BobK
04-01-2003, 08:10 AM
Kim and I went spearing out of Boynton this past weekend. We dive with Pelican Dive Charters down there. They're pretty good about putting us where we want to go, don't restrict our dives, and let us dive alone if we care to.
On Friday we dropped near some ledges off of Delray Beach. Almost immediately a couple of Cobia swam up to check us out. I shot the larger one, no stone but not much of a struggle. As I had him down on the sand Kim grabbed my stringer and strung him through the eyeballs. No squeamishness there :-)
A couple of minutes later, we were visited by a couple of AJs. I shot one of them, then leisurely swam after him to string him up since I was sure I had him stuck good. Not. He struggled for a minute and then pulled off the shaft. Lesson learned about getting to the fish quicker.
On Saturday we went a little farther north. We saw a couple of mutton snapper and some lane snapper, but all of them saw us and hightailed it before we could get in range. Finally found a barely legal gag. Shot him at the end of my range. The spear stuck for a second, then pulled out. I tracked him down as I reloaded, and caught up with him trying to hide under a ledge. Coup-de-Grace was administed, and a grouper dinner assured.
Kim and I went hogfishing. Kim found a nice-sized one and took a shot with her 20" JBL. Perfect shot, spear bounced off about 2" behind the eye on just above the lateral line. She reloaded, put the tip of the spear almost on the fish, and fired again. The screw-on breakaway tip decided to unscrew, and Kim was left with a line, shaft, and tip in three pieces while the hogfish swam away with a grin.
On Sunday, Kim was armed with the boat owner's 48" biller. She finally got her hogfish, and was duly impressed with the difference between the small JBL and the biller. Kim couldn't actually load the gun, so I became the official reloading diver. She tried to get me to shoot a nice red snapper who happened to be swimming around near a 10' nurseshark. I envisoned the potential battle between me and the shark over the snapper, and declined :-) We shot a couple of jacks because Kim was sure they were yellowtail. As soon as we had them, a small crowd of triggerfish appeared. They were persistent little buggers, Kim actually stuck one with her spear and he came back for more. At the same time, a large (30 poundish) ocean trigger appeared, but stayed just out of range of my line shaft.
The weekend was definitely a hunt and shoot. We didn't see many shootable fish, but I shot my first Cobia, which was a highlight for me, and Kim shot her first keeper, which was a highlight for her. Also, we went Monday and bought her a Rhino commercial gun. She can load it, so I'm on my own again :-)
On Friday we dropped near some ledges off of Delray Beach. Almost immediately a couple of Cobia swam up to check us out. I shot the larger one, no stone but not much of a struggle. As I had him down on the sand Kim grabbed my stringer and strung him through the eyeballs. No squeamishness there :-)
A couple of minutes later, we were visited by a couple of AJs. I shot one of them, then leisurely swam after him to string him up since I was sure I had him stuck good. Not. He struggled for a minute and then pulled off the shaft. Lesson learned about getting to the fish quicker.
On Saturday we went a little farther north. We saw a couple of mutton snapper and some lane snapper, but all of them saw us and hightailed it before we could get in range. Finally found a barely legal gag. Shot him at the end of my range. The spear stuck for a second, then pulled out. I tracked him down as I reloaded, and caught up with him trying to hide under a ledge. Coup-de-Grace was administed, and a grouper dinner assured.
Kim and I went hogfishing. Kim found a nice-sized one and took a shot with her 20" JBL. Perfect shot, spear bounced off about 2" behind the eye on just above the lateral line. She reloaded, put the tip of the spear almost on the fish, and fired again. The screw-on breakaway tip decided to unscrew, and Kim was left with a line, shaft, and tip in three pieces while the hogfish swam away with a grin.
On Sunday, Kim was armed with the boat owner's 48" biller. She finally got her hogfish, and was duly impressed with the difference between the small JBL and the biller. Kim couldn't actually load the gun, so I became the official reloading diver. She tried to get me to shoot a nice red snapper who happened to be swimming around near a 10' nurseshark. I envisoned the potential battle between me and the shark over the snapper, and declined :-) We shot a couple of jacks because Kim was sure they were yellowtail. As soon as we had them, a small crowd of triggerfish appeared. They were persistent little buggers, Kim actually stuck one with her spear and he came back for more. At the same time, a large (30 poundish) ocean trigger appeared, but stayed just out of range of my line shaft.
The weekend was definitely a hunt and shoot. We didn't see many shootable fish, but I shot my first Cobia, which was a highlight for me, and Kim shot her first keeper, which was a highlight for her. Also, we went Monday and bought her a Rhino commercial gun. She can load it, so I'm on my own again :-)