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Northern Atlantic: New England States An area for the cold water divers of the New England States.

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Old 06-22-2014, 12:13 PM   #1
qleem
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Smile Monster at Block

63.6 lbs and 52" long. Story below.




I've been told that I should post the story, so I'll put it here. We went out yesterday with Spear-it Charters and Capt. Dave put us in fish all day. However, the fish were spooky and not really schooling. Just one or two fish shadows would zoom past every few dives. The vis was good and they would stay at the edge and generally not turn or stop swimming. Honestly, I should have switched to a bigger gun, but I have a bit of a love affair with my 105. Nevertheless, we were filling the boat with good fish and this was literally the last drift of the day.

I get in the water and drop in with two large boulders on my right. I lay down next to the closest one, hoping that something would come in from around them and not see me. Instead, a huge shadow comes across from my back left side in open water. I know it's big, and I really want it. It's the last dive and my previous catch was only about 30" - smallest on the boat by far. However, there is no way he's in range, probably about 20 feet away as he comes beside me and showing no signs of stopping for a look. I kicked off in desperation as he disappeared into the gloom in front of me. As you probably know, this never works. This time though, it did. Instead of spooking, he turns just a little as I glide forward about 10 feet and angles across my front. He is still at the extreme edge of my range and swimming away at an angle. It's at this point that I realize this fish was seriously big - I was guessing just over 50 lbs. I know I'm not going to have much penetration at this range, so I reach out and aim for just behind the gill plate instead of the head. I shoot, I feel the little jerk as my shooting line reaches the end and starts spooling my reel, and he just stops. In hindsight I guess I either broke his spine or hit him in the heart. I swim over a bit and realize my flopper isn't even all the way inside so I'm going to have to swim him up. I hate doing this - I think the risk of tangle or SWB goes up a lot compared to just letting my reel spool out. Oh well. I swim up to him - expecting him to wake up and leave with a massive tail smack at any moment - roll him over onto his back, slide my hand in his gills, and up we go. I let Jake (the mate) know I have a fish and pith him. It's not until I have him between my legs to pith that I realize this is the biggest fish I've ever seen in person. Jake motors over and hauls it into the boat. Everything is a bit surreal. I'm sorting out my rigging and getting my gun and gear back in order and Jake is picking up the other divers. Once everyone gets in everything sinks in a bit and I confess I started jumping around whooping for joy.

Thanks to my awesome dive buddies, to the guys at the marina who were kind enough to weigh and hang my fish for posterity and pictures, and especially to Dave and Jake at Spear-it for an absolutely epic day.

Last edited by qleem; 06-23-2014 at 01:00 PM.
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Old 06-22-2014, 12:40 PM   #2
SpearMax
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Cool Re: Monster at Block

Excellent fish! Congratulations


Quote:
Originally Posted by qleem View Post
63.6 lbs and 52" long. Story below.




I've been told that I should post the story, so I'll put it here. We went out yesterday with Spear-it Charters and Capt. Dave put us in fish all day. However, the fish were spooky and not really schooling. Just one or two fish shadows would zoom past every few dives. The vis was good and they would stay at the edge and generally not turn or stop swimming. Honestly, I should have switched to a bigger gun, but I have a bit of a love affair with my 105. Nevertheless, we were filling the boat with good fish and this was literally the last drift of the day.

I get in the water and drop in with two large boulders on my right. I lay down next to the closest one, hoping that something would come in from around them and not see me. Instead, a huge shadow comes across from my back left side in open water. I know it's big, and I really want it. It's the last dive and my previous catch was only about 30" - smallest on the boat by far. However, there is no way he's in range, probably about 20 feet away as he comes beside me and showing no signs of stopping for a look. I kicked off in desperation as he disappeared into the gloom in front of me. As you probably know, this never works. This time though, it did. Instead of spooking, he turns just a little as I glide forward about 10 feet and angles across my front. He is still at the extreme edge of my range and swimming away at an angle. It's at this point that I realized this fish was seriously big - I was guessing just over 50 lbs. I know I'm not going to have much penetration at this range, so I reached out and aimed for just behind the gill plate instead of the head. I shoot, I feel the little jerk as my shooting line reaches the end and starts spooling my reel, and he just stops. In hindsight I guess I either broke his spine or hit him in the heart. I swim over a bit and realize my flopper isn't even all the way inside so I'm going to have to swim him up. I hate doing this - I think the risk of tangle or SWB goes up a lot compared to just letting my reel spool out. Oh well. I swim up to him - expecting him to wake up and leave with a massive tail smack at any moment - roll him over onto his back, slide my hand in his gills, and up we go. I let Jake (the mate) know I have a fish and pith him. It's not until I have him between my legs to pith that I realize this is the biggest fish I've ever seen in person. Jake motors over and hauls it into the boat. Everything is a bit surreal. I'm sorting out my rigging and getting my gun and gear back in order and Jake is picking up the other divers. Once everyone gets in everything sinks in a bit and I confess I started jumping around whooping for joy.

Thanks to my awesome dive buddies, to the guys at the marina who were kind enough to weigh and hang my fish for posterity and pictures, and especially to Dave and Jake at Spear-it for an absolutely epic day.
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Old 06-22-2014, 02:16 PM   #3
JMurphy
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Re: Monster at Block

Wicked Pissah!!
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Old 06-22-2014, 02:29 PM   #4
rambofishsniper
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Re: Monster at Block

that's a beast congrats bro
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Old 06-22-2014, 03:29 PM   #5
lidiver
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Re: Monster at Block

Nice fish, congrats! I'm happy for ur friends that u landed the fish, otherwise they would have heard 1,000 times the story about the one that got away...
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Old 06-22-2014, 04:46 PM   #6
Toghunter12
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Re: Monster at Block

Nice pig bro
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Old 06-22-2014, 04:51 PM   #7
roosterman9
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Re: Monster at Block

Awesome fish bud. Way to go!
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Old 06-22-2014, 05:15 PM   #8
paddow
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Re: Monster at Block

Wow!!! That's a hell of a fish!
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Old 06-22-2014, 05:30 PM   #9
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Re: Monster at Block

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Old 06-22-2014, 07:03 PM   #10
MLandau27
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Re: Monster at Block

Great fish!
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Old 06-22-2014, 08:50 PM   #11
Bad Willis
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Re: Monster at Block

Congrats on a great fish.
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Old 06-22-2014, 09:10 PM   #12
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Re: Monster at Block

What a Slob
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Old 06-22-2014, 10:07 PM   #13
ApneaSpearo
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Re: Monster at Block

Nice! I can't believe the chase strategy worked. Congrats
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Old 06-22-2014, 10:09 PM   #14
D. Hochman
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Re: Monster at Block

Alastair
Awsome fish and great job doing everything right. Welcome to the 60 pound club
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Old 06-22-2014, 10:12 PM   #15
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Re: Monster at Block

Amazing monster! Congratulations on everything coming together just right!
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