Welcome to the SPO 2007!!!!

The only tourney I know of that a 47 pound (ungutted) grouper will get you 70th pick. But what the hell it is all in good fun.
We got a run out to a "wreck" that I had from some numbers out of a book of loran numbers that I have but did not confirm. A buddy of mine gave me a "confirmed" number to the same wreck and it was 393 feet from my loran so I believed it was there. The only problem is that this wreck is a little bit deeper than most you would want to dive (around 256 feet). I was told that this wreck was a tiny barge split in half and there was a resident Warsaw that went 200 to 250 on it. I really felt that if I got this fish I might get at least 3rd or 4th pick at the table(sarcasm). The only problem was that we could not find the wreck just a huge fish show. It was probably the only time a huge fish show was a problem but I wanted the lead to hit the correct spot because current was moving hard.
John and I got geared up with jacked lp 120's and several different pony bottles attached and with the might of giants we slung them up over our heads and strapped them on. uh...no....in reality I whined like a little bitch for some help and barely managed to pick my crap up and get it on the gunnels. Lucky us the current was going so hard we had the buoy dragging so we decided to "chase the lead to 250".

Jug goes over and "splash go the morons".

The first 40 to 50 feet the water was blue and warm, just like diving dreams then the MURKY water came. Oh F'ing great I am going to dive 250 in 5 foot vis! After another 20 feet it became clear to 80 to 100 feet of vis and REALLY COLD. As in my nuts must have receded so far into my body they were what were making my ears ache. Oh well the murk layer made it dark as hell and we are freezing our asses off in these skins and we are going to f'ing WIN! Or at least that was what I kept screaming to myself as I went on down. So we go down another 70 to 90 feet or so and we see the wreck from about 100. The little barge that could be turned into the 100 to 110 foot ocean going tug that was. Why the hell could my bottom machine not see this thing? Here is a tip: If you can see the gag from 100 feet above him and he looks big.....he is. Just a tip. The water being that dark had the gags looking very white with rusty bellies everywhere. I keep falling and lock onto a nice 5 foot model and whack him behind the eyes. He promptly hauled ass through a door ripping my shaft out of his head and good bye. Then I settled on the sand beside the tug. I look at my comp and I got me a whopping 1 minute till deco time. I should be able to get at least 5 fish! Umm.....yeah. I had just set a knee on the sand when out from under the wreck slides Mr. carbo. He is maybe not quite as big as the one I shot down in the keys but a hell of a lot bigger than the one I GOT down in the keys. There is a big difference between shot and got. I figure he might have gone 80+ pounds and he swims up to me 3 feet away and just sits there. Look away....stay cool....don’t look him in the eye....load slow.....you are just a big dumb fish.....WAIT!! did I just say big AND dumb.....aint no such thing. When I engaged my shaft and when he heard that little click someone came and put rocket boosters on that fish. I mean flew and never even turned once. Oh well maybe he went to the other side so I swim around the wreck looking for him or someone just like him smiling and waving at 30 pound gags. I am passing up 20 and 30 pound gags? Only the SPO. Well looky there after 5 minutes I have my first deco stop at 50 feet for 3 minutes. Check air, 1800 pounds....no sweat. Start to go up and hit 180 check air, 1100 pounds ....huh?....ok a little sweat. Make it up to first little hang at 100 feet, check air, 700 pounds....ok this is getting silly. Of course while we were coming up we had many 60+ jacks we could have shot but those wont get you crap in the SPO. I mean a 60 pound jack is not even worth a slipper lobster (more sarcasm). We did our hangs and got out of the water and I did not even have to go the bail bottle but we did do the scrubbing.

I handed up an empty stringer.

Lesson learned: Use a line shaft, and you can run out of air REAL damn quick at this depth. Be prepared and don’t do this shit if you are the LEAST bit uncomfortable.

The rest of the trip was pretty damn fun and we only dove numbers that we found while driving around in the elbow. I found a nice bait show that was about 2/10ths of a mile in radius and we stayed on it or near it and produced hogs to 18 pounds (YAY Chuck Schnur first place hog, and Jon Herrera second place hog). I found myself a nice mutton at 10 pounds and swam by several 20 pound gags and 10 to 12 pound hogs to get. Once again only in the SPO! And last but not least Keith, who is ok diving 158 feet but, 160, no way in hell, got his best gag. He swam up to the boat trying to be a coquet but when I looked over the side and could see the tail down by his fins I knew it was a damn fine gag (47 POUNDS). I think he wanted to take an anchor chain and wear the thing to work like a necklace he was so proud.

Damn fun Tourney, we killed a lot of fish, and no one got hurt.


