SettingSteel SpearGear
Showing posts with label Spearfishing Elliot Key. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spearfishing Elliot Key. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

1 Breath, 2 Shots, 2 Kills

Well after a pretty windy week, I was able to make a few quick runs from our Miami spearfishing waters. Most years here in Miami and the Keys mid April (use to be beginning April) winds starts blowing hard making spearfishing throughout the Keys, Homestead, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale less than desireable- with this wind comes cleaner waters- meaning a higher visibility for spearfishing, depending on how far you travel out- but at the expense of getting beat to Sh!at- both in and out of the water...so count on Mid April to Mid May strong winds- with some freak days just being dead calm, this was one of those days.



We headed out of Homestead towards Ceasar for some spearing, winds were out of the east blowing 7mph. So off we were by 5am- plan A) was to hit a few patch reefs then either head out towards Pacific Reef or B) stay on the plates. We exited from Ceasar to meet some pristine waters, just ripe for spearfishing fun! You know, it was just one of those days that regardless whether you shoot some fish or not, just being out on the water, hunting fish is all the thrill you need ( yeah sure a few nice fish is the icing). We had pre-logged the spearfishing strategy on the GPS, and had it ready to go, some old hotels and some new ones were on the role, and the first was a spearfishing hole, literally out of Ceasars due north, this 30' deep "pit" was a goverment contract that never was.




Story has it there are about a half dozen of these holes with boulders in them...and some big @ass mango snappers...that were dug in the late 70's as part of some jail they were piloting- like an Alcatraz- anyways I got me uno of them waypoints, from a very old spearo, who had them plotted from land (no GPS's back then), Elliot Key (thats how close in we are) to be exact, with another spot, a shoal to the East- viz can be zero that close in off Ceasars all the way to Soldier, but in the Pit its always clear, kinda eerie as your swimming through soup and BAM...the cool clean pool that is the Pit. Gotta hit it smooth and quiet as the big mangos are the first you'll see and more than likely the first to disappear...so following protocol, I glide slow and easy to be greeted momentarily by a nice 20'ish mango, CLICK, as I pull him hard and fast to the surface, before he warns his buddies, string'em up, then down again a bit faster this time...CLICK...his smaller friend, and so it went 5 in all before they wised' up. It was close to eight am when we started hitting some of the plates in Ceasars off of Hawks Channel. Its no spearfishing secret, Elliot is hit hard and fish are not as abundant as in the past, mostly do to hook & line, but us spearos still pay the load. You can go from patch, to plate, to hump and not even see a shootable fish. Then all of a sudden you find one thats got everything on the menu, and you load up. Thats the way it is. So we went at it viz was about 10' with anything beyond just shadows, fish were also spooky, both often the result of wind. Slim pickings but we did manage to pull a few fish, before heading out looking for some clean water...which we never found....so we headed back in to the shallower 30'ies making the dive a bit easier.


The last plate we hit had a few curious yellows passing through, spined the first (29"),





reloaded, on the same breathe, while the school circled, and shot a second...nice ending to a great day on the ocean spearfishing our Miami waters.



Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

When the trip brings Lemons...

We headed out of Bayfront yesterday for a spearfishing quicky. The boat "2-tiny-2-sea" was as its name implys- tight, so the crew was tight as well. Fur had done some work on her and wanted to see the results, so we decided to make a quick run, and see what the long weekend had left us with. Gotta say the weather was nice for spearfishing, seas under 1', water warmed to a rashguard, winds under 5mph...the 2-t-2-s made the run across the bay like a pro, as hi fives proceeded, our first spearfishing drop was out of Ceasars Creek. This is an area we always want to explore, but never get around to it, so today we decided to spearfish it. Viz was "so-so" that is about 5-10' and current was pushing pretty hard, but do-able. We managed a 'go and mut', before deciding to head out to some clearer waters.
Hopping back in the boat we-hi fived- again, happy to see 2-t-2-s was behaving like a pro, throttled her up, waypoint entered, and off to our next spearfishing spot "Turtle-Ledge" a nice spot in 60'ish that held illusion of massive mutton snapper......rrrrrrrmmmmmmmmm off we go, ppppppppffffffffffff....engine fails, yikes!

Fur got all analytical and ran an inspection; worriedly looks over at me and says" We're f$&*cked" pristine day, seas under 1- and we're drifting back towards Ceasars....and muttons in the distance jumping outa the water saying...Hahahaha you can't get me!!! We dropped the claw in all of 10' of water and start strategizing a plan, a minute later we iron out the details, a few quick calls- and good'ol Sam, Furs bud says he'll come out and get us. SAM'S A CHAMP!!!

Right about the time Fur, starts feeling sorry for the unexpected casualty....I turn around and say,"Dude when life gives you lemons..." and jump inside the water, "make some lemonade" as I swam away. It didn't take long to find a nice little reef (in 10' water) that had abundant sea life, and a new lobster hole (over 20 in one spot-read as a new waypoint-named LobsticoFantastico), a little more swimming around, and a 24" red grouper comes up to say hi. By then the Fur was in too- making some lemonade- as he removed a nice hog off his shaft. We continued spearfishing our new Bayfront hole...and Fur managed to pull another nice toad this one was about 22"....Swam to the boat, checked our phones (remember we're stranded out there) and decided to pull up the hook and "cruise on over" (motorless) to another spot. Seems the sea g_ds were with us (somewhat) as the drift was moving perfectly to some other nice bottom. As we approached a sweet spot I told Fur to anchor up, as the spot looked very inviting and the hunt began again. This spot was full of fish, in some skinny water I may add. It was pretty interesting as the hogs were behaving like blacks, realllllll skittish....I must have seen about 4-5 hogs over 20", but passed on them as I was looking for some 14-16" fryer hogs....also saw a mutton that was well over 20", but was in high gear when spotted. Although the viz was all of 5' feet, we managed to tag a few other fish, including a 5' Cuda before the weather started to get fugly. And not a minute to soon as Fur had Sam on the radio spilling his coordinates (which is now a new spearfishing waypoint in Elliot Key-waypoint name is ShaloHog)...the whole story of the pick-up is just that, another WHOLE story. In a nutshell, we made some new spearing friends, and arrived at Bayfront before dark, and just in time to steak up one of the reds and enjoy in a mango teriyaki sauce....So when life gives you lemons....make some Red Grouper in Mango Teriyaki sauce or lemonade, whatever!

Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone
http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Late Spearfishing report

This ia another late report (3/13/09) from a spearfishing trip we did out a Elliot Key. We headed out around noon to meet some choppy seas 2-3's, with the wind blowing outa the east at about 15mph, vis was decent in most areas around 15-20' we hit a few new spearfishing waypoints that we had plotted on our last trip, and they did not disappoint. One plate was about 10' from surface and dropped to about 30' it was full of sealife and had a nice black grouper that switched homes to a cozy cooler. I saw him lying out on the sand about 10' from the reef he saw me and bolted for the rocks, I swung my custom carbon/teak gun on him, and spined him at 12'. The next few areas we hit had fish in house including a nice 20+" hogfish snapper and a nice bug...all in all a short productive day spearfishing outa Elliot Key.

Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone
http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/