SpearBlogs

Things I want to tell you about...

Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2009
Mon29Jun2009

June 27-28, 2009

Information
Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2009 | June 29, 2009 | Print

Seas: 2-3 feet
Winds: 5-10 SW
Temp: 82 F
Viz: 10-15 feet
This was a real good news/bad news weekend which sort of makes it a fitting sequel to last weekend. Fact is, the viz was even worse this weekend and it got worse from Saturday to Sunday as well.

We headed out Saturday for a late morning patch reef dive so we could kill time until the 4:30p high slack tide, hoping it would be clean. We headed to a spot that had been productive recently in about 30 feet of water. Upon getting there we found minimal viz and had to get within 10 feet of the bottom to be able to make out any details. It was a bit of work, but we ended up working the area because there were fish on this reef and they were hanging out long enough for us to pick them off. The school thinned out and we headed home for a bit of lunch before the afternoon high slack.

After lunch, we picked up an extra diver and headed to one of our shallower spots since the viz had not been shaping up too well for us. Getting to the spot, we unfortunately found more of the same. This spot is no more than 20 feet deep and we could barely spot the silhouettes of the fish at the bottom. We worked it anyway and were able to shoot enough fish to make it worth the work. By this time we needed to head to the spot we wanted to hit for high tide. When we got to the first location, we found that the high tide had not cleaned up the way we had hoped and had to search for a shallow spot so we could see. We had almost given the tide up for lost when we decided to hit one of our productive ledges just so we wouldn't completely waste the effort.

Approaching the ledge I didn't see much of anything out in the open, but decided to peer under and in to see if anybody was home. I was able to see a good size squared off grouper tail just before the whole ledge got stirred up. We ended up working the ledge for a good while because the two goliaths that have taken up residence here kept thumping and clouding everything up. Unfortunately after a while, we gained the interest of a bull shark that passed right over the ledge while two of our guns were sitting on the bottom trying to gain position on the grouper under the ledge. It had been a few weeks since I had bagged a grouper so I wasn't going to be easily discouraged. I dove and retrieved my brother in law's gun so he could keep an eye out while I kept trying to bag the grouper. I had been able to make out the fish on the back wall of the ledge, but couldn't get an angle from where I could see her. I needed to be sure and careful because of the two goliaths that were residing in this ledge as well. So after positioning the light from the left side of the ledge, I headed over to the front of the ledge, looked for the beam of light and took the shot. A few seconds later, she started thrashing and I was able to pull her out without too much trouble. Luckily we didn't attract the attention of the bull shark again and headed home with the fish. After two dives that day, we decided to simplify the menu to just the staple fried snapper and forego any appetizers. Good thing too, cause I was beat.

Sunday was a bit lazy as we all seemed to have slept in a little. But we noticed that we weren't the only ones. It seemed like the entire campground had given up Sunday for lost and was staying in port. We decided to head out anyway and got to our spot to find that the water had actually gotten even dirtier from Saturday and after spending about 30 minutes scouring a reef we couldn't even spot until we were less than 10 feet off the bottom we decided to call it a day. We spent the rest of the day grilling and drinking before packing up and heading home that night. Hopefully that SW wind will let up during the week and let the water clean up soon.

Old Spearblogs

Video Spotlight

Gallery Spotlight

Popular Videos

Weblink Spotlight

  • South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council

Spearviews

Spearviews

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:50

This review is actually long overdue as I've had this mask for well over a year now and I honestly don't know why I hadn't done it before now. After trying multiple masks over several years (and several hundred dollars), some were good (Mystic, Star, Nano), and some were bad (Zero Cubed). Before this, I had actually decided upon the Cressi Nano as "the one". I thoroughly enjoyed the fit and volume of the Nano, but there were a couple of VERY minor issues with the fit. I'm convinced that the...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Monday, 26 July 2010 15:11

This year at The Blue Wild I was fortunate enough to meet Mike Hickey. I know of Mike from his appearances on Speargun Hunter on the Outdoor Channel with Sheri Daye. Mike was orginally a guest on the show and in later seasons participated as an underwater videographer. Mike is the USA distributor for FreeDivers ( FreeDivers USA ) spearfishing equipment. I came across his booth and after a great conversation about spearfishing, we started discussing the rising cost of spearshafts specifically....

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Saturday, 30 January 2010 08:16

Throughout my relatively short history in spearfishing (as of this writing), I have only used a few different spearguns. Now obviously, my opinion in this matter is not one of extreme trial and error. Mostly it consists of recommendations made to me by those I spearfish with along with some of my own common sense. In the beginning (early 1990's), I used one of my brother-in-law's extra guns. Specifically, a 38" Arbalette. Now this gun had already seen finer days by the time I started using it....

