Starting to see more yellow jacks again, there are still a lot of mangroves out there, but how many mangroves can you shoot. Andy shot a 7# mangrove, which is big for here. I had a little reef shark steal a fish pretty much out of my hand. I kind of feel bad for him, someone will probably end up powerheading him if he keeps pulling stunts like that.

Today Cat and I went out hoping to do some freediving on the wrecks but the current was ripping. Vis was good, between 30-60 feet we got some fish but also got stung all over by jellyfish.

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Fishing was good but the big black groupers were elusive. I shot the biggest hogfish and biggest mutton snapper I have ever shot. We got a variety of fish, and numerous lobsters. I freedove everywhere, along with Corey and Nate. Robert and Rob tank dove. The vis was tremendous pretty much the entire trip, 50+, sometimes closer to 80. I could dive down 20 feet and see bottom at the Relay towers, it was pretty amazing. The only thing that was a draw back was the lack of fish on the towers. Other then the permit and a few dinky AJs there wasn’t much on the towers that where freedivable. The tank divers were able to pull fish off the base of the towers but that was 100+ feet down. The same was kind of true on the big wreck we dove. I saw one big grouper, but he quickly scooted down to over 100 feet of water out of my range.

There were literally 100 jewfish on the big Gulf wreck.  Diving down you could count 20 in just one little section. I am not one of the “I have to be able to shoot everything I see to be happy” type of people, but there seems to be too many jewfish. 100 jewfish and one black grouper, sort looks like something’s out of balance.

We also dove something called Kingfish rock pile, which is located somewhere north of the Fort.  It was 100′ deep so it was a little deep for freediving.  Brad had equalization issues and everyone was pretty tired from the ride out so while Robert and Rob slept, myself and Brad set up a chum slick and hooked and lined yellowtals.  Corey would jump in and shoot the occasional mangrove snapper that swum up in the chum slick.  Robert’s brother had seen a large tiger shark in that area several times recently but it did not show up.  When Robert and Rob awoke they dropped down on scuba tanks and shot a large red and a close to 7 pound mangrove snapper.

Sleeping on the beach at the Tortugas was pretty great except that the wind went to 0 and it felt like trying to go to sleep in a sauna for awhile. It was so hot, sweat was just dripping off me even when I was holding still in the dark. The park rangers and FWC checked everything in our boat. So if you plan on going there, plan on having everything checked. We had a young and kind of zealous officer check our stuff, while two older officers looked on kind of indifferently. The younger guy couldn’t id half of our fish.

The wildlife on the island is interesting, rats and hermit crabs scurry around in the night. The birds also get up at first light and start making a lot of noise.

The windjammer wreck in the sanctuary is a blast to snorkel. There are huge mutton and dog snapper living on it that are practically tame. All the fish species seem much more approachable and in fact many swim right up to you. There are huge mangroves living inside the wreck, along with monster jewfish and large black grouper. The Sherwood forest was also amazing but at 70 feet was more difficult to free dive. I had a monster mangrove swim right up to the front of my camera on one dive.

The reef sharks that live around the Tortugas bank are also pretty fun. We lost a couple fish to them at first until we teamed up to fend them off. It’s pretty amazing how if you shoot a fish and let it struggle too long you will suddenly have 2-4 sharks all over you.  They move extremely fast, but seem to be very targeted on the fish, and will try to avoid getting too close to a person. When one of the sharks ate a grouper it actually drew in a large black fin tuna, but no one could get a shot on it.

Diving in Rebecca channel was also very interesting.  It was the only place we dove where the vis wasn’t good and the current  was ripping.  It made for extremely difficult freediving, but on tanks you could shoot a lot of fish. Brad, Cory and Robert did a few tank dives and each and every drop produced some decent fish.

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The issue is the lack of fish, and my lack of ability to shoot the ones I do see. It seems like spearing comes in waves, sometimes you can’t miss and sometimes you can’t even get close. The ripping current on the reef doesn’t help, but there have been a few times it’s been 100% user incompetence. But that’s fishing. Andy on the other hand can’t seem to miss and pulled a nice grouper and other fish out of spots where I saw nothing. On the upside the clear water and ripping current has been great for finding new spots. I have marked 6 or 7 new spots in the past couple days. I get stuck in a rut diving the same thing over and over again, and frankly fish move and some of my spots that are awesome in the winter don’t have any fish on them now.

