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SpearBlog 2007

Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2007
Sat10Feb2007

Feb 10, 2007

Information
Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2007 | February 10, 2007 | Print

Winds: 5-10 variable
Seas: 1-2 feet
Surf Temp: +/- 73F
Viz: 20-35 feet
We decided to get an early start this year, and the weather shaped up for a few days so we went out on Saturday. We only went down for the day, but it turned out to be a good one.

Things started out a little rough, but you know how it goes when you go out for the first time of the year. Practically everything went wrong. It started out with my forgetting the key to the lock hitch on my truck (I was supposed to tow the boat down).  Then we realized we had no lights on the trailer. After checking a few connections, we found that the lights had pretty much corroded off over winter months. So its off to Super WalMart at 6:30am to find some lights (this of course after our master plan to be on the road by 6:00am fell through). I decided to take advantage and head back home to get the missing key, since I was waiting for the new lights anyway.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2007
Wed4Apr2007

April 4, 2007 (Spring Break)

Information
Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2007 | April 04, 2007 | Print

Winds: 5-10 east (morning) 15-20 east (afternoon)
Seas: 2-3 (morning) 3-4 (afternoon)
Surf Temp: 77F
Viz: 35 feet
Trying to take advantage of a lull in the spring winds, we headed out at about 8:00am. The day looked like it was going to shape up nicely. The forecast had predicted 5-10 in the morning with 15-20 in the afternoon. The winds had laid down for a couple of days and we decided to see if it had allowed the local waters to clear up some. We headed out of Key Biscayne from the Bay into the Atlantic.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2007
Wed2May2007

April 30-May 1, 2007

Information
Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2007 | May 02, 2007 | Print

I had to write about this weekend even though I wasn't the one that got to go spearfishing.  I didn't get to record the conditions, although I know they were great. The water was still a little cool (around 76 F), but it was warm and clear out and the winds had laid down.

My brother-in-law and a friend of ours decided to take advantage of a couple of days off down in the keys. They were going to try for some dolphin or blackfin tuna in the mornings and then try to get in some spearfishing at some of our regular spots in the afternoons.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2007
Sat12May2007

May 11-12, 2007

Information
Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2007 | May 12, 2007 | Print

Winds: 5-10 south
Seas: less than 1 foot
Surf Temp: 78F
Viz: 25 feet
As far as the above water weather, it would have been hard to do much better than this weekend. The winds were next to non-existent and we experienced seas of less than a foot up to 7 miles out and could see it was flat as far as the eye could see. It definitely made for a quick trip out to any of our spots offshore. The only real issue was the haze from the brush fires in the Everglades that made the entire sky look like we were in the middle of a nuclear winter. The other very odd occurrence was the fact that the tides were acting like we had a full moon (no, there was no full moon). The slack didn't last long and when it switched, it switched hard!

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SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Monday, 26 July 2010 15:11

This year at The Blue Wild I was fortunate enough to meet Mike Hickey. I know of Mike from his appearances on Speargun Hunter on the Outdoor Channel with Sheri Daye. Mike was orginally a guest on the show and in later seasons participated as an underwater videographer. Mike is the USA distributor for FreeDivers ( FreeDivers USA ) spearfishing equipment. I came across his booth and after a great conversation about spearfishing, we started discussing the rising cost of spearshafts specifically....

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Tuesday, 06 May 2014 02:55

After trying and being disappointed by the Omer Zero Cubed mask last year, I picked up a couple of other masks ( Mares Star and Sporasub Mystic ) that fit fairly well and did not disappoint, but were not the perfect fit I've been looking for in a low volume freediving mask so I didn't feel overly compelled to write a spearview about them. In defense of these masks, they are both low volume masks that are relatively inexpensive so for the money they are great purchases. Of these two, the...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Saturday, 30 January 2010 08:16

Throughout my relatively short history in spearfishing (as of this writing), I have only used a few different spearguns. Now obviously, my opinion in this matter is not one of extreme trial and error. Mostly it consists of recommendations made to me by those I spearfish with along with some of my own common sense. In the beginning (early 1990's), I used one of my brother-in-law's extra guns. Specifically, a 38" Arbalette. Now this gun had already seen finer days by the time I started using it....

