Some people go diving for a magical underwater experience; a peaceful escape from the loud and busy world above. Not me; if I wanted a magical underwater experience I would just watch The Little Mermaid with my daughter. I think diving is a hassle. All the awkward heavy equipment that needs constant maintenance and refills, the headaches, and the feeling of being plain tuckered for the rest of the day. I dive for one reason and one reason only; to put as many fish on my kill ring as possible.
Today I filled my kill ring with fish and soon after I filled my family's bellies with fresh fish tacos thanks to a successful day of spearfishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Hogfish, Mangrove Snapper and Scamp were on the menu. There's nothing tastier than bringing high quality fish straight from the water to the frying pan and in my opinion there's no quicker way to get a mess of high quality fish than spearfishing.
This was my second day of spearfishing this year and the results were close to last week; lots of Hogfish, some nice Mangrove Snapper and an occasional keeper Red Grouper and Scamp. There were also plenty of Gag Grouper but they are still closed for harvest.
My first dive was in 30 - 40 feet of water with lots of rock piles. At one point I had a Hogfish lined up and then a big Gag Grouper swam right in front of him and stopped. I had to wait for the Gag to clear before I popped the Hogfish. At the end of the dive I found myself staring face to face with a huge Gag that was every bit of 34 inches. I excercised restraint and watched him slowly turn and swim off into the blue.
My second dive was a mitigation area near the pipeline in 60 feet of water with large chunks of concrete littering the floor. The visibility was better than the first spot and the Snapper were also a notch bigger. The clear water allowed for some good footage with my GoPro HD camera mounted on my head. Here's the YouTube link that tells the whole story. Enjoy!
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