With GR out of town and no one able to go out I thought it best to get in the water no matter what and deemed his boat just the craft for the job.

I think I must have called 15 people trying to get them to go out of Tarpon Springs but being a thursday and the last minute only two good friends who had only done their Open water course in Scuba were able to make it. Neither had ever shot a fish so I was stoked when they said they would be happy shooting anything and I could shoot all the rest.

65 lb Cobia

With reports of good cobia out far we headed that way and were greeted with 3-5 ft seas making us turn north towards Bayport and some small ledges and artificial reefs. 

First spot and two miles away I wish I didn’t have such good eyes as I can see a boat dead on the numbers. A quick change of plans and we anchor over the first spot and first drop the bottom is alive with gag grouper from 2-20 lbs.  

Sweet!!!   

Second Dive I lay in the sand and wait as the school comes in for a look and shoot the largest of approx 20 fish in front of me.  At the surface my smile fades as 8 feet away from me a giant brown shape appears and engulfs the entire 18lb Grouper.  Bastard!    I lock down the reel and get dragged down behind the 400 lb Goliath Grouper as he heads back to the bottom.  As much as I hate losing fish to sharks I hate it tens times more to these overgrown, overfed and underfished denizens of every ledge and artificial reef in Florida.With constant pressure on the line he must have paused to re-situate my fish and in that moment I pulled like hell and released it from his massive jaws and wrenched it to the surface with him chasing the whole way. 

Damn those things.

A few dives and few 15 lb Gags later I hop back in and get the other guys suited up and into their tanks.  With some finessing they reach the bottom and the gags surround and then scatter and surround again along with some enormous Jewfish and making for an interesting dive.  

With their air running low Jacob shoot his first fish up in a hole a decent size Gag and we are ready to pick up and head for the honey hole when a large dark shape looms onto the scene.

From above I immediately think it is a BIG shark and dive into the haze to confirm only to have it speed off insanely fast catching only a clear view of the tail as it zooms off.  

All the grouper are now huddled below and outside of the one ledge and could care less about me being there as the one turns into 3 then 8 big Bottlenose Dolphins chasing them around.   Talk about a sight!   The massive animals were cruising at top speed circling wide then darting in and chasing the individual fish out in to the sand to a certain death. 

Upon hitting the surface Jacob’s eyes were huge and he says that it was the most scared he has ever been in his life when he saw the first huge shape come zooming out of the gloom right past him thinking it was  a massive shark coming to tear him in half.

WIth 4 Gags in the boat and only two left for a limit it was time to get to some structure that would hold some cobia or other pelagics so we didn’t have to end our day only an hour into it.  

Next spot the boys both got a nice Amberjack and were stoked on the ass kicking they both received.  

After 30 minutes and no cobia or anything else big I switched to my little 90 cm Euro to shoot some snappers inside the wreck. No floatline no reel since it was only 50 feet deep and I figured anything I shot would be no bigger than 5 lbs I’d just muscle it to the surface.  First dive sitting on top of the structure and of course here comes a 30 lb Permit swimming straight at me.  

Not fair.  

8 feet out he turns broadside and I smash him in what I think to be the right spot and proceed to get dragged a good 20 seconds before the 400 lb Mono breaks (halfway down the shooting line)  and I’m left with only the gun. 

Not a good day for gear!

New shaft and next dive down a nice gag comes in and I shoot him at the end of my breath and get the back of the shaft lodged in the structure so I can’t bring the whole thing to the surface.  No worries get it next dive.

Back down and there is no fish, no shaft and no gun! Where did it go!   Quick look reveals the culprit and a big tail slowly beats back and forth as a 200 lb Jewfish tries to retreat into the depths of the wreck only with the shaft sticking out of both sides of his mouth he is stuck in the small hole.   Grabbing the gun i commenced an old fashion underwater beat down and smashed the big brown blob twice hard before he spit the whole thing and pushed me out of the way to escape to open water.  

“Are we supposed to scale our fish too?”  the guys in the boat ask as this is the second Grouper of the day to come in almost white from the rough mouths of the Goliath’s.

With a good box already and the weather laying down we run wide and find a big wreck with no other boats and within the first hour round out the cooler with a 65 lb cobia and a 20 lb Permit.  The school of Cobia had around 15 fish and there were 3 the size of the one I landed so I’m happy I passed up the 30-50 lb ones and waited for the good one.  

There is such a small window of opportunity when the cobia come through on the west coast of florida but that first push is epic if you can get on it. Most of the schools have 10-100 fish and the average size is 30-50 lbs with some 80 lb fish possible.  Last year we hit is as well with GR Tarr and Ed Walker and had a school of more than 50 fish with one big daddy in the 100 lb class evading me the whole day. That day ended with 3 in the 60 lb class as well and kept us praying for the same conditions the next year.

