Hooked into a nice school of cuberas yesterday. They were looking to get into spawning mode. Filled up the cooler in less than an hour and a half. I was driving the boat because of current and the fish were scattered. I didn't even had time to clean fish as they were bring them up faster than I could gut them. All I did was take out the spear and throw them in the cooler.
Had to get some of the family to help hold up all the fish Jake got a nice grouper and both of them got a nice mutton. 
We gutted the rays and the gg on the boat. I don't know how Doc's Taiwanese friends prepare the rays but they really like to eat them.
We put the rays right on top of the gg in the cooler. The gg tasted fine.
Sunday, Found this 53 lb, (gutted and gilled) in the "house" in one of our favorite cuts. There was an 8 foot nurse shark, who is usually there, right next to the fish when I shot. I crawled over the edge and peaked in upside down. Hit him right through the head and the flopper opened inside his mouth cavity. Not much fight after that. He was brained. He did bend my shaft 90 degrees though.
Then Doc called the boat over because a large shark was swimming around him with his fish he'd shot. He got on the boat and we went back outside to drift in with the strong current. I jumped in and got ahead of the other guys when the biggest shark I've ever been in the water with, a 10 foot or so hammerhead...big and fat.....cruised right past me. Whooooaaaa. I had my gun pointed at it but I think if I'd shot I would have just pissed it off.
I know you can't shoot goliaths up in the US, but they're perfectly legal here. A guy that works here catches them every week in the lagoon next to the farm.
A few dogs and a jack, plus Doc's favorite, the trunk fish. 
Du Quesnay and Doc (my dentist). Two old sea dogs. Great guys. 110 years spearfishing between them. Doc shot another ray while my son was on the boat. Jake said it looked like he was being pulled by a boat across the water. I saw at least 15 eagle rays in that cut yesterday. 
Just kidding but man, we were out Sunday and as usual looking for snappers, grouper etc, (got a nice controversial fish I didn't post. They're legal here but not in the US) and anyway, my buddies wanted to get some sprats for chum. So, we pulled up to this little cove on one of the cayes where some pelicans were dive bombing and netted about 150 sprats. Nice size....about 4-6 inches long.
We didn't use them all so I took a bunch home and my wife fried them up that night. MAN.....those are the best eating fish. We ate them bones, head and all. Unreal. I used to eat fish like that when I lived in the Philippines a lot but had forgotten about it.
It's nice to have thick, tender fillets but those little buggers are GOOD !!!
Welcome
I'm pretty sure you'll have lionfish soon. They've spread all over the Caribbean in the last few years. They are native of the tropical Pacific from Hawaii west to the Indo Pacific and Indian oceans. It's believed they were introduced to the Atlantic through a large aquarium in the Bahamas which kept lionfish but discharged unfiltered water which likely released millions of eggs or larvae over time.
It's believed that there are no natural predators here so many fear they will take over the reefs and deplete many of the natural species here.
Crystal calm day last Thursday. About a mile from our site 15 or so dolphins joined us for about 5 minutes. They stayed right on the bow of the boat. Usually they won't come in so close. Maybe were mating?
I took a couple friends that came down on a scuba dive. I surfaced, grabbed my gun and jumped back in. Not the best idea to free dive after scuba and no surface interval but I didn't dive deep.
Anyway, got into a big school of dogs that had a few cuberas and muttons hanging out with them. The bottom was about 70-90 feet down just on top of the wall. I never got aggressive towards the fish at all.....just diving down and away from them, then turning back to see what they'd do. The mutton and cubera came right up to me. I had to work a little more to get the dog though. They were a little wary after shooting the first two in less than 20 minutes. What a day.
Went back out Sunday but the wives came along. The good thing is, they bring better food and drink than I do. And, it's nice to go snorkeling with my wife, who hasn't been in the water since she got pregnant with our 20 month old son. But, it cut short the serious spearfishing. It was a bit choppy. But Jake and Jorge nailed two nice big dogs non the less. 