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 12 February 2012 23:29

{sigplus link=oculusr5 index=1} {/sigplus}Hot on the heels of my review of the GoPro Hero2, I felt I would be remiss if I didn't follow up with a review of the case that resolves the one (and only one in my opinion) flaw in the Hero2 design, it's underwater focus (or lack thereof) flaw. You see, as I wrote about in the Hero2 review the curved lens on the stock case creates a focus fallacy when shooting underwater. It's fairly common knowledge now, so if you want to read about it, you can check...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 10 March 2013 12:57

Back in March of 2010 I enrolled in and completed the FII Level One freediving course . I was extremely happy with the course content and the outcome (check out the SpearView ). Unfortunately for me, I'm not a professional freediver, so as with many people, life gets in the way and complicated which in turn keeps you from building a true regimen that reinforces all the good behavior learned in the course. Needless to say, I forgot some of the basics, fell back into many of my old bad habits...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:51

I realized recently that I had overlooked the fact that I had purchased and used some new SpearGear at the beginning of the Summer of 2011 and hadn't gotten around to posting about it (here or in SpearGear). This article is going to be one that definitely crosses over between SpearViews and SpearGear because of the fact that I do own it but I definitely think it's worthy of a review as well. In the end, SpearViews won the coin toss deciding where I would put the article (especially after I...

Spearblogs

Spearblogs

SpearBlog 2005

Bob Diaz - Monday, 29 August 2005 15:07

For those of you that don't pay attention to the news, thanks to hurricane Katrina and her constant refusal to abide by the National Hurricane Center's predictions, this weekend was not one to be anywhere in the keys. While the keys were initially supposed to be spared the onslaught of even a category 1 hurricane's fury, the keys like the rest of South Florida lay right along her persistent path. Our hearts and prayers are with those who are along this monster storm's latest path in New...

SpearBlog 1999

Bob Diaz - Monday, 09 August 1999 14:56

Unfortunately, right after starting this conditions journal, I have experienced a small setback. I am suffering from an inner ear problem which currently prohibits me from spearfishing. I will probably be out of commission for a couple of weeks (at least). But I guess it's worth it. I'm pretty stone cold deaf in my right ear, and the ringing is enfuriating. Hopefully I will be back in the water soon.

SpearBlog 2006

Bob Diaz - Wednesday, 28 June 2006 15:12

Winds: 5-10 West Seas: 1-2 feet Surf Temp: 83 F Viz: 10-20 feet Another day of picture perfect weather that doesn't provide perfect conditions. It takes so much longer to clear up the after effects of some bad weather. We have only been able to dive with visibility in our shallower spots (15-20 ft). Luckily, we were able to shoot up some decent size mangoes in a shallow patch reef. After that, we got a little excited and thought that some of our deeper patch reefs might have cleared up....

SpearBlog 2011

Bob Diaz - Wednesday, 13 July 2011 15:33

Seas: 2-3 feet Winds: 10-15 S/SE Viz: 50+ feet Temp: 84 F After spending nearly a week in Cat Cay, most people would have been satisfied to get home and vegetate for the rest of the weekend. But truth be told, I've never been lumped in with "most people" by anyone so after making the crossing Saturday morning, unloading and picking up the boat at the ramp, it was time to pack up for an overnight trip to the campground in Marathon! Honestly, it was only out of hating to disappoint my daughter...

SpearBlog 2013

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 27 June 2013 17:34

Seas: 1-3' Winds: 10-15 ESE Viz: 45'+ Temp: 82F In spite of the lack of a blog for last week, it was actually a good hunting weekend as we found big mangroves on the patch reefs for the first time this Summer. In fact, I shot what was probably one of my biggest mangroves yet, weighing in that 6-7lb class. I didn't think it merited a blog though, since I got it on a make up shot because my brother in law had missed it and we wanted to make sure it didn't hightail it out of the staghorn before...

SpearBlog 2012

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 03 January 2013 18:27

Seas: 3-4' Winds: 10-20 ESE Viz: 30-40' Temp: 78F It's been a crappy year on many counts. Truth is, before the holidays I thought (or rather, I hoped) that the year of crappy weather, fishing, diving and the breakin/robbery at my house (along with numerous other stupid things going wrong along the way) was the worst of it. Unfortunately I don't think I could have imagined earlier this year how bad things could actually turn, but the unexpected and sudden death of my father in early December...