Home Tournaments Calendar Weather Merchandise Sponsors

Go Back   Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum > Photos > Spearfishing Photos

Spearfishing Photos Use this area as your "Brag Board," posting photos of your haul.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rating: Thread Rating: 11 votes, 5.00 average. Display Modes
Old 09-12-2008, 07:13 PM   #46
JJ Rousseau
Registered User
 
JJ Rousseau's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 149
Re: Action in Cuba

Nice stuff Phillipe!

It makes me want to go there again. Been there 3 times, but never really been able to find a way to go out, so I mostly dove on reefs close to shore (not a lot of fish, and very spooky!) Even at 30 meters, not a lot of life in some places...
JJ Rousseau is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-14-2008, 03:49 PM   #47
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Quote:
Been there 3 times, but never really been able to find a way to go out, so I mostly dove on reefs close to shore (not a lot of fish, and very spooky!) Even at 30 meters, not a lot of life in some places...
I have been there about 15 times and never weary of being there... despite the fact that things are there often complicated. To get a "sportfishing boat" is an headache and impossible to do if you do not to get right connections.
Several places are outfished++. So you have to stay on some isolated spots ( wich are to far for the cuban population / spearo amateurs).
Years ago, I did my first steps with cuban colleagues by using small catamarans... and we got sometime a lot of problem with cuban coastguards, on the North Coast (in front of Forida) in particular. Since 4 years I have been prefering to stay in the South East, were the surveillance is more "cool".
I gave up trying to understand how cuban spearfishing legislation work. Spearing should be officially not allowed to non-cuban... but never had problemo. During my last trip, I was told that it has been tightened.?? So we did the things more discreetly.
After so many stays, I could during the last trip finally freedive 2 days in the blue water... and probably not any cuban spearo did that. The boat Cpt did'nt know were to go!!... so we have to explore the area looking for interesting spots (not any marine map aboard). But unfortunally and given the hurricane coming, we had to consider blue water of secondary importance.
Thank's again to my colleagues José, Luis... and the others: they allow me to share unforgettable sf. experiences!
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	boat cuba 08-08.jpg
Views:	972
Size:	144.0 KB
ID:	83654  
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-24-2008, 02:37 PM   #48
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

2 footages taken before I have to leave because of the hurricane:
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com/vi...current_page=1
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com/vi...current_page=1
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2009, 11:32 AM   #49
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Did again a short stay there and some dives with one of my buddies.
you can see on a pic an home made pneumatic gun" bullera" wich is used by my friend Jose...
Over 70ft depht hunting most of the time, usually take a couple of 120cm euro equiped with 140 R Allen shafts, more problems with bull sharks offshore than inshore there.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba 1 grouper 09.jpg
Views:	992
Size:	17.4 KB
ID:	106154   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba 2grouper 09.jpg
Views:	1020
Size:	32.5 KB
ID:	106155   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba bullera 09.jpg
Views:	957
Size:	18.2 KB
ID:	106156   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba shot mack 09.jpg
Views:	1062
Size:	24.3 KB
ID:	106157   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba hogfish 09.jpg
Views:	1033
Size:	26.6 KB
ID:	106158  

virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2009, 11:43 AM   #50
theappe
I <3 Toasters
 
theappe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Miramar
Posts: 259
Re: Action in Cuba

good footage man.
theappe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2009, 06:13 PM   #51
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

a nice cubera snapper/ "cuban dog snapper taken during an other trip.
captures made during about 2 hours diving (with my colleague): we usually have to boat a long time until we get 80 /120 ft depht because of the coral reef.
a snapper...
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Cuba cubera 07.jpg
Views:	894
Size:	39.3 KB
ID:	106173   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba boat captures 09.jpg
Views:	930
Size:	39.8 KB
ID:	106174   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuba snap 09.jpg
Views:	862
Size:	81.7 KB
ID:	106175  
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-13-2009, 01:27 PM   #52
bayboy
Registered User
 
bayboy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 681
Re: Action in Cuba

that mackeral shot is amazing
__________________
RIP Jose, leave some grouper up there for the rest of us.
bayboy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-15-2010, 06:12 AM   #53
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Back to The South West coast of the island in the Archipelago de los Canarreos (Cuba is not an island but an archipelago made of sevral thousands islands and most of them are uninhabited. By boating you can find there several amazing desert keys...
Took as usualy only 2 guns 120cm (Picasso/ Omer) and 4 R.Allen 7mm shafts.
I have been using to hunt there along the coral reef boundary where it drops to 70 / 100 feet depth or more. During my stay the visi was excellent but the weather all the time instable/ windy because of a cold front . A too rough sea to head on to the offshore but the tuna season will begin on April .
Guided by Pablo a well experienced Cpt we explored our secret spots. Unfortunaly my best colleague and friend "El Chino" arrived the last day from La Habana. So I did solo hunting 6 to 8h per day.

