9/6/08 *Spear Report*

[MahiMan]

Went out yesterday and conditions were great! Hit up some spots off Pacific at about 40-50ft and then a second spot 20-25ft. First spot saw a 5ft hammerhead and a huge bait ball being destroyed by huge macks... the ball was moving to fast and we couldn't keep up :crutch. Saw a nice mutton took my shot and missed.... 3 seconds after a huge mutton shows up probably around 25" and I have to reload, never saw him again :head. Keep working the area managed a few langostas and a nice margate... and more missed shots on some macks.

Next spot had better vis and more action. We worked it and saw a pack of monster sized cudas... kinda intimidating . They went on their way, and we continued on ours. Mangoz were out in full force so we took what we should, also probably saw over 20 hogfish between 8-11" which made me rather happy to at least know they are still good numbers out there. As we worked a ledge there was a nice black laying on the sand but this guy knew the game very well. Later we had a mack swim by and my buddy took him out from 8ft away stone shot with his RA, that thing shoots mean. We then started making our way back and saw two nice hogs.... these guys weren't normal they acted like a mutton would. I stalked one of the two for about 15 minutes until he hid around a ledge so I descended behind it so he wouldn't see me, approached very cautiously and he swam off.... I chased at the same pace he did, at this point my breath hold was nearing it end so I made a last bust aimed and took the best shot I could... Got him!!! I was very excited and so was a cuda apparently! The cuda made a few passes at my fish but I moved my line so he would miss... my buddy Enrique *skimfish101* decided to take aim at the cuda, nailed him with the RA around the mid body... saw his gun take off and the float line with it. After a struggle we had my hog in tact and a cuban king defeated.

We didn't need any more fish and decided to call it a day. Oh! On the way back we saw a huge spotted eagle ray... I'm talking huge! Had like a 7ft wingspan very cool to swim with that guy

So here are some pics, had some scuba friends onboard also... not spearfishing... I told them Id shoot them if I saw that lol

Skimfish101 + Mahiman

The Mahi

 

[settingsteel]

Nice fish man WTG on the hale mary...youz never know less you pull the trigger:friday

 

[SporaScrub]

Nice... sounds like a sweet trip!

 

[MahiMan]

Def a nice day out on the water, saw plenty of life out there. I noticed the legal hog population has been on the decline in some of my areas. See a lot of lil buggers but the bigger boys are not easy to come by. I saw a dead 10" hog floating down current with a spear wound on him and another borderline with half his face on...... =/... I hope some spearos start acting less trigger happy. Once the juvenile hogs reach that borderline size they get taken out cutting down the population of those getting to be sexually mature, IMO we will be seeing the results in the long run if it continues... I dunno :hmm

... Yea Tone you just never know unless you take the shot :martial. Glad I did cuz that guy was delicious! :friday

 

[cdavis]

MahiMan,

Nice fish. I am particularly curious about the small hogfish. Have you been seeing a trend of more and more sublegal fish since the regs went into effect? What depth?

Believe it or not, 12 inch fish can easily be sexually mature females. I've seen mature females down to 9.5 inches. They are sex changers and I've seen males as small as 12 inches in heavily fished areas.

Thanks

Connor

 

[MahiMan]

Connor,
I have been seeing plenty of sublegal fish ever since the regs went into effect, especially in the 15-25ft range and even in the 40-50ft range. Out of the 30+ hogs we saw that day only a handful were beyond the legal mark, the one I shot was one of the two bigger ones we saw.. he was about 17."

Didn't know they were sex changers like clowns and most wrasses... figures, thats a pretty neat fact thanks. Also wasn't aware that the become sexually mature at that size, wonder if those teenage hogs are using protection :t

-Andrew

 

[settingsteel]

wonder if those teenage hogs are using protection :t

-Andrew

roflroflrofl

Most of those waters are heavily taxed, so not surprisinly shortys abound, till legal....Hogs do change sexes, but specific time/size is not clear/consistent...IMO its neither good to take only 12" nor is it to take only 18"ers and >. I like to first take what I am going to consume, and second take a range of size from 12"-???"...this way both sides of the controversy are addressed, this is as pertaining only to hogs which is one of the few fish I seldom give away.

 

[cdavis]

Lets hope they are NOT using protection; we need all the reproduction we can get.

Seriously, that is wonderful news about the abundance of small hogs. Thanks for posting that, made my day. It means there is still enough breeding stock around to produce lots of babies and enough healthy grass beds for them to grow up in. It also means the regs are being adhered to (enough) and the resource really can recover. Too many times the fish population is in such bad shape by by the time regulations go into effect that they don't do much good, especially not quickly.

Other interesting facts. Hogs organize themselves into groups, one male to the group. Remove the male and the largest female switches sex. So, you never see little males where fishing pressure is low and there are lots of big females around. In unfished populations, you will see females up to around 8 lbs and the males are huge!

Consider what it was like, once upon a time, like the upper keys, 1969. It was no trick to go out for a morning and one diver shot 30 - 40 hogs, 3-12 lbs in 30 ft. I say three lbs minimum because shooting "babies" was not cool. With good luck and good regulation, we might get back to something like that. You won't ever be able to shoot that many again, but you could see-um and shoot a few.

Thanks again,

Connor