The title gives it away but this is the second part of the day after Chads 54lb Mahi Mahi…  

28 lb MahiMahi with Pole spear no float line

At this point in the day we could have turned around and still had an amazing day. With the conditions as they were and it only being 1300 we regrouped after some pictures and geared up to get back in the water again. By now we’d had a good look at the object floating and I can only imagine that it was a FAD (Fish Aggregation Device) that must have broken loose and drifted up from Mexico of somewhere in the Caribbean.  I’ve seen bigger things floating and ones that have been in the water longer but this was probably the best one I’ve ever been able to jump in on. Underneath was a pair of Dolphin, Chads bull that was 54lbs and the Cow which headed for Cuba and we weren’t able to land that was probably in the high 30’s.  Hundreds of small baitfish, filefish, ocean triggerfish, and two dozen tripletail from 2-15 lbs surrounded us at all times. Circling the entire medley was a pack of wahoo that ranged from 12-25 lbs. While Chad and Tobin took pictures and Iced the two fresh wahoo, two tripletail and big Mahi, I hastily rigged my custom Japanese Pole Spear and clipped it off to a breakaway bluewater rig and buoy system we have been experimenting with. I set up about 100 yards from the FAD and on my first dive the school of wahoo circled and I picked out a good sized one that came within striking distance.  The first shot penetrated so far through the fish that the Carbon Fiber of the pole spear a full 2 feet from the tip was in the fish!  Holy Crap!  The fish took off and within seconds the mass of the pole spear tore through his back and I was back to square one.   Taunting me as I re-rigged I took my time and got another good breath and dove to 30 feet and leveled off.  At the edge of visibility below I saw the tail of a single fish and pushed down deeper gliding into the front of the school.   Watching intently I remained calm and the reaction of the striped speedsters was reflected in their calm, curious paths all around me.  Being at the center of the slowly circling school was amazing and if I’d had a gun it would have been easy to shoot any one of the fish and take the larger of their numbers.   Today however I was up for a challenge and now just had to wait for the right fish.  And here he comes, a small one from the right has that look, that something that shows that he is going to come in and stay on this path and not care if I close the distance. I glide, extend and strike and the fish is off like a shot.  The pull on the pole spear in my hand for a fraction of a second and then nothing makes me think that I’ve lost him but then I see my bungey streaking past me  and I hit the surface to yell “WAHOOOOOOO!!!” Sweet!  Tobin jumps in and Chad laughs and throws me a “Kill Gun”  in the form of another pole spear. We gingerly fight the fish and upon inspection of the shot it has passed through more than 12 inches of flesh from his back exiting just aft of his gills. My first wahoo with a pole spear!  We have been trying it for awhile and had some good chances and hopefully by the end of this year will shoot some even bigger ones. I’m sure there are more buys out there that have done it, or at least lied and said they have, but for me it was a fish of a lifetime. I’ve landed Wahoo up to 119lbs and I can easily say this was one of my top five fish despite its small size! Can it get any better!  

Weeehooo!!!!

We figure we can’t go wrong so head further offshore insearch of tuna but only make it another .25 mile to find a 55 gallon drum floating. Tobin and I are in the water again and with just Chad’s 7 ft pole spear I am on Tripletail patrol again. Coming up from a fruitless dive Chad yells “Big Dolphin coming!” and look over to see a solid bull swimming on the surface between Tobin and I.  We wait for the fish to turn and present a shot but he starts to head of and we give chase.  With the fish on the surface swimming away I dive to ten feet and kick hard in pursuit.  Keeping the fish above me I am almost out of breath and just out of range when the fish does a crazy Ivan and turns straight down heading for the Abyss.  I’m in the right spot and smash him with a shot behind the head. Tobin later said he could hear the crack of the fish’s bone from 30 feet away and as the fish paused, stunned, for half a second and I pounced on him enveloping him with my arms and legs he heard another crack which was the head of the pole Spear breaking off and sinking to the bottom 2000ft below. SO now I’m just under the surface with a big Dolphin in my arms that has nothing but a 6 inch spear tip in him and nothing to hold onto. As quickly as I touched him he came to life and commenced a First Day of Prison beat down on me.   On the surface I bent him in half and Tobin grabbed his tail and we laughed our butts off at what a cluster we had just created.   With Tobin’s help I got my hands in his gills and we got some pics and loaded him into the boat to complete the day with a solid 28lb Dolphin with a pole spear, no float line or buoy. Final tally: 2 dolphin 28 and 54lbs. 3 wahoo (weehoo), 8 red snapper 8-16lbs, 40 lb cobia, 12 tripletail 5-15lbs    

Weehoo and 28lb Mahi both with Pole spear

Dock of Death

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

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.

