SpearBlog

Chad Morris with the Holy Grail of Mahi Mahi. 54 lbs  of Jealousy

Contrary to popular belief I do work sometimes it just happens that it is something that I enjoy and that keeps me on the water. 

This past month I’ve been getting ready for a new job as Captain of a 600ft long ship that will be based in Brazil and I will have an incredible schedule of one month on and one month off to travel, dive surf and enjoy life.  While 12-18 hour days of work day in and day out for one month will be tough the rewards balance it out and make it all worth while. 

So that last month I’ve been doing different training on the Gulf Coast and had a few chances to dive and had one of the best days on the water I’ve experienced in years. 

As with any good trip, the most important part of it all was the people involved.

Chad Morris of Baton Rouge is one of the most gracious hosts and best guys to have on your team.  There are so many ego’s and jackasses in this sport it is a breath of fresh air to find someone who is more talented and has more to offer his fellow spearfisherman than 99% of the guys out there. 

Chad designs his own guns and shoots incredible fish seemingly without trying. In a world of 120 ft divers and world record hunters, he consistently goes out, dives 50-75 ft and shoots more fish than you do.  In the hell divers rodeo a few weeks ago,  he participated in the Hell Divers rodeo and shot what was hands down the fish of the tournament.   Freediving, with his own gun, his own chum, his own dive plan and by himself in the water he landed a 95lb Yellowfin Tuna.   In a true testament to what competition in this sport has lost, he planned a trip the same as he would any other: in pursuit of trophy fish that were also the best ones to eat and someone would be proud of bringing home and putting on the table.

At the weigh in the Tuna was disqualified and not even eligible despite being one of the largest fish in the entire tournament!  Had it been a 95lb Stingray he would have scored higher. Scary, but true.  As a consolation to the incredible fish, he laughs and reminds me that he placed second in the JAck Crevalle category and still won a Pole spear. Whats wrong with this picture?!!?!?!

Tobin Derry is a Air Force Diver who is presently in Panama City but bound for Okinawa for the next few years.  Having grown up in Hawaii he is used to diving in challenging conditions and working to find good fish. This was to be his first chance to hit the Rigs so he was excited to have the chance to join us and our anticipation could scarcely match his for the day ahead. He did the Red Bull Run in one night and my first glimpse of him was half asleep in the 90 degree heat of the early morning surrounded by the state bird of Louisiana (Mosquitos) sprawled across the front seat of his truck. Dedication to the sport. I like it.

Exiting the Pass we knew it was going to be good with flat calm conditions and our first stop with 20 feet of murk on the surface giving way to crystal clear but very dark water underneath. After a warm up dive the Red Snapper revealed themselves and a school of 50-100 greeted us each time we made it to their depth.  On my fourth dive I took a good head shot on a 25 lb one only to have the Pole spear slip tip not detach.  I was pissed but after two more  dives and the same thing happening I switched to a Gun to catch up with both Tobin and Chad’s pair of 12-18 lb Red Snappers in the box.  

By 0930 we were limited on the Endangered RED SNAPPER and added a 40 lb Cobia to the mix to even out box and could have turned around then and claimed a great day on the water. Instead we settled into the bean bags and prepared for the long run offshore to the Tuna Grounds to utilize the 300 lbs of ice in the twin coolers. 

The long run offshore to the tuna grounds was cut short when we kept finding more and more flotsam and weed patches and after running over a few schools of small Dolphin we found a good log and slowed down.

With the slick conditions as soon as the boat came to a stop, Chad and his daughter headed towards the log and Tobin and I struck off towards a 100 meter long weed patch. Over the next thirty minutes we dove around and underneath and the amount of bait and life was staggering.  Bonito, blackfin tuna, small wahoo, Dolphin, Tripletail, Barracuda and hundreds of small cigar minnows, Hardtail/blue runners/tuna crack, and assorted little delicacies for the hunters lurking below.

Pole spears in hand we took a handful of good sized Tripletail in the 6-12lb range and for the rest of the afternoon jumped from one weedpatch to another slowly filling the boat with  more and better sized ones.

Arriving at one good looking bundle of trash in the water Tobin and Chad grabbed guns and I the pole spear we headed towards it on the surface. Immediately we spotted a school of about 30 small wahoo from 10-25 lbs but in the distance we saw the flash of something huge right near the structure.  Chad and I were ahead and the sight of a gigantic bull dolphin coming our way was one that would stop most hearts and lead to some serious Bull Fever.  The cow had to have been 35lbs and the head on this Bull looked ridiculous underwater. For a few seconds we watched and closed the Distance and Chad calmly pulled the trigger hitting the giant just behind the head in the right spot. I think we both screamed in excitement and within seconds I let fly with the pole spear into a pair of 12 lb Tripletail stoning them both in quick succession.  Looking down the entire school of Wahoo was circling Chads fish and with both trips in hand I dove down and lined up on one but they were just out of range. Hitting the surface I yelled to Tobin to dive and he made a text book descent bringing the school within range and stoning a 15lb hoo like he’d been doing it all his life.

Bouncing off the walls by now we all three had our hands full with more than a hundred lbs of fish in almost as many seconds.  Reaching the boat 100 yards away Tobin jumped in and threw me a gun just as Chad reached the side of the boat.  Diving to a whopping 20 ft I waited and was not disappointed to have a few curious wahoo come in and with Chad watching and laughing stoned another twin to Tobins’.

Back in the boat we took some pics and confirmed that Chad’s monster was the biggest Mahi we had ever seen in the water much less shot. Back on the dock the final weight would be 54 lbs!!!!!  A new state Record and incredible fish.

To be continued. Its still only 1300 hours….

The Man and the Mahi 54 lbs