Antiguan Cubera

Went out on my 16ft Boston Whaler today and hit a shipwreck a few miles off Antigua's coast. The wreck is an old steamer from the early 1900's that sits in about 20ft of water on a Plateau with a drop off to 70-80ft.
As soon as we jumped in I knew it was going to be a killer dive, because the wreck was filled with baitfish and snapper scampering in all directions. My only spear on my 120 Rob Allen is bent so I used my 40" Koah Shortie that I rerigged from how John sent it to me. While all the other guys were picking off smaller snappers, I proceeded to the bow of the wreck where I know there is a little ledge that I once saw a 60lb grouper under. As soon as I peeped under the ledge I saw what looked like a 60lb Cubera staring me straight on:eek:. I raised my gun in haste and missed an easy shot from 10ft away :bang:. The snapper bolted to the deep along with all my pride and confidence. I was so flipping upset with myself that I wanted to go home right there and then.
We swam a few yards from the wreck and were shooting some small reef fish when I got this itch to check the wreck again. This time I started at the back of the boat, looking under any ledge that would house a monster. When I came to the center of the wreck and peeped under a ledge, there I came face to face with what looked like the same monster cubera!! This time I lifted my gun with confidence and let my spear fly as he bolted for an exit. My heart dropped to my toes for an instant as my line looked still...until my reel sang like canary in heat:thumps:. It immediately holed up and kicked up a dust storm under another ledge. I screamed to my friend to give me a back up shot and he unicorned that bitch stiff :gun:. It came in a hair under 50lbs.

I didnt eat it. The ciguatera is really bad here. Especially with barracuda and crevally's.

I sold it. It wasnt eaten by me but by someone else :thumbsup2: