Schoolmasters for dummies

Schoolmasters can carry the ciguatera toxin in some areas. They are prone to this in the Bahamas where they are called "the barber" due to ciguatera victims supposedly losing their hair.

In south Florida they rarely get very big. That's why you and Alan are the only ones that shoot them <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> I've seen some huge ones in Bahamas that were certainly worth shooting, maybe not eating..

yeah ive never got one (or really seen one) that was a size ive been proud of. in that 1960s cuba spearfish competition video someone posted a little whiile back there were some BEAST sized ones.
If anyone has any further or different experience correct me but it seems like rather your on the first or second reef the place i see them most is going directly parrelel with the longer ledges, often shooting in and out of the little trench work there. In the cuba video, if i recal correctly, they were schooling right out in the open

That is where I see them, darting in and out of ledges. In Bahamas I've seen the big ones doing the same on wrecks. I think Rolo has a pic with a couple of big ones from Bahamas, post it if you can.

Where you see schoolmasters, don't shoot 'em at the first chance. Oftenly, bigger dogthoot snappers hold in the same areas as the schoolmasters but show up later.

a trick i like to use is to find their spot and swim a bout 30 yds up current, then i dive and find a piece of relief that i can hide behind. i do this for a few seconds til they come out and then i usually have a shot from the top/back angle.

Quote from Dan

I think Rolo has a pic with a couple of big ones from Bahamas, post it if you can.

The first pic is one from the lower keys. The other pic are a pair I shot in Bahamas...

Nice fish. Did you eat the Bahamians?

Quote from Dan

Nice fish. Did you eat the Bahamians?

We did. The filets were all put together along with some mutton and grouper for a fish fry for about 10 people. Hair still intact.:@

I shoot the smaller ones here because it is what we have.
the smaller ones 10- 14 inches fried whole are very tasty.

by the way nice fish rolo

Quote from Dan

Did you eat the Bahamians?

Sorry I failed to answer your question earlier, but the answer is no. I don't particularly like the taste of inhabitants of the West Indies. I prefer the East Indies instead. Love to eat their livers with fava beans and a nice chianti....ffffff <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVlkZVAw8Gc

hehehe I wanted to eat some Bahamians while I was there, but Bahamas' got to be the country with the lowest % of good looking black women.

Quote from Rolo

Sorry I failed to answer your question earlier, but the answer is no. I don't particularly like the taste of inhabitants of the West Indies. I prefer the East Indies instead. Love to eat their livers with fava beans and a nice chianti....ffffff <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVlkZVAw8Gc

Funny, where does he wind up at the end of the movie? Bimini

in tobago the schoolmaster snapper is over all probably the one we shoot most. no one catch them on line.
we shoot them from 3 pound up, 5-7 pounds is good size. everything over that is special. the biggest i shot was 9 pound. never really saw them bigger then 10 pound. they tend to like clear water, very rare to see them in trinidad green/brown orinoco water. the most strange thing about them is how they show up, or dont. i know places where you come today and shoot 5-10 5-6pounders, before they start to hide, you come tomorrow at the same time same place and you dont even see the tail of a 2pounder. dont know if its the moon or tide or what the heck. but the lesson is clear: shoot them as long as they there.
another thing is that once you see them out and plentyful, take your time, as someone else mentioned here before, stay down in a little distance and wait. the small ones coming first, the bigger ones taking longer to get comfortable. and sometimes there are big dog and cuberasnapper near by that will take even longer .
one thing about them in tobago, a lot of people complain they get tuff when you cook them, thats why people prefer to buy other snappers before. i personel dont eat them. never heard of cigua with them, but here we dont have cigua problems with no fish really.

Very interesting to hear about the behavior of the same fish in a different place Tinu.

i agree....

....I always wonder if they are the same fish...

....and to take it a little further...if they are biologically the same, but by their environment have adapted to behave in a different way, wouldn't that be (philosophically) argument that they are two distinct species by virtue of separate evolutionary trends. just because we cannot perceive the difference doesn't mean there isn't one?

What all speared schoolmasters should be like <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4bBKXcKv4A

i think two different species comes down to genetics,, and even kind of evades morphology alot of times. For example we get this fish at my work called a scott's fairy wrasse alot and depending on where they come from they can have totally different color variations and even fin shapes. All the pictures below are terminal phase males just so you know its not a hermaphraditic wrasse thing thats the difference.

sorry to go off on a tangent but i think it answers the question about schoolmasters in deifferent locatiosn to an extent