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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2009
Tue29Dec2009

December 27, 2009

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2009 | December 29, 2009 | Print

Seas: 1-2 feet
Winds: 5-10 NW
Temp: 75 F
Viz: 35 feet
I got another last minute (due to the uncertainty of the conditions) invitation this weekend to go back out with Carlos in Miami the day after Christmas for Sunday morning. So I stayed up late, checked and packed all my gear and tried to get in a couple hours of sleep before our 6:30a meeting time. We headed out right on time and made way out of Black Pointe Marina again. Today was a little colder out of the water even though the surf temp was reporting a couple of degrees warmer than last time. The drill was pretty much the same as last time as we headed out through Cesar's Creek past Elliott Key, but that's where the similarities ended.

The water was not as clear as last time. Our first stop was in about 25 feet and although you could spot the bottom, the water was hazy at best. We swam the reef for a good while with less than stellar results. From there we moved on to a small barge wreck in very shallow water where I shot a nice sized White Margate. I don't typically see a lot of those in my regular haunts, so I shot it as it came out from behind a section of the wreck. At this spot, the take ended up being a couple of mangoes, the margate and a very nice size cero mackerel shot by one of the other divers.

Although we dove for quite a considerable amount of time this day, the catch was not very representative of the effort. The most disappointing statistic of the day was the 5 groupers that escaped us in the reefs that we dove that seemed to have a myriad of back doors for these fish to give us the slip if we were not able to spot and shoot them in very short order. I was able to spot one of the groupers a couple of times as it hid in its hole, but the other divers were unable to spot it for some reason. We dove on it quite a few times and although it would move around a little, I felt it wasn't going to get spooked right away, but unfortunately, it did ultimately give us the slip.

As this was only my second dive with this crew (still a newbie), I was very weary of taking the shot without some kind of go-ahead look from the diver that had originally spotted and chased the fish into the hole as I wasn't familiar with the pecking order that may or may not have existed (and does exist with some crews). My lesson for the day was the following: "If you can see it, you can shoot it. But if you miss, you will have to bear the sh*t that comes with it." Oh well, at least I didn't miss it :).

We may not have ended up with a huge catch, but I still wouldn't have missed it for anything. I've said it before and I'll say it again... my worst day spearfishing is still a great day of freediving and fun! So we'll just have to get 'em next time. And so, since this is my last entry for 2009... Until we meet again next year!!

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