Headed out from Bayfront for a spearfishing charter, again we were blessed with amazing conditions wind started from the S at about 8mph then lay to under 1 most of the day till about 2'ish started to pick up. Everywhere we went it was top to bottom viz, no wind and AWESOME!
The plan was to spearfish towards Triumph, and hit some new houses on the way..."Coma Reef" was the first its a hump in the shape of a - , _ with a few rock piles around it, sits in 40'ish dropping to 60'ish, the place was a fish bonanza...surprisingly saw only 2 muttons...well really it was 2 muttons hauling ass. I give big props to any spearo that consistently shoots muttons off Elliot, those fish seldom give you a chance, to at least entertain a spearfishing stalk, or hide and seek...those fish just book, no mutton tail dance, no mutton lazy eye role, they just plain and simple- Haul Ass. Everyone else is spearfishing muttons, as the full moon draws near, and over in Elliot those fish just laugh at us! Its been mentioned more than once to take a bluewater speargun to them, but thats another story all together.
Saw a very nice black in the high 20's cruising the spot but never gave me a decent shot, good thing I know where he lives;) We continued on spearfishing towards Triumph to yet another spot that had a few small ledges with sand and dotted with some coral and sea fans...very hoggy looking...and it too did not disappoint, this area had some pretty poor viz (as opposed to the rest of the areas), as I was headed towards the boat I saw the shadow of some fish, shoot from under a coral head bolting out towards the sandy area, at first I thought it was a big mut, but the way it swam and its silloutte, didn't sit right, the only thing I knew was it was BIG...so I too bolted in his direction....as I saw his swim pattern I immediately registered a hogfish snapper, but the thickness and width was just not fitting the typical 20'ish dimensions...he kept darting from rock to coral to rock everytime I would drop he would swim to the next spot, this went on for over 30 minutos, till he ran outa rocks (pun intended) as I dropped to the coral he had slid under and peeked I saw nothing other than an exist on the other side, DAMN I lost him, the bad boy gave me the slip....guess they don't grow that size from being dumb. Then I remembered the old "big hogfish" trick of turning sideways and flattening up against the inside top of corals, so I did a nice breath up dropped peek'd in and saw the ninja, all camo'd...he was HUGE....heart pounding I swam up and thought a game plan out. I'd poke him out the rock, and land a solid shot, rather than risk a hole shot and not engage the flopper, a common spearfishing mistake...so thats what I did...I thought the shot stoned him, but the beast half dazed got his wits about him and holed up, I was set as the shot I knew was solid, headed up relaxed (yeah right) and went down for the extraction, not easy but 30 minutes later it was a kodak moment...26", boy was thick...couldn't get your hand around his tail,
snout was 12" across (openned) probably the heaviest hog I've shot while spearfishing in Miami/Keys. We actually didn't quite register its massiveness till we put it next to the 24" Red, made it look puny!
A big shout out to the Sea G_ds for allowing me the opportunity to harvest such a magnificant beast, and providing a great day of spearfishing our Miami waters!
Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!
Tone
http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com
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