iStockphoto / FtLaudGirl
Spearfishing can be a grueling test of a sportsman’s skills anytime but particularly when they’re going after pelagic gamefish like yellowfin tuna. Pushing a spearfisherman’s lungs to the limits as they dive deep then hold on for dear life as the massive fish takes off following the shot, only to be aided by buoys sent to the surface to help battle the fish, and all of this is typically happening deep at sea in several hundred feet of water.
But then sometimes, the fishing gods just throw you a bone.
That appears to be exactly what happened in this clip below which has been going viral across social media. It shows a spearfishing in Indonesia literally standing on the dog and cold cocking a large tuna from just a few feet away as a crowd was assembled on the dock to watch. It’s unclear if it is a yellowfin tuna or dogtooth tuna but the caption says yellowfin so we will go with that:
With that much meat on the fish, every single person in this video was able to eat a handful of meals. That’s a fish that can feed a village for a day or two so don’t think this was cruel or that the fish was wasted. It definitely went to feed multiple people for multiple days.
As for why that massive yellowfin tuna was within spearfishing territory right off the dock, it’s unclear. It is possible the fish got lost and this dock/island is close to deep water. It is not unheard of to see pelagic fish getting lost in the shallows when there is a deep drop-off nearby. This clip reminded me of this swordfish in 6ft of water in The Bahamas (looks like a blue marlin, kind of) a few years ago:
I’ve also seen clips of sailfish getting lost between Miami and Islamorada and winding up in the shallows of Biscane Bay. There is just no way of knowing for sure what brings these pelagic fish into the shallows.