5 Netflix Docos for Spearos (+ 2 that should be!)

Here are 7 films/episodes recommend by guest-writer Isaac Daly aka Shrek (aka Noob Spearo) for people who love spearfishing.

Stars in the Sky

“Everybody has their own thing. You like to do croquet and paint your house, I like to go hunting.”

This documentary follows a group of hunters as they grapple with the complexities, controversies, and contradictions of pursuing animals in the wild. While it’s not spearfishing, it’s very much inline with the spearfishing lifestyle. Preparing yourself, entering the wild, studying and observing the natural world, selecting your prey, getting close, pulling the trigger, processing the animal and preparing it for friends and family. Stars in the Sky is arguably the ideal film for spearos!

Available on Netflix

Seaspiracy

On one side Seaspiracy is a super slick documentary that points out many of the threats and pressures our oceans and fisheries face. On the other hand, Seaspiracy is an emotionally charged piece of propaganda that charges ALL fishers with malevolence. Seaspiracy is 100% anti-fishing. Whether you go out and selectively take a few fish from a very well managed fishery or you are an artisanal fisher in Indonesia catching fish to survive, Seaspiracy doesn't approve. You might be thinking ‘why the hell are you recommending it then?’ As a person who puts on a wetsuit, you are a spearo and need to understand the tactics that the anti-fishing faction brings to bear against us. You might also like to listen to spearos talk about Seaspiracy on the Noob Spearo Podcast here.

Available on Netflix

Last Breath

Work in one of the most dangerous environments in the world, the bottom of the North Sea! A commercial diver is stranded on the seabed with 5 minutes of oxygen, but no chance of rescue for more than 30 minutes. If you love the underwater world, it's likely you have pondered working in the brine yourself. Last Breath is intense but carries the humour and character of the people who do this high risk work. This is the true story of one man’s impossible fight for survival.

“Ultimately, the film is a stirring tribute to a band of unpretentiously likeable, yet highly skilled individuals, bonded together in their own ways, and looking out for each other whatever the danger.” - Paddy

 Available on Netflix

My Octopus Teacher

A beautifully crafted documentary following the story of one man and an octopus. Filmed in the waters around Capetown, South Africa, the kelp forest and temperate waters provide a visual feast to the narrator's well delivered story. The film is highly anthropomorphic (attempts to give the Octopus human-like characteristics in order for us to not want to eat them - think Bambi) but in all honesty, it failed to make me want to eat them any less. That might sound callous but despite connecting with and enjoying learning about the life cycle, breeding and feeding habits of the Octopus, I still want to cook them over hot coals @hazfos style and feed my family. Once you have seen My Octopus Teacher, check out ‘My Kreepy Teacher’ here - bloody hilarious!

 Available on Netflix

Meat Eater (the series)

Steve Rinella and crew are honest, thoughtful, funny and insightful people that explore and hunt above and below the water. They started filming Season 1 in 2012 and 9 years later they are in season 9 and still going strong. Here are a few episodes to whet your Meat Eater appetite and check the series out.

• Season 1. Episode 1 is 100% spearfishing. Steven Rinella and Janis Putelis head to California for a spearfishing trip with expert skin divers Greg Fonts and Alex Reynaud.
• Season 3. "First Timers: Montana Mule Deer Pt. 2". Joe Rogan and Bryan Callen join Steve on a Mule Deer hunt.
• Season 4. “Sea Bear: Alaska Spring Bear and Seafood". Steve gathers a variety of prime seafood and makes a discovery about his own motivations as a bear hunter.
• Season 7. "Prince of Wales: Sitka Blacktail Deer Part 1". Steve hunts Sitka blacktails on Prince of Wales Island with his friends Ryan and Mark but ends up with a dinner of fried sea cucumbers.

Available on Netflix

A Journey Beneath

A long time ago in a small coastal town called Port Macquarie, Australia, two great mates began a lifelong friendship through spearfishing.

Join them on a spearfishing journey around the world and witness some of the most unbelievable spearfishing destinations. California, Coral Sea, New Caledonia, Mexico, Panama, Indonesia and more.

On these travels, friendships are made, trust grows after a near fatal spearfishing accident and amazing fish are encountered.

Narrated by Shrek from the Noob Spearo Podcast with a really well composed soundtrack, this is the coolest spearing film of 2021!

Watch via Vimeo

Agua Negra

A Spearfishing Adventure across Cape Verde. After losing a close friend while freediving, David commences on a journey into the unknown. What starts as a search for the roots of spearfishing soon turns into a life changing adventure.

“This is not your typical spearfishing movie, this is about a very special story and, for us, that is something we believe is a whole lot stronger.

'Agua Negra' came from the heart and mind of two best friends that decided to change things a bit, both in and out of the water. Two friends that decided to go somewhere they've never been before and take a camera along for the ride.To go back to the roots of spearfishing, to go somewhere they didn't know if it had fish or not.To quote a friend “it is not about what you have caught, but what you could catch!” right? '

Agua Negra' is an idea nothing more nothing less. It's not here to aim to please everyone or to try to be accessible to all and it isn't here to be a cliché about keeping it real. We are not here to draw lines in sand; it's not about who's the best, or who has caught the most fish, or who dives the deepest… We couldn't care less about any of those things.

We're not here to argue about trivialities, life is too short for that.” - David Ochoa

 Watch via Vimeo

What did I miss?

• Shrek

Isaac Daly aka Shrek is the Author of 99 Tips to Get Better at Spearfishing and the Host of the Noob Spearo Podcast - interviews with spearfishing experts, authorities and characters from around the world.