Cobia, Permit, gags

Gear: 

Riffe 120 Euro with horizontal reel, 90 cm euro,  3 mm green Cryptic Suit,  and the usual mask snorkel fins and for green water 10-40 ft of vis

Brandon with his Big Boy

Brandon Langel and Cameron with Big Dollies

Back to La Florida we have been waiting for a good weather window to make the long run offshore to hunt Yellowfin Tunas.   Brandon Langel from Fort Pierce has the fishing for them down pat and when the seas lay down we were poised to go long.

Weather the night before was less than appealing with solid 15-20 knot winds while we were catching bait and it kind of set the standard for the next day. ie. If it could go wrong it would….

First things first, we had planned to catch a bunch of bait so we had chum but of course it was blowing a gale and the bait was running scared as hell and we only got about 150 or so.  

 Next morning we wake up to find calm winds and plenty of left over swell and only three of the original 6 man crew showing up therefor assuring us of a hefty gas bill. Bastards.

We slammed our way out and hoped that when we hit the gulfstream it would calm down but I think it was more mental than anything else and we got punished for 3 straight hours.

Once on the tuna grounds it was so rough that we had trouble hitting the pods of birds with the radar and ended up finding only some small schools of tiny yellowfins and lots of skipjacks.  

Excitement spiked when we were putting out the baits enroute to one of the schools and I caught a movement in the wake out of the corner of my eye and immediately identified it as a big blue marlin!

I freespooled the bait he was looking at and after seeing him turn pushed it up slightly and he immediately took to the air as Josh  set the hook when I handed it to him.  The sight of a solid 250 lb Blue Marlin clearing the water and tailwalking for 100 yards had us all hooting and enjoying the lack of Tuna for a few minutes.  As soon as it began it was over with only 60 lb Fluorocarbon leader the big fish and rough bill wore through and left us laughing at the spectacle. 

Brandon quite the underwater acrobat. A lack of Gracefullness while showing your personal best of a species is acceptable.

Giving up on the tunas in the building seas we headed in and crossed an excellent weedline and before long came upon a good looking spot.   

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!

That wonderful sound of a screaming reel and a nice bull dolphin dancing at the other end and we were back in the game.  Gaffing it and bringing it into the boat thinking our luck had changed I held the gaff while Brandon removed the hook and four foot of golden fish came alive and smacked me in the face sending my Costa Del Mar sunglasses sailing into the purple blue.

Son of a !!!!

“Go Go GO! Dive in there!!!”  As Brandon is screaming at me to go I’m trying to figure out what I need to take off before I dive in. Fumbling around for a quick few seconds I realize that the only thing I need to take off  IS MY SUNGLASSES and they are already gone so I dive in fully clothed and with my shoes on and start stroking down and catch them at about ten feet which luckily is only a fraction of the 2500 ft of water that we are in.

Good guys that they are they stopped the boat and I jumped in water logged but determined to get in as soon as possible with the proper gear and actually enjoy the good vis.

Working the weedline with the baits we caught sight of a huge shape below the surface and as I went in to turbo mode and started putting on my gear a 12 ft Tiger shark coasted under the boat and wouldn’t stick around for me to film despite copious amounts of chum being thrown in the water.

Back trolling another 200 yards down the weedline we come across a good school of Dolphin and within seconds of the first strike, the boat is in neutral and I’m in the drink avoiding a trio of hooked fish looking for the big bull which I know to be amongst the 20 or so fish 15 lbs and greater surrounding me. 

Brandon and Josh are yelling at me to shoot and I’m doing my best to hold off as 20 and thirty lb Dolphin surround me and the other hooked fish.     Just as I’m about to cave in and shoot a great fish on the outskirts I see the one I’m looking for and he makes a Bee line straight for one of the hooked fish just meters away from the boat.  INtercepting him to the guys on the boat are cheering as I pull the trigger in full view of them both and the big Bull is in my hands in seconds and raising hell on the surface!

Trophy in the boat and some quick pics and I’ve got Brandon in the water with the 120 EuroX and a float line and he is swirled by the school and selects the best one taking a practiced shot in the head and securing a solid 30 lb bull!

Over the next hour we landed 10 fish from 12-40 lbs and enjoyed some crystal blue waters below the giant weed patches. The bait wasn’t nearly as thick as I would have like to have seen but the fish were there and the day was definitely worth the run across.

here is the video from the trip 

Gear:

Riffe Euro 130 with new Horizontal Reel and Riffe Green Cryptic Rash Guard for Cameron

Riffe Euro X 120 for Brandon with a 100 ft bungey and single 2 ATM float. ( this is the rig that I had brought  to use on the Yellowfins which we had guessed would  be in the 40-110 lb range)

Without the fin up that distinguishes a Warsaw it looks like any other grouper

Fresh off the trip to Micronesia I was straight back into job hunting trying to find a ship job amidst all this foolishness with the American Ship Captain being held hostage on his own lifeboat off the coast of Somalia.

