Hi everyone,
My name is Ben Allen. I work at Ruth's Chris's Steakhouse in the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi, MS five nights a week. Im married and my wife is in school for radiology and when Im not keeping after the responsibility there Im keeping after my 2 y/o son and getting a few days on the water in between.
I grew up on the MS Gulf Coast and with the exception of a few years in Panama City, FL and AL I grew up fishing the waters here out to the barrier islands. I first got into diving at 13 when I got my PADI liscense in FL and have since done scuba dives around the Gulf, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica. I got into freediving and spearfishing at the same time as a kid shooting snapper, grouper, and mullet wiht an old jbl .38 special in FL after school but really started developing that hobby more over the past couple of years.
I have always had a passion for the ocean and it's residents since be a little tike, and that passion has really presented me with a number of oppurtunities to expierience it. I was part of the dive staff at Marine Life Oceanarium prior to its destruction after Katrina, whose dolphins are now housed at Atlantis. I also volunteered at the National Aquarium in Baltimore for few months as I layed over there post-Katrina before returning to MS. A couple years back courtesy of Mark Grace and the NOAA staff had a chance to volunteer for 2 weeks on a 200ft trawling vessel doing a Gulf survery trawling from 100-900ft and saw some truly remarkable species. I will post a thread of some pics of that for everyone's pleasure at a later date. I have always fished and thats where it all began I guess, but over the years my appreciation of being under the water has even out-weighed that interest.
I never did much freediving here in MS until 2 years ago, mostly due to not having the capability to get offshore. The vis here is terrible due to the MS river runoff unless you get out to and south of the barrier islands 10 miles out or so or east over to about Destin. Now that I have been able to get out to where I can see regularly, I target mainly snapper and sheepshead off of structure points and wrecks around the barrier islands and target mangroves, red snapper when in season, grouper, cobia, mackerel, triggers, and whatever is tasty enough to swim by out at the rigs about 60 miles south and also east over south of Dauphin Island in AL waters. After reading a thread earlier I think I may consider taking a cuda for the first time this season. I am comfortable on a breath diving to about 50-60ft, but having not yet been rigged with a float line or reel ever yet have had what I consider a healthy fear of shooting to big a fish when down that deep. Ive taken primarily fish up to about 20lb red snapper and lost my first shot cobia last year due more to inexpierience than anything else my last trip before the oil spill mess. The fish was in the 30lb class shot at about 15ft and snapped the parachute cord my buddys old Sea Hornet was rigged with around a rig leg :crazy: . I learned a valuable leasson there and have since invested in a new 48" riffe rigged with a liter if you will of some coated 500lb cable. :thumbsup2: I havent yet decided rather to go with a float line or reel assembly, but I have few weeks to make that decision before the weather gets ripe and the cobia start their migration. Feel free to offer any insight on that by the way.
I have over the last month or so read alot on this forum as a guest and learned alot. I dont claim to have alot of superior knowledge or even expierience, but do have alot of passion for the sport and just being underwater in general. I know without a doubt alot of yall out there know what its like to despite not being built for the water, feeling at home at and at peace down 50ft swimming in the ocean with its's residents. I would really like to become a part of the community after coming to appreciate the knowledge and comradery Ive witnessed here reading over posts. I have yet to come across any sort of real freediving/spearing scene here on the coast outside of my circle of a few friends basically all operating out of Ruth's Chris. The guys at the dive shop all do Scuba, which I enjoy as a diver myself, but when it comes to spearing Im breathhold all the way looking up to personal heroes like Brett Mcbride and Sheri Daye. I would love to bounce ideas and learn and maybe even meet some folks with familiarity of what I get to witness down here too.
Sorry I got a a bit carried away and I hope I didnt bore everyone. I have to transfer some pictures from a disc of that NOAA trip to post and if I can get some pictures off my phone ill get up a couple of photos from last season. Thanks for checking me out.
Fellow Ocean Dweller, Ben Allen
