posted by admin on Jul 12

Been awhile since I have been able to get out on the water – got out the last couple days and had some good luck. First I went out the day before yesterday with Andy, Catherine, and Eddy on Andy’s boat. Mike and Dan also joined us, also known as ghost and the darkness. We headed out to a spot where the mangroves were spawning. The fish were there but after we shot a couple the big ones took off. Water was chalky but you could make out the bottom in 45 feet.

After a bit we moved to the 18 spot which is one of my favorite spots. I call it that because that is how it’s listed on Andy’s gps. On mine I think its listed as “big rocks”. The water was chalkier, but Andy and I jumped in and headed down. I got down near the bottom and was slowly drawing a bead on a big mangrove, when out of the corner of my eye I saw I small jewfish which I thought was a grouper for a second. Then I looked to the left and saw a decent grouper so I changed course. Then from under a ledge a big grouper came out. I used part of the ledge to block his view while I got closer and then nailed him, dead center. I saw the shaft shoot fully out his other side so it didn’t look like he would tear out but then he took off into a cave so far that almost all my shooting line went into the hole. I surfaced and immediately called to Andy to put on a scuba tank and help me get him. Andy had shot a nice yellow jack and was dealing with that. The Darkness had shot another yellow jack but was feeding it to one of the few sharks that live in the area. Andy grabbed the tank and got the fish.  The cave it had gone in had an exit and the fish was just down there on the other side of the rock, so basically the tank wasn’t necessary . I had got worked up by the sharks and the size of the fish.  I felt stupid but screw it the fish is on the boat and not shark food so it was a win anyway. The fish was 30#, 27# gutted.

We drifted around there for a bit and others dove but the sharks got more fired up so we moved. The next area was shallower craggy bottom. I drove for awhile while everyone else shot fish and Cat shot photos. I got so hot I had to jump in after awhile. I shot a nice trigger. Then Eddy shot a nice back with a Hawaiian sling but it took off with his shaft. Luckily, Ghost found it in a rock some distance away. We shot a couple red grouper and some other stuff, and the water kept getting dirtier so we moved.

Then on the way in we hit kingfish shoals. I personally think kingfish shoals sucks mostly but I was actually excited today because cat had never dove there so I thought it would be cool to go there. It can be good for little hogfish and it’s close so I guess if you just want to go get dinner it’s good for that. When we got there, there was like 3 other boats spear fishing in that same little area. The area already is pretty weak but now with boat loads of kids with spear guns swimming around forget it. Cat was burning up in her wetsuit and then she jumped in and the water was 89 degrees. She got sick of it and quit.  Andy and Darkness swam around for like an hour to shoot two barely legal hogfish. It was insane, then we headed in.

The next day Eddy, Andy and I went out, and we headed to the gulf. We stopped at the jetty in the northwest channel and dove in. Vis was good for that area and it was top to bottom. The life on the jetty was amazing. Mangroves everywhere, and bait was so thick in some places you could not see. Huge eagle rays cruised by, along with schools of tarpon, schools of blue runners, the occasional shark, sting rays, dozens of barracuda and jewfish. Eddy and Andy crushed the mangroves. Pretty much all there was there to shoot was mangroves. Occasionally you would see a sheepshead or a little mutton, but mangroves everywhere. All that life and no camera.

Then we went west and the vis sucked.  12 feet of vis tops in most places maybe 15 and a ripping westbound current. We picked up a fish here and there but it was mostly slim pickings. Then towards the end of the day, Andy and Eddy shot 3 hogfish that were 5 to 6 pounds each. That’s pretty big for hogfish in the Keys and then we headed in.

The next day Cat and I went to the jetty with her camera for an hour or so, I drove while she dove. The vis was still good but none of the real big stuff was there, no eagle rays, no huge turtles, there was some bait but not like the day before. I have to make myself bring the camera every time.

posted by admin on May 30

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. 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.

posted by admin on May 3

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.

posted by admin on Apr 12

Finally we got some good weather after a almost two weeks of 20 knot winds. On Friday Cat, Jason, Andy, one of Jason’s friends and I went out. We knew the vis was really bad in front of Key West so we headed out to the Gulf side to check it out. The vis sucked out there as well. We checked the patches at the end of Calda Channel and the Jetties in the northwest channel but it was pretty dirty. Then Fenway injured himself in the boat and we had to take him and Andy in to the vet. Fenway recovered quickly and was back to attacking other dogs and chasing pelicans by that afternoon, even with a slight limp.

After that we headed out to the Atlantic and into the green water. After driving for awhile we found a stretch of the bar that was blue and we drifted it for awhile. It was really fun but didn’t really produce a lot if fish. Jason took an Aj and that was about it. The clear water and school of permit, rainbow runners, and bar jacks made it fun though. I chased around some nice dog snappers in a cave about 50 feet down, but with the current my bottom time was pretty limited and I couldn’t get them. Next we headed west, and once we got past Boca Grande channel the water cleared. We went in to the reef and worked a big ledge. Jason got a yellow jack and I shot a 30# cobia. The water was clear but the fish were kind of scarce. There were black groupers all over but not a lot of other fish. I saw maybe one yellow jack all day, no big mangroves or muttons.

The next day Catherine, Luis and I headed out again.  Instead of messing around we headed straight west and got crystal clear water off the bat. The first big rock we dove was covered with black grouper spawning. I assume they are spawning by their strange unspooky behavior and grouping together. They really behave like different fish when they are grouped up. Hanging around the same spot, sometimes even swimming toward you in a group. Other then the black grouper there wasn’t much else on the rocks: tiny mangroves,  lanes, and big yellow tail. Since our time was limited we didn’t want to run further west so we went south to the deeper water. We didn’t really see much there, great vis not a lot fish. We saw permit, amberjacks, big black grouper but everything else was small or not really shootable. I did actually see a couple of muttons, but in the strong current it was very hard to get a shot on them. I think maybe I should switch back to the shaft with the double wrap for these conditions.

Final day Andy, Brian Lee, Brian’s girlfriend, Luis and I went out in Andy’s boat. We went way west exploring some new stuff. The vis was great again, but again the fish were kind of scarce. We picked up some hogs, several muttons, Brian got kingfish and smaller cubera, some other stuff but nothing huge. Luis and Brian saw a huge mutton but they weren’t able to get it. I had a sail fish and lemon shark suddenly appear out of nowhere and swim in circles around me. Pretty awesome, would have been great if Cat had been there with her camera. Black and Red grouper were all over, some quite large. I really haven’t minded the grouper ban because there had always been a bunch of other stuff to chase after but these last couple trips black grouper have been sometimes the only fish we are seeing in some spots. That is kind of frustrating.

When we left at the end of the day a cold front moved in and we had to ride home in 30 knot winds. It sucked but other then that it was a good day.