My Horror Story...What's yours?

[settingsteel]

Headed out a couple of days ago for a hunt on the blue. Was hunting one of my grouper spots about a mile out from Miami Beach.
This area somewhat shallow about 25-30 feet always produces some nice blacks, and its fair share of go's and muts. Its a mixed reef that has some rock rubble (man made) that has formed a bunch of small caves/holes.

The vis in this area is usually pretty good, but for some reason it was pea soupthis day so we just made the best of it stalking on the bottom.

As usual on the first few dives I was greeted by the snapper train, and managed to shorten it a bit, fish was Ike'd and strung, as we continued our up/down stalk along the bottom I noticed a nice black from the corner of my eye headed towards a hole, vis was poor so I went up gulped and dove down to have a chat with blackie, as I was headed down he came up abit off the rubble and I sent him my steel gift, it seemed like it was gonna be a stone shot but he some how shook off the shaft and bolted with a huge gash behind and above his eye:vangry,

Determined to harvest him I set out a seek&destroy plan along his path knowing he would be in one of the holes that laid just ahead...
So I went patiently in search, CAUTIOUSLY peeking into each hole (looking for the white hole on his head), I should mention this area has quite a few moray, but never ever been hassled by them. As I was getting to the end, I peeked in one hole and was gonna go up for air but decided to jump to the next hole instead, as I peeked in that hole I thought I saw him so stuck my head in a bit more........

As I was going in my styringer got hung up (by this time I was in the hole to my chest, and my stringer was outside the hole) so I squeezed one hand out to get the stringer unstuck- determined to go in deeper and bust my blackie...

After a few seconds of tugging on my stringer (which I thought I'd unstuck) I tried going in more, but I wasn't unstuck so out went the hand again to "unstuck it" again...by this time I was at my limit breathold so I backed out of the hole at the same time tugging at my stringer to "unstuck it" again......as I was starting my ascent.........

As I headed up I felt I was still stuck so I look down to undo it and I see this HUGE GREEN GNARLY HEAD holding on to one of my go's...Damn what a fright, I think I shuttered, skipped a heart beat, and if I laid coals, out whata come out diamonds...this beast wasn't letting go I (started smashing its head with my gun, and kicking frantically up, as I had no more air:crutch

I think I even saw that famous white tunnel, as I kicked I felt a "release" and headed up as I passed my buddy, which ascended with me.
WOW this was such a freak out for me as I was headed up I was thinking SWB, but I think I was so adrenalized that my body just held with me, and of course my bud was their with his float at the ready.

Later on the Jetski we went over the incident and my bud said he saw me and went to where I was by the time he was close enough to see me, my torso was half way in the hole so he decided to ascend and wait for me, when he saw I had not come up he went down again (enough to see me) and saw I was still ok and shifting a bit, he said he saw one hand out of the hole but didn't see any moray- the third time he went down was to save me as he knew something was surely wrong, thats when he saw the Green Beast which he said was about 8' feet outa the hole, but still looked like more was in the hole, he actually thought he had bit my arze...he also added thx to the sea gods he let go 'cause he didn't know what he would of done...anyways glad I'm here to tell the story, as well as the other one... you know, the one where the grouper got away:vangry...

Anyone else wanna share there horror story in the blue

 

[armandozx]

Dude! I would have shot that shit! drastic situations calls for drastic measures! hey man I am glad to hear that you are ok. Why didn't you think about cutting your stringer?

I say this because I have a home made stringer made out of mono, did it my self even thought I don't know what kind of stringer you have it would have been an option for me.

I once got stuck in 20ft of water my spear got stuck on the ground, and the line my gun was tied too grabbed a hole of my leg. It pulled me down as I surfaced but I managed to get a breath to untied my self. From that time On I was like f*ck the whole rope on the gun thing.

 

[bgill]

I'd HAVE to spear and eat me an eel or two after that! But be careful... :naughty You may really get bit on the arse...or worse then! rofl

I caught one once while fishing in the Indian Ocean...Them things are dense! They weigh MUCH more than they look like they would...It's like they swallowed some lead or something when you have one ( a Big Moray Eel ) out of the water!

