As always, here is my weekend Saturday 3rd April 2003 :
Three of us all with the fully rigged MT3 with reel went to the new found deep pinacle. I been waiting like 14 days to come here.
Set the float market on it and it took like 5 failed tries. The countour is too "Eiffel" tower like, not much for the 20# lead to grab. 6th try the lead found decent rock to grab.
All three of us jumped in. The current was suprisingly strong at nearly 2 knots. We cancelled the intention of using the 200 feet float line & Torpedo , no way in hell it will work. Suddenly the current slows down a great deal...how come ?? I was at 120 feet and still could not see any rocks, DAMN, the lead lost grip and we were drifting. Aborted the dive, all in all like under 5 minutes. On the way up a small 4 footer wide Manta circled us. By the time we surfaced we were about 300 meters off the mark.
We then decided to hunt the shallower sea mount. Strong current and no fish seen. Viz was bad at 0-80 feet. At 80 feet and deeper, I felt the thermocline...that's a good sign.
Dive 2. I dove the shallow sea mount again. The only fish three of us saw was what I saw, a decent 20# Spanish Mack. The current was still strong. I saw some shiny reflection in the water up current. I swam as hard as I could and the shape of the Mack materialized. There were two of them. I finned hard to keep position. I assumed the fish was close enough and fired. I missed or it was out of range, I don't know. The water viz where the Macks were were the clear side below the thermocline. I was having headache the entire dive. Over exertion always give me headache. How the hell I miss such a big fish, still a big question.
Dive 3.
We set the marker once again and this time it grab good rocky area and up current. The current has slowed down to +-1.5knots. We dove the deepwater pinnacle. At 60 feet I saw white colour movement. It must be a manta wing under side. When I hit 100 feet of the rock area. The Manta was huge !!! At least the wing span was 17 feet, the biggest one I saw to date. I wanted to play with it as it was doing somersault into the current ...what a sight !! This is my 3rd or 4th dive to the pinnacle and my best to date. On my left there were at least 100 red snappers of no less than 17 pound. A few big Giant Trevaly ( Uluas ) at 40 pounder. To my disbelief the dog tooth tuna were swimming around at 110-120 feet !!! That's very shallow compared to my other dives in this area !! None of the doggies are under 20 pounds. I peek at the deeper ledge and I saw the fattest white tip shark, it was 6-7 footer but brownish not grey like the one I usually saw. I don't know if it was a confirmed white tip but it has a white area on the tip. Too macho to be a white tip I guess but not macho enough to be a bull. Since there is only one of it, I wasn't really concerned.
There were a few 35 pounder dog tooth tuna but it does not want to get close. Since we all have not got anything, we all three shot 23-25 pounder. My one friend was unlucky. His reel line somehow got entangled on the cable shooting line and was dragged tp 140 feet from 110 feet. He made it safely. I shot quite well and the fish was not running much, in fact it was entangled on our marker line and that was good. My tuna then fight a 20# lead and a 20 liter float up above. I let the fish tire on its own. My other friend shot and hit partial spine, the fish went to spasm mode. I swam fast to his fish to stab it, extra pre caution.
We were then happy to be able to get something for the cooler.
Dive 4. Me and my buddy set to land only above 70 tuna pounder if they are around. I had a left ear problem and was last to reach the 100 feet pinacle. What I saw was a big 60 pounder tuna trashing wild and later sounded deep spooling my other friend's reel. He was dragged down to 20 feet deeper and the line got stuck at the rocks. He was lucky. He looked shocked, so I dropped my MT3 on the shallowest rock area and fought his line for him. The fish was gone, torn off, or maybe shark bitten. I don't know. I recovered 150 feet of his 1000# Kevlar line so fast that my knife on my left wrist came off its attachment. It fell only 15 feet deeper, lucky me. Collect my knife and my gun, I need to shoot something !!! There were no Tuna in sight ??? !!! Out there hovering away from the pinnacle in mid water my other friend was finning like mad and calling me. He has a big fish on the end of his spear, I thought. I must help him to overcome the roller coaster drag. While I was swimming to my friend, I saw a big black shape below, MY MY, it was a big tuna, at least a 100 pounder. It was probably 25 feet away if not more, exactly under me. I know I will have better shooting range shooting directly down, and I fired before I almost lost sight of it while it was going deeper.