Some one took some picture so put them up.
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oh yea side note...I won some cool ass prizes for a 10 pound snapper. But best of all I got jewelry for my wife.

She said it was funny now that I have a boat that she finally gets some jewelry.

go figure.

Thats pretty hardcore Chris!

Great report Chris.!
Nice to see you at the party.!


Dago.

Nice post chris! You definetly cleaned up on the prizes... :)

We had a great time too... didn't do too well, but it was nice out there until that storm rolled in. Barely made it to the weigh in.

I had a long shot on a nice gag (~40#) at 130'.... hit him, he started to go bizzerk, I was reloading for another shot and a heeb swallowed him whole!!! :cussing:

Peace

So this spring I auctioned off a hog hunt to benefit the FRA, figured it would be a good way to meet some local spearfisherman. That's how I met Chris.
I shot my first tourney with him this spring and was all bummed out that I wouldn't be able to shoot the Open because of a conflicting work trip to the Tortugas.

Enter Hurricane Dean, the perfect storm. Close enough to get the work trip cancelled, but not close enough to screw up the weather for the Open. Chris let's me on his boat as a last minute slot filler. I knew they were going deeper than I was comfortable with, but I was happy just to ride along.

Friday morning I went to change the mix on my computer and it was stone cold DEAD. Took it back to the shop and they said, we'll have to send it in. DAMN. Decided to buy another computer rather than relearn a borrowed machine. Heck, you can always use a back up.


They dove the deep wreck with less than the expected results and then we moved in. After wathching Chuck and Kite bring up three fifteen plus pound hogs on one drop, we figured it would take a 24 pound fish to win it, but we were wrong. Congrats on the glass guys.

My first drop was less than eventful with a ripping current that made it hard to stay on top of the ledge. Still, it was my deepest dive yet and I felt fairly comfortable.

While traveling between spots, Chris found an incredible bait show in 173. I told him "I'm not going that deep, but if you want to dive it, feel free."

As he tried to decide between the two eager volunteers, we ran the show the other direction and the bottom came up to 153. Wait, I'm back in, I'll just stay on top.

I made bottom looking for all the hogs everyone was talking about and didn't see any. As I eased down the ledge, a pod of jacks cruised by. I lined up on the jacks and notice a mutton right below them. The shot was just a bit low, damn, still no fish. As soon as I reloaded, I looked up suspended about 10 feet off the bottom was one of the biggest grouper I've ever seen under water. I took the shot he bolted. I knew I hit him and I went off in the direction of the shot. No shaft on the ground, must still be in the fish. Turned in the direction the fish went and out of the murk I see a huge 20 foot tall wall. My computer is flashing "1" at this point as I repeat the mantra "No fish is worth my life". As the ledge comes into focus, the first thing I see is the straight silver line of my shaft. Two more kicks and I can see the gag laying at the end of the shaft not moving. One more shaft to the head and it was time to go. I strung him up, left the shafts in place told myself, the only thing I have left to do for the rest of the day is make it up.

That fish was more than twice the size of any other I've ever shot. Though it didn't place too well (64th overall), I wouldn't have traded it for any other fish on the boat.

Now here are the photos.

I had a great time diving with you guys. I'm glad that we all got quality fish. I was also impressed with Chris's ability to put us on the fish on ony his second trip to the Elbow on numbers he found himself just driving around. I want to go back!

Those are some nice fish, Dont worry about not placing high, Hell I didnt even get to shoot! I would be more than happy with that grouper, and those 3 hogs are amazing! The weigh in was a real eye opener for me, you gotta come back big or just come back empty handed.

That first dive was an experience. Even though the sun was all the way up, the murk layer blocked out most of the light on the wreck. It was like hunting just as the sun comes up over the horizon, and the wreck appeared ominous. Chris worked around the bottom of the wreck in about 260' while I chose to stay up top in 225' looking for a big jack or one of the fish that Chris might spook up to the deck. I saw lots of 50-60 pound amberjacks, but not the big one that I was looking for. I never pulled the trigger that dive. If I was going to have to deal with a jack at that depth with all the potential entanglements, it was going to have to be one that I thought would give me a good shot at glass. I thought that I would happen upon a larger jack that day, but it didn't happen. I shot only four hogfish Saturday, so the only fish that I weighed was my second place hogfish.

In hindsight, I should have followed Chris around and got a shot on that big carbo. I just was racking up deco fast enough at 225' and didn't want to press the accelerator while spending extended time at the bottom. I did take a quick look under the stern but saw no fish - my computer registered 253'. It was my deepest spearfishing dive ever. I would love to dive that wreck again - with better lighting.

I was really happy that Keith got that big gag. He is learning fast!

Congratulations guys! Those are ALL trophy fish