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We are now going to describe UW-hunting on the most common fishes, which is also fish of excellent eating quality.

Coastal Cod (Gadus Morhua, in Norwegian: Torsk)

This brown red fish can be up to 50 kg , but it's rarely to see them bigger than 25 kg . The coastal cod is operation much of the time near bottom and kelp forests, where it eats small fish and crabs. It also goes pelagic under the big fish schools, where it feed on smaller fish.

The coastal cod is best to surprise from above where it has a "blind zone". We drift down on them with out a noise and aim at head/neck region. Most of the coastal cods we spear are between 2- 15 kg.

This fish is highly appreciated for eating. It has white and solid meat. It is used among other things in the Italian Bacalo.

Pollack (Pollachius pollachius, in Norwegian: Lyr)

The pollack belongs to the same family as the coastal cod, but is more stretched and pale. It has under bite and operates mostly pelagic. The pollack hunt small fish and is a smart hunter. 

When approaching the pollack, it often becomes sceptical and starts to move away from the hunter. If you then raise your speed it will soon be out of reach. But since the pollack is curios it can be smart to stop dead and the fish will often do the same, often it is likely to turn around wondering where you went. 

This fish is a quick and strong fish and it's important to get a god hit with the spear gun arrow. The fishes we meet are mostly between 2- 10 kg . The fish seldom grow larger then 12 kg and 120 cm long. It's an excellent fish to eat, and it's mostly fried. 

Wolf fish (Anarhicas lupus, in Norwegian: Steinbit)

This fish is highly rewarded because of its meat. It lives purely on shellfish and sea urchins. The wolf fish can reach a weight up to 25 kg and has enormously strong jaws and can easily crush your fingers if you handle it clumsy. We mostly meet species between 3- 10 kg . It is not afraid of the hunter what so ever so it's easy to approach it. 



 

Anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius, in Norwegian: Breiflabb)
As the wolf fish the anglefish also is a bottom fish and has very attractive meat. It's expensive to eat at restaurants in Norway.

It mostly lies with excellent camouflage on the bottom, waiting for small fish to pass close by. The fin in front function as fishing rod, which in the end has a small piece of skin it use to attract its prey. When it opens its enormous moth the prey is sucked in by the back sweep of the water. The main body is only 1/3 of the body length. The fish can reach a weight over 70 kg , and large specimen of the species can also be met in relatively shallow water. We mostly meet the cat fish while searching for shells on sand bottom. 



Plaice (Pleuronectus platessa, in Norwegian: Rødspette)

The plaice is one of the most common bottom fish in Norway . Beautiful white meat, the best quality is from the summer to the winter. The can be rather slink in the spring after spawning and the meat quality can be poor. 

We usually catch them when they are 1- 4 kg . They are easy to approach, but can be very good camouflaged against the sandy bottom. 





Turbot (Scopinalmus maxima, in Norwegian: Piggvar)

This flat fish can grow as large as 25 kg , is beautiful for eating, and our "teeth runs in water" when we see them.The fish is often much camouflaged, but when you first have spotted one you can be sure of the catch. 







Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus, in Norwegian: Kveite)

A spear fishers dream! So far there is not many registered catches of this flat fish that can grow up to 300 kg and reach 3 meters in length! The art have declined the last 40 years, but there is expected a raise in numbers in the future. When we meet specimens under 5 kilo we leave them alone, so that they have a chance to grow and reproduce. We seldom meet this fish, which can also hunt pelagic on the large schools of coalfish (nor: pale) and herring (sild). 

There is also a lot of other fish species which we hunt, like ballan wrasse (nor: berggylte) , thornback ray (piggskate), herring (sild), mackerel (makrell), eel (ål), a lot of flat fish varieties, and so forth.

Hunting conditions
The best places for hunting are without doubt the current straits. The tide brings along bait for the fish, and in the fish gathers to swallow what pass their mouth. In some of these straits the current can reach a speed off 6 knots, and it's important to use the current in a strategic way. The hunting is often done close to shore where the water stands still or moves the opposite way of the main current. Experienced underwater hunters hunts down to 20 meters depth, but a lot of the catch is done in 6- 12 meters
Source: Frivannsliv.no