Posts by Stick em

A couple more, had to include the Yellow Jack Sashimi. One of my favorites.

I wanted to share a couple favorite pictures from earlier this year that I was looking through tonight... mostly as a reminder to myself that once the work is done, I will get in the water again. It is very hot for here and the water is painfully low in our rivers. If they close our fisheries I may be back in the water spearing more quickly than I expect. Here is to looking forward to future dives Anyone else feel free to add pictures to this post when you are having a hard time coping with the lack of bottom time.

Keep them coming

Quote from Hardline

They didn't use any weights? Loved the old school Florida diving.

No weights?
Great video of some of the best thanks Dan, that was new for me.

Welcome Nick

Women in rubber...:D

Quote from Nate

Those definitely look cleaner, that's for sure. Not all Louisiana crawfish taste like mud, it's all in how you prep before cooking.. a good batch is to die for.
Yours look mighty delicious, it's got me craving them now. Are they a common food item up your way? What do you guys add to the boil?

Fresh Dill, Thyme, Garlic, and Bay Leaves. Nobody seems to notice them here, so no not common.

Quote from Nate

Nice catch. Have you ever had Louisiana crawfish to make a taste comparison?

I like these better. No mud taste-ever. Cold water rock dwelling crayfish. Plus, the LA crawfish I've eaten were frozen and who knows how old.

More incredible pics. Thanks Hank.

I have seen this firsthand on my brothers boat off the Barren Islands-(departing from Homer) Surface bites of small Halibut are pretty common up there. I have caught them on poppers on a fly rod in 275 ft of water while on anchor. You rarely see them over about 35 pounds on top. They will attack anything when they are on the surface-it's damn cool.

Ouch? Ray Odor shaft?

A picture of the river they came from during higher/dirtier water.

I had a few hours of free time Yesterday so I took the family to one of the local rivers to do a little swimming. It is said withing 80 miles of my house there are 400 mile of river-so there is a lot of places to get away from folks most of the time. On this trip I went to one of the busier rivers around to clean up some junk left behind by careless inner tubers. I brought my gear along and a big bag to fill with some beer cans and sunglasses off the bottom of the river.
Right off the bat when I got into the river I saw some nice crayfish, not the little ones I am used to seeing out here. I poked around for around an hour looking under rocks and checking in holes. I absolutely love diving in big current rivers-something like typical drift diving but more dynamic due to the vortexes and eddies on the riverbed. The water is low and clear now, and as warm as we hope it gets for the Wild Trout's sake (66* currently). The vis was around 20 ft horizontally on the bottom. All dives and drifts were under 10ft. Shallow and swift drifts, hand-grabbing the the crayfish as they bolt down current. I caught enough to make a nice meal for us and give me a reason to drink a bottle of wine. I just wanted to share something a little different with you guys. It was a great (and increasingly rare) day for me to get in the water during the Montana summer. :thumbsup2:

Awesome

I just saw this last night because I have been unbelievably busy-but, this would be my choice of camo if added to the Speardiver line. I like the contrast/large open pattern camo, as apposed to a mono-tone camo suit. I guess my opinion is a carry over from land hunting where I choose camo with good contrast to break up the human profile, not one that has pictures of leaves on it.

It kind of reminds me of Tiger Grouper Patterns.

Quote from hank

I used to fish for them when we'd go to Canada every year. Fresh water barracudas. And they're great eating. I don't care what people say about the Y bones.

So how do you hunt those? They just lay near the bottom waiting to ambush other fish? You see them from the top and go down?

Hank, Typically these fish are out of sight from the surface so we typically dive and slowly cruise the deep edge of the weed line. There is only vegetation until the 16-18ft range in these lakes-then lack of sunlight (and possibly cold water below thermocline) prevents their growth. The lakes are mixed rock and mud/silt beyond that. These fish target Kokanee Salmon (landlocked Sockeye) and Cutthroat Trout as their main forage in these lakes. Kokanee Salmon (and trout for that matter) tend to act like pelagic fish and are usually found free swimming (around the thermocline line) in deeper open water. The pike seem to like to hang right on the edge of the thermocline/weedline, facing into open water....until they find their way into the cooler that is. :thumbsup2:

Quote from Dan

I would be very interested to see a thread on how to make an ab shell inlay. Are there materials/shells in the Caribbean that can be used for this with the same effect?

I will get one started shortly-or maybe just revamp my original post about my yellowtail inlays. (I have a trailer sitting in the driveway with blown bearings that needs to be tended to-I swear it never ends)
As far as other materials I have seen used horn, bone, ivory (my next attempt), and wood-but I'm sure there are some others out there.

Quote from Dan

Fantastic inlay. What is it made of?

What a beautiful place to dive.

Ab shell inlay. I did a poor job of cutting the recess in the wood (the wood doesn't come to the edge of the shell).
That lake is one of my favorite places to dive. Always quiet as the water skiers and jet skiers seem to forget it is there. Lack of boat traffic makes for good vis (wave action stirs things up) and usually it produces at least one fish over 15# per dive.

Don, you are always welcome to slay a few pike and cast a few flies up here if you are in the neighborhood.

I took out a rookie today to chase a few pike around as things are finally starting to warm up here. Water temps up to about 55*, visibility is still poor (due to to runoff) at 8-10ft. The fish were surprisingly shallow today as almost all of them came from under 12ft of water. Mike shot really well for a first timer, especially given the small size of some of his fish :laughing:. He was pretty happy with the bag of fillets he walked with too. I got a chance to jump in at the end and got a solid fish (35") with my new pike gun I just finished (46" mid) All in all a good first local dive for the year.

Welcome