Posts by matt hudson

  • First Mahi

    Quote from Dude george

    You mind a tip or twelve?
    I hope first of all you had a knife with you? When you had the peanut on, and saw the ho's, if you had started chumming the dolphin with your knife, the ho's probably would have lit up, and started feeding in the chum, inch by inch chunks, or a little bigger.. tail and head last.
    Then slowly drop down just to the side of the chum, and look around, when you start slowly swimming to the one you target, look around as you swim up on it. Usually one will get curious as to why you are chasing his buddy and angle in for a perfect shot. If they continue to stay just ahead of your shot, extend your hand and wiggle your fingers around, most times they will turn around and head for you, keep slowly heading for it. When you shoot aim for the tail if you can... anywhere behind the asshole. Or from above through the center line(think splitting it in half) is good. Their gills are armor plated and i have seen them from close range deflect a spear tip(big ho)... just behind the gills works but shoot slightly high. My 2 free cents ;)... Oh and **** shooting a big ho with a small reel no mater what the jokers say, I dont want that fun in my life ever again :laughing:


    Thanks George that's pure gold right there. I had dropped off the mahi at the boat and just returned to the "pallet" when I saw the big boys. Since I was too lazy to rig a breakaway the night prior I just watched in agony and tried to get my buddies attention by yelling. I should have grabbed chum when I was at the boat... lesson learned. A few hours earlier I was able to drop on some small ones just trying to feel them out. They were obviously less shy than their larger brethren. Thanks for the tips!

  • Stating wind and current direction

    Quote from Brendon

    A problem with this is that "on shore" is not always the direction one thinks. On the west coast, a west winds should be onshore right? Unfortunately not. Below central California, the majority of our beaches are south facing. A westerly wind could run 50 miles parallel to the land mass without touching it.


    Yeah I don't say that in the keys haha. Usually it's in reference to local surface conditions.

  • First Mahi

    Quote from Dan

    Awesome experience. You didn't take any tripletail?



    I wanted to! There was a big guy on that pallet but so much was going on and I didn't want to be the reason we couldn't stop in state waters. We did head straight back in though so it would've been fine.

  • First Mahi

    Yesterday I was lucky enough to get invited last minute on a trip to the Gulf Stream. We were 20 miles out in 1,000 foot of water diving in a weed line. It was flat and beautiful. There were mahi everywhere on the surface and small wahoo would make a pass every 30 or so minutes at about 40 feet. We shot several cows and lost a big beautiful bull that swooped in out of nowhere. One of the guys also got a small hoo which was cool to watch. We ran back in because of some storms coming up from the south but stumbled upon a big piece of black plastic. I'm not sure what it was but it was about the size of a pallet and we could see big triple tails and dolphin just under the surface. We hoped in and I shot this cow before seeing 3-4 big hoos lazily swimming right under me. I was using a reel so I just started yelling for my buddy to dive. Turns out they don't like yelling and bolted haha. Awesome day!

  • Lost cubera

    Where's that picture of the cubera with the broken off shaft in its face when you need it! I'm amazed by the pics in that thread. You'd think anything showing weakness or with exposed tissue would get scooped up by sharks quickly. I recall a day in Hollywood where myself, a small reef shark, and an undersized black grouper were in a three way race trying to get a mutton that tore off out from under a coral head. In regards to the cuberas, I'm more interested in brain/skull injuries but that's probably too specific and hard to figure out...

  • Lost cubera

    Do you guys think the fish are surviving these failed head shots? Even if you don't get penetration that's still a massive blow to the skull.

  • Lost cubera

    I have a healthy respect for those fish now bc of my experience. That was the first cubera I've ever seen so to lose such a fish really sucks. If they were common in the areas I dive I would be setup for worst case scenario but I have a feeling that if I bump into another one im gonna be carrying a similar setup 120-130 rail gun with flopper shaft... Very cool picture Virgili!

  • Lost cubera

    Haha thanks guys! I've sold myself on the narrative of the tip hitting the hull. This is the kind of stuff that keeps us in the water holding our breath. I can't wait to get back out there...

  • Lost cubera

    Yeah I'm using a reel. I'm sure of my aim because I was so close but maybe the flopper failed to open and he slipped off? When I retrieved the shaft, the flopper was closed with the scale touching the hinge. I didn't try to open the flopper before removing the scale (which was surprisingly difficult to pull off) so I can't say if it would have failed to open on the other side of the fish. I can say it was properly tuned before the shot and had no dense meat or tissue on it after. I'm also not sure of the distance between the fish and the hull of the wreck... When I fired the shaft stoped abruptly before whizzing back and forth infront of my face. My immediate interpretation was it just didn't go through. I let go of my gun to control the shaft and realizing I was in a mess of double wrap and big fish I cautiously backed out. My gun floated to the ceiling and once out of the hole I reached back and gave it two good pulls but no bueno so I surfaced leaving it in the hallway. Maybe the fish was against the hull? It was a tiny hole and I was using a flashlight so it's possible I wouldn't have noticed. I'll ask my buddy if he heard what could have been the sound of the shaft hitting the hull. That could be a plausible explanation and explain the damage to the tip of the shaft.

  • Lost cubera

    I've taken big grouper with this gun using a lighter setup, and I'll continue to run it like it is now but like you I just can't believe it only penetrated 3 inches. What a beast of an animal...

  • Lost cubera

    So today my heart dropped when I spotted a large cubera inside a wreck. Even though my buddy said he saw a big snapper tail inside the wreck, I was so surprised to see it that I missed a fleeting opportunity to shoot it. Jon retrieved a flashlight from the boat while I anxiously breathed up for another drop. On my second dive I went in the same hole and checked the same corridor but didn't see him. I waited a few seconds scanning with the light... As I turned to leave I saw his head peering out of another hole just feet away with his eyes locked on me. As I was turning I extended the gun into the hole aimed for a stone shot and fired point blank into his head. I thought for sure it would incapacitate him but I was wrong. He went ape shit and before I could blink I was dodging a thrashing shaft in tight quarters. I went to the surface and tried to calm down but the excitement was too much. Minutes passed before I dove again to find my shaft sticking out of the hole with no fish... The tip of the tri cut 7.5 mm shaft was rolled over as if I shot into a rock and a single quarter sized scale was resting on the flopper. The gun I was using was a riffe euro 130 with two shortened 16mm bands. Is that really not enough for a big cubera? I know we can't win them all but damn.