weekend hunting

[bluecape]

...and as much as I hate to say it Miles, I think there are very few of these guys of this size left on our reefs.

 

[StretchArmStron]

there's a freakin TON of them here! we generally see close to about 100 per trip...and thats in 3' (1 meter) of visibility.

wonder how may we'd see if the viz was good!

 

[greendiver]

Pronounced: Sheep's head

Sorry there...thought you were kidding :duh :duh

 

[greendiver]

there's a freakin TON of them here! we generally see close to about 100 per trip...and thats in 3' (1 meter) of visibility.

wonder how may we'd see if the viz was good!

How do you aproach them?, they are some kind of sargo aren,t they?

 

[miles]

Hiya

Bluecape, i've seen quite a few of them in the Stilbaai area. Also in the Arniston area, but very seldom over 2kg's!!

I can recall on my first trip to Stilbaai, we were diving in 3m of water. I saw a 2kg wildeperd, which IS huge and shot it. A couple of seconds later, two 8kg+ musselcrackers came swimming slowly pass!!! :waterwork :waterwork

Oh well, i learn't that lesson the hard way..........

Regards
miles

 

[StretchArmStron]

Here in the murky water they are very curious and can be shot from the surface or on aspetto...even a short aspetto can bring them in. Only a few occasions have I really had to pull some tricks out of my sleeve to get them to show themselves. I like to drop down and wedge myself between some rocks and look out into the green while hiding. Just wait for them the swim in front of your spear and pull the trigger!

They differ along in most places they are found though...in the Northeast the guys tell me that they are a bit tough to approach...

Gonna bust up a another bunch this weekend too!

 

[Bill McIntyre]

It is indeed strange how tastes differ, even from one side of a narrow state to another. I grew up in St. Petersburg, on the West Coast of Florida, so I think smoked mullet is a delicacy. In fact, when a lot of us who live in other parts of the country now went back for a 40th high school reunion, we made a special effort to go eat smoked mullet. But when I lived in Texas and in North Carolina, I'd cast net them and smoke them myself, but the locals thought they were nothing but bait.

But an even stranger example deals with king mackerel. My father was a fishing guide, and he told his customers up front that he would clean more than enough for them to take home and eat, but that the rest of the catch was his to sell at the market. Otherwise, he would be charging more for the charter. Of course some customers would always "forget" that they had been told that and want to take away 600 pounds of fish.

But when I was stationed on the other side of the Gulf near Corpus Christi, Texas, I found that there were lots of charter boats taking customers out to catch king mackerel, but they had signs on the dock that said "The customer is responsible for removal and disposal of his own fish."

Apparently there was no market for them, and few even wanted to eat them. When my father came to visit, I made a point of showing him those signs, and he almost fell off the dock.

 

[cdavis]

Peoples tastes can be very different, but sometimes it is the fish. For example, mullet in Louisiana is often muddy, musty tasting. Very Bad. Water quality there is dominated by the Mississippi River. In the Florida Panhandle, not much more than 100 miles away, but with no big rivers, fresh mullet is outstanding, one of my favorite fish. It gets fishy real fast, but first day is wonderful. Smoked is even better.

Connor

 

[greendiver]

Peoples tastes can be very different, but sometimes it is the fish. For example, mullet in Louisiana is often muddy, musty tasting. Very Bad. Water quality there is dominated by the Mississippi River. In the Florida Panhandle, not much more than 100 miles away, but with no big rivers, fresh mullet is outstanding, one of my favorite fish. It gets fishy real fast, but first day is wonderful. Smoked is even better.

Connor

Hell...if you like Mullets, come over here....millions of them.......

 

[Memo]

Mark, errmmm is the trouser a bit short or shrank with water

Very nice fish

 

[Murat]

Mark you know there is also elios too or may be you like to have TOP SUB rofl

anyway, great pictures and liked the boat,carrying floats with a boat in the water is just brilliant idea rofl rofl rofl

ps i am getting wet tomorrow morning (hopefully) after a month break due to bad wether. Place is not very promising but very close to home and realtivelly shallow dives (<60feet) if i am lucky i could find few sargo for dinner.

 

[jimdoe2you]

Mark,

Maybe you should splurge for a nice Oceanos! Top and bottom for $129.99!!! They're custom made to order you know!

:t

 

[Memo]

rofl

Errrmmm instead of getting a suit why dont you make some calf patches or extra long socks for the short pants I can see them in the 2007 catalog

eh eh eh, I knew someone would catch that one :head When you hold those big fish up like I am it has a tendency to pull up on your wetsuit rofl
Seriously though, I use a size 5 (L) in our suits which has a height limit of 5'11"-6'1" or so and I'm 6'4". Next year Omer is coming out with the 3MLong,4ML Long,5LLongs so then my problem should be fixed since the XL is too big for me as I'm a bit skinny at 195lbs for my height.

So I know what you're going to say next Memo, get a custom Polo Suit like yours, DREAM ON!!! I'm an Omer man from head to toe (except for the little gap between the wetsuit and the booties !

 

[shaneshac]

Wear the new Omer 2mm neoprene tights under your pants.

Included with full camo suspenders and ocean mimetic thong rofl rofl rofl

Mark, Mark, Mark hahahahhahahaha You kill me!!!!

 

[Fondueset]

'Mimetic Thong' - thanks ALOT for that image.

I've got to get out on the East Coast and go diving. Our spearing regulations are ridiculous and haven't been revisited in probably 30 years. Turns out most of them are by statute which means getting changes in front of the State Legislature...gah.

 

[morey_b]

Those sheepshead are pretty easy to shoot in the shallows. They are normally the first fish to swim up to me and are pretty inquisitive, still fun to shoot (as with any fish). I have cooked them and dont particularly like them so tend not to shoot them anymore. I know of people that think they are great to eat.

Cheers

 

[shaneshac]

I can also make you a custom suit for that price but I just don't know if you'll wear it

Mark

Nah

I prefer my Ralph Lauren Polosub wetsuit. I may not shoot as many fish, but i look better than you on the beach

 

[StretchArmStron]

thanks for the thread hijack mark!

 

[Murat]

yeah i can imagine shane stalking to girls in the ibiza beaches with his camo suit, yet he should develop new attractive elements for aspetto since "pissing warrior" trick may not work on them. However i noticed girls are more interested with the size of your gun rather than what you wear and the second question will be "what you gonna do/shoot with that?" for sure. rofl rofl and yet its not advisable to walk on beach with loaded gun rofl

 

[Mark Laboccetta]

thanks for the thread hijack mark!

Sorry about that, that is what happened isn't it? A guy shows a bit of skin on his ankles holding a fish and these European guys start getting excited and talking about camo thongs and it all goes south...what is this world coming to?

I'll delete my posts and repost our striper pictures somewhere else. It's all good.

Mark

ps- I realize that for most Med guys, and having hunted in the Med a lot myself when I was younger, striped bass like we get here in the US look disproportionately huge compared to their cousin, the European Sea Bass.It would be neat to see if anyone wants to discuss their similarities and diffs. on the other thread.