Interview with James Sakker
Today’s episode is with James Sakker, aka Sakker J – The best telemarketer you didn’t know of! Absolutely mad about spearfishing, we chat about hunting Snapper, Dhufish, big Abalone, some interesting tips for using crayfish to call fish, hunting in cold dirty water and dealing with sharks! James is well travelled and has speared in many places all over the world, he recounts his time in the USA and in Mexico going from cold dirty Great White infested waters to warm, clear water with huge fish around. James has also submitted a bunch of recipes to 99 Spearo Recipes so keep an eye out for his recipes when it comes out! There is also a great discussion on dealing with sharks and his experiences with different species in different parts of the world. He also wears a tourniquet and has a great Youtube channel!
You can support us and secure yourself a copy by supporting our 99 Spearo Recipes Kickstarter campaign!
Important times:
- 00:13 Intro
- 05:27 Welcome James!
- 06:15 There were some cool magazines out when I started spearfishing like ISFN and SDM
- 07:36 Shoutout to some real legends
- 10:22 99 Spearo Recipes
- 11:18 Where did your love for spearfishing start?
- 13:00 A freerange child
- 15:22 Political changes and people making laws on a computer
- 17:48 Stand out memories from when you started spearfishing
- 23:00 What is your fishery like? Dhue Fish life cycle
- 25:23 Lobsters: Eastern vs Southern
- 27:40 Best eating: East, west or south?
- 29:24 Fish and Cray mounts
- 30:17 Snapper is a special fish that I’ve put 100’s of dives in to get a 10kg+ and the first Snapper I shot
- 34:42 People who don’t spear or fish don’t see these rare and amazing sights
- 35:55 Finding spots and hunting tips
- 38:25 Learning to hunt in the water and learning the seasons and times of day
- 42:56 Time spent in the water and hunting snapper tips
- 46:37 How did you learn to use lobster as bait?
- 50:58 Hot smoking Mackerel recipe
- 53:15 Spearo marine scientists
- 57:42 Tourniquets and TacMed – I got bitten by a shark
- 01:03:17 Big abalone in the USA
- 01:06:35 Ling Cod
- 01:08:03 What’s Oregon like?
- 01:09:29 Mexico has some incredible diving and one of my best diving days
- 01:13:45 Gulf of Mexico vs the Sea of Cortez: Cold vs Warm water and prospecting wild islands
- 01:17:34 Palapas Ventana trip and going to the USA
- 01:20:11 What’s the Gulf of Mexico like?
- 01:22:02 New Zealand and scary sharks
- 01:24:03 The only shark I’ve ever had to shoot
- 01:28:21 Bronze Whalers vs Dusky Whalers
- 01:29:42 Have you learned how to deal with sharks over your years? Charging Great Whites
- 01:34:04 Great Whites
- 01:35:02 Killer Whales / Orca’s
- 01:36:05 Spearfishing puts you back into the food chain
- 01:38:16 Diving in big seas and slippery rocks
- 01:42:28 Loaded guns out of the water
- 01:43:58 Barracuda
- 01:48:19 What’s in your dive bag? Immersion wetsuit, DiveR fins, Edge speargun, Ronstan float, Omer mask
- 01:53:40 Spearo Q&A
- Best piece of advice: slow down
- If you could start over: nothing would change
- What struggles do you have? Ears and sharks
- What’s something unique that you do? Do lots of prospecting and navigating using landmarks
- Spearfishing experience in 1 sentence
- 01:56:59 Outro
James after being bitten by a shark!
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Important Links
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