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 10 March 2013 12:57

Back in March of 2010 I enrolled in and completed the FII Level One freediving course . I was extremely happy with the course content and the outcome (check out the SpearView ). Unfortunately for me, I'm not a professional freediver, so as with many people, life gets in the way and complicated which in turn keeps you from building a true regimen that reinforces all the good behavior learned in the course. Needless to say, I forgot some of the basics, fell back into many of my old bad habits...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Monday, 09 June 2014 16:50

Over the winter I looked into and purchased a couple of sets of Reef Runner Gear's fin skins. I had contemplated having my own manufactured but when I came accross these, it just didn't seem worth the hassle. You can create your own custom design for a few bucks more and although you can run into some small snags when doing so (I'll elaborate later on), Jon from Reef Runner Gear is an awesome guy to work with and he will do everything he can to make things right.

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Saturday, 28 September 2013 18:22

The summer had been busier than I would have liked this year and I honestly hadn't had as many opportunities to post much less given much thought to writing a new SpearView, but after having time to really reconsider, I realized that I had actually had multiple opportunities to try out new equipment this year (not all of it successfully). Further to that point, when I took the PFI Freediver course back in March I had decided to invest in a new mask and ended up deciding on the Omer Zero Cubed...

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SpearBlog 2005

Bob Diaz - Monday, 22 August 2005 15:06

Winds: 0-5 Seas: Less than 1 foot Surf Temp: 87F Viz: 50-100 feet If I had to pick a weekend to be able to begin diving again, this was it (I figure somewhere around 70% of my hearing has returned)! There was literally no wind and minimal seas to deal with. The viz was absolutely incredible, as we were moving at 35 mph and spotting fish as we passed over different patch reefs. We had an incredible time of it. The only downside was an inadequacy in the headcount department. We limited out on...

SpearBlog 2014

Bob Diaz - Monday, 23 June 2014 15:16

Wind Seas Viz Temp ESE 5mph 1' 40' 85F After almost another week of typical Florida Summer weather with afternoon thunder storms a possibilty on any given day, the wind started to lay down around Wednesday and the forecast really started to shape up for the weekend with calls for 5-8mph winds out of the SE and less than 1 foot seas. Of course my typical cynicism kept me thinking that at any minute (most likely on Friday afternoon) the forecast would flip from optimal to abysmal and we would be...

SpearBlog 2009

Bob Diaz - Monday, 17 August 2009 01:00

Seas: 3-8 feet Winds: 10-35 SSE Temp: ?? F Viz: ?? feet Thanks to the system that would become TD4 this weekend in the Gulf of Mexico, the weather turned to crap mid morning Saturday and got progressively worse throughout the day and into the night. We did get one break in the weather around 3:30p and headed out to see how badly the viz had gotten. Drifting with the tide and with minimal viz of only about 8 feet we were actually still able to shoot a few hogs and pick up 5 bugs too in about an...

SpearBlog 2010

Bob Diaz - Tuesday, 01 June 2010 16:25

Seas: 1-2 feet Winds: 5-10 E Viz: 40-50 feet Temp: 80 F Well, the weather finally held up until I got down there and what weather it was this weekend! Saturday and Sunday had 5-10mph winds out of the West and a mild 1-2' seas as far as the eye could see. We only hoped that the change in the wind from the East last week to the West this week wouldn't wreak too much havoc with the fishing. We had heard that those that were dolphin fishing earlier in the week were having no luck in close and only...

SpearBlog 2005

Bob Diaz - Monday, 20 June 2005 15:04

Winds: 5-15 West Seas: 2-4 Surf Temp: 81F Viz: 20-35 feet This weekend the winds finally laid down although not as much as the fishing report promise. The seas were still a little rough, but the viz finally opened up so we could chase some fish. The water was a little cold in depths over 25 feet, but very tolerable. Especially in light of the viz we were getting. The mangoes still haven't started to spawn offshore in droves, but they are starting to do so in smaller numbers. We were able to...

SpearBlog 2006

Bob Diaz - Monday, 17 July 2006 15:13

Winds: 10-20 East Seas: 3-5 feet Surf Temp: 84 F Viz: 5-10 feet Saturday was not too much fun. The seas were extra sloppy and the viz was not what I would like to see, even on the worst days. It didn't stop us from shooting our fill of mangroves, but it wasn't without it's effort. One of the spots we hit was only about 18-20 feet deep and we couldn't see the bottom much less the fish. We've gotten used to shooting in the low viz but its still difficult to do. You have to pick out the best of...