Got some nice ones...

    ...a few weeks ago. Took me over a week for my friend, Jason, to send me the pictures. We went out a few inlets north of Martin County. We put a good whopping on some of the local fish population with some challenging conditions. I wish visibility was half of what it usually is down south. We were diving a few spots in the 70-80' range and had clear water for the first 25 feet, beneath this there was a layer of potaje with maybe five feet and an upwelling in the low 70s...burrrrr. The current was also ripping, so we marked the spot with some jugs and drift dove over them and did it again and again after boat would pick us up down current. Alright enough on the conditions:boohoo:.


    I shot these pictured here along with two cobias one 35# and the other 28#. We did not take too many pictures, but here are a few. One of the guys screwed up some of the nice out of water Permit pictures as he was hitting the wrong button on the camera. We also landed a few nice mangroves in the murk among the Goliaths, but we did not picture those. Enjoy.


    African Pompano went 35#



    Permit went 40#


    And Kingfish was 35 gutted, so I'm going with 40 pounds...

    Edited 4 times, last by Rolo ().

    An amazing hunt with the viz making it all the more memorable. The water looks clean near the surface, better some viz than none, at least you can see and follow the buoy lines down part of the way. I hope to experience those spots with you some day. Thanks for sharing. BTW I'm grabbing one of the pics :)

    Quote

    One of the guys screwed up some of the nice out of water Permit pictures as he was hitting the wrong button on the camera.


    How's Emilito?:D


    Awesome catch dude!

    It's rare for me to want to shoot a particular fish but I have to admit an African Pompano is a fish I really want to spear. I hear they are hard fighters and I imagine that at that size with that flat body it's a hell of a ride. I shot what looked to me a huge jack Crevalle about that size, I think Pantoja was there and saw the school, it shook and bent the shaft without me putting any pressure on the line. Then it got off. It is really an incredible rush controlling the line knowing you have that huge fish on the end of it. Almost better not to get a stone shot.

    The Permit was one of the strongest fish I've ever shot. The AP was not as bad, however I shot a few 50 pound class AJ and those can be a bear to get up. For both the AP and Permit and tried to make sure I had good holding shots as the angles they presented me did not increase my percentage for a stone shot. They both held and did not bend a spear, which was a bit surprising.

    I shot very few such big fish and in such situations my concern was that the flopper pin will be the weak point and give way. After that experience with Pantoja pulling on a stuck shaft with the boat and the 400lb mono breaking first I no longer worry about it. Do you feel like you cheated since you didn't bend a shaft? :)

    I think that bending your shaft has alot to do with where it penetrates a fish. It is all about leverage and if you place the shot in an area where the fish cannot generate the bulk of its strength, then I think you have a better chance at not bending gear. I don't feel cheated as I never want to bend shafts, they are not cheap and I did not have any spares with me either. It is important on how you handle the fish too from the surface. I have had more 20 pound black groupers bend shafts than any large pelagic type fish like the ones above, AJs or Cobias. Shoting a Black Grouper in a cave and having him go berzerk can really pretzel up your steel. That is a strong fish.

    At this time I think it's beyond me to predict which part of the fish to shot will assure that I will not get a bent shaft. After the incident I described with the Crevalle I wondered why the shaft bent because I hardly put any pressure on the line. At home I took a shaft, held it with %70 to %80 of the length free, and simply swung it stopping the swing short. The momentum alone of the weight of the swinging shaft was enough to bend it. Now I knew how the fish did it.

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