Holy Mackrel!!!

These are pics from last weekend. We headed out to a pinacle and ended up at an island we didn't know about and had never been to. It had decent depth (50fsw), moderate vis, and a good amount of fish. We were about 20 km offshore, nav'd out with a Garmin hand held. Took extra fuel, oil, water, and coolers of ice. We ended up with a good catch, everyone got fish. I was fighiting my fish and it tore up the fingers of my left hand (note: do not get hands into predatory fishes mouth.), thank God I had a decent pair of gloves on. Fish are King Mackrel, Malebar Grouper, another species of grouper we don't know yet, and a young Jack. We fried up one King and grilled the other.....delicious. It was the usual crew Berty, Cav, and myself. The Kings were shot in about 40 fsw coming in to check out the diver one was shot with an Omer Cobra, and the other with a modified Riffe. Take it easy,
Deep Sea Ski.:blackeye

Thank you both. The mackrel were tricky. We had seen them all day, young ones in groups of about five and big old ones in pairs. Lining up the shot was hard. I had to let them swim into my field of fire because if I moved towards them at all they spooked and bolted before I could even level my gun. On another note what have you been up to Hyeparis? Any new tales of drinking and adventure!?! I was in Qatar not so long ago and me and my friends were drunk and my buddy Dan started a fight in the Doha Rugby Club! It turned into a bloody night. Mishu1984 do you ever fish in Kuwait or Qatar? Drop me a line and let me know where you're at.
Keep it Reel,
Alex.

Marwan, I'll check out your recipe. As for Mack's in Virginia....not really. I speared this fish in Kuwait. If you want Big Kings you got to go farther south from Virginia. The two kings in the photos were both shot south of Kuwait city out on Kubar Island. We were looking for Taylor Rock, the pinnacle with 100' depth, when we hit the island. It was a very fun spot...nice little ledge at 40' before the bottom. Drop me a line if you want to meet up in a spot out in Kuwait.Later on,Alex.

Marwan,
Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner....I've been out working. For good fishing in Va. you need to go to Va. beach and get out on the buoys. Cobia will start running in August, this is good fishing. You will want to be sure that you have good boat support and a very visible witness float. The reason being that there is a lot of boat traffic, commercial, and sport fishermen out there. They head out of Rudy Inlet (Spelling?) and go straight out and parrallel the beach they will fight you for position on the buoys, especially if they are trolling. Visibility will not be great, off hand I would estimate no more than 20' at best. Use a fish attracting device, flashers buoyed in the water column work well. The Cobia will congregate around the buoys between 30' and 15'. If you do get to take a shot aim for the gill plate where it intersects the lateral line. You always want to stone a fish, but even more so with the Cobia because their meat is so soft; if you hit these guys high in the back or low in the gut they have so much power they will tear off and swim away. You can also pick up grouper and flounder. Big Warning *** Do not shoot RockFish!!! This is illegal in Va. and it will get you in big trouble. Striped Sea Bass aka Stripers or Rockfish are big business in Virginia and people pay top dollar for the meat and to go out and sport fish. If the Coast Guard or Marine Police catch you with a speargun and any Rockfish on board don't even bother talking, just sign the citation, pay the fine, and leave or it will only get worse. They don't mess around when it comes to Stripers and sport fishing. If you have time and you want to get into some serious fishing in good depth, with wrecks and big fish you need to head south to North Carolina and get into Cape Hateras. There is an annual tourney that goes off there every year, but it got cancelled this year due to the incredible price of gas and people being unable to committ because of the drive and total cost. If you get down there expect anything from Rainbow Runners to Sand Tigers.... it is Blue Water and it is good. There are wrecks anywhere from 40' to 100' plus. Amberjack and Cobia are there and they are good sized. This is where my buddy Berty does most of his fishing when he can't get back to Puerto Rico. It is only a couple hours from Va. and if you want to hunt and really go after it then it's worth the drive. Good luck drop me a line if you need help or contact info. I will send out the message and will get people and contact info. to you. A good club contact is mid atlantic freedivers. I'm not a member because I'm not around enough, however Berty is. If you send me a message and I don't get right back to you it's because I'm out diving or working a project.
Later,
Alex.

No problem man. If you head to the middle east any time soon let me know as well; if you wanted you could meet up with me and the guys for a dive. Keep it Reel.
Alex.

Grass,
Let me get my info together and I will shoot you an email.
DeepSeaSki

Thanks Steel, I appreciate it Mongrel.
Ron I got a nice scar on my ring finger.
We went out this past weekend shot five of the black grouper, Berty shot another Mackrel. However, this one was significantly smaller. We had terrible vis all day, the Macs showed up in a group of about 10 Berty had a shot, Cav and I did not. Oh well. I got some work lined up so I'll be out of the loop for awhile. Everyone take it easy. Grass man I have your info, I'm going to hook you up with mid atlantic freedivers bro and I'll send it to you as soon as I can.
Keep it Reel,
DeepSeaSki.