(Atlantic) Cubera/ cuban snapper is a mythical fish there. One of the most clever/ distrussfull Atlantic fish. A strong fighter you have better to release if you'r not certain to secure the capture. No detachable spearhead on the shafts made the challenge exciting. Cubera is a wellknown rare/ deep hunting capture. (This rare fish is sold about 25$ per lb on the Habana black market = 1 month minimum wage!!)
The problem with clear water is that this fish spots you first and sometimes before you dive. So you have to be pretty discret while swimming down very slowly to the depth and while lying in ambush (espera). Sometimes you can feel instinctively a presence in your back: the cubera coming from nowhere is observing you and probably estimating what kind of fish is visiting its territory. Trying to follow this fish is a time/ energy wasted and stress the fish. While stayng still on the bottom the cubera come sometimes by chance closer to you: a pretty short encounter ("solamente uno secundo" use to say my cuban colleagues) then it takes off: the only and last opportunity to shoot the prey.
In my modest opininion you have better to avoid shooting a cubera hidden in a small cave, unless you stun/ kill the fish. If you take a chance the best way is in by hitting about 2 to 3cm under the first caudalfin of the fish, so that the shaft breakes the spine: the fish get paralysed and KO.
I remembered the long and exhausting fight made by R Yazbeck with a nice pacific cubera:
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com/vi...current_page=1
I caught on the same day dive day 4 cubera from 10 to 55lb...
Did a double by landing the greatest cubera and a shark sucker sticked to its body... I released.
Lindo dias!
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	cubera 30lb cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	849
Size:	44.0 KB
ID:	122015   Click image for larger version

Name:	cubera 50lb cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	924
Size:	54.0 KB
ID:	122016   Click image for larger version

Name:	cubera x 4 cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	855
Size:	59.3 KB
ID:	122017   Click image for larger version

Name:	cubera+s sucker cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	847
Size:	44.5 KB
ID:	122018   Click image for larger version

Name:	uw cubera cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	877
Size:	26.0 KB
ID:	122019  

__________________
info@spearfishingmotion.com
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com

www.divefreeapp.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/spearfishingmotion
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-15-2010, 06:17 AM   #54
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Some pics of selective captures made on the other days: pargo and hogfish.
Bull and reef sharks seemed to be there more shy than cuda...
Lindo dias!
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	hogfish cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	923
Size:	64.0 KB
ID:	122020   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuberas+pargos.jpg
Views:	878
Size:	69.1 KB
ID:	122021   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuda+pargo cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	1030
Size:	39.5 KB
ID:	122022   Click image for larger version

Name:	P V cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	892
Size:	72.4 KB
ID:	122023   Click image for larger version

Name:	pargo 2 cuba 02-10.jpg
Views:	931
Size:	39.3 KB
ID:	122024  

__________________
info@spearfishingmotion.com
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com

www.divefreeapp.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/spearfishingmotion
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-15-2010, 10:24 AM   #55
LunkerBuster
Hungry Fish
 
LunkerBuster's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Miami
Posts: 5,779
Re: Action in Cuba

awesome, thanks for the update and sharing those great pics
LunkerBuster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2010, 12:38 PM   #56
spearo #uno
Senior user
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Outer Banks, NC.
Posts: 419
Re: Action in Cuba

I sure hope you gave some of that cuban stuff to the locals there..under Castro there is not much of anything including food to eat in the island but then you really can't tell if you're in the enclosure of a beach resort.
spearo #uno is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2010, 12:48 PM   #57
ForrestG
World Traveler
 
ForrestG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: santa barbara
Age: 35
Posts: 841
Re: Action in Cuba

very cool pics.
ForrestG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2010, 02:48 PM   #58
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Quote:
I sure hope you gave some of that cuban stuff to the locals there..
Thank,s for your feedback!
Yes I have been using to give all the captures to my collegues, shared with their families in order to improve the everyday fare. People is scraping hard each day to survive by sorting things out themselves. I can observe each time I stay there a worsening lack of everything.
Despite the fact that spearfish in Cuba is to harken back to another time, my cuban colleagues perform amazing under water feats.
This means for me and for us to cope everyday with 3 cuban basic sayings: " It's impossible! There is nothing left! It's not allowed! "

I'm wondering if at the time E. Hemingway travelled on his yacht "Pilar" with his cuban mate Gregorio Funtes he could imagine how the G. Orwell novel "1984" is become a reality there:
I had the opportunity to navigate on "Google Cuba" on a cuban computer...
you write: spearfishing or caçasub....7 results ( usually: 694,000 )...
Miami: 10 results... etc
censorship...
__________________
info@spearfishingmotion.com
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com

www.divefreeapp.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/spearfishingmotion
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2010, 02:50 PM   #59
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Ernesto
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	E. Hem. Pilar.jpg
Views:	756
Size:	53.6 KB
ID:	122093  
__________________
info@spearfishingmotion.com
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com

www.divefreeapp.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/spearfishingmotion
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-09-2010, 04:01 PM   #60
virgili
Registered User
 
virgili's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 1,486
Re: Action in Cuba

Back to my favorite spots! But a windy week there with a cold front made unfortunaly BWH impossible to organize. So I have been focusing on "cuban snapper" hunting beyond the reef bareer. As usually a pretty distrusfull/ deep/ clever fish wich need a several hours daily chasing... but that is worth the sorrow. Found on a deserted reef a amazing iguana colony coming from nowhere. Was told they can dive and hunt the fish as well as the Galapagos iguana.
Pics of cubera captures and iguana.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	cubera 04-10.jpg
Views:	681
Size:	40.8 KB
ID:	125232   Click image for larger version

Name:	cuberas boat 04-10.jpg
Views:	720
Size:	51.5 KB
ID:	125233   Click image for larger version

Name:	iguana 2 cuba 04-10.jpg
Views:	694
Size:	60.1 KB
ID:	125234   Click image for larger version

Name:	iguanan cuba 04-10.jpg
Views:	687
Size:	58.6 KB
ID:	125235  
__________________
info@spearfishingmotion.com
http://www.spearfishingmotion.com

www.divefreeapp.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/spearfishingmotion
virgili is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:14 AM.


The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Social Media Forum Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2002 - 2014 Spearboard.com