Dirty water

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on May 30, 2010 at 2:20 pm {no comments}

cal-grouper-001 Well the visibility has been terrible even though there is almost no winds. There has been a strong southbound current covering everything south and west of Key West. Vis has been less the 15 feet at some spots, less the 25 at others. Not really that fun to dive in once you have become used to clear water. squid-003 Went out earlier in the week with Cal and Luis and didn’t really catch much. Cal put on a tank and shot a grouper and a mutton, Lou and I shot a couple small fish but nothing to brag about. We drove around all over from the Sambos to Western Dry Rocks and the vis was terrible everywhere.

Then yesterday I went out with Jason, Andy and one of Andy’s friends from the fire department. We went east and found some clear water. We did OK on fish, I got a black grouper and a mutton. Everyone else got red groupers and muttons. It was ok, maybe 35 feet of vis. I also shot a large squid. Which I was pretty excited about. Andy’s friend shot all his fish with a Hawaiian sling. We also found some clear water in really shallow and inshore. Like 20 foot of vis in 10-15 feet of water. We picked up some hogs in the shallows and called it a day.

The mutton spawn is happening right now and we were hoping to dive it, but with less the 20 foot of vis deep diving hasn’t been that appealing. The bad visibility extended out to at least 240 feet of water and probably much further.

Evil Week – slow fishing

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on May 22, 2010 at 3:17 pm {no comments}

evil-week-end-058 Well finally the winds died back down and I was able to go out on the water. Catherine, Luis and I went out the past couple days.  Catherine finally had a day off when the wind wasn’t howling so she was able to come too. The first day we went out in front of Key West and I had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong. Gear malfunctions, backup gear malfunctioning, stormy weather, dirty water, too many other boats, problems equalizing, everything seem to be off. We still had a pretty good day though, Luis shot a 14# mutton. I dove some new spots which is always good. We had to be in early to get Cat to work.

One thing I thought was interesting is we went to dive a real public wreck and just as we got there a scuba boat got there. I was able to do two quick dives before the scuba divers got down to it. When I first dove there were permit, bar jacks, big schools of yellowtail all over it. As soon as the scuba tanks hit the water the place turned into a ghost town. It’s amazing how much the bubbles repel the fish.

evil-week-end-168 The next day we went out, I resolved all my gear issues, and headed west so no issues with crowds but really could not find fish. We  picked up some little snapper, and Luis shot a big cero mackerel. I shot a little permit, I usually skip on the permit but it was a slow day so he got it. Vis was less then 30 feet and green, in the shallows the 18-20 knot winds kept us from going deep. We worked a whole bunch of areas which normally are pretty good and they were empty. The most telling sign was the lack of yellowtails. I think yellowtails might be spawning now, so they have moved, but I am not sure.

I had a good day even if the fishing was slow.  Catherine was able to practice diving, and I got all my gear kinks out. I have had some really excellent catches the past month or so, not every day can be awesome.

Visitor from NJ and First Wahoo

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on May 7, 2010 at 12:37 pm {one comment}

wahoo-1-012 Our friend Albie was visiting this week from NJ and we went out for a half day and then a full day. The first day we went out in the afternoon, the wind was blowing like crazy but it was supposed to die down, Catherine made the mistake of coming with us. The winds did not die for awhile and the seas where rough but the visibility was good so it was ok. Albie and Luis went with me along with Catherine and me. Due to the high winds we just went out in front of Key West. As expected the ledges that were filled with grouper last week where barren. It took a little bit of looking around before we found some fish, and then it was on. Albie shot a nice mutton and Lou picked up a black. I shot some big mangroves. I messed up the sear on my railgun gun and the line release has been giving me issues, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t want to. After we that spot we hit one of the public wrecks but the current was too much. There was a scuba boat about to drop on it, I tried getting down to the deck but swimming in current ate up all my time, and I gave up. There was a ton of permit mating over top the wreck and some spade fish under them. It was fun to see the fish but after a minute we were out of there.

We hit another spot that was dead, then on to another. I missed a really nice cobia that was sleeping on the bottom. I don’t know how I missed him I was right down on him. Albie got a triggerfish and Lou got a couple more large mangrove snapper. I shot a black grouper, not a big one. I also shot him in the tail so albie had to put a safety shot in him. The only thing that was kind of noteworthy about the fish, is the amount of current I had to swim against to get him. He wasn’t super deep or anything, 60 feet down but man the current was ripping, I was kind of amazed I was able to do it, honestly. After that we checked the vandenburg and there was nothing visible on it. Some small amberjacks, and the usual school of cudas. After that we headed in.

first-wahoo The next day we got on Andy and Jason’s boat and went out. Catherine had to work so it was Albie, Luis and I along with Andy and Jason. We headed out west and ended up out past Marquesas Rock. We hit a lot of big ledges in that vicinity and didn’t get a lot of fish. The big black grouper that were there  before had all disappeared. In their place there were a few commercial spearfishing boats, I don’t see commercial boats diving very often, and this was the first time I saw 3 in one day. I kind of think a lot of the big, well known ledges out there where the first spots that where cleaned out. Maybe it was just the warmer water, who knows. We got some nice fish, a black grouper here, a red grouper there, keys sized hogs and small muttons but nothing major. I shot a big mangrove it might have beat the last big one I got but didn’t have a scale. Maybe I should get a new scale.