Glad you're O.K.!

 

[octpora]

Usually get a couple of really tempting head shot setups on those beady eyed fish mongers every couple of minutes in the keys. They are everywhere It seems i have had a couple follow me- maybe looking at my buttrofl Always avoid shooting them though, as i hear that close to cuba one must avoid cigar poisoning.

 

[settingsteel]

I say this because I have a home made stringer made out of mono, did it my self even thought I don't know what kind of stringer you have it would have been an option for me.

Not an option my stringer is SS Cable...interesting since I've often thought to make it in heavy mono for this and other reasons.

Indeed the keys does have quite a few greens...This one in particular I think could have gone over 10' the head was bigger than my thigh

 

[armandozx]

@ that close range I would had blown the living sh*t out of him and his big ass head. Dude was your heart pounding? underwater you hear things different inside your body at least that is what happens to me.

Well the reason I did mines in mono was because lol it was free! + I had a piece of mono laying around and other things laying around so I was like you know what I'm making this & saving my self $10+ I hate going back to the boat every time I hit something.

 

[azapa]

close call!!!!! my tips:
1. never use Stainless steel rope stringers or anything else that can't be cut with your dive knife
2. leave the stringer hanging on your float
3. don't investigate when already low on air, instead, note where to investigate on the following dive (i had to loose a speargun to learn this rule

 

[armandozx]

close call!!!!! my tips:
1. never use Stainless steel rope stringers or anything else that can't be cut with your dive knife
2. leave the stringer hanging on your float
3. don't investigate when already low on air, instead, note where to investigate on the following dive (i had to loose a speargun to learn this rule

:thankyou You Sir, Gave out some very good advice. My uncle in Cuba told my dad to tell me, the same thing when he saw my gear,he disagree with the fact that It would hang from my weight belt. Instead he told me to leave it in a buoy or somewhere far from me.

I'm going to take it for what it's worth and listen after all his only been fishing for about 40+ years.

 

[jtkwest]

my buddy had a similar experience with a 6 ft nurse shark trying to eat a fish off his stringer about 8 inches from his nuts and repeatedblows to the head with the gun wouldnt dislodge it , i sawit it , it was incredible, i dont know about anywhere else but the nurse sharks around here are FRISKY! they may not be deadly but they are really annoying! i hate them personally. some get 12 ft long! at that length , they ARE intimidating! i never saw one that big, but a 10 ft one swam up and mothed the end of my spear, in murky water, !in midwater, no less, they never swim in mid water, usually !! i thought it was a bull and i was in real trouble.

 

[jtkwest]

i just thought of a different one , my one buddy, years ago had a tattoo on his forearm from the marine corps, that said 'death before dishonor' he was reaching in a hole abot 92' in the keys after a lobster and a moray bit part of his tattoo off.... now it says 'death before disho" only.......true story

 

[cdavis]

Fun learning experience. Cherish it, you won't see many greens than size.

There are several reasons not to use stringers in places like SE Florida, Keys and Bahamas. You found one of the good ones. As one of those divers who started out using a stringer in the Keys, and got away with it for 6 months or so, I found several other reasons. It took about 3 run-ins with the tax man to convince me that stringers were a bad idea.

Connor

 

[Mr. X]

Glad you lived to tell the tale.

Not an option my stringer is SS Cable...interesting since I've often thought to make it in heavy mono for this and other reasons.

Indeed the keys does have quite a few greens...This one in particular I think could have gone over 10' the head was bigger than my thigh

When I started out I was surprised to see pictures of spearos with fish dangling near their waist and was even more surprised to find many spearos here in the UK attach the fish to themselves. The fish act as an attractant & camoflage, & you really don't hear of shark attacks here. However, the snagging issue always struck me as another significant consideration. Those that use them explained that they always use something that is easily cut, mono/string/cord/tape/etc. -- often entirely or partially homemade.; never steel/cable.

