Interview with Gunther Pfrengle
Today’s live interview is with Gunther Pfrengle at Adreno Sydney! An absolute legend in the spearing community, spearfishing for almost 5 decades now, he has had more than his fair share of action out in and on the water. From spearing a 282kg tuna on camera to powerboat records going full steam in thick fog, dealing with sharks to competing in the deepest ever spearfishing competition in Greece, Gunther has had a few exciting experiences! Learn what drove him to get into the water and what kept him there for all these years. Pranger vs flopper, dual weight systems, competition spearing stories and tips and so much more. Have a listen and let us know what you think!
Important times:
- 00:13 Intro
- 03:50 Welcome Gunther, your reputation proceeds you!
- 04:50 Growing up in Bundeena
- 05:25 Early start in the water
- 07:30 Starting competition spearfishing 1973 and being in a club
- 11:00 Reality of commercial abalone diving
- 15:00 Scary story and how spearfishing saved 2 lives
- 20:30 Sydney to Hobart powerboat record
- 22:20 Full throttle through thick fog!
- 24:50 Underwater vertigo and blackouts: what is it like going to the edge?
- 26:30 How do you draw the line? When is too deep?
- 28:50 Tragedy strikes and close calls in the early freediving competitions
- 33:20 Freediving vs spearfishing: Adrenaline changes the game
- 40:00 The value of competition diving
- 43:25 Shrek is your partner for his first ever spearfishing competition: what does he need to know?
- 45:13 Using 2 weight-belts: a harness and a weightbelt
- 47:10 Where do you attach a dive knife?
- 49:10 What is your strategy for competition scoring? What do you target first and where do you go first?
- 53:50 Code brown stories
- 55:15 Spearo community and friends: what makes a good dive buddy?
- 56:25 Floats and flags
- 58:35 What is in your gear bag? Pranger vs flopper
- 01:03:50 282kg Bluefin Tuna
- 01:09:20 Bull in the water vs bull on the land!
- 01:12:50 Spearfishing Greece: the deepest competition ever!
- 01:19:30 Shallow hunting
- 01:20:50 How often should you be diving to be a good comp diver?
- 01:21:30 Spearo Q&A
- 01:24:10 What does the spearfishing experience mean to you these days?
- 01:25:15 The shark situation, what are your thoughts?
- 01:30:25 Commercial shark fishing
- 01:32:30 That video scared a lot of spearos, should we keep spearfishing with all these sharks around?
- 01:34:50 Buddy diving with sharks
- 01:37:10 Audience Q&A: What’s your favourite species to target?
- 01:43:00 Fish back in the day vs now
- 01:50:00 12inch prangers
- 01:51:30 Other tips learned from experience
- 01:54:10 Josh Bollen: Do you lose meat with a pranger?
- 01:55:05 Thank you Gunther!
- 01:55:45 Outro
Listen in and subscribe on iOS or Android https://link.chtbl.com/Download_This_Episode
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