What happened next was the real event. It got hit, I aimed for the brain but I guessed I hit somehwere on the head and that small top fin. It took off, DAMN !!! It wasn't stoned, I missed the brain. It took off heading into the open water and head for the bottom. I grabbed my reel line but only in seconds my hand got burned. The 150 feet of line was all out and I finned hard, I was dragged down. 120,130,140ft and it made a left turn. I was hoping, entangle on the rock please. Unfortunately it headed for the area where the bottom was unknown depth. 145,150,155 feet. I was holding the gun by the powerband and my left arm was where my computer is. I finned and finned as hard as I could but I was still going deeper. 160 feet !!! Still I could not see the bottom, this must be the area where my portable sounder was not able to get reading. I was at 160 feet deep, 150 feet of reel line, 30 feet of cable shooting line, all in all 340 feet of combined depth capability and I still could not see bottom. The tuna was pulling me away from the rocks. I then decided what I always have set my mind to : gave up the gun at 160 feet if there is nothing to hold and the fish overwhelmed me. From the moment I shot, dragged and gave up the gun, it was probably within 15 seconds. I don't know why I din't cut the reel line. If my left hand were the one holding the gun ( my knife is on my left wrist above the computer ), I might be able to do it but at 160 feet and all happened so fast, I guess my intelligence has left me...:duh and semi narcosis was taking effect. So I surfaced, fishless and poorer by US$1.3k ...................:waterwork ...what a day. I know sooner or later this will happen if I do not have a float system. Nothing lost, nothing gained. A very expensive tution fee....
I surfaced and two of my friends were already there. Good. I was worried about the guy who just now drifted to mid-water fighting his fish. He landed the tuna which is about 80 pound. He was dragged down to 140 feet, the area he fought in was only 180 feet bottom, that I know. He managed to pull the gun to 70 feet and was dragged down again to 140 feet. He was pulled up and down like that for about 3 times, each time he gets shallower. Lucky guy. He did clip his Riffe 7 liter C02 powered utility float, to get lift assistance. But in the state of panic, he clipped it on the reel line and after the shooting line anchor point, thus the float drifted away to the fish instead of getting stuck to the gun. I told him earlier to clip to the wishone line of the powerband but at that size of fish, I am not surprised he was in panic. His last best one was 65 pounder dog but it was hit vital and it gave a little fight, he still could string the fish, carry it around and land another 20 pounder dog !!!
We were all very happy regardless of the loss of my beloved MT3.
So I was thinking, how do I avoid my friend's from lossing their guns. There were 4 of the 7 liter Riffe utility float with us and only two guns left. I rigged each gun to carry two of the C02 powered float on the butt hole.
CONTINUE .............
Three of us all with the fully rigged MT3 with reel went to the new found deep pinacle. I been waiting like 14 days to come here.
Set the float market on it and it took like 5 failed tries. The countour is too "Eiffel" tower like, not much for the 20# lead to grab. 6th try the lead found decent rock to grab.
All three of us jumped in. The current was suprisingly strong at nearly 2 knots. We cancelled the intention of using the 200 feet float line & Torpedo , no way in hell it will work. Suddenly the current slows down a great deal...how come ?? I was at 120 feet and still could not see any rocks, DAMN, the lead lost grip and we were drifting. Aborted the dive, all in all like under 5 minutes. On the way up a small 4 footer wide Manta circled us. By the time we surfaced we were about 300 meters off the mark.
We then decided to hunt the shallower sea mount. Strong current and no fish seen. Viz was bad at 0-80 feet. At 80 feet and deeper, I felt the thermocline...that's a good sign.
Dive 2. I dove the shallow sea mount again. The only fish three of us saw was what I saw, a decent 20# Spanish Mack. The current was still strong. I saw some shiny reflection in the water up current. I swam as hard as I could and the shape of the Mack materialized. There were two of them. I finned hard to keep position. I assumed the fish was close enough and fired. I missed or it was out of range, I don't know. The water viz where the Macks were were the clear side below the thermocline. I was having headache the entire dive. Over exertion always give me headache. How the hell I miss such a big fish, still a big question.
Dive 3.
We set the marker once again and this time it grab good rocky area and up current. The current has slowed down to +-1.5knots. We dove the deepwater pinnacle. At 60 feet I saw white colour movement. It must be a manta wing under side. When I hit 100 feet of the rock area. The Manta was huge !!! At least the wing span was 17 feet, the biggest one I saw to date. I wanted to play with it as it was doing somersault into the current ...what a sight !! This is my 3rd or 4th dive to the pinnacle and my best to date. On my left there were at least 100 red snappers of no less than 17 pound. A few big Giant Trevaly ( Uluas ) at 40 pounder. To my disbelief the dog tooth tuna were swimming around at 110-120 feet !!! That's very shallow compared to my other dives in this area !! None of the doggies are under 20 pounds. I peek at the deeper ledge and I saw the fattest white tip shark, it was 6-7 footer but brownish not grey like the one I usually saw. I don't know if it was a confirmed white tip but it has a white area on the tip. Too macho to be a white tip I guess but not macho enough to be a bull. Since there is only one of it, I wasn't really concerned.
