the lights are to spot them. From shore the best thing to use is a dip net with a 31 series battery to power your light, they push through on outgoing tide.
You guys work too hard at this. In Belize we just grow them in ponds. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
Nice pics hank. Looks like a great time.
Are the outriggers of the Banka made of bamboo?
The outriggers are all bamboo. The main support cross pieces are coconut lumber for about half the length, but the outer reaches of the crosses are just bamboo. It all flexes in the waves.. I asked the guy who built the boats why they use coco lumber (while he was building the predecessor to this boat) and he said, "you see how the coconut tree sways even during typhoon, but it doesn't break"?
The downside of it is that the bamboo only has about a 2-3 year life and has to be replaced. But the 81 foot boat only costs about US$45,000. Half that is the 6 cylinder diesel motor.
I met an engineer from the US back in about 1988 there in Negros. He tried to build a banka using oak for the corss pieces and 12 inch PVC for the outriggers. He got caught in some weather out where we were and when waves hit, the oak didn't bend....it broke. Mainly also because the PVC pipe wouldn't sink under the crossing swells. He was lucky. His guys were swimming under the boat at night trying to rope the cross piece down so they wouldn't capsize.
It's pretty amazing. That design hasn't changed at all since I first went there. There are many smaller versions with only 6 hp Briggs and Strattons. We dove off the one in the foreground in the pic. 
No worries. We ate most of the fish.
Carlos, the owner of the boat is from Spain so we made paella a couple times. There were 15 guys on the boat including crew.
The crew is badass. When we would anchor on the islands outside of the Tubbataha park, they would fish....and fish.....and fish. One night they hooked a 5 foot gray reef shark. That was pretty exciting. They turned it loose.
The level of difficulty goes up a few notches there. When I see snappers in Belize, I dive down not even looking at them and when I get down, I can still see them....maybe out of range but they're there.
Here, theyr're gone.....out of site. The snappers here are smart. Luckily the big surgeon fish aren't so smart and they're really good eating. We ate sashimi, kinilaw (local ceviche) and fried.
nice hank..messing with scuba divers at 80' is no joke.
They were our buddies. We were laying on the outrigger of the boat breathing up as they were swimming around under the boat. It was pretty funny. I grabbed Tintoy's leg and he looks at me, then his computer. hah.
We were the only boat in the area.
I have more fish pics but a lot of them were taken on scuba. This being a free dive site....
But it was fun spearing on scuba. The fish are really spooky and Jake, Boy and I would work as a team, crawling over the reef trying to hide and herd some snappers. We got a few pygmy snappers and grouper.
All in all, the fish were much more wary than in Belize. I would watch Jake dive and every fish within a 30-40 foot radius would just split, down over the walls (which were incredible) or into holes. Gone. Even the little blue trigger fish.
Shot a few bigger fish at over 100 feet on scuba too. Before I knew it, I was 17 minutes into deco drifting real fast over the top of this little reef with no land in site, hoping the captain knew where we were going. He did...he's good.
It was really fun being on a local style boat with a crew who were commercial fishermen. Filipino fishermen are badass and they were really stoked watching Jake and me do 70-80 foot free dives and grabbing the bubble blowers.
Lot of grouper here are the same genus as Goliaths (epinephelus), with rounded caudal fins. 
This is the lighthouse on South Tubbataha. Sunset. 
Nice Marco.
sitting in Manila now with grandkids. Just did 8 days on the boat of my friend. Here's a few pics of some fish. We did some scuba too but at Tubbataha, no spearing. It's really nice to see how fast the reef has come back after a few years of protection.
Day one. My gear bag was late arriving so I'm in shorts and shirt. I did have my fins and mask though. Saw a few big fish here but man, Philippine fish are spooky. There are a lot of hunters and fishermen there. 
Jake got this red snapper, as they call it there (looks like cubera) at about 40 feet. There was a bit of a cave and I saw a big grouper. 
The boat from the bow. 81 foot banka. We did about 240 miles or so on the trip. 
look at the rigging. No nails or screws. Fishing line holds it all together with bigger ropes tying into 3 "masts". It all flexes like big shock absorbers. 
No spearing on these dives. The scuba diving at Tubbataha is pretty special. It's a World Heritage protected site now. Some guys with M16 rifles met us the first morning. They're serious about illegal fishing. We left all our spearguns at another island on the way there.
Dogtooth tuna were to be had but we were using smaller guns and reels. Floatline, breakaway is needed. Badly. hah. Those fish are strong. Great trip. I should have more pics later. 
I'm going to retire here in Belize. It wasn't a well thought out choice. I came here to work and now have a fairly large adopted family that would be hard to relocate.