I've always used a float stringer - its just safer. I also attach my floatline to my gun rather than to me, for similar reasons. I was starting to think about using a mono belt stringer last season, when it became obvious to me that fish on my stringer drew in other fish. However, your post is a timely reminder of the dangers. I often spear alone but I also tend to avoid caves.

 

[Marwan]

wow, good to see that you got out ok dude, morrays have wicked teeth, im glad that one held on to your stringer and not you,
i had a slightly similar experince, was investigating one of the "grouper holes" and saw something big move in there, of course my mind was thinking grouper!, as i sneaked up on the entrance and was just about to pop my head it for the shot...out comes the beast of a mrray , his head nearly as big as mine, buzzes right past me....i looked up at my buddy, he couldnt see what i was frantically making singals about...after we came out of the water he wss like, some scary morrays here

 

[Marwan]

never a good idea to keep stuff dangling from you in general...a ss stringer belongs on a float!

 

[settingsteel]

never a good idea to keep stuff dangling from you in general...a ss stringer belongs on a float!

Agreed, but old habits die hard...I was out this weekend diving, and of course with the same stringer, dangling at my side...for sure this week I will modify to mono (weedwhacker stuff) and probably start attaching to float...or in the least attach the SS stringer to the float, which I never did in the past, in case the taxman came along, he'd at least have to deal with me:martial

 

[deep thinker]

Here we allways dive with the stringer on the float and the float connected to the gun not the body, this serves more than one purpose.
1- It keeps the fish away from you for tax man reasons.
2- If you shoot something big that runs with your spear you dont have to hang on to your gun, you can just let go and play the fish with the float line keeping it off the bottom.
3- This one applies nicely in your mentioned situation, you can use the gun as a marker. Drop it at the last hole you searched, go up for air and come back down to your last position following the line...

Ive never seen morays here but Ive seen whites and hammerheads in the 5m+ size and a rays as big as a tractor tyre...

 

[armandozx]

Nice hey steel, look if you want an Idea for a stringer I saw this video yesterday, even though it's in español you can do it just by looking at it. It's way better than a stringer and in my opinion way better than your idea of the wee wacker material ! :t

YouTube - pequeños bricos y consejos pescasub.....

it's the 2nd item he presents totally bad ass I would consider this when I go hit the reefs and open waters of Miami.

This dude also has some other video's that are very informative like how to mount blades on the foot pockets and gun mods.

 

[settingsteel]

Hey Armandoz thats a pretty good vid, lots of 411...thanks for sharing!

 

[Mr. X]

Good video, what helpful chap. Nice back scratcher too - something to do with crabs/lobbies?

The stringer: a quick release knot in a cuttable cord, with a removeable clip...very good. You might be able to find a clip that is easier to unclip in a hurry.

Wrist loops, even bungee, are a little controversial - as I found out when I asked about them last year.:naughty Personally, I would think a thin bungee or rubber band that you can break would be reasonably safe compromise -- but others would probably disagree.

 

[jtkwest]

i wouldnt wear a stringer while freediving in the keys, ur crazy if you do that here.what about a tube with a black plastic insert to put your fish in? instead of a float? i like someone in the boat, ideally, to come over, but then again we do what we gotta do.i pretty much put the fish in the boat one by one , more exercise, less danger, though. the shallow reefs out by Boca Grande, all the way to marquesas are FULL of Tax Collectors!!this is great spearing but stringers are almost laughable alltogether out there.we hit a spot, drop on some coral heads, pop what we can find and move on, especially in the gulf of mexico side,(key west sits in the juxtapositioin of gulf of mexico and atlantic ocean) so we can go south to blue waters of atlantic ocean, :reef is seven miles, then "bar" then ledge then gulf stream:11 miles ;blue water but in the winter when the wind blows, we go west into the gulf side and hit shallow wrecks and coral "gardens" in shallow,(15ft) depth and still have decent vis,(20ft plus, is good in gulf)even in the wind, but the problem is, in the gulf is FULL of bull sharks. plus lemons and alot of nurses, too, and they know what spearguns are or something because once they show up you gotta go somewhere else! bulls are just not to be trusted. not by me anyway.i got a powehead for this season.