Last day on the water Healey and I bailed and stayed with rumors of the surf being up and a big night on the town. Alcohol and diving don’t mix so we let GR and Craig and DJ head back up to the good wall and the Moose knuckle.

First couple of dives in GR had a 100+lb Tuna in his sights but it wouldn’t come in close enough so he instead shafted a 30 lb one that was closer.

Only a half day and the seas were back up as well as the sharks.  Ended up with 2 tunas in the boat, 2 lost to sharks and a big Jobfish lost to the sharks as well.  The pics can’t do it justice when a swarm of ten haul ass after your fish as soon as you pull the trigger and it is over before you know it.   Welcome to Micronesia. It gets old fast believe me.

Meanwhile Mark and I had a session on one of the outer reefs which was a hell of a lot nicer in our minds than getting beat up near the Moose knuckle chasing Doggies.   Waves were fun but pretty mixed up and it turned another guy out there with us into a piece of human hamburger when we got sucked over the falls, slammed on his back, flipped him over and slammed again on his chest. He said when he hit his back he could hear it crunch and then when he hit his chest it felt like he had been hit by a car.  Not cool.   Ten minutes later and one of the boys had to run his boat in for him and I haven’t seen someone in that much pain in a while.   Some broken ribs is never cool and his back looks like he got attacked by a tiger.

Today was better. We made it back to the house last night before 2 in the morning, barely.

Surf was up and only three of us out trading head and half high waves until we could barely  paddle anymore.  Great session and a good way to end the trip.

Tonight we start dispersing. GR, Healey and I to Hawaii for a few days to shoot it up. Troy back to Guam, Craig to Louisiana, DJ to North Carolina.

All in all it was a great trip. Troy went above and beyond organizing everything and the boat we used was perfect.   Scott our boat driver did an amazing job and went over the top treating us right. Seriously the best treatment I’ve ever had on a dive charter anywhere in the world.

No one got hurt, but a lot of gear died.

Mark lost a 130 Riffe Euro, shaft and new reel to the biggest Doggie of the trip.  He had his laptop, cash, backpack and camera, and video camera taken from the truck the first night.  Bent three shafts on his 12o Euro shooting a Doggie and a big “Parrot”.  and a pair of flip flops. and bent his slip tip base giving a love tap to an over aggro toothy critter.

GR had a camera housing implode at depth and destroy a brand new Sony HC-9 video camera. two bents shafts and two lost ones (one sharks ate the Tuna and cut the shaft off, the other Tuna got lodged in the bottom in 160 ft of water and broke off).

Cameron bent one shaft, and Mark lost my snorkel so that counts against my total.  I would say I lost my dive knife but because I actually threw it at a 100+ lb Dogtooth to make him turn and come back while I was reloading my gun I am an idiot. When i did go and look for it I had a school of small doggies come in and circle my head and took my fat aggression out on their leader and never did find my knife.

Craig and Troy did better than anyone I think.  Craig didn’t bend but one shaft and might of lost a pair of booties that I stole but other than that it was ok.

The pics are off the chart. DJ Struntz has mad skills and Riffe, Salt Life, and Hawaii Skin Diver Magazine, and Quiksilver (Far Pacific)  gave us good support  for this trip to make it come together.

With all the guys we had together on this trip we had some serious planning sessions on gear, travel and techniques and no doubt the next one will be even better than this.  So much fun. Can’t wait to do it again.

Cameron Kirkconnell

Lots o dogs

Craig Big Doggie

Last two days has been a bit of a blur.

Lonefin’s last day was yesterday so it was his call to go to the deep reef and hope that the “hoovers” would let some of the fish come higher than 100 ft so he could get a few shots off.  The visibility wasn’t as good as it has been in the past with only 160-180 ft vis.  We had to stop ourselves from complaining and snap back in to reality.

