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Florida Gulfcoast Spearfishing Post here to discuss regional action or issues about spearing on Florida's Gulfcoast. |
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06-16-2007, 01:30 PM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Posts: 3,104
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Spectacular Spearing!
I want to thank my great friends Matt(Sea-ment), Jason(JBY), and Frank(abdiver) for being a part of one of the most spectacular days on the water Ive ever had!
The day could not have been much more perfect with good vis, great fish, and incredible fun! It was the kind of days we all dream about… Our first spot was a little known wreck that none of us had ever visited. First up was Frank and Jason. We easily marked the wreck and watched the depthfinder light up solid red from the bottom to nearly the top of the water column. A short while later Matt and I see a lift bag and struggle to lift whats attached into the boat. Frank and Jason exclaim that “you guys have GOT to back dive that wreck!!” Knowing how I dislike backdiving a spot I grudgingly slid in with Matt. Glad I did because It yielded my biggest gag of the day at 41 pounds along with a few other respectable fish. After those two dives we all could have went home very happy and couldn’t fathom that we were just getting warmed up for what was to come. We must have been in the area that all big fish go when they retire because every drop after that first one had somebody coming up with at least one 30+ pound fish and sometimes more! Last edited by RichTaylor; 06-16-2007 at 03:16 PM. |
06-16-2007, 01:30 PM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Frank big Gag
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06-16-2007, 01:31 PM | #3 |
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Frank nice AJ
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06-16-2007, 01:32 PM | #4 |
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Big J with some phat gags
Last edited by RichTaylor; 06-17-2007 at 07:23 PM. |
06-16-2007, 01:34 PM | #5 |
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
RT Gag
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06-16-2007, 01:36 PM | #6 |
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Later… we tripped over a really nice fish show that Jason named the vagina rock for somewhat obvious reasons.
He managed to wrestle a couple carbos including a 75 pounder from it and he said that he was tormented the entire dive by the largest red snapper he had ever seen that he estimated to be at least 30 pounds! Unfortunately he couldn’t shoot it because he does not have a red snapper permit for the vessel.. |
06-16-2007, 01:38 PM | #7 |
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
The day continued much the same until we tripped over another great read on the bottom.
Little did Matt and I know, this was going to be the dive of a lifetime. As we descended down the jug line we started to pass some nice 40-50 pound AJ’s milling about in the column. As I kept looking down it looked like a swarm of snapper were coming up to greet us. As they got closer it became apparent that they were not snapper, they were Gag grouper! As they got closer we realized they were HUGE gag grouper. So… Here were are, still 70 feet off the bottom, cant yet see the bottom, and were are surrounded by 15-20 pound Gags and there are still more rushing off the bottom like a hord of locusts. I was debating what to do as we slid through them. Should I risk shooting one in the column and possibly have the shaft go clean through or should I wait to see where the mother lode is? Fortunately I waited until the bottom was in site because there were even more and bigger ones milling around on the bottom! I quickly looked around for what was holding them but could not see anything and none of them wanted to lead me to where they lived! Matt and I decided to unload like it was Custers last stand and the Gags were the Indians trying to drive us off “their” spot. A few shots into the action I noticed a nice carbo watching the action from a comfortable distance. I strated to line up for a shot and get a little closer, but he bolted to the left. Ha! Thats got to be the direction of his house I thought. Matt saw him about the same time and we gathered our fish and headed that way. A short swim later we found the spot! Matt shot another nice gag near the entrance of the cave and was busy with that fish while I got my flashlight out and started to look inside the cave. All I saw looking back at me was Gigantic Gag faces until I scanned to the left and saw what looked like a 50 pound carbo back in the corner. I lined up the best I could with my “deathstick” speargun and hit em in the head! He came lumbering out of the cave and I grabbed my shaft and proceeded to jump on his back. It was then that I realized he was a little bigger than I first thought. I saw the shaft firmly embedded through the bone in his head but he wasn’t ready to go down easy easy. As I rode him around, I was laughing so hard I nearly spit my regulator out! Matt later commented that he was laughing his azz off watching me, and waiting for me to get off it so he could put another shot into it. I thought to myself "all you have to do is let him swim back into the cave and put a couple more shafts into him”, but I was having far to much fun for that! He finally calmed down after a few seconds after I drove him into the sand. Matt swam over and pulled my lift bag out of my pocket and we shot him and the rest of the fish to the surface and headed up. Official weight 92 pounds! And so it went until we ran out of time, daylight and nearly ICE! Last edited by RichTaylor; 06-17-2007 at 07:13 PM. |
06-16-2007, 01:38 PM | #8 |
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Location: Pacific Northwest, Battle Ground,WA
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Awesome! Thanks for the pics. I would love to have fish like that in my area.
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06-16-2007, 01:42 PM | #9 |
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Location: St. Petersburg, FL
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
A living dream of a day…
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06-16-2007, 01:48 PM | #10 |
Retired Comm. Shooter
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Largo, Florida
Posts: 5,140
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Wow, killer report Rich. Congrats to all you guys for some incredible fish! The west coast of Florida has the best overall spearfishing in the world (IMHO) and trips like this back it up.
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06-16-2007, 02:00 PM | #11 |
yo momma
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 272
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
that is sick! killer trip.
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06-16-2007, 02:21 PM | #12 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: tampa bay/RI
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
great fish!
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06-16-2007, 02:21 PM | #13 |
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Location: Largo Fl
Posts: 641
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Sweet trip. Trophy fish for sure
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06-16-2007, 02:24 PM | #14 |
Your Daddy
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Lower Florida Keys
Posts: 2,529
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
awsome!!
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06-16-2007, 02:54 PM | #15 |
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Re: Spectacular Spearing!
Those are the days that keep you coming back for more. Congrats on the big carbo Rich.
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