We drifted for awhile trying to find where I saw the lane snappers were spawning, and the huge hog fish from the other day but couldn’t find it. I am going to go back and put more time in looking for it on my boat. The next spot we hit was covered with fish.  Albie shot a black, then Jason shot a black, I missed a black – they were all over. After the first drift we shot some ajs and barracuda and chopped them up for chum. We anchored up current from where the fish were and just start chopping up mass fish and chumming like crazy. Behind the boat became a feeding frenzy, 2 big lemon sharks and 5 reef sharks were zipping around fighting over pieces of fish on the bottom. A huge jewfish came out and tried to push up on the sharks. Yellow jacks and Amber jacks swimming around all over. It was great, in time red groupers and some short blacks showed up. We were having a blast watching the sharks and shooting fish. Then  I turned around and 4-5 huge fish were swimming up to me. For a second my brain didn’t recognize what they were, not king fish or barracuda. I yelled “wahoo” in case there was anyone else in their path, and shot the one the closest to me. I broke his spine and he was done. First wahoo and a pretty good sized one at that.

Next we checked jewfish rock and there was one black on it but he got away. There was bunch of Ajs and big cero mackerel circling it but I wasn’t really hungry for smoked fish so I passed.

I finally got a new mask that works, a couple weeks ago someone who will remain nameless threw my cressi occhio over board. I was able to try three replacement masks, the spetton(looks the same as the omer bandit) and the mares liquid skin, both fit me terrible. I also used an atomic frameless for a bit, that mask fit great but was too high volume for diving past 40-45 feet in my opinion, it would take way too much to clear the mask and it would suck my eyes out. I was about to order a new cressi but I tried Catherine’s omer aries 39. Wow, that mask fits great and it has the bigger lens like the cressi occhio. It’s a breeze to clear the mask and it seems to never leak, once in awhile my cressi ochio would leak, usually when I was 60 or more feet down. It’s a bad time to leak, it ruins the whole dive, so perhaps I am fortunate the occhio was lost.

First Day of Grouper Season

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on May 3, 2010 at 11:48 am {2 comments}

29089_393797187161_815942161_3955120_8295129_n Went out Saturday for the opening of grouper season. The forecast was calling for southeast winds over 20 knots all day so I caught a ride on Captain Brad’s charter boat http://www.offtherockcharters.com/ . We headed west.  That big boat was plowing through the rough seas like it was nothing.

First stop was on the reef not too far out.  We passed on a few barely legal grouper. I used the dead time to get myself dialed back in with my rabitech. My new wood custom gun just doesn’t have quite enough range for these days with 60-80 foot vis. My rabitech reaches out another extra 6-7 feet and it doesn’t seem like it would make much of a difference but it does. I have found that it took me about 10 shots to get my aim back with my rabitech. Weird how my brain learns how to aim with one gun and the I have difficulty aiming another gun even though there is no conscious change made.

That first ledge didn’t really produce so off we went further west. The next rock we  jumped in on we anchored on. I usually hate anchoring and swimming if there is any more then the lightest currents, but everyone else didn’t seem to mind so I just went with it. I actually think Corey actually perfers swimming against the current, it seems like he finds current and is like “awesome, let me swim against this!”. Anyways I hung around in the chum slick with Nate popping mangroves and continuing to get my aim back. Nate shot a nice black and I did an assist poking a nurse shark away from it, and putting a kill shot in it. Paul came back with an aj, Corey returned with a mutton and a big mangrove, Brad came back with something but I didn’t see it. We anchored another spot and continued to put fish in the boat, red grouper, mangroves, Yardonys shot a big cero, but still no big blacks.

grouper-opener-003 Then we pulled anchor and did some deeper drifts, found some awesome bottom. I don’t have the numbers for it but I can find it again. The bottom went from 45 down to about 85 and was filled with nooks and crevices. Massive amount of bait, schools of lane snappers, yjs all over but no big groupers. Lots of 10# grouper but no big ones. I got a shot at big hogfish, probably around 8# ( that is big for here) but ran out of float line. I tried going back for it after clipping on an extra 50 feet of float line but couldn’t find it. Diving with 130 feet of float line kind of sucks in my opinion, I see why people get so into reels.

