Chumfest 2010 (picture intensive)
Rolo and myself headed down to the Marquesas for the annual Chumfest hosted by captain Ed Walker. We were missing most of the usual suspects, as the St. Pete open coincided with this years trip, but the stand-in cast definitely delivered, and a blast was had by all.
Some highlights:
At the 1st stop of day one, I was the first one in the water, and literally jumped in on top of two very large African Pompano. Not wanting to let this chance slip by, I quickly loaded only one band to the fist notch, and plugged the closest one from about 8ft as they turned to make their departure.
A well placed shot, but slightly underpowered, and the flopper didn't make it through the fish's gill plate on the opposite side. To make matters ever more complicated, in my rush to shoot the fish, I failed to notice that a loop of reel line wrapped itself around the reel handle. Using only a single wrap 110cm gun, he ripped the gun from my hand in his initial rush. Thankfully a had added a 10ft piece of floatline to the back of the gun, and I was able to barely catch the tail end of that. The fish managed to drag me down before I managed to turn it, but I eventually got him under control.
Everyone was in a frenzy to get in the water, and Ed made it in first. He called the 2nd, even larger fish that was faithfully still by the side of his fiercely fighting companion. I was busy trying not to get drowned by the fish at the end of my line, so I don't know the exact sequence of events that followed, but Ed somehow managed to miss 2x before finally nailing it on the 3rd try. What amazes me even more than the fish sticking around for that long, is the fact that none of the other divers that were now all in the water took a shot after Ed missing...
In the meantime Rolo was stuck on the boat because he couldn't find his fins. Sorry Rolo, they look just like mine. didn't mean to leave you out of the action. ;
On the 2nd day we almost managed to limit (40 bugs with a crew of 7) on lobster in little over 2 hours in a 400 square yard area. Most bugs were WELL over the minimum size, and there were some bruisers in the bunch, especially for 7-11' of water.
On a more serious note, Lion Fish were everywhere on the flats, something especially bad since this is what most reef fish use as a nursery. I almost got spined in the arm as I was grabbing a bug from a hole. (see the pics here: http://spearfishing.world/flor…lion-fish-in-florida.html )
The weather conditions were nothing short of amazing for, with hardly a ripple on the surface.
Enjoy the pics, and dive safe,
Gerald