Posts by Colddeadhand

Thanks for all the replies, guys!
I may have to try the bay. It looks like all the parks here (state and county) are off-limits to spearos, but most of them are totally fine with HNL. I guess now I'm looking for somewhere that's not a park, not a designated swimming area, and not covered up with houses....oh, and has a place for me to park without getting towed away....back to Google maps.

I discovered something interesting the other day at Honeymoon Island about the sheepshead, maybe you all already know this:
I was digging for seashells in about 3' vis. and suddenly this 14" or so fish is right there. Everywhere I wend, as long as I was stirring up the sand digging for shells, there would be a few of them coming right up to me to check me out.

Hey guys and gals,

I've been mostly researching here for a while as I've been stuck in the Midwest. Well, someone finally put me out of my Missouri and we've moved to Palm Harbor.

So here's my situation. I want to spear fish. I have a pole spear for now. I am athletic and I can swim. I know enough to drag a flag buoy around when I'm in the water. Grew up on a farm, in the country, so I'm used to dangerous tools and dangerous animals. Self-preservation is high on my list.

That said, can anybody recommend any shore diving locations around here? It seems like most of the public access shores around here would be off-limits due to their being public swimming beaches. I have no boat, so I really need to just start close and learn some skills. So far I have just been snorkeling, observing and stalking, no spear. I will get my FL drivers license this week so I can go get my fishing license right after.
Please PM if you have a spot you're willing to share with a newbie, as always do NOT post it in the thread.

Aside from any spots you might share, is there any general information about these waters in/around Pinellas county that you would want to share with a noob? ANY information is appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Hal
(ColdDeadHand)

It was Kevin from Ocean Rhino. I am still amazed at what a straight shooter he is.
And Linghunt just reminded me of the time he fabricated an oddball adapter for my pole spear, because he saw on a thread that I could not find one in all the internet.

Quote from LOMartin

Theres been times i'm shooting fish back to back and have to stuff a fish under the wet suit

I guess that's the fish you ditch first if a shark gets too curious?

I will say I had a good experience over there once. I had a question about some guns I was considering and the owner of one of the companies gave me his cell, had me call him, and sat down that afternoon and shared his knowledge with me. As a total newb, I am still dumbfounded when I think back at what an awesome experience it was and how nice it was for him to take that time. He actually even steered me toward the other gun I was considering, not his company's, because he thought it would fit my needs better.
I totally agree it seems like there is a lot of hysteria over there, but I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.

I'm going to have to broaden my citrus horizons for ceviche.
Do try the aji amarillo sometime. You can get jars of it on Peruvian food websites, or if you have a global food market around you. Doña Maria is a decent brand. It's almost unheard of fresh in the US, but even in a jar it has a distinctive enough flavor to be worth it.

This could start an argument, but it doesn't have to:
Peruvian ceviche is king.

The size of the chunks of fish is about double the size of what the OP suggests. Here's the low-down:

1 or 2 lbs of fish (depends on you) - they will usually use tilapia, but we all know there's way better available.

sea salt

a bunch of fresh cilantro

sliced onions (stick in the freezer for about a half-hour after you slice them)

the pepper you want is called "aji amarillo" and it has a little heat and a LOT of taste, very distinctive. For 2 lbs of tilapia I could use 2 or 3 Tbs.

I usually go about 50/50 lemon and lime, because Peruvian limes are green but not sweet like our green ones.

Garlic to taste.

I will usually serve with boiled, cooled sweet potato spears and cooked, cooled corn on the side. Make sure your leche de tigre gets all over your veggies.

Mix a good bit of sea salt into the fish, until it pretty well dissolves into the meat.
Mix the fish and chilled onion in with the lemon/lime juice. Mix in the aji amarillo. You really only need to leave it here for 15 minutes or so. When you see the meat go opaque, it is cooked.

About 5 minutes before serving, mix in your cilantro.

As for garlic, I will mix a portion in at the beginning when I put the juice on the fish, and a portion on toward the end when I put in the cilantro.

No boat. I'm going to just take it slow. I have a 7' pole spear w. paralyzer tip and a 15" single flopper tip, just planning on shore diving. I hear that's crap around that area, but easy does it. I want to hook up with a FII course when I get down there, get a little more confidence in the water.

Good things come to those who wait, and to those who don't die from doing anything too stupid. The move is the hardest part, but we will be down there by end of July. Everything else can fall into place after that. I have one buddy in the area, very close family friend, so hopefully he will have contacts. If not, then I'm just jumping on boats with random people from forums like this. Wish me luck!

Hi! My name is Hal, and I"m a total newb.

It's probably hard for most of you to understand where I'm coming from. I grew up in the sticks near St. Louis, Missouri. We have rivers and lakes, but nothing you want to snorkel (heard of the "Mighty Muddy"?). For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to try spearfishing, but it seems like it's never been the right time. Beach trips have been few and far between, and in the past I never would have had the money for a charter anyway. December of 2012 I got to go snorkeling in Costa Rica and something maniacal took me over, an addiction, a yearning, an obsession and I can't quit thinking about diving and spearing. Visited family in Aruba, April 2013 but nobody knew a spearfisher. Even the in-laws who grew up there told me "uh....what? I don't think anybody does that here". So I shore dove and saw some really awesome stuff. December 2013 I hit Pennekamp off Key Largo and got a real eyefull of some local fauna, but still no spearing. Here I am, I been frothing at the freaking mouth since about December 2012 with an itch I can't seem to scratch yet.

Finally, I got my employer to allow me to do my job (tech support) from outside the St. Louis area. July of 2014 (THIS YEAR!!!) is my set move date to the Tampa metro area. Now that I have arranged to move to the Tampa area, I'm really knuckling down on research on everything I can find about this sport, the gear, the spots, the depths, the prey, the hunt, everything I can think of. I'm even coming across a lot of those Cheney "unknown unknowns," the things I didn't know I didn't know.

I look forward to learning from you guys (and gals)!

Thanks for reading.