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The Caribbean Spiny Lobster season will close in:

Mon30Jul2007

July 28-29, 2007

Information
Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2007 | July 30, 2007 | Print

Winds: S 5
Seas: 1-2 ft
Surf Temp: 86 F
Viz: 35-40 ft
Saturday was not a good day... I mean, the weather was fine but I just wasn't having a good day. We went back to a spot we had found the week before in about 40-42 feet of water. Last week the viz was absolutely incredible, but unfortunately so was the current. We were fighting what felt to me like a 2-3 knot current. It was an incredible amount of work just to stay put. We spotted about a 10-12 lb mutton but the second I broke the surface he started away into the current (almost teasingly) and I just couldn't get close enough for a shot.

 

So we went back this week in hopes of finding not only less current, but more of the same fish. We got there around 1:00pm to find that the viz wasn't quite as abundant as last week, but neither was the current. We were still able to spot from the surface so I started scanning for the same area we were in last week. Once I found the same area, I was amazed to find that same mutton (or at least his twin)!

I descended on him and was even able to get a shot off. I thought I got off a good one, but he tore off and darted into a nearby rock. Not a great start, but at this point, I figure I still have it under control. So I rested a bit at the surface and started back down. I peek under the rock and see him swimming around. I line up the shot, reach back for the trigger, pull it, and then... nothing. I look back and the safety tab is flipped half way up, so the darn gun wouldn't shoot. To make things worse, when I flipped the safety tab down, the gun fires! I guess since the tab was only half way and I had pulled the trigger, flipping it down was enough to release the shaft.

So back to the surface I go (screaming to the surface in fact), and on my way I feel a tug on my leg. The line from the reel has gotten tangled in my knife sheath and I can't surface! After a brief moment of panic, I gather my wits and rip the knife out of the sheath so I can continue my ascent, because by now, my lungs are screaming for air.

One more time... I get my breath back at the surface and down I go... I make it down to the rock spot the fish and take the shot. I know I hit him this time, because I almost immediately see blood. I pull on the mono and (believe it or not) the shaft is now stuck on the other side of the mutton!!! At this point, I realize that this just isn't going to be my day and so on the next dive, I tug on the mono until it breaks (all the while hoping it would release the shaft). The seas had gotten a little rougher, the weather a little less aggreable and the wives and kids on the boat were getting restless, so even though I knew the mutton wouldn't survive the shot, I decided to leave since I couldn't see him under the rock anymore (because of the cloud of blood that hadn't cleared up). Like I said, not a good day :(. Oh well, there's always next week.

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