There were a few 35 pounder dog tooth tuna but it does not want to get close. Since we all have not got anything, we all three shot 23-25 pounder. My one friend was unlucky. His reel line somehow got entangled on the cable shooting line and was dragged tp 140 feet from 110 feet. He made it safely. I shot quite well and the fish was not running much, in fact it was entangled on our marker line and that was good. My tuna then fight a 20# lead and a 20 liter float up above. I let the fish tire on its own. My other friend shot and hit partial spine, the fish went to spasm mode. I swam fast to his fish to stab it, extra pre caution.
We were then happy to be able to get something for the cooler.
Dive 4. Me and my buddy set to land only above 70 tuna pounder if they are around. I had a left ear problem and was last to reach the 100 feet pinacle. What I saw was a big 60 pounder tuna trashing wild and later sounded deep spooling my other friend's reel. He was dragged down to 20 feet deeper and the line got stuck at the rocks. He was lucky. He looked shocked, so I dropped my MT3 on the shallowest rock area and fought his line for him. The fish was gone, torn off, or maybe shark bitten. I don't know. I recovered 150 feet of his 1000# Kevlar line so fast that my knife on my left wrist came off its attachment. It fell only 15 feet deeper, lucky me. Collect my knife and my gun, I need to shoot something !!! There were no Tuna in sight ??? !!! Out there hovering away from the pinnacle in mid water my other friend was finning like mad and calling me. He has a big fish on the end of his spear, I thought. I must help him to overcome the roller coaster drag. While I was swimming to my friend, I saw a big black shape below, MY MY, it was a big tuna, at least a 100 pounder. It was probably 25 feet away if not more, exactly under me. I know I will have better shooting range shooting directly down, and I fired before I almost lost sight of it while it was going deeper.
What happened next was the real event. It got hit, I aimed for the brain but I guessed I hit somehwere on the head and that small top fin. It took off, DAMN !!! It wasn't stoned, I missed the brain. It took off heading into the open water and head for the bottom. I grabbed my reel line but only in seconds my hand got burned. The 150 feet of line was all out and I finned hard, I was dragged down. 120,130,140ft and it made a left turn. I was hoping, entangle on the rock please. Unfortunately it headed for the area where the bottom was unknown depth. 145,150,155 feet. I was holding the gun by the powerband and my left arm was where my computer is. I finned and finned as hard as I could but I was still going deeper. 160 feet !!! Still I could not see the bottom, this must be the area where my portable sounder was not able to get reading. I was at 160 feet deep, 150 feet of reel line, 30 feet of cable shooting line, all in all 340 feet of combined depth capability and I still could not see bottom. The tuna was pulling me away from the rocks. I then decided what I always have set my mind to : gave up the gun at 160 feet if there is nothing to hold and the fish overwhelmed me. From the moment I shot, dragged and gave up the gun, it was probably within 15 seconds. I don't know why I din't cut the reel line. If my left hand were the one holding the gun ( my knife is on my left wrist above the computer ), I might be able to do it but at 160 feet and all happened so fast, I guess my intelligence has left me...:duh and semi narcosis was taking effect. So I surfaced, fishless and poorer by US$1.3k ...................:waterwork ...what a day. I know sooner or later this will happen if I do not have a float system. Nothing lost, nothing gained. A very expensive tution fee....
I surfaced and two of my friends were already there. Good. I was worried about the guy who just now drifted to mid-water fighting his fish. He landed the tuna which is about 80 pound. He was dragged down to 140 feet, the area he fought in was only 180 feet bottom, that I know. He managed to pull the gun to 70 feet and was dragged down again to 140 feet. He was pulled up and down like that for about 3 times, each time he gets shallower. Lucky guy. He did clip his Riffe 7 liter C02 powered utility float, to get lift assistance. But in the state of panic, he clipped it on the reel line and after the shooting line anchor point, thus the float drifted away to the fish instead of getting stuck to the gun. I told him earlier to clip to the wishone line of the powerband but at that size of fish, I am not surprised he was in panic. His last best one was 65 pounder dog but it was hit vital and it gave a little fight, he still could string the fish, carry it around and land another 20 pounder dog !!!
We were all very happy regardless of the loss of my beloved MT3.
So I was thinking, how do I avoid my friend's from lossing their guns. There were 4 of the 7 liter Riffe utility float with us and only two guns left. I rigged each gun to carry two of the C02 powered float on the butt hole.
CONTINUE .............
