Posts by smilinmatt

Go a little farther north, and they are everywhere. In the Sebastion area, they'll be on any hard bottom in the 70-90' range. I don't know how deep they go, but they don't seem to be common on the shallower stuff. On a typical day over there, I'd guess that I see around 50 of them. Never tried eating them though.

Carlos, we still need to get you over here for some diving. Red snapper will be in season again soon, and you'll have to make it over for one of our bluewater runs.

Great tournament! The best part was the 13" grunt category. I bet I ended up losing out on more points shooting sub-13" grunts than I did losing my cobia (I took the reel off that gun and chucked it in the canal - maybe I didn't throw it in the canal, but I thought about it). Congrats Red Tide, with yesterday's conditions they earned it - and I bet they're feeling it today!

Well it's about time. I'm getting sick of shooting AJ's. Just make sure you chase them off all your spots by Friday.

That's not kingfish, is it? Matt says you like eating that nasty, bloody stuff! Although, with the pinkish color, I'm thinking it's rainbow runner or black jack? Rainbow runner is the world's best tasting bait.

Usually the worse it tastes cooked, the better it tastes raw. The only exceptions I've found so far are kingfish and little tuny (gulf bonita) - they're just plain bad.

A 10 liter float will give you 22# of lift (minus the weight of the float) at the surface. There's not a lot of fish to target in the Keys that it won't be sufficient for.

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"bent" really? Are you sure they didn't just have a squeeze or edema?

I wasn't diving with him when either occurred, but he spent two tours in the chamber. When I took FII, Martin S. said that the most likely people to suffer DCS were the ones just learning to freedive. It's good to hear about your testing. During red snapper season, most of my dives are right around the 80' mark, and I tend to waiver between a double bottom time and 8:00 (I usually take my time taking fish to the boat to make sure I've spent some time up top).

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In 8 mins you will be 1 mile away

We're lucky over here that we generally don't deal with current. The only unlucky part is usually over here our visibility is so bad that if you drift 20' on your surface interval, you lose the ledge.

Like Rolo said, I use it to make sure I maintain a minimum surface interval, not as an indicator on when to dive. At least double the dive time for less than 80', and 8:00 for more than 80'. I always felt "antsy" on deeper spots waiting 8:00, but I recently went diving with someone that's been bent multiple times while freediving. That helps put the surface interval into perspective.

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Rolo are there size or bag limits for them here in fla?

They're unregulated (100# of fish per person category). A 2 pounder must have been the size of a garbage can lid.

Over here, we shoot big cudas for chum, so we usually get half a dozen at the end of the day. Besides going for a stone shot, shoot while the fish is angled away from you. That way if you miss the spine, when you're pulling it, it's facing away from you. I always grab the end of the shaft, and slide my other hand down the shaft until it's tight to the fish. Then take your hand holding the end of the shaft and slide it into his gills. Now you've got the fish under control, and never had to be anywhere near his teeth.

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First the Giant Chub and now the mighty Black Drum tipping the imaginary scale at 35 lbs. Chris Grauer shot one that was over 60 lbs, but he does not post here. Hahahahah!!! My super stealth wetsuit allowed me to stalk this fine sushi grade fish in the irrie green waters of Tampa Baywhile dodging hungyr Bullsharks.

The rule on those things - you shoot it, you clean it. How many knives did you ruin trying to cut through the scales?

I use an F10. I was using a Geo before that. The F10 is a lot more user friendly for freediving. I wouldn't wear it as an everyday watch. Iit weighs about double what a normal watch weighs, and is about 50% bigger. It does have a temperature function.

I took the class (Level II) about a year ago. And for the record, I was using FG SpecialFins in hard with OMER footpockets. Today I'm using Pursuit C90s with Beuchat footpockets. Although I still use the SpecialFins for shallow artificial reefs and stone crabbing (or anywhere else I'm banging against the bottom).

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Where they commenting on the Stingray blades or the footpockets themselves?

They said that the newer OMER footpockets were hit or miss (some are stiff, others are soft). The Stingray (the plastic fins) had an odd curvature when flexed. If you have access to a pair, flex them back and you'll see it doesn't produce a smooth curve.

When I took FII, Martin and Niki commented more on the footpockets than the blades. Their comments were that the footpockets should be stiff and tight for transference of power. To check the footpocket for stiffness, hold the back of the footpocket with your hand on the back and your thumb inside the pocket and hold the fin level. The footpocket should support its weight and the blade's weight without folding.

As for blades, they pretty much said what everyone already knows - carbon is better than fiberglass, fiberglass is better than plastic. The only fins they had anything negative to say about were Cressi Garas (too soft of a footpocket) and OMER Stingrays (funky bend during the kick cycle).

On the open water days, Martin was using Nemos and Niki was using C-4s. Although, you could have strapped garbage can lids to their feet and they still would have swam circles around anyone.

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Nice Matt. How cold was it?

54 all the way up to a balmy 57 in the shallow, stone crab spots.

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I'd love to shoot a Fla hogfish one day soon. What are conditions like in March usually?

Windy and murky (pretty much throughout Florida in March). On the plus side though, that's probably the best time of year to find fish if you can get out and see them.

You never know what you'll find inside Tampa Bay. 7 pound hogfish swimming with the sheepshead.

For those not familiar with the area, 30 miles out is about 80'. 10 miles is about 40'. It would have had to travel a long way through shallow water to wind up inshore. I think it's more likely someone fishing the Loop caught it, and handed it to a mullet fisherman for the picture. Athough, I sure hope it's true (we dive out of that area at least a couple times a month).

I know well enough to go diving on Black Friday - to keep away from my wife (On Black Friday, she's more intense than a '70's era, roided Bulgarian powerlifter). Unfortunately, Dan wasn't so lucky. The first thing on my Christmas list was a pair of Pursuit carbon blades. She stopped by, and he fitted a pair of carbons for my Beuchat pockets. He did a great job getting the fit just right (Beuchat blades are shaped a little different than most blades, and he took his time getting them perfect).

Since grouper season is soon to be closed, she went ahead and gave them to me early. Dan, I hope she was civil with you and didn't demand to use a 30% off Best Buy ad or get the 4-8 am special. Just understand that 364 days a year she is a sweet, loving wife. Black Friday, not so much.

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You keep diving on my secrect spots this time of the year and you are going to run in to one of these.

Not if we keep passing on shrimp boats, because Matt promised his wife he'd be home in time to take her out to dinner.