After some food and drink, I jumped in on the lee side of the caye. Nice and calm with a sandy bottom and a few rocky formations. Some big lionfish int he holes. Then this nice little hog came by. He went into a hole, stopped and started to go in farther when I shot. Just got him before he disappeared. 
If you're in blue water it's nice to know how deep you are.
Kumu is a goatfish, red.
Uhu is the word for parrotfish... & they range from blue/green for females to red/brown for males.
oops. you're right. Thanks.
Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (trigger fish, also the State fish, I believe)
Kumu (parrot fish) they're green.
Boats, gear, guns....$40,000?
BUT, I pretty much break even on trips now based on what I would spend for the fish I bring home. At least I'm covering my gas bill and small motor maintenance.
My son swam competitively in high school and showed me how they bend backwards with arms extended to fully inflate their lungs. I tried that and it helped.
But I also learned something that was a little disheartening, as far as my potential for improvement.
We had some balloons and each took in as much air as we could into our lungs, then inflated balloons. My son weighs about 140, I weigh 170. He could blow balloons up about 20-25% more full than I could. It seems that some are just genetically predisposed to breath holding capacity.
It's not everything. A high metabolic rate could suck up the extra oxygen faster. But having bigger lung to body ratio must be a real plus.
These were taken by a buddy of ours a few months ago at Turneffe. There's about 4 more in these sequence but these three tell the story. This is what we dream of the night before going out again. Unreal.
Here's a picture of that grouper.
Nice fish. I should make a trip to the other side of the Caribbean.
I have a friend in Hawaii who was taking a small fish off his spear and a moray came up to grab the fish. It missed and grabbed his hand, almost tearing his thumb completely off. He had pictures of it taken by the surgeon who sewed it back together. Ugly.
Marco, he was pretty beat up looking after he came out, but he's been gutted and gilled in the pic.
Went south of the Southwater Marine Reserves yesterday to a normally productive spot. But it was dead. Only saw a couple spooky groupers who dove over the wall as soon as they saw me.
So we drifted south about a quater mile to the next cut. I'd been to this little patch of reef before but it was on yesterday. The top of the reef is about 30-40 feet then drops over the wall to about 70 and slopes into the blue. So many bait fish, chubs, a few dog snappers hanging out.
I was diving down and hiding which brought a couple snappers in close to me. Jake went over the wall and got the grouper, which holed up on him. It came out after about 5 minutes though. 
Willy was stoked seeing fish big as him. 
I was hoping to see some big pelagic. There were lots of baitfish just out in the blue and they would dive for cover pretty often. I think it would have been good just near sunset but I was 28 miles from home and had to cross an area with a lot of shallow patch reef. 
Nice fish! But this is what a 35lb Nassau looks like...]
I think he meant the combined weight of both those fish. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
Well, I have just realized that I might have a record here. Actually when I catch it was bigger than the former IUSA Record. Then, two month later a bigger one was taken in Brazil.
King Mackerel 64 lb.
Nice. 
I'm using a ScubaPro I found in a shop. Very low profile and low volume. Clear lens.
I have a mirrored lens mask too, that I don't use.I gave it to my buddy. It's just too dark for the type of hunting I do. I think it would be ok for either hunting in shallow water on the reef with a lot of sunlight, or, blue water hunting in very clear water with big fish.
I'm usually in about 40-80 feet of water and want to be able to see the fish on, or near the bottom. It's hard with that mask.
I started having the same problem as Slingingsteel is describing. I can do 15-25 dives over the first 2-3 hours no problem but then it gets harder to equalize....descending and ascending. It's the ascending that worries me.
But I've also realized that I am staying in the water for extended periods with no breaks. I used to be more adamant about drinking fluids more frequently. Given that it comes on slowly, and when I go home I"m thirsty as hell and drink about 8 glasses of water, AND by morning there is no problem, I think it might be from not being properly hydrated. There is obviously no lasting damage given that it clears up so quickly.
I'm going to down a Gatorade every half hour this Sunday and see what happens.