Having just returned from the same area and not seeing any action taken by the US in a few days was less than encouraging and I have no desire to go back to that area of the world.

Got a line on a good job opportunity through a company in Texas and flew out there to interview.

Within the first thirty minutes of the 2 day interview process they told me I was there man and now, (despite having my unlimited tonnage Captains license for that past 4 years) and officially Captain Cameron Kirkconnell and will be in command of a 600 ft ship that operates off the coast of South America.  I am beside myself excited about it as the job is a good one and I’ve been working hard to find something good in our crumbling Merchant Marine fleet.

Job in hand I got on the phone and started hustling for  a dive trip.

Luckily Keith Love (Texas Bluewater Assassins) and Jeff from Maximum Scuba took pity on me and we met up early the next morning to head offshore into solid 4-6 ft seas.  

I could have cared less and was happy just to be on the water and celebrate.   With hopes of making it way out we were resigned to stay in shallow and swarmed by dozens of Red Snappers who luckily for them are still out of season.  

Keith Love with a bigger Warsaw from the depths

Keith had said the chance for a Warsaw was good and I did my best to relax in the heaving seas and bit of current to make some deep dives. 

After 15 dives to 75 ft or more I self proclaimed myself as the Snapper Whisperer as the entire school would meet me at 30 feet and follow me down to the lower parts of the rig like lost puppies.  Every movement I made was under close scrutiny and I wish I had a camera to record the 25 lb snapper literally 2 feet from the front of my mask and some smaller ones close enough to touch.  

It was painful but amazing and I learned a lot about Red Snapper’s habits and what movements and other tricks kept them coming in and pretty much committing suicide.   

Off to the next rig Jeff and Keith gave me a good hour in the water to try again before they headed down on Scuba and I started the process of diving to depth at all of the most productive spots of the rig.  (Incidentally this was a rig that I had dove 4 years prior and remembered the structure and irregularities that hold fish having seen it in clear blue water)

After working the entire rig with nothing but a small Permit to show for it I made a dive out wide in hopes of shooting a big cobia or Mackerel that would be circling.  Resting in the hazy green void at 70 ft I waited and was surrounded by my loyal Snappers and Blue Runners as usual.  

Looking down into the darkness towards the end of the dive I could barely make out the shape of something else that was strangely still and out of place from the swirling cauldron of Red and Blue surrounding me.   

I coasted down and my hopes soared as the form took the shape of a decent sized Grouper and I pulled the trigger of my Riffe 130 Euro hitting him squarely in the top of the head.  

Ready for a war I was let down that the fish simply rolled over and I pulled him easily to the surface and rejoiced in my first Warsaw Grouper while Freediving.  

The feat of shooting them is nothing extraordinary. It is finding them that is the difficult part as this species spends the majority of its time at depths of 500 ft and greater.   As far as we can tell in North America only a handful of these fish have been shot freediving and most have been flukes.  We have been targeting them for a few years in Louisiana without success and on the East Coast of Florida as well and while chances are good we will get one eventually I have to give most credit to Keith for putting me on them and giving me the opportunity to dive first before they went down on tanks.

GEAR:

Riffe Euro 130’s with Horizontal Reel for all three guys rigged with 9/32″ hawaiian flopper shafts.

3mm Green Cryptic Suit (Green winter water and water temp 69 degrees), Riffe Stable snorkel for the rough seas to keep it clear of water,  Amber lens Naida mask for the crappy visibility to pic out the details and brighten up the overcast day.

NOTE:

As far as I know the only people to shoot Warsaws freediving: Jason Wentmore’s buddy off the East coast in 30′ of water!   Chad Palan in South Florida.  Keith Love’s friend in Texas and unconfirmed reports in Brazil. That is a pretty small group.

Physical description:

The warsaw grouper is the only member of the genus Epinephelous that has 10 dorsal spines, the second of which is much longer than the third. The color is a grayish brown to dark reddish-brown background with numerous small, irregular white blotches on the sides. The color appears much lighter around the nape and along the posterior margin of the operculum. All of the fins are dark brown, except the white-splotched spiny portion of the dorsal fin.

Biological description:

The warsaw grouper has a wider distribution along the southern United States than the other large grouper, the goliath grouper ( E. itajara). Warsaw range from North Carolina to the Florida Keys and throughout much of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico to the northern coast of South America. The species inhabits irregular bottom, notches, valleys, and drop-offs, occuring in the continental shelf break in waters 350 to 650 feet deep. Other species inhabiting this productive deep-water zone are snowy and yellowedge groupers, tilefish, and silk snappers. Warsaw are long-lived, reaching up to 6 feet and over 300 pounds. The warsaw’s huge mouth enables it to engulf prey whole after capturing it.