Antigua spearfishing reports

Went out Saturday(used the boats 10ft RIB) on our day off with the crew from my boat(sailing cat) to chase a bunch of bait balls that have been going crazy all week while we were sailing the mouth of the harbour that we move in and out of while working . We had caught two nice jack trevally dragging a hand line the day before through the bait balls while on charter

so we figured what the hell lets go see if we could shoot something in the bait action.

After dropping a few times into nothing(as as we hit the water the feeding had moved already)we tried working the coast and some drifting hoping they would head towards us but no joy.... On the way to my favorite spot I managed to time a feeding frenzy right dropping in at the right time and got a look at the fish tearing the ball up... Lots of 8-10 Lb Crevalle and medium size cero but no big Crevalle which is what I was hoping for :(. I shot a small jack and dusted out for my spot while I had a favorable tide.
I got about 4 pan sized greys and a 8-10 lb mutton and couple of ceros at my spot... But no pictures sadly as it was a boys day out.

Today(Monday) I was waiting on the mechanic at my boat and decided to blow off the hours I knew he would be late with a quick check by myself to my spot with the boats RIB...Well I managed a bonehead move by forgetting my snorkel but I decided to man up even though it was rough as it was only 20 ft-35 ft diving. Conditions were normal for the area with 8-10 ft vis IF you timed the tide right First drop to 30 ft and there was a 11 lb mutton smiling at me, got a decent head shot with my omer carbon 90(yeah yeah I am using a pipe for bad vis diving :@ ) had a great time swimming him back to the boat. Dropped down a few more times and only saw 2-3 Lb snapperS which I decided to spare TODAY on my way back to the RIB a obnoxious Barry got a little to close so I decided to end him :laughing:... that was my long weekend.

Quote from hank

Nice fish George. About time you posted some pics.

So you're giving them a fair chance and not using a snorkel?

hahahahahhaha :laughing: yeah seemed to have helped my mojo with no snorkel.
Just haven't been bringing a camera to shoot Hank :boring1: But if weather holds I will be going blue with my new Contor camera on Saturday so maybe badly edited boring first time footage may be in the near future

Went out for a few hours this afternoon from the dock at work with a small RIB to a fuel transfer station a few miles out and although we(finally found a dive buddy) could not see more than 5 ft in front of our noses we had some fun.

Yup, sweet Snook
Cant wait to get a reel because around the fuel transfer station(all of Antigua's fuel comes by sea and comes through this dock for the tankers off shore) pilings I could or rather would not shoot the bigger fish with only my spear line down at 50 foot.

Quote from Belizeman

Snook!! Good eating fish.
Common snook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quote from hank

Nice. We get snook here too but I see them more in the lagoons. They say they like where a river meets the sea??

Hank they are mostly here in brackish water like mangrove lagoons and on the grass plains here wherever there is big structure and bad vis... Saw some frigging big ones that I will go for when I get the right gear for where I was fishing.

Quote from LunkerBuster

Snook is the only fish I will still pursue with a rod and reel because it is that good and you cannot spear them in Florida. I have spent many many nights at canals along the turnpike waiting for the big lunker to show up

Fun fun fish to catch. You can sight fish or work a bait. I have great success with the rapala xrap, sub walk lure. And a 12" worm Texas rigged or wacky rigged

Great share Buster, I can get my hands on that Rapala xrap and try fishing the rig where I saw them at night, with all the lights it should be fun!

Gracias Jose

Boring report on small fish but for an observation I made.
A old sailing crew of mine from when I captained big sail boats flew in with his wife to Antigua to visit from Enland and last night requested fresh snapper for dinner at my house, being a amiable host I launched my little RIB and went out in shitty conditions with almost zero vis that very morn.
Now my observation is this, the areas that have low vis or crap currents divers avoid and guess where the fish are? My fish holes that I am finally sussing out here in Antigua now that it is our slow season and I am getting out diving more and more are all the places no one wants to dive!! heheeheheh so when a friend asks for snapper I just hit my crap conditions spot 10 min from where I launch and Walla three 1.5lb grey's in 20 min
Should have taken a few pics of them all cooked up last night. They looked bigger cooked :laughing:

I must say the satisfaction of being able to harvest your own food on demand and take JUST what you need fresh for that day is a great thing my friends.