Calm Seas and green water

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on January 6, 2011 at 5:16 pm {one comment}

20110105_reef-shark-day_3798 Well finally we got some good weather on the days which Catherine has off.  The first day Lou and Rafi came out with Catherine and I, the seas where calm but very dirty. When we first got out there there was maybe 15-20 feet of vis, which is bad for here. I often talk to people who dive other places and they think that is good vis, but we are kind of spoiled. The thing is the reef creates a ton of structure and although the fish concentrate in different areas, they don’t concentrate like they do in the gulf. They also don’t swim to you like the fish do in the northeast, at least most don’t.

We headed out and drove around in the green water for a little bit.  After a while we stopped burning gas and just jumped in on some shallow rocks, in around 20 feet of water. After a little while of swimming and seeing groupers which we are not allowed to take, we decided to just blast the hell out of the dozens of Spanish mackerel that were swimming around us.  It was actually a pretty awesome time. Shooting as fast as you can reload is a lot of fun. Sure the Spanish macs are usually only a couple pounds, and probably one of the least prestigious fish you can shoot but what other fish is available that you can just go nuts and shoot one after another of.  We shot and shot, missing , hitting, cutting up the real little ones to draw in the bigger ones. I saw one kingfish that came in on the commotion, but my gun wasn’t loaded so I got to watch him just swim away.  I shot a bonita which was a first for me.  Rafi got a photo, which hopefully he will send to me.

We moved around a bit but could not find fish, I shot a couple snapper and hog for Rafi.  Really amazing change since Christmas, when we were diving in 70 feet of vis shooting Blacks and big Yellowjacks.

20110105_reef-shark-day_3785 Then yesterday Catherine and I went out. We hoped to dive some shallow inshore patches but the water looked like greenish milk. We drove and drove, the water looked terrible. Finally we found a section of clear water about a quarter mile long on the drop off. It was the strangest thing: it was clear like 30-40 feet of vis, but if you went a very short distance east or west it turned to milk water.  I jumped in with Catherine driving and was immediately surrounded by yellow jacks.  I lined up and shot two at the same time. Both jacks were around 15 pounds each and the second one came off. I don’t think the spear had enough force to shoot through two fish that size. The next pass the bigger jacks stayed away but I shot through two smaller jacks at the same time. The two I shot were maybe 6-7# each.  Soon there was I think a lemon shark following me, then it left. Then there were no fish anywhere for awhile, and then a pod of dolphins showed up. I had Cat give me the camera.  The porpoises did not come as close as the first pass but I got a couple photos. Then we moved because the fish seem to disappear when the porpoises are around.

Next I let Catherine drift with the camera while I ran the boat. She has been trying to fight the ocean and make it through the winter wearing only a 3mm wetsuit, and she has been failing miserably. She is usually shivering and in the boat before even half the day is done. Finally today she wore the 5mm  and she was able to stay in the water all day. She got photos of bar jacks , barracudas, other fish. Then after we figured the current was light so anchored very shallow and swam together. It was fun to snorkel in the shallows.  I shot another yellow jack and had a couple reef sharks come in and then back off. One of the reefies was small but the other was very big for a reef shark and he looked bigger then me. I figured being the only person with the a gun, we should probably stick closer to the boat in case they got very fired up. On the way to the boat I shot another bar jack and the sharks appeared again. I wasn’t sure if they were the same sharks or what. Once I got the fish under control and in the boat, I just said screw it and threw the bonita from the other day in.  It seemed like sharks came from all directions, I counted 5 in all. The really big one didn’t show but another bigger one did, and bunch of little ones. The big ones seem much more scared of people then the little ones. After a little bit Catherine had taken so many bursts of raw  images with the camera that the battery died, so we left.

Great December Weather

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on December 28, 2010 at 1:01 pm {2 comments}

Went out yesterday with Lou, Juan, and Rafi.  Conditions were excellent, vis was 50 plus most of the day and the trash talk in Spanish was very plentiful. It was another day where I really wish Catherine had been there for photos.  We started by doing some drifts on the reef line, on one of the first drifts we came up on a rock covered in bait with a school of yellow jacks just going nuts around mid water column. On the top of the water two huge sailfish were working the bait. The sailfish swam right up to me and popped up their sails to corral the bait some more. I called to the boat for the camera but by the time it got there the sailfish were gone. Awesome sight, the Yellow jacks working with the sails to get the bait fish.  We popped a couple of the yellow jacks and moved on.

