Roni Essex
Freediver, Spearo, Creator
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Roni Essex
Freediver, Spearo, Creator
Robert John, aka Bad Boy, is one of our favorite Alchemy Spearfishing Team members, born & bred in Guam.
Here are 5 things you should know about him!
My name is Robert John Koss, I’m a spearfisherman and I’ve been consistently spearfishing for 10 years. I guess I got into spearfishing by watching youtube videos like Young Bloods… I think those were really a big influence on my spearfishing career.
I started off with my cousin who came from a duty station in Hawaii and he basically showed me what I should be doing, what kind of gear I'd be using, and just the right things to do on the reef, how to safely spearfish, and bring home food for the family. It kind of took off from there, I started getting more into it than the average person. I think I was going about three or four times a week at one point and uh then we started signing up for competitions. From there it got really crazy during competitions, we wanted to do things that people weren't really doing. One day my buddy Peter and I swam out into the blue water and we brought some squid with us and we had pretty basic gear and we were trying to shoot crazy big fish. Sure enough, a big wahoo swam up to us and Pete had a beautiful shot on it.
I guess for me the best part of bringing home nice fish, and just doing the whole thing in general, was I feel like it connected me with my family a lot more. It gave them something to be proud of, especially when I brought home nice fish! Starting out spearfishing I think that some of the toughest things you’ll encounter would be finding the right people to go with. People have different perspectives on spearfishing and if you end up with the wrong person you might get into a part of spearfishing that you don't necessarily enjoy. It is very important to talk to the right people and get the right information and & knowledge when you start spearfishing. Very important lessons; never dive alone, always have some kind of safety plan if something does go wrong. If you're on a boat have a trauma kit with you, or some kind of whistle if you're not on a boat, just something you can that'll help you reach for better help when you're out there.
The other day, during a competition, my team shot a hundred-pound marlin, but it got taxed, meaning a shark took a bite out of it. Yes, there are sharks out there! So, the shark took a bite out of it and it weighed in at 94 pounds during the competition. Unfortunately, it was disqualified but the good news is the comp guys were still kind enough to give us an award for that, so we had a good time overall.
While on these spearfishing adventures of mine, I have a creative side to it, I take my GoPro with me - and sometimes my bigger camera - and I just take videos while you're out there. You're going to see some sights that no one else sees, and other people deserve to see that too you know.