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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2007
Sun3Jun2007

June 2-3, 2007

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2007 | June 03, 2007 | Print

Winds: 20-25 east (Sat)/5-10 east (Sun)
Seas: 3-5 feet (Sat) / 3-4 feet (Sun)
Surf Temp: 79F
Viz: 0 feet (inshore) / 70+ feet (offshore)
The weather people (I make it sound like they're aliens or something) almost got it right this weekend too! The weather was originally calling for heavy wind, rain and seas for the entire weekend, but luckily we headed down to the keys anyway. Those that decided to forego this weekend actually passed up on a nice offshore day on Sunday. Saturday afternoon may have been nice too, but we were already in lazy mode, so there wasn't much chance of getting us up-n-atem.

 

Sunday however made for a different outcome. We decided to get up early and try to head offshore (way offshore this time) to catch some dolphin (dorado). Unfortunately (well not really), my friends are rod-n-reelers, but I packed up my equipment and tagged along for some fun.

The ride started out a little rough. There were still some good size rollers (4-5 foot), but they were occasional and much easier to handle on my friend's new 25 foot boat. Once we got past the dirty water (> 8-9 miles offshore), we started bird hunting. We were lucky to get some strikes 10-11 miles offshore. The birds were extremely active that day and we were able to watch them pick off some flying fish while we were chasing them to see who else was following along with them.

The dolphin were not large (legal schoolies mostly), but still a lot of fun to catch. We weren't hitting any schools either, as it seemed as though everything was feeding on the run. After a couple of hours, we had some fish and the boat and were on the hunt again, when we hit a small school about 18 miles off. We started catching some of the school and also practiced some involuntary catch and release with the fish around the boat until they decided they were no longer hungry, so I was able to jump in and do some blue water hunting for my very first time!

I won't lie to you, the first time looking into the abyss was quite impressive. I actually found myself having to catch my breath, but luckily, there were enough fish around to distract me quickly enough. So I picked my first victim, lined up my shot with my Riffe euro and speared my first dorado! Not a huge specimen, but a decent sized schoolie and most importantly, it was in the boat!

After resetting my gear, I got back in the water and immediately spotted a 12-15lb cow. I lined her up and unfortunately shot her high. Luckily, the shaft went all the way through and it was acting as it's own toggle so the fish was only fighting against the line. I got up on the boat hoping that if I could pull her in close enough, we could gaff her. I was almost right. Just as I got her close enough for a try at gaffing her, the line tore through and she swam off. Sad thing was, that when she took off, so did the rest of the school. Oh well, at least we had more than enough to eat!

I did learn something though... I was smart enough to bring both of my reel guns on the trip, but I wasn't aware enough to ask for my second gun when I gave the fish a bad shot. Live and learn I guess. Hopefully, I won't make a mistake when I get my first bull dolphin.

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