Posts by Ben allen

Kiiler storie and awesome bug. I really wish we had something similar close to shore here in MS. Its at least an 8 mile run to get to ok vis, and then lobsters are practically ghosts. When I was in FL about 12 years ago I would do some night dives with my brother spearing. It was remarkable eery. I never once saw any sharks on those night dives, but I always felt like they were waiting just out of light range. Thinking about it now though they probably were. I know here night dives here are out of the question, but this thread really made me nostalgic wanting to expierience that uncomfortable excitement once again. Maybe one day may cahones will grow as big as yours spear and ill brave a dive on an overnighter at the rigs....that is considering im not looking down at 10 or 20 sharky silhouttes circling them which seems to be the norm on those occasions.

I am trying to figure out what the best setup would be for use out offshore on oil rigs. I have never rigged a floatline assembly, but courtesy of this forum's collected knowledge I feel fairly confident in this.

My gun is rigged with coated steel cable that I will attach to.....and then there would be the question. Im assuming it would be necessary to go with another coated line, an example being Riffe's coated line. I'm imagining bungie would be a bad idea considering all of the obvious sharp structure surrounding me out there. I like the idea of maybe running 10ft or so of bungie at some point to give a little play when I come across those soft bodied fighters though, that is if Im not completely out in left field on that thought.

I'm imagining the setup as follows:

shaft to cable to 75ft float line to float .....or.....
shaft to cable to 60ft float line to 10ft bungie to float.

As far as a float I imagine I'll be making one of those lifeguard foam-filled cans very soon, as long as the price difference can justify the difference in purchasing the Rob Allen filled float I found at the link below. I may run a couple of lobster floats just for more flotation when I make it deep enough offshore for AJs too, just to be safe.

http://www.scubasworld.com/products.php?cat=135

Anyone expierienced around that type of structure or who has any suggestions it would be welcomed. I would rather have it done right at first rather than learning by losing gear. Thanks for any insight.

I know this is an old thread, but it reminded me of an incident that happened years ago on the gulf coast. I at the time took it as a huge cautionary tale, and have due to the story never considered attaching any gun to myself.

A scuba diver off our coast maybe 7 or so years back was was doing some spearfishing scuba style. He was targeting large grouper. Now I'm not sure what species it was he shot or the size. I remember at the time thinking it had to be a goliath, but seeing their protective status it wouldn't make sense. His bright idea, as opposed to other gear, was to loop and fasten chain around the gun to his arm unconcerned I imagine because he could depend on his tank. He shot a large grouper, and failing a kill shot, was at that point at the fishes will until he could wrangle the fish in. Unfortunatelty, that never happened and the man was dragged to depth where he ran out of air and perished. I cannot remember many specifics seeing how its been at least 7 or so years since it happened, but I do remember it causing quite a stir in the community. I will try to look up a copy of the article from our local paper when I have a bit more time to post.

I mean no disrepect, and it surely was a tragedy, but this should have never happened. The lesson is obvious, and even more important to freedivers who do not have a bottle fulll of air to back them up. Entering the ocean is a risk every time, but we have the ability to limit that risk if we use our heads. Why attach your gun to yourself when it is not necessary? It disturbs me to see products such as this marketed mostly because i can imagine when I was 14 first shooting fish I may have thought it great idea lacking the wisdom I do now. I can guarantee you I would not have had a problem shooting at a 30lb grouper poking out of a ledge at that age, gun attached or not. Its all well and good for expierienced diver's to be aware, but its the other end of the equation that scares me the most about this product. Just my two cents on it though.

Welcome Mark. Im new to the forum myself and like you have limited expierience. Just keep your fins wet. I know for me the more dives I do the more natural it seems.

I'm not sure if anyone knows this guy, but he has been an ocean dweller for 30 plus years. I was introduced to some of his work by a buddy of mine who has partnered up with him and opened a gallery for his work down here in MS. He has 2 other official galleries, one in Tampa and a brand new gallery that recently opened in Sarasota, as well as a restuarant displaying his still shots. He has done underwater video successfully for years, but recently shifted his focus to stills. His shots are remarkable and anyone who is close enough and has an oppurtunity would be cheating themselves not to see his shots up close. Besides just still photo prints, they have transferred the shots to canvases to stunning effect. You can check out his official site for more information at the below address. I have included a couple of my favorite shots below for everyone's enjoyment. The first is titled "Rest Stop" and the second "Surface Tension".

http://www.tonyludovico.com/

Thanks for the info both Keith and John. I was leaning more towards the float line for the safety aspect already so its nice to see my concerns were relevant. I've bird's nested a few too many baitcasters in my years and can only imagaine what a mess a heavy fish doing that at 50ft would do to my nerve. I was concerned about durability around those legs, but better to be concerned for the gear than the other route I guess.

Definately not a bad trip. I love those days where the species keep stacking up and when you look down you have more species than you remember shooting. Half the fun for me is seeing a number of different species and then having the variety to work with in the kitchen. Out of curiousity what kind of gun are you shooting and with what setup? I have a new 48" riffe padauk series, but have yet to have the oppurtunity to shoot anything with it. Im also trying to decide rather to run reel or float line and I figured youd be someone good to ask seeing as how you're shootng alot of fish under the same circumstances I will be.

Thanks guys Im happy to be apart of the forum. Ive been getting really excited because the last few days were very mild. I was talking with my buddy about sneaking out to some points around the islands and trying to shoot some fish just because we're fiending, but not soon as we thought about it a front moved in and it dropped to freezing. Guess Ill still have to wait awhile afterall...

Quick update on some stuff down here as well. Im not sure how much rod and reel everyone does but a buddy of mine was offshore for wahooa few days ago in his 25' Cat and landed a HUGE wahoo. It was less than a pound shy of the stated record weighing at 111lb even. He text me some pics, but he will be emailing me some soon so I can post for everyones enjoyment.

John, it would be awesome to hook up with some fellow spearo's down here too. Like I mentioned the scene to my expierience has been fairly limited, but my small group of buddies manage to get out usually about twice a week once the weather turns. Theres a bunch of boats ranging from 19 to 28ft amongst us all so someone always seems to be able to get theres in. Ill let you know next trip we plan. Maybe once those cobia move in I can manage a box full like that pic you had up.

We ate VERY well for certain. I have attached a few more pics and loaded a bunch more on my gallery for any interested. Id say my favorite thing we pulled was the green lantern shark we pulled out of 900ft of water, and full grown at about 6 inches. Check out the map and you can see the trip in a nutshell. By the time it wrapped all points were hit pluse a few more added at the end. I have little tidbits of info on some of the species in the gallery as well, and well add the rest of the photos I have tomorrow most likey. Hope yall enjoy.

I had an oppurtunity about 2 years ago to join a NOAA research team out of Pascagoula, MS for 2 weeks of a 4 week deepwater survey expedition. The operation was off of a 200 plus ft deepwater trawling vessel and covered areas from TX to 90 miles north of Cuba and eventually docked back in Tampa. They surveyed down to 900 plus feet in depth. I was brought on as a volunteer to my good fortune and had a fantastic expierience seeing remarkable species. I have a few pics available here and we'll post some more later after uploading them to my computer. As promised in my new member thread, here's a small sample. Im the guy in the green Outback shirt in the middle of the swordfish pic.

I have many more interesting photos coming soon...

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