I spent part of the day drifting in the water 80-120 feet deep with flashers out, and my big gun but nothing showed up. Zero, nada not even some triggers or cero mackerel to practice on. Just 100 foot of vis totally devoid of life.

I have splurged on some new gear. I am one of the cheapest people in the world, and I don’t like to buy stuff usually. It seems like most people like to buy stuff, I am the opposite. When I buy stuff most of the time it just makes me mad that whatever it is doesn’t seem to be worth the money. I often look at things and think “I can’t believe that piece of crap costs that much”.  I also never eat out, because whenever I do I get mad because I always think I am paying way too much for something I could have just made myself.

Anyways after months of diving with cressi fins with cracked blades and ripped foot pockets I bought some new fins. I have been kind of skeptical about the whole fancy fins thing. I find that spearfishing, or any sport whose main participants are young men who tend to have a little bit of money, it’s very easy to pay way too much for gear. I’ve seen the carbon blades, fiberglass blades etc. I was going to just buy a new pair of Cressi HF but they jacked the price on them up to $150, they were $100 when I bought them a couple years ago. So I said what the hell and bought a set of nemo pockets and blades, they cost a bit more but they weren’t crazy expensive. The first set came and they were way too small, even though they were the same size as my cressis. So I sent them back and got one size up.

The next size up fit fine and boy are they great. I can’t really describe the way they feel when I kick but all I can say is it’s better. They just feel better, snappier, I really don’t know how to describe it. I am actually super happy with them. I got medium stiffness, I am dying to try the stiff fins but didn’t want to get stuck with something I couldn’t dive with.

The other purchase was the Olyumpus E-pl1 camera with an underwater housing. It’s not quite our dream camera but since it costs half as much we had to take it. As much as I love our little lumix fx35, it’s a pretty weak little camera. E-pl1 has a huge sensor, shoots in raw, it basically blows away the fx35. The video on e-pl1 is the same size as the lumix, in pixels but the quality blows it away. The videos from the e-pl1 look almost 3d, they look like real HD video. The only issue so far with it is the weak auto focus. The auto focus is not that fast, and seems to only focus on one point instead of multiple points, but hey it’s half the price. Check out these pictures, I don’t think there’s any question about how awesome this camera really is. There is a lens you can get for the camera which is supposed to improve the auto-focus on the videos but its like $700 which is actually more then the camera cost.

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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.

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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.

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Andy recently got new shafts with the Tahitian flopper on them and they suck. He lost a bunch of fish including a a cobia, it was tough day for him. Some of the rocks that were covered in fish the other day were empty. Catherine was finally able to get back in the water after a dry spell. The unseasonably cold weather coupled with the spring wind, has made many days not worth going out. Catherine had a camera malfunction while swimming in the middle of a huge school of horse  eye jacks, which now has her talking about buying a real video camera for under water. We saw tons of nurse sharks laying around the bottom in the groups, large schools of rainbow runners, and huge horse eye jacks.

The big yellow jack I shot, broke my shooting line but I found his body with the shaft shortly thereafter so it worked out. I have been shooting the gun with a single wrap of mono and it is so much more enjoyable then dealing with all the extra line. I think I may just stick with the single wrap unless the vis is like 100 feet or when grouper open back up. I saw several grouper today a couple were around 25 pounds possibly more.

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Because of the weak vis we headed in a bit shallower, 25-35 feet of water and hit some big rock piles. When Luis and I first hit the water and cleared the first rock, I saw two cobia laying on the sand and yelled to him.  I got over top of one of them and waited for him to get over the other before I took my shot. Right before we dove down a big nurse shark swam through and spooked both of them.  Luis hit his mid water and took off in one direction.  I hit mine with a gut shot and it took off in the other.  After a few feet it tore off but the fish kept swimming along the rocks so I followed it, reloaded and shot it again.  This time it took off in the other direction pulling me with it.  Andy had dropped some flashers in and my float line quickly found them and tangled in them.  While I was cruising along , there were nurse sharks all over.  Then I started seeing other types of sharks mid water column, first a couple big reef sharks and then a bull shark, then a bigger bull shark, all swirling around me.  I then realized that the sharks were going after the flashers, and tried to untangle them.  I called for the boat but they were tied up with the other cobia.  I got the flashers untangled and the sharks backed away.