It's kind of expensive to live here. Protectionist economy so everything is taxed coming in. Gas is over US$5 per gallon. Wetsuits, guns, shafts etc etc all have to come through customs.
You need a fair amount of gas to spear here unless you live in San Pedro or Caye Caulker, but it's even more expensive to live there so that would offset your gas savings. The reef is 12-20 miles out from the mainland.
Done, Thanks Dan.
Hi Hank,
I have read some of your posts and found them interesting, being from the Philippines i am curious about your good friends in Iloilo(Boy) who has a place in Nogas Island. Does he run trips around the area or is this a purely private affair. I have visited most of the dive sites in the Sulu Sea (Tubataha Reefs, Jessie Beasley, Basterra, Bancoran, Arena, Cavili and of course Cagayancillo). All of them are great, just too bad that fishing is no longer allowed in Tubataha and Jessie Beasley. If there is any good hunting around Nogas Island i would like to know who to touch base with in that area. Maybe you can point me in the right direction? Enjoy your trip to the Sulu Sea, this is definitely the best time of the year to experience that place.
Dars Padilla
Hi Dars,
I sent you a PM with Boy's contact info. Maybe we can hook up.
Thanks Dan...and no on the slip tip. But I wanted it for the big cuberas when I get back here in July Aug.
I'm outa here for almost a month. Leaving Saturday for Manila then Iloilo. Spending a lot of quality time with my two beautiful granddaughters and doing a dive trip to Tubbataha Reef.
We're going out there on my buddy's 85 foot banka (see pics below) and stopping at Cagayancillo and a few other islands to hopefully get some fish like the one below. The pictures are from a trip we did to Coron back in 08. We dove all the Japanese ships that were sunk there at the end of WW2. That's Carlos in the first pic and the lady in the bikini in the 2nd is my daughter....so back off you fricken horn doggers. :-))
My best friend on the planet, Boy, (with the fish) says there's lots of fish around at his place at Nogas off the south tip of Panay also.
I won't post any pics that we don't get free diving....:nono:....but they do scuba spear there. I'm so fricken stoked. Tubbataha is unreal. No spearing there but it'll be great to just see so much unspoiled fish and reef.
Then about a month after I get back it'll be snapper time here. Yep, this is going to be a good next few months.
I'll try to get some good pics. Later on my brothers. 
Jake...my son and best diving buddy. 
Beautiful looking guns,
Three months of bottom hunting. Not as pretty as they were out of the box but they work very well. My wife says I'm stupid for scratching up a nice, new pair of fins. She doesn't complain about the fish she has to clean though. 
Willy and Doc. Willy was so proud. But he traded the fish to my boss for some chocolate. haha
What a day. Not a lot of fish with this "mega" moon we had. Maybe they were up all night partying and were in holes sleeping yesterday.,
Tino shot a 12 lb black that holed up on him. I was on the boat and he was calling me so I swam over and could see his shooting line disappear into a hole. I went down and looked but couldn't see the shaft so I pulled on the line and could feel it give a little. Doc tried the same thing but we couldn't get it out.
I looked about 15 feet or so along the wall and saw a little fish come out of a smaller hole. I went down and looked in and there was the head of a grouper looking at me. I reached in and grabbed it and as I pulled it out, it whipped its tail and thrusted forward, right into my ribs on my right side. Man, I woke up this morning feeling like someone punched me.,
We got the fish and Doc reached in and got the shaft which we apparently had pulled out of the fish. Tino hit it near the anus. I unhooked the shooting line from the pigtail and pulled the line through. Happy ending.
Got a couple barracuda and another white margate. It's fun playing in the shallows and looking in holes. The boys got a couple hogfish and that grouper. I saw a lot of small dogs in the shallows but most were only a couple lbs or so. I shot this one only. 
It's 2 BZE$ to 1 US. Besically almost all fishing and marine things (GPS, boat parts etc) are about double with you pay in the US.
I believe Riffe charges about US$15 for one, so this is normal.
The Riffe bands were going for something like BZ$ 55 each. :@ Send me the length you want and I'll tie them up for you if you can arrange a boat for us take me out to Mexico Rocks cut when I'm in San Pedro I'll pay for gas too.
Thanks Dan.
Cookie, there's now a place in Belize City that sells Riffe bands already made. Hook and Tackle about a block away from the Swing Bridge.
Or, I can make you bands.
Mutton curse? They are very wary when they get "educated".
Have you hit some that tore off? Or no luck getting close?
If it helps at all, I have the best luck with them hiding on the bottom. Even if I have spooked them a bit and they swam off, if I can find a spot nearby to lay and hide, they come back a lot of times. It has tested my breath hold limits.
Cookie, if Dan gets off his butt and does his job...
...., I'll send you a private message. Right now I can't.