First stop was one of the deep FAD’s (Fish Aggregate Devices) which is a buoy anchored in about 4000’ of water. For the most part they have been barren this time of year with only a few little Dolphinfish(Mahi mahi, Dorado, dodo’s) so we didn’t have very high hopes.  With four guys in the water the shafts started flying within only a few minutes and one poor lone little Weehoo was running scared from the cannons.  A lot of cursing and reloading later the guys gave up and we moved to the deep reef.

The next couple hours in slick calm conditions produced a number of small doggies, Craig with a Wahoo in the 25 lb range and some big barracudas. We explored some new areas and found the sharkiest areas as always held the best fish and both Heals and Craig landed big Barracudas that were attacked by huge swarms of sharks that we could see from the boat.

With my ear busted up I spent the majority of the day in the boat enjoying the slick calm conditions and the constant banter between the boat guys.  The highlight of the day was our boat guy Fonz pushing the knife out of the way as I was filleting a big ulua from the day before to use as chum in order to grab the eggs that were its belly.

“You are not going to eat that.”

and of course he proceeds to open it up and bite straight into it like it was a whopper with cheese.  Gnarliest thing i’ve seen in awhile.  Luckily I got it on video.

A bit later I had him show me the whole Beetle nut preparation which in itself is pretty heavy. Whoever figure that out in the first place had way too much time on their hands and was super desperate for a high.

The gist of it is:

You take a nut from the tree and crack it in half with your teeth and take out the middle part.  Once you have that out you get a bit of lime, which is actually crushed up limestone that is turned in to a paste and put in little film looking cannisters to sell, and you put a bit of that lime in the middle of the open nut.

Next you take a cigarette and break it in the middle and put the tobacco half in the middle of the nut too.

Lastly you take a piece of a pepper leaf and wrap the whole thing in that and you’re good to go.

If you ever go to anywhere in Micronesia or the south pacific and you see people (men and women) with nasty fungi looking teeth that look almost like they are made of wood, you can pretty much bank on them chewing beetle nut.

Nasty Nasty stuff.

Apparently it gets you a bit of a high but no one that i know says much about it being that hot.  The boat guys think that it makes them focus better so maybe Adrerol is on the outs and Bettle nut is moving in.

Everyone chews it. All the businesses around town have signs out front that say “No spitting of Beetlenut on premises!”

When you pull up to a stop light, usually at least the driver and the passenger doors open and they spit out their nut juice but if you get really lucky all four doors will open and the nastiness with come from each. Bad bad stuff.

So don’t pick up that habit when you come down here or your woman is going to never kiss you again.

So in between watching the guys dive crazy deep dives (a fair number of tunas were shot at 120 ft or better and the deepest of dives were… deeper than I will say because I don’t want the kids even thinking to go there on tanks) we had some shallow fun on the WWII ship and plane wrecks which were really badass.

One of the best shots of the trip was of Craig in full Kamikazee at the wheel of a flying boat that was crashed in about 40 feet. So funny we all almost drowned laughing watching it.

Today was a banner day for tunas.  in 5 hours of diving we shot 11 fish and should have had at least 3 wahoo that were too skinny for our shafts and we just could not seem to hit.   Probably the best day of Dogtooth tuna hunting I’ve ever seen and we were stoked to call it an early day and get in before the sun set for once.

Healey with another big DoggieProp of the flying boat

Omilu

Took the long ride again with flat seas finally (less than 4 ft that is) and went back to where we had seen the doggies the day before.

This is one of the spots we know we aren’t going to get very many fish but if and when we do they’ll be good ones.

We did two groups of three and drifted the edge of the drop in 40-150 ft of water and I stayed in the shallows to check on all the ulua holes.  DJ and I found some really incredible ones with no one home but with no lights I can only imagine deep in the back of some of the caves there had to be some lobsters or something. Really incredible holes I can’t wait to go back and check them again.

First drift up in only 30 feet of water right on the drop DJ and I were taking pics and up swims a Reef Shark and a medium size ulua.  As soon as he saw us he turned to bail down the reef and out of sight but luckily he turned when I made some noise and came right back in for an easy 6 ft shot.  Battle royale ensued and I muscled him out of the reef not giving him and inch of reel line and DJ got some incredible pics of the whole thing.

While we were messing around with him we also caught a good tako (octopus) and with the ulua and him together it looked insane. So cool.

Back in hunt mode and over “posing”, DJ spots a nice Dogtooth tuna up on the high part of the reef only 20 ft from the surface and Mark snakes it from me and blasts it right in front of the two of us.

