Posts by smilinmatt

"The AJs were thick" is an understatement. You had to be careful with your shots or you'd end up with three or four on the shaft. I felt bad for the guys that were fishing. They spent most of the day trying to figure out how to get the baits past them. The tricky part was there were schools from 12" to 40#, and everything in between.

You giving guided tours this winter? I even have a pair of clamming boots for the hike back there.

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SO jealous, I love AP!!!!!

The weather looks bad for this weekend. But if the weather is good, maybe next weekend you won't have to be jealous anymore.

Dan, I just added a report to the Florida Gulfcoast section (maybe get some activity started over there).

We went out deep to look for some red snapper on Sunday. We weren't chumming heavy enough to get the snapper up and feeding, but we still managed a few fish.

The first stop had a non-stop school of 20-40# amberjacks. We put three on the boat (while cleaning them, we found out that there wasn't a single worm in any of them). There was a school of about 10 African Pompano swimming around. I must of had some kind of AP attractant, because they swarmed me on just about every drop. Unfortunately, Matt Rey was using the repellant, because he only saw one from a distance the entire time we were there. I also got one of my "poor man's tuna" (rainbow runner) at the spot. Matt Rey had a passby from a wahoo at the spot, but he wasn't able to connect. The red snapper were a no-show on the spot.

The next spot, was swarming with 20-30# kings. We didn't have much chum left, so we weren't able to get the reds up and feeding. Every once in a while one would pop up into the chum, but they kept their distance. On one of the first drops on the spot, I had a shot on one about 10#, but took a 7-8# mangrove swimming with him instead. That ended up being the only one I got within range of.

The guys on the boat were catching a lot of small 18-20" amberjacks, and instead of going back down, they were hanging under the boat. One of the AJs started drifting back and then started dropping down. When he got about 50 feet down, I followed after him. Below him was one of the kings. The king started to leave when he saw me, so I swam towards the AJ, and that got the king's attention. He turned and darted towards the AJ.

I tagged the king and off went the float. When I finally got him close, I grabbed him by the throat and impaled myself with a j-hook. He had the treble hook from a stinger rig stuck in him. So now I'm connected to a still green king - a j-hook in my hand and a treble hook in his throat. I didn't want to find out what would give first - his throat or my hand. So I just ripped the hook back out the way it went in. Now that I had a free hand, I brained the king and swam it back to the boat. When I took off my glove, there were two holes from the hook and a chunk of me hanging out of the entry hole. Rather than trying to tuck it back in, I just finished pulling it out. All five fingers still work, so I'll call that one a "win".

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I have you beat Matt. I actually weighed one in at the Saint Pete Open this year. He was .0000001 bigger than yours I will find a picture and post it so there will be no disputing my much larger entry. My shot placement was definitely better too

Still waiting on the pictures, or I'll have to call BS!

How about in the human category - 205#? I got caught by a 25# kingfish using a stinger rig he had hidden in his throat. It was a nice shot too - toggled right through my hand.

Guaguanche (cuda family) - not big enough to move my scale, but he was a solid 3 ounces. Check out the shot, perfect stone shot on a fish only slightly wider than the shaft. :thumbsup2:

(Goku added for scale.)

Over here (Tampa area), gag grouper tend to face into the current, either in the sand upcurrent of structure or in the structure on the upcurrent side. When the flounder are in, they tend to be in the same general area - close to the structure on upcurrent side. The rest of the reef fish don't seem to care. On big structure, if you have a school of baitfish hanging deep, the gags are usually right under them. Best bet is to drop on the downcurrent side, and crawl towards them. Our currents are usually pretty mild, especially compared to southeast Florida, so it's no big deal to drop 30 or 40 feet behind where you expect the fish to be and crawl or swim upcurrent to where them.

The best way to blow up a spot is to approach from the upcurrent side, where all the gags are watching you come in.

As far as nearshore visibility over here, it depends on more than just the tides. Summertime, the Bay is usually very murky from algae. So outgoing tides are usually dirtier. Except if we have a lot of rain, the algae can die off and after a few days for the mud to clear out, and the inshore visilbity can be better on an outgoing tide. Wintertime, the Bay is usually cleaner than nearshore, so outgoing tides tend to be a little better visibility wise.

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Look in the background of that pic. We were surrounded by storms. Now look at the color of the water and the color of the fish. 8 miles out of Anclote for the non believers. Pure luck at it's finest

Just make sure you clean out that spot before October 9th (we don't need to see another repeat performance). I got a cubera snapper last year on an AR in 40'. Only when I weighed mine, there was a decimal point between the "8" and "0".

When I was little, we'd see small cuberas mixed in with the mangrove snapper at our dock. Yours is the first one I've seen over 12" with those colors and patterns so vivid. Very cool looking. :thumbsup2:

My biggest concern (assuming you stay shallow enough you don't have to worry about oxygen toxicity), is that you'd be throwing off all your body's urges to breath. You've spent your whole life learning what high/low O2 and CO2 feel like (whether holding your breath, physical exertion, etc.) when breathing air, and now you'll have to relearn those responses with only oxygen. And where you'd be learning them is not very forgiving to mistakes.

I don't really follow all the O2 static record attempts and their techniques, but I'm guessing that since a lack of CO2 in the bloodstream hinders O2 transfer, they probably have to worry about blackout at the beginning of the breathhold - similar to how someone hyperventilating can pass out. It would seem that diving after purging with O2 would significantly increase the chance of blacking out at the onset of a dive.

As far as sucking on O2 in the boat, that will decrease your bottom time, as you need acidic blood (high CO2) for good O2 transfer. Breathing up is a balance of keeping blood CO2 high and lung CO2 low.

Get a few more of us onboard, and maybe we can ask Dan for a separate Team Public Numbers section.

When I was taking the FII class, one person was using DiveRs, and he was having a tough time controlling the blades. It was the same problem, they wanted to slip sideways on him. I mostly use my SpecialFin Hybrids, and they've got small rails (about 1 cm). They're not too hard to control, but they're not very forgiving if you use bad form. I also have some Beuchat Mundial Fibra, and while the blades don't seem to have much snap, I like the way the side rails are designed. The side rails have a variable height and they don't deform when flexed. Their side rails seem to be a good compromise for spearing.

John, it was good meeting and diving with you. And I predict by next time, you'll be sick of the Goliaths.

Thanks guys. And GR, if you ever need a ride to any of your shallow artificial reefs, I've got a boat sitting on a trailer ready to go. The coffin box can even hold a whole mess of 80# cuberas.

Hey guys. Heard this was a good forum and am looking forward to it.

Matt Brueckner