The next drift brought more cobia, and more sharks.  Andy shot a nice yellow jack and the sharks turned on like you hit a switch.  They went from drive bys to 5 sharks attacking the yellow jack at once.  After that the sharks would not let you shoot fish: they ate whatever you shot.  Andy shot another big yellow jack and the sharks ate it and took his shaft.  One bull got so aggressive that Lou poked him in the face with a spear.  On the next drift the same bull charged me and at the last second backed off.  I’m pretty sure my gun would have blow him away if needed but still, after that we dove kind of back to back, and the sharks didn’t seem to want to get near us when we were in a group.

The rocks we were diving were covered with fish.  In addition to the sharks and cobia, there where big schools of barracuda, some of the fish weighting 30-40 pounds, groups of big permit, and big schools of jack crevelles.  Even a big jewfish came out to see what the commotion was about, and nurse sharks everywhere.  In some spots there would be 3 or 4 nurse sharks just laying around next to each other almost in a pile.  After the action cooled down, we all realized that we were cold and headed in.

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Some video from the past couple months, also uploader a much larger version of the video here, I suggest right clicking it and saving it to your hard drive to watch it.

First spot we hit we looked for wahoo.  The water wasn’t that clear so I didn’t have high hopes on seeing any. We drifted for a couple of hours, and I shot a schoolie dolphin and we saw some sharks. We decided to hit the reef and run east to see if the water was  clearer.   First drift on the reef I picked up a black and we also got some hogfish and a mutton snapper.   I know the grouper ban is in effect for federal waters but you can still take groupers in state waters until the 20th. The next spot we went to check was a cave that holds groupers like 75% of the time but before we got to it we ran into a school of yellow jacks.  I shot a 15# one.  After I gutted the jack,  I see what looks like a small shark swimming right at me. I waited wondering what its deal was, and then I realized it was a cobia.  I dove down and shot it with one band from about 3 inches away, and it went nuts. Andy had to come and put another shot in it to keep it from ripping itself off the spear. First Cobia on a spear for me, he weighted 22# gutted.

We headed to humps to see if we could pick up some more grouper. They were covered with fish but there was a ripping current and cold milky water. I saw a nice black grouper and Andy saw a nice cubera but neither of us got either fish. We headed out to the bar next but the water was milky enough to make it hard to spot fish from the surface, so we headed in shallower.

On the reef line, Luis and I ran into a school of cero mackerel and took a few for the smoker, they were all over. You could probably throw a block of chum in at that spot and fill the boat with mackerel, if you wanted to.   It was getting late so we decided to check some patch reefs on the way home.   We jumped in on one reef in about 15-20 feet of water and in about 20 minutes, Luis had shot two grouper and I shot a 6# & 11# mutton. I bent my shaft at some point and missed two stupid easy shots on two other grouper. I changed out my shaft, and followed around another grouper for a minute. There was pretty much unlimited keys sized hogfish, but we didn’t bother with them. It was getting late, and as much as it would have been fun to keep hitting patch reefs, we had a ton of fish so we headed in.

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Went out yesterday with Jason, Matt, Nate and Jason JR. We ran way east to see if we could find some clearer water. We found some ok vis, after a while, maybe 30 feet or so. We shot a bunch of reef fish, cero mackerel, hogfish, mangroves (Matt shot a big mangrove), mutton snappers, I got one Black grouper, which was pretty cool because it was the last day of grouper season. Highlight of the day was Jason and I shot some African Pompano. It’s kind of nice when you go east of Key West since the federal waters are closer to shore then they are in front of Key West. So before people send emails telling me I can’t shoot APs, you should know you can spear APs and Permit in federal waters. Those APs really put up a fight and I had to recover mine somewhat from an excited reef shark. When push came to shove the shark backed off.

I’m freezing out there, my oceanos wetsuit lets water run through it like a sieve, it didn’t really fit that great from jump. Not sure why, I measured twice and emailed the builder to get more details on the measurements. The first suit he sent me was so far off in measurements I actually had to ship it back to get another one. I want to be happy with the oceanos wetsuit so bad. I mean it’s a custom suit for less then an off the rack price. Everyone else in the world seems to get one that fits perfect right off the bat, but yet after two tries my suit does not fit. The first suit he sent was over 10-15 centimeters smaller then some of  the measurements I sent him. It was so tight in the chest and stomach, it was hard to breath up in. The beaver tail was also like a thong. Before he sent the next one I added a lot to the length measurements to try to avoid the thong again, and when it came it was like wearing a thong, again. I had to send the top out to seatux to increase the length of the beavertail just to make the top wearable. Sucks, I am going to have to replace the top, in order to be warm enough. I guess on the positive the pants fit perfect. I don’t get it, does a different person do the pants then the tops?