Average Summer Days

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on September 7, 2010 at 1:43 am {no comments}

20100902_lost_0461 Been out a couple times this past week. Once with Jason, Andy and Catherine and another time with just me and Catherine. Vis has been pretty good, but there has been a strong west bound current. No really big fish or anything too out of the ordinary happened. Andy and I ganged up on a 20# Black grouper; I shot it once and it ran out the backside of a hole, and tore off. Andy got the finishing shot on him in a crevice a little bit away. Starting to see larger grouper back on the reef but other then that one haven’t landed any.

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.

2010 Tower trip and near Key West

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on August 5, 2010 at 11:32 am {one comment}

57-day-spearfishing-038 The winds finally died down and the crowds from lobster mini-season are gone, so got out on the water this past weekend. First day Catherine and I went out in front of Key West along with Eddie and Andy. We had a pretty good day, well mostly Eddie had a good day. He got a 20# black grouper and a nice red grouper. I didn’t really get much, a big mangrove but that was it mostly. Andy shot a nice yellow jack and some other stuff. Vis was kind of weak, 25-35 feet. The vis was  supposedly worse to the west so we just messed around in front of Key West.

It was flat calm though and the lack of current made for very enjoyable diving. We also freedove on a couple of the wrecks out front which was fun but not really productive for getting fish. We also killed two lionfish.

Then on Sunday Catherine and I went out on Robert Trosset’s boat along with Nate, Dan and Lou. We did a long run west on the gulf side. The water is really clear on the gulf side right now which is uncommon. The amount of fish on the rock piles and patches out there is tremendous. Once you get 30 miles out, you are diving stuff which very rarely sees a diver. You add the fact that its dirty all the time, so there are even less diveable days out there, and you get tons of dumb fish. tower-2010-094 Red grouper were everywhere, we had shot our limit before lunch time. Hogfish are everywhere, and big ones for the Keys, there are also lots of big mangroves. It’s awesome shooting out there, and in some areas you can shoot fish as fast as you can reload. The only draw back to me, is almost every fish is less the 10# at least on the shallower areas we were working. The distance from people also seems to greatly improve the health of the coral and amount of bait.

After we had shot our fill in the shallows, we decided to hit one of the air force towers. It added another 40 miles to the trip but what the hell with all the people on the boat it wasn’t that big of deal. It was well worth it. When we got there the tower was surrounded by schools of permit, along with the occasional cobia and shark, and an army of barracudas. I didn’t bring my new big gun because I didn’t think there would be any need for it on a trip to hit gulf patches, but that was a mistake. I bounced my shaft off a large cubera; that fish  would have been mine with the big gun. At the long distance on a fish that large, my present gun didn’t even penetrate it. The shaft just bounced off while the big fish swam down into the muck. I shot a cobia, a couple ajs, and permit. The other divers put on tanks and dropped down to the bottom, the got some fish but said the base was just packed with jewfish.

Black Grouper

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by on July 12, 2010 at 12:25 am {one comment}

groupers-jetty-017 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.

groupers-jetty-159 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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