We found some more fishy bottom in around 60 feet and Paul shot a black and mutton, and I shot another mutton. There was a jewfish and bunch of bait, a couple other muttons circling so we dropped anchor and chummed. Well the first two tries at chumming were kind of duds but this spot went off. About 20 minutes in we had 5 black grouper, a couple red grouper, mutton snappers, a bunch of 5# mangroves, cero mackerel, kingfish, a jewfish, a thousand yellowtails, 2 two big lemon sharks and cobia under the boat. It was awesome, just dive down 50 feet look and any direction and there was something to shoot. One of the lemons went after my fins but when I stopped swimming and put the speargun in his face he backed off. Paul shot king fish and the other lemon cut it in half. Spearguns were going off in every direction. I have no idea how many fish we got at that spot but it was awesome. Someone shot through a cobia and into one of the lemon sharks. Luckily the shaft only went in a little and shark shook it off in 10 seconds. It was kind of interesting  10 seconds though watching a big lemon thrash around biting in every direction.

Next we went in a little shallower to 50 feet of water and tried the same thing but the chum ran out and the results where kind of mediocre. Then we headed in shallow trying to fill the grouper limit. We got a few more grouper and some other ajs to 35#. I just could not find a black grouper, and on the first day of the season I didn’t even shoot a black(I shot 2 reds though). This would have been more disappointing if a school of African pompano didn’t swim in front of me. I shot the second largest in the school and it went 35#, pretty sweet fish.

Went out Saturday for the opening of grouper season. The forecast was calling for southeast winds over 20 knots all day so I caught a ride on Captain Brad’s charter boat http://www.offtherockcharters.com/ . We headed west.  That big boat was plowing through the rough seas like it was nothing.
First stop was on the reef not too far out.  We passed on a few barely legal grouper. I used the dead time to get myself dialed back in with my rabitech. My new wood custom gun just doesn’t have quite enough range for these days with 60-80 foot vis. My rabitech reaches out another extra 6-7 feet and it doesn’t seem like it would make much of a difference but it does. I have found that it took me about 10 shots to get my aim back with my rabitech. Weird how my brain learns how to aim with one gun and the I have difficulty aiming another gun even though there is no conscious change made.
That first ledge didn’t really produce so off we went further west. The next rock we  jumped in on we anchored on. I usually hate anchoring and swimming if there is any more then the lightest currents, but everyone else didn’t seem to mind so I just went with it. I actually think Corey actually perfers swimming against the current, it seems like he finds current and is like “awesome, let me swim against this!”. Anyways I hung around in the chum slick with Nate popping mangroves and continuing to get my aim back. Nate shot a nice black and I did an assist poking a nurse shark away from it, and putting a kill shot in it. Paul came back with an aj, Corey returned with a mutton and a big mangrove, Brad came back with something but I didn’t see it. We anchored another spot and continued to put fish in the boat, red grouper, mangroves, Yardonys shot a big cero, but still no big blacks.
Then we pulled anchor and did some deeper drifts, found some awesome bottom. I don’t have the numbers for it but I can find it again. The bottom went from 45 down to about 85 and was filled with nooks and crevices. Massive amount of bait, schools of lane snappers, yjs all over but no big groupers. Lots of 10# grouper but no big ones. I got a shot at big hogfish, probably around 8# ( that is big for here) but ran out of float line. I tried going back for it after clipping on an extra 50 feet of float line but couldn’t find it. Diving with 130 feet of float line kind of sucks in my opinion, I see why people get so into reels.
We found some more fishy bottom in around 60 feet and Paul shot a black and mutton, and I shot another mutton. There was a jewfish and bunch of bait, a couple other muttons circling so we dropped anchor and chummed. Well the first two tries at chumming were kind of duds but this spot went off. About 20 minutes in we had 5 black grouper, a couple red grouper, mutton snappers, a bunch of 5# mangroves, cero mackerel, kingfish, a jewfish, a thousand yellowtails, 2 two big lemon sharks and cobia under the boat. It was awesome, just dive down 50 feet look and any direction and there was something to shoot. One of the lemons went after my fins but when I stopped swimming and put the speargun in his face he backed off. Paul shot king fish and the other lemon cut it in half. Spearguns were going off in every direction. I have no idea how many fish we got at that spot but it was awesome. Someone shot through a cobia and into one of the lemon sharks. Luckily the shaft only went in a little and shark shook it off in 10 seconds. It was kind of interesting  10 seconds though watching a big lemon thrash around biting in every direction.
Next we went in a little shallower to 50 feet of water and tried the same thing but the chum ran out and the results where kind of mediocre. Then we headed in shallow trying to fill the grouper limit. We got a few more grouper and some other ajs to 35#. I just could not find a black grouper, and on the first day of the season I didn’t even shoot a black(I shot 2 reds though). This would have been more disappointing if a school of African pompano didn’t swim in front of me. I shot the second largest in the school and it went 35#, pretty sweet fish.