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Old 05-27-2018, 07:24 PM   #1
kwyoungspear
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May showers bring June flowers?

Got a late start to Grouper season this year since I had to replace the fuel tanks on my contender which took a lot longer than expected. I didn't really miss much since the weather has been pretty terrible and so has the visibility off of Key West. I went out with my friend on his boat a few times but it wasn't anything too special.

However the few times I have been able to take my boat out have been great and I've been fortunate enough to find clear water each time. The first trip out I went to some of my best spots and they were all pretty loaded, I didn't really have time to shoot anything but Grouper which is always a good problem to have. Didn't see many hog fish at all though.

Also was able to get another 2 days of diving in before the storm rolled through. The blue water was making its way up onto the reef but the current was RIPPING. Lots and lots of hog fish right out front but they are all 12"-15" with a few big ones in the mix ended up shooting a pair of 9 pound hogs. Also shot a big black right out front before we got chased in by the storm.

Hopefully this storm doesn't **** everything back up. The forecast is looking pretty good for the beginning of June, hopefully the weather cooperates better and we can get some more good days of diving before the water gets too warm.
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Old 05-27-2018, 08:20 PM   #2
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Nice looking fish.
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Old 05-28-2018, 02:23 PM   #3
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

That's fantastic. Way to go kw!
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Old 06-02-2018, 09:01 PM   #4
kwyoungspear
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

June Flowers have arrived
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Old 06-03-2018, 12:32 AM   #5
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

That is straight-up fantastic. Can't wait to join you for a round! I'll shoot you a PM this week to coordinate.
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Old 06-16-2018, 12:38 PM   #6
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Got into a lot of big boys yesterday
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Old 06-16-2018, 01:42 PM   #7
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Solid!
You're free diving these?
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Old 06-17-2018, 11:50 AM   #8
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus View Post
Solid!
You're free diving these?
None of these were shot free diving. I’ve shot a few 20-30 pounders freediving this season but don’t feel the need to take pictures of every decent fish I shoot. These were all shot in +80’ and I can’t efficiently freedive that deep so I can’t justify freediving commercially on anything but shallow spots in less than 50’
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Old 06-19-2018, 07:24 PM   #9
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Shot this beautiful fish today on a wreck. Broke the mono and bent the shaft so I went back up to get another. Had to penetrate the wreck to shoot him again in a hatch inside the cabin. Chaos ensued and it was quite the fight inside of the wreck. He bit me on the pinky and I got a hook stuck in my leg but the fish made it into the boat. Fish went 60 gutted and was sadly full of roe. I feel really bad about it and probably won’t shoot another big cub era until I come across a +100 pounder
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Old 06-20-2018, 04:38 AM   #10
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Great fish, even better mentality. Is this time of year spawning season for Cuberas? I know the grouper are still spawning at least a month after the season opens, and I usually wait the extra month.
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Old 06-20-2018, 07:17 AM   #11
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Damn nice!!
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Old 07-01-2018, 07:09 AM   #12
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Learned a valuable lesson yesterday. Always have your shit together. It was my last dive of the day around 7 and right before I went in the metal plate that is attached to my mono fell off my 90 Riffe Euro (I’ve been using the gun heavily for 10 years now) instead of taking my buddies 130 (way too ****ing big to shoot grouper in rocks don’t @ me) I decided to freeshaft, huge mistake.

The bottom I was diving on was fairly large, but the holes were all manageable. This spot however had caverns the size of my living room that you could penetrate until you are literally lost and can’t see any light.

Sure enough I see a 20 and a 30 pounder on top of the spot, I had a good angle for a freeshaft on the 30 when I looked up and saw a very big boy. He was moving around pretty lazily so I went after him. I followed him around a huge head off of the spot and shot him right in the shoulder. I tried to go after this fish but he took off into a huge cave. I went back up got another gun and went back down.

When I got back to the bottom there was a large cloud of blood coming out a hole on top probably 100 feet away from where he entered the cave (gives you an idea on how elaborate these tunnel systems are). There were a few big reef sharks but they weren’t acting aggressive to me. I started to look around half heartedly knowing it was already over.

Upon looking into a hole up current of the blood trail, I could see his big fat lips, he started to move forward in the hole immediately and slid into the next cave chamber as I tried to line up a shot but was too slow. This hurt a lot to watch, but gave me hope. I started looking all around when I saw a little puff of smoke come out of a hole, I ended up swimming into a cave and penetrating the huge mound of coral until I was about 30 feet into the cave, suddenly in the back of a small room, there he was!!! We made eye contact and he started to move again as I went for the quick shot I turned off my flashlight and everything went pitch black as I missed the black.

After that I knew it was over, my little free shaft didn’t seem to hurt the +50 pound black as I had shot him right in the shoulder (got to see his the mark each time I found him in the caverns) and he was too quick for me to spot and pull off a quick shot with a 130 Euro while tunneling though caves.

Hopefully he lives he wasn’t hit in a critical spot and still was very lively. I very rarely lose big fish, and always feel like a dick when I do. These Grouper are something special and really are a marvelous species, it’s an honor to be able to hunt them, but you can’t win them all. However you can learn from your mistakes to perfect your craft.

These past few weeks have been eye opening for me as my dad left town and I was left completely on my own to run a commercial diving operation. I found out you can’t really depend on anyone but yourself in this game and being a one man show is very tough. Also I found out I can dive 5 tanks a day lol
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Old 07-04-2018, 06:24 AM   #13
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Thanks for the humility and telling your story. Given the same circumstance of failure on the Riffe, what would you have done differently?
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:22 PM   #14
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

Quote:
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Thanks for the humility and telling your story. Given the same circumstance of failure on the Riffe, what would you have done differently?
I can’t really call it a failure on the riffes part, that gun has been through some shit over the past 10 years!

Should have just taken my buddies 130. The gun is ass when it comes to shooting fish in holes but I would have smoked this one out in the open and probably could have kept him from getting too far back into the hole.

The big thing I would do differently, and what I’ve been working on lately, is just being better organized as a person. Thats always been my greatest weakness. It is tough to keep all your gear in tip top shape when you dive 27 out of the 30 days in June though!! If I would have just had another shaft for my 110 (I bent the only one I had into an L on the first dive)
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Old 07-15-2018, 08:22 PM   #15
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Re: May showers bring June flowers?

A power head would have helped too
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