Author Archives: René Potvin

About René Potvin

Started freediving and spearfishing in 1986. I competed for the first time in 1994 at the Connecticut Open. I won the B division with a bunch of togs with Murphy's beat up 90 cm Viper. I later won the North Atlantic Championships in 2003, 2009 and 2010. I participated in the FIPSA Worlds in Cabo Frio in 2006; came in 13th. I also play underwater hockey with CAMO in Montreal and do a lot of underwater photography. In 2006 I started making spearguns. They are known as Renesub Spearguns. The website is renesub.com

Poor man’s dentex

Most days are slow days during winter in Baja. The fishing is difficult, deep and the water is cold. People showing up during the winter are shocked by how challenging it can be. I’ll shoot fish but I have to work for them. Fortunately, there are some fish that stick around. One of them is… Read More »

Fast shooting in Baja

When it comes to Cuberas, you don’t have much time to shoot when they are outside of their holes. It’s a quick draw game. Otherwise you have to follow them to see where they will hole-up and hope it’s not in a maze of boulders with 1000 exits, which is exactly what I was dealing… Read More »

Channel catfish spearfishing! oct 2020

Channel catfish is my new favorite freshwater fish! The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are found in heavy current and most divers and spearfishermen have rarely even seen this type of catfish. It’s called “barbu” in Québec and here is the government chart for the fish : https://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/faune/peche/poissons/barbue.jsp To be honest, it’s barely “spearfishable”. You may… Read More »

45 pound yellowtail

Shot this yellowtail at 23 meters near La Paz. I was fishing with my 130 with two bands and a 7.5 mm tahitian shaft. After landing this fish I started using a slip tip. Given the power of those monsters, I didn’t trust my ability to always get a good shot. It took forever to… Read More »