Freediver Spears waits for Pompano record during tournament in Florida

It was mid-day on May 18 when Troy von Blankenburg and his two spearfishing friends went over the side of their 25-foot SeaVee boat, the VonZan Deep. They were freediving and looking for large saltwater fish on an artificial reef about 50 miles west of Tampa, Florida.

The pressure was also on as Blankenburg, Jared DeBlecourt and Josh McCann competed in the 40 that day^e annual Crosthwait Memorial fishing tournament from Brandenton. The three divers competed with several other spearfishing teams and were on the hunt for the largest reef fish they could find. The number of points they could earn depended on the species and weight of the fish tournament rules.

They had already had a great morning, shooting down a pair of huge Amberjacks pushing 70 pounds. They went to another location that afternoon to look for other species, and they were freediving in 160 feet of water when McCann shot a huge African pompano that weighed about 37 pounds. It was then that Von Blankenburg spotted an even larger pompano, about 100 feet below the surface.

“Its 30 cm wide head was only 15 meters from me,” says Von Blankenburg Living outside. “I waved so he would see me and come investigate – they are [typically] very curious. He swam a little closer and I speared him behind the head, near the pectoral fin.”

The fish fought fiercely as Von Blankenburg rose to the surface. He used a spear with a built-in reel, like those used in bowfishing, and this allowed the fish to break free from the line as they swam in different directions. When he surfaced, he began handling the pompano, while remaining alert for other predators in the water. (He says that earlier in the day a 6- to 8-foot bull shark took one of their fish while it was still speared.)

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“There were a lot of 200-pound bull and sandbar sharks circling around while we were in the water,” said Von Blankenburg, who lives in St. Petersburg. “But my biggest concern was a pair of 350-pound goliath grouper that followed my shot pompano all the way to the surface when I reeled it in. They wanted to eat it, but luckily they didn’t pull the pompano off my spear. ”

With the enormous African pompano in hand, Von Blankenburg put it in the boat and then went diving again with his teammates. They finally went in around sunset and were back at the dock by 8 p.m

It was too late at that point to weigh the fish on a tournament scale, so the trio put their fish on ice and weighed them the next day. In total, their catch of six fish, two amberjacks, two African pompano, a permit and a cobia, weighed about 300 pounds.

“It was good enough to win the first prize of $2,500 for a spearfishing team at the event,” says Von Blankenburg.

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His African pompano weighed 55.4 pounds, which is almost five pounds heavier than the current record in Florida. But von Blankenburg says it’s not the largest African pompano ever caught by a spearfisherman. That record is still owned by Valente Qunitero Baena, who speared a 64.7-pound pompano off the coast of Mexico in 2016.

Instead of mounting the upcoming record pompano, von Blankenburg is considering having an ink print of the whole fish made in Japanese gyotaku style.

“That big one would look pretty cool inked.”