We checked one of the wrecks that had some big fish on it the other day. There were some fish, but not many really. The water was warmer, 72 degrees up from the 68 degrees and there were some fish but nothing major. I cut up a cero mackerel and had a school of amberjack surround me eating the pieces.  I shot one and Lou shot one, one to smoke and the other to use as chum. I followed a little black down onto the sand by the wreck but ran out of breath before I could get him. Lou strapped on a tank and went down and shot him. Since the bubbles from the scuba tanks seem to drive a lot of the fish away I grabbed the camera and took a couple photos.

After that we went back to the reef line. I jumped in on an area that was loaded with little fish. I didn’t see anything big but then Juan and Rafi dropped a bunch of amberjack chunks up current from me and everything started to go nuts. First fish I saw was a 3-4# mangrove which I shot and put on my float line. Then after 10 minutes, a nice black came in on the chunks.  I got down to within range but at the last second the fish started to to take off. I shot him anyway and let go of the gun for fear of him tearing the shaft out.  He ran around a hundred feet and then rocked up. Almost immediately there was a nurse shark trying to go in the hole.  I called for the boat and for Lou to get in with the tank before the nurse ate my fish. The rock wasn’t that deep, around 50 feet , with some work I probably would have gotten the fish out. But with the shark, better to just get the fish. As Lou was getting in, the nurse suddenly changed targets and grabbed the mangrove on my float line and would not let go. For like 5 minutes I had the tug of war with the shark, my gun lodged in a hole attached to a grouper and the nurse attached to my float line rolling around and going nuts. Finally the nurse let go after Lou poked him repeatedly and Lou was able to recover the grouper.

Then we went in to some live bottom to look for some reds and muttons. The water suddenly silted up and the temperature dropped but we did not really find that many fish. It was getting late at this point and we called it a day.  I brought the camera out even though it didn’t spend much time in the water. I am going to try to bring it more.

Winter weather is the best!

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on December 20, 2010 at 1:48 pm {one comment}

Well again the weather and Catherine’s work schedule don’t mesh, woke up yesterday and the wind was blowing 7 knots. NOAA had predicted 15-20 knots all weekend, and here it is blowing less then ten. I was kind of skeptical because of the west wind yesterday, which usually makes the vis shot. After a little debate, I headed out around 10 with Lou.  We headed due south out of Key West and found clear blue water pushed all the way into Hawk’s channel. Freaking awesome. The lack of current allowed us to throw the hook on one of the huge coral/rock formations and both jumped in.

Immediately we were surrounded by yellow jacks.  I shot one one big one right off the bat and Lou shot a curious grouper that came in to see what was wrong with the jack. I threw the jack in the boat and then shot a mutton snapper that came in to eat the guts from the jack, and then shot a dog snapper that came in to eat the guts of the mutton.  After that we moved to the next rock and kind of repeated the action: shoot a big jack, let it run around on the bottom until a grouper comes to see what it is doing, then on to the next rock. The third rock was swarming with cero mackerel and I got a massive jellyfish sting all over my face. At the fourth rock, the vis had silted up and we headed out to find clearer water.

We hit some shallow live bottom spots but the muttons just were not there, and shooting hogfish sucks so we left to go deeper. We anchored in 50 feet of water, taking advantage of the lack of current and clear water. We cut up a big barracuda and then waited for the fireworks to begin. It took a minute but then the fish showed. First came the sharks, then the fish.  First we had a couple nurses, then a big lemon and a black tip showed up. Lou shot a 10# cubera, but other then some nassaus nothing else had showed.  Then we shot and cut up a couple ceros and chubs to get the chum going more. I shot a 20# king fish which was going nuts with the lemon shark hot on its trail.  Rather then pull the fish and shark to me I opted for jumping in the boat and then gaffing the fish.  Lou made fun of me for not wanting to mess with the big lemon. Then Lou shot a black, then I shot a nice black but it went under a rock and tangled my line about 50 feet down. I called to Lou to grab his tank and go down and get the fish quick because the sharks were on it immediately. One of the nurses got a hold of the fish and ruined one fillet but the rest was saved.  Another kingfish came through bigger then the last one and I missed him. Then the chum ran out and it was getting late and the wind was picking up so we headed in.

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