So far one of the best fish of the trip. Pics to come.

Lots of cheeky little reef sharks today but the tiger left us alone and we saw a bunch of turtles and dolphins so lots of life on the reef which is always good to see.

End of the day we had three fish: Dogtooth Tuna, Jobfish and the ulua.  For 9 hours in the water it doesn’t seem like much but thats hunting for doggies. You have to put in the hard hours if you want to land the good ones no matter how frustrating it is.

Day 10:

Dove some WWII wreckage and played with some giant schools of Mu that were lucky we weren’t in hunting mode. They were the biggest ones we’ve seen with some in the 7 lb range.   Big night on the town had us out til 10 o’clock.  We’re getting soft having dove all day every day.  Up early in the morning tomorrow heading for the deep reef and checking the FAD’s we put out. Troy’s last day so hopefully we can score him some good fish.

CK

“I did not scream like a little girl.  You had better take that off of there.” Craig after finally reading the blog and seeing the part about the shark befriending his hand

“Yeah my legs really started to burn on my way back up when I got even with the reef at about 90 feet”

Day 8: Mark Healey coming up from the deepest dive any of us have ever done

“I was a candidate for the Air Force Academy.” DJ Struntz

Day 9:  Heals impressed by DJ being so locked on and military’ish asked him if he was ever in the military.

Into the Abyss

After being stuck on land for the weekend to supposedly “recover” and rest and instead feeling like we’ve been run over by the Mongolian hoard, we started diving again Monday.

With DJ here we wanted to get some choice shots so we started out running long and hit another deep reef way off the map that is far enough out we wouldn’t feel bad shooting the Reef Fish that the locals might otherwise pursue.

Starting strong we had Parrot Fish, Lots of small Mu (Bigeye Emperor) Long nose Emperor up to 12 lbs, Uku (jobfish), and all kinds of of other reefies.

Drifting a bit away from the group while he was dealing with an Uku Craig was suddenly hit on the hand and chest and looked down to see his hand in the mouth of a shark that had come from underneath him to eat his fish.  The frothing of water that ensued pushed the shark away for only a few seconds as he kept trying to come in and take the fish before succumbing to a few well placed fists amidst the whitewater.

All the while DJ and I are scanning the horizon trying to figure out who is yelling like a little girl and can’t find anyone with their gun up.  He lucked out and didn’t get cut up so we are lucky there but the shark huggers should now shut the hell up knowing that you can’t just get out of the water when something bad happens, or use a cage or not antagonize them.   Ten minutes later I shot a nice Mu and had it balled by 4 sharks that took it and then an hour later in the same spot GR shot a small DOgtooth Tuna and had no less than 20 sharks destroy it in less than 10 seconds.

Craig and I both had frustrating losses today on big fish that were equally mysterious. The first was his 80+lb Giant Trevally/Ulua that ripped the flopper off his shaft then went in a hole, reshot it with another gun through the head and somehow it came off and disappeared even in only 60 ft of water with 3 guys watching.  Suck ass.

I had a 100+ lb Dogtooth come in on me and DJ in only 50 ft of water when i was reloading and threw both my knife and flasher to get him to turn around to give me time to reload.  It worked but I lost my knife, made a 30 second dive and had him come back in only to turn 20 feet out and not present a shot…

30 minutes later I shot a small doggie and was using it to try and chum up the big one when a 80 lb fish came in and I dropped the tail of the one i had and the big one followed it down perfectly. I hit the surface, took a quick breath and dove right back down shooting the fish that was now mesmerized by the drifting tail, straight down through the back and out the other side.

By the time i got to the surface he had gotten over the drop and the buoys were heading under and DJ was slapping me on the back in congrats and then the bungey started bouncing and boom. he was gone.

All over in less than 2 minutes.  Suck ass.

Come to find out GR and Healey had just seen a 12 ft + Tiger shark and I can only hope to blame the loss on that or some other mass of sharks down deep as the flopper was toggled on the bottom of the fish and I don’t see any way it could of ripped out.

Long day but good to have had the two days rest before. We did a reflexology massage the night before and half of us that did it felt like we had been in a car accident it hurt so bad.  We need to man up and start landing some fish.

We found the spot.  We’ll make it happen today. I’m predicting a Dogtooth over 70 lbs in the next 10 hours.

CK

Murky conditions for Micronesia