Posts by nsearch

  • Team USA Tournament

    If we aren't interested in the competition what are you wanting us to hand out?


    Does the $50 include the ceremony party for participants or do the participants need another $20 to be included in the ceremony party?


    Is it Harolf Dean or Harolf Fean that needs to be contacted with respect to sponsors?


    The rules state "2 fish per specie", how can someone weigh in two amberjack?


    Can you give an example of how "Florida minimums BUT no fish under 14-inches can be weighed" is actually applicable? Appears that it would be clearer to participants if it was just stated "No fish under 14-inches can be weighed."


    What's the scoring format?


    Is there a point cap on any fish?


    What trophies will be awarded?


    Does the Honor system include the Bahamas?

  • Spearboard coercion of sponsors


    Perfect summary. PM me an email address if anyone would like to see the actual exchange.


    Short description of the reasoning behind my final ban on Spearboard (I asked him to delete my nsearch acct first, then came back about a year later using an alias, of which was finally banned for exposing his behavior towards the spearfishing community.)


    Most everyone knows that Tony first bought Spearfishing Magazine prior to becoming the owner of Spearboard. After about 1.5 years he successfully ran the magazine into the ground and the issues stopped. I was poking around the Spearfishing Magazine website about a year or so later because he used it as a platform to host his tournament documents (another unsuccessful venture). On the Spearfishing Magazine I stumble onto a page that allowed unsuspecting users to sign up for a Spearfishing Magazine subscription :angry1:. Working direct credit/debt card payment shopping cart links and everything, just as if the magazine was in full production mode. Only Tony knows how many unsuspecting divers signed up for a subscription to a magazine that they never received one f'n issue. So I immediately called him out on the deal on Spearboard and that was the final straw, he took down my posts, and banned my work IP address after sending me a PM threatning to contact my employer and providing them with the number of SB hits I had per day or something along those lines. Within 2 days the paypal links on his Spearfishing Mag site were taken down so it was worth it.

  • Spearboard coercion of sponsors

    None of what has been posted surprises me. Especially after I was forwarded the email exchange between him and Daryl Wong.


    Lee - very professional, well done bro. The wife comment was off the chart, what a m'f'er.


    His strong arm tactics into advertising and prizes for his tournament are beginning to shine through, little by little. The forum is the only kingdom he has control over so the censorship will continue until he's bought out.

  • My brother dropping in at Waimea!

    Quote from shallow runner

    Learning to surf changed my life and is what brought me to be so close with the ocean. Living in Ft. Lauderdale there is little to no surf which kills me (actually had more spots on the Gulf Coast). This is actually a tad ironic as I just stripped the wax from my board and made the decision to start making the drive north (~ an hour) and start surfing again. May even buy a paddle board so I can surf these piddly ass little waves we get here. There is nothing in the world that can replace surfing for me......though freediving does come in a close second. :cool2:


    Well said. The two sports actually go well together; when the weather is good for surf then the vis usually sucks and offshore can still be risky. When the weather is good for diving then it's flat and the boards are collecting dust.


    Great pics, love the shaping room images. At 46 and still paddling out at Waimea, can't ask for much else.

  • Guns of the legends Collection

    Quote from Don Paul

    I have a framed Sports Illustrated Ive been saving for him to sigh when I see him along with the oldest Cyprus wood speargun from Florida I have ever seen.Looking foward to showing him the gun and asking if he recognizes it at the Legends day.


    Cheers, Don


    He signed my mint SI at the Blue Wild a couple years ago, couldn't have been more stoked. Great thread DP. :toast:

  • Changing the Aeris F10 battery

    So the battery in the Aeris F10 that I picked up through Jim's Dive Shop a couple years ago has finally crashed. I ordered my battery kit through Freedive Store and had one at my door just a couple days later for roughly $22 (including shipping).


    On the back of the watch you will find that the battery cover has two small holes. By looking at them I figured one of those old wire clothes hanger would fit perfectly inside the small holes to give me the leverage needed to rotate the battery cover. I clipped the large portion of the wire hanger off and bent the two ends at 90 degrees and it fit into the two small holes just perfectly. If you end up smashing the ends when clipping and they don't fit into the holes you could easily grind them down on the driveway or use a small file as the wire hanger material is pretty soft.


    I used my new battery cover removal tool to rotate the cover CLOCKWISE to unlock and remove it. After rotating it about a quarter inch I could tell that it was unlocked so I carefully used a paper clip to pop it off.


    The battery kit comes with a battery (imagine that), a new o-ring that goes around the battery cover, and some o-ring sealant. After removing and replacing the old battery with the new one I popped off the old o-ring. I then greased up the new o-ring using only about a quarter of the provided sealant. Carefully put the new o-ring back on the battery cover and then using the wire hanger tool I re-attached the battery cover.


    You will need to reset your time, day, month, and year with a battery replacement but I found that all of my previously set alarms remained the same, which was cool.

  • Deep wrecks off St Pete - Sarasota

    Man, that is a sick AP!! :D


    I like what greekdiver offered, try keeping your chin tucked a little bit longer. I've dove enough with ya Charlie to know you can hit 70 if you wanted. Like I mentioned before I also think you can improve your kick strength/stride.


    Looking forward to the Open bro!!

  • Permit and African Pompano Meeting

    You are both correct.


    I will also say in their defense that their argument that we should be allowed to harvest permit and AP in State waters IS a valid one. It was discussed during the last stakeholder meeting prior to the Sept. Commission meeting and FWRI staff listened and proposed that change at that meeting. That's when a few of the Commissioners, Ted Forgesen with the CCA, and all the Key's fly-fishermen about shit their pants. The only reason we are not allowed to harvest them in state waters today is because when the rules were made we had zero representation and they shut us out. There's zero biological or scientifical reasons that we shouldn't be able to harvest them in State waters.


    HOWEVER, by a few going down that road we almost lost all of our access to harvest. As Gamble mentioned, THANKFULLY Tony and Jim did not push for that during the meeting yesterday.


    If you search on SB for "shooting AP or shooting African Pompano" you should find the original thread.

  • Permit and African Pompano Meeting

    Greekdiver (Harry) and Davie, as I said on SFP - thank you both for going to the meeting and speaking on behalf of our sport. I've been to every video and stakeholder meeting on this issue (minus the Comm. meetings) from day one and yesterday was big in turning the direction that the regs were heading and HUGE for shedding positive light on the sport of spearfishing in eyes of the State's fishery managers. Thank you again.



    As much as I agree with the majority of the sentiment shown here towards Tony, I have to applaud him (and Jim Fyfe - JFJF) for being there and speaking on our behalf. Tony's exchange with the Barretto was amusing since the Chairman pretty much made him look like an idiot, even though Tony was already doing a damn good job of that all by himself.


    Tony and Jim are not the cause of the permit (and AP) issues that we have been working with the FWC on. Long story short - I believe it was in 2006 when I first saw my first school of AP on a deep wreck in the GOM. Afterwards I asked on SB if they were legal to shoot in Fed waters since I could not find anything on gear restrictions from the State nor the Feds. Turned into a HUGE discussion and then mid 2007 thankfully John H. (Kitefisherman) who is a great spearo and lawyer wrote a great letter to the FWC Division of Law Enforcement trying to find out their legal position on AP, permit, and pompano (they are all regulated together). From that inquiry we recieved official confirmation that we were allowed to harvest (by spearing gear) those species in fed waters only. Well it wasn't soon afterwards that pictures of permit and spearfishermen quickly began to find themselves on the internet thanks to the numerous forums. Once the Keys flats fishermen started seeing them the shit hit the fan and since late 2008 we've been in this mess to keep what we've had all along.


    Bryan


    Edit: And for the most part I've never really seen eye to eye with Bill Parks (BiminiBill) but he's hit the nail on the head with his responses to Tony.