Spearfishing Reports

Visibility highly variable

Filed under Spearfishing Reports by admin on May 23, 2009 at 6:49 pm {no comments}

Catherine, Cal, Mike and I went out spearfishing yesterday and found conditions ranging from awesome to terrible. We ran out in front of Key West and found crappy water past the edge of the reef, so we headed west and were able to find some OK water. You could make out bottom in 50 feet. Cal and Mike shot some triggerfish.

Since it seemed to get better going west we ran another 4 or 5 miles west. I was in an area where I had no spots but seeing that the water was crystal clear and there seemed to be some relief I jumped in to check it out. We were in 60 to 70 feet of water but it looked like 50. There was around 100 feet of visibility. Mid column I saw what I thought was a nice yellow jack, but upon closer inspection saw it was huge mutton snapper. I quickly had Cal throw me my gun, I dove down where I last saw him but didn’t see him. Then a few minutes later I saw what I thought was him and a second snapper. I dove and the smaller of the pair came to check me out but swam directly under me. I tried to get down to his level and so I wouldn’t have to shoot straight down on him, but ran out of breath and blew the shot. We drifted around for awhile in that area, there were tons of triggers. I got a another shot on a smaller mutton in 75fsw but blew the shot again. I think I need more practice diving in order to hunt that deep. Sure I can swim down, turn around and come back but what good is that?

We then ran another 4 or 5 miles and hit some shallower stuff in 40-60 feet of water. I tried to find some new spots but really didn’t find much. Good bottom but no really impressive relief. Then this wall of crappy water moved out and ruined everything. So we ran back east, we found a little area where the water was ok, you just had to dive down 10 feet or so for it to clear up. We worked that area for awhile. Mike got a large mangrove. We tried coming back east a bit more but the water got worse, so we called it day and headed in.

Here are some pics from a week or two ago. I have found an issue of what to do with the pics. I can make a monthly gallery which no one ends up seeing, or I can embed them in a post. Of course then I have pics like these where we were just going to get shark bait.

Blue Water Spearfishing

Filed under Spearfishing Photos, Spearfishing Reports by admin on May 12, 2009 at 8:53 pm {no comments}

The weather has been amazing, the winds of Spring have died down at least till this weekend. Cal, Brad and I decided to take the day and run offshore in search of Mahi Mahi. We took his boat and had decent luck about 20 miles out in 800 feet of water. We didn’t find any big dolphin but we found a bunch of schoolies. I had never speared a dolphin so it was all a treat for me.

It was pretty amazing seeing 50+ small dolphin swim right up to you. I had my big speargun which actually kind of sucked for this type of spearing. Its seems like the dolphin are either right in your face or taking off. The length of my gun was a big detriment, as was the double wraps of mono. Next time I am going to bring Catherine’s 80cm gun. Of course this will probably be when a big wahoo swims by.

Afterward we came and looked for some fish on the reef we didn’t find much but it was a treat drifting in such calm water.

Awesome conditions, King Fish

Filed under Spearfishing Reports by admin on May 11, 2009 at 8:09 pm {no comments}

Went out spearfishing yesterday with Brian, who is visiting from Maryland, Mike and Catherine. Conditions where perfect, 40-80 feet of visibility and very little current. The wind barely got above 8 knots and it was sunny all day. Summer is here or at least summer conditions are.

We drifted most of the day except for in the morning we anchored and checked some shallow rocks. The rocks were deserted of fish, except for mangroves. Mike shot a nice yellow jack though. We then headed out deeper and drifted in 50-60 feet of water. Mike seemed to see more fish then me. I saw some short groupers but not much else. Mike shot a hogfish, and a sashimi sized jack, Brian got a triggerfish.

We then headed west and kept drifting around the same depth 40-60. I saw a large Amberjack but couldn’t get him, also a large king mackerel. We saw schools of permit the size of a house, literally hundreds of fish in a giant ball. Pretty amazing. I shot an Amberjack, Brian shot a yellow jack and then Mike saw a hammerhead, a smaller one around 8 feet long. Then we saw a large sawfish with a cobia swimming along with it. Catherine saw it first and yelled to us, I swam as fast as I could but it was swimming away quickly and was gone. Then after that Catherine yelled that there was a king mackerel coming, I saw it, swam down and stoned it. It was 37# by far the largest mackerel I have shot so far.

We drifted more and Mike shot a big mangrove. Then we headed in shallower to do a quick look around for grouper and saw none. I shot a little mutton and we headed in.

Another picture of the Mackerel