Roni Essex
Freediver, Spearo, Creator
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Roni Essex
Freediver, Spearo, Creator
French Polynesia is a place of tremendous beauty. It is also the home of the new member of our spearfishing team, Nicolas Tahimanarii. Nicolas was born in 1996 in Raiatea and spend his childhood surrounded by the ocean. He became addicted to spearfishing because of his father and soon started landing trophy fish such as tuna, sailfish & marlin. He currently makes his living at sea, being a professional spearo and guide. Here are 3 things you should know about him!
I’ll say both, because reef hunting is more technical - you really have to push your limits. You have to work the fish, hiding or throwing sand or even making noises to attract them, depending on which fish you hunt. Bluewater is a whole different world. You are in the middle of the blue, with that constant awareness and adrenaline mixed with anxiety. You never know what’s gonna come to you, until you see it. Both are important for a spearo.
About a month ago i landed a trophy marlin. During that day, I almost gave up waiting for the hook up, it was a really long day. We started dragging lures at 6 am and spent half the day waiting for a hook up. I almost fell asleep on my chair, all geared up, under the heat of the sun, it was exhausting. At 2pm, we were on our way back and there was a hook up! The marlin started to charge the lure for the first time. Everyone woke up yelling marlin! We recognized the power of the strike, when the reel started to scream, so my brada Mahei told me to get ready to jump. We waited for the second touch so that we are sure the marlin is still behind. At the second touch the adrenaline kicked in, all I heard is jump ! So I jumped out, took a quick breath and dived to 1m. The action was pretty quick and in this kind of moment you don’t wanna miss the shot, so I went for the spine. It came really fast as it was chasing the lure. I waited for it to turn and then took the shot. As I saw it swimming after the shot, I knew i had penetrated its spine. After an 8 minute fight, I finally managed to bring it up and placed a lethal shot behind the eye. It’s funny because once the fish is on the boat, you keep looking at it like "is this for real"? What a day!
I chose the Alchemy S30 because when you are a professional spearo, you have to work with the best. Regarding my gun (Bleu Tec Raptor 115), i use it because it’s a polyvalent gun I can use when reef hunting or during bluewater spearfishing, depending on the fish, this gun is ideal for multiple uses.