Meet the hot spearfishing huntress who is sending the internet into overdrive with bad-ass bikini pics

THE web has gone totally bonkers for a spearfishing bikini babe. And the bad-ass French Canadian former hedge fund worker may be coming to Australia.

THE internet has gone totally googly-eyed for a brunette beauty who knows her way around a speargun and swims with sharks.

Valentine Thomas, 28, has fast-become a social media star for being the ‘hot spearfishing huntress’, a reputation that has also earned her unfair abuse from sexists and anti-hunting advocates.

But Thomas — a former hedge fund worker — is certainly no pushover and she wants the world to know she is more than just a 50kg ocean goddess.

Thomas told News Corp Australia the attention was “flattering” but was “focusing on the wrong aspect of what I’m trying to do.”

She said being a girl in a male-dominated sport was a double-edged sword.

“Finance was a lot like that too. I was kind of hoping that the fishing world was more open minded,” she said.

So the talented diver continues to prove time and again her kick-ass skills, including nabbing a world record two years ago for catching a massive Atlantic Jack.

The doe-eyed French Canadian said she last week put her career in finance on ice, ditching London to pursue her passion for spearfishing in the world’s spectacular spots.

She is currently exploring the waters in southern Africa.

And to the web’s delight, she documents her adventures to her 28,000 Instagram followers.

Thomas said she first got into the sport about four years ago and was instantly hooked on the thrills and the profound connection she was forging with the deep blue.

“I love cooking, I love nature and I love adventures, it was a perfect match for me,” she said.

But the bikini babe has also been subjected to unwarranted misogyny, with one of her Instagram images featuring on a crass account named “Spear Sluts”.

She has also copped slander from anti-hunting activists and vegans who label her a cruel killer.

“Most people eat meat and fish every day and by doing so they are most of the time encouraging the mistreating of animals,” Thomas said.

“So to point a finger at hunters, is really turning the blind eye on what you are really putting on your plate.

“Net fishing or rod fishing is what can really cause damage, while spearfishing is one of the rare types of food sourcing that do not create any collateral damage by only hunting individual prey.”

Thomas stressed that she considered herself a sustainable-eating advocate, and she hoped to use her new-found fame to raise awareness for responsible consumption.

“(Spearfishing) is really about getting your own food and by doing so, giving it a great respect,” she said.

“Wanting to hunt your own food doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you a realistic one.”

“It is not because when you buy your piece of fish, it was blood free at this stage, that it always was.”

Thomas said it took a great love of the ocean, dedication to training and enough cash to afford the costly equipment to get started.

And she’s had a number of close shaves getting caught in rough currents.

Sharks are also a problem.

“The hardest is not to panic,” she said, explaining she had a traumatic undersea experience as a teenager which had been hard for her to overcome.

And good news to the Aussies — she’d love to dabble in some spearfishing Down Under.

“(Australians) are quite similar to Canadians and I can only imagine having an amazing time,” Thomas said, before sheepishly adding: “I must admit though that great whites are not a species on my bucket to be nose to nose with.”

Originally published as Meet the hot spearfishing huntress who is sending the internet into overdrive with bad-ass bikini pics