Yellowtail for the past 20 minutes and apparently it ate one of their baits but spit it before they could get a solid hook-set.

Then, I guess the Yellowtail swam under the pier and my friend finally yells out, “Yellowtail!” He points at it about 40 ft away from me and says, “its swimming towards you!” I’m like, “uh oh here we go”. So, I kind of keep holding onto the lobster in my right (dominant) hand and and shuffle the gun into my left hand. Then I start to see the shape swimming towards me and it turns to its left. I’m finally holding the gun right and it shows me it’s whole side. I hear my friend yell “Shoot it!” So I dive down slowly about two feet and it starts turning away and I tell myself, “it’s now or never” and I pull the trigger. I hold on tight but don’t feel anything for 2 seconds or so.

Did We Get It?

Then, my line goes straight down! I could feel it swimming in death circles. I come up and yell “I got em’!” Then I yell at my friends to grab the gaff and bucket. One of them eventually comes over and lowers the gaff as I finally have to release the lobster (sadly). I pull the Yellowtail in slow and steady and find one of the floppers is sticking out which means the spear was about an inch away from coming out. I grab it’s mouth and it violently shakes its head as I shove the shaft back through it’s body. It goes nuts but somehow I’m able to keep my grip and I swim it to the gaff. We gaff it through the bottom lip and my friend (after all the action has passed) finally decides to take video as we pull it up slowly. He flips it up and over and we’ve got it! “Yeeeeeaaaaaaahhhh!!!”

So what do I do afterwards?… I go look for another one haha! I have my friend drop my spear down and I go look for the lobster I had. Couldn’t find it but I found a different one. Then I wandered around for an hour looking for another Yellowtail and after some time, I give up and head up to the pier as I see a massive Yellowtail hanging on the rail. At first, I didn’t think it was mine. I thought the one I got was maybe 30 lbs. It was 5 planks 58″. The weight fluctuated from 50 lbs 6 oz – 51 lbs 5 oz. I took some pictures with it and filleted it up. Woke up the next day and thought it was a dream. Then. I told myself “I speared a 50 lb yellowtail and just laughed at how crazy it all was.”

A dream come true.

I think it could have been a lot bigger before it spawned out and had a full stomach. It had nothing in its stomach. But it’s good that it spread it’s big home-guard genes before it was harvested.”

For more pictures check out Brandon Dawson at his Instagram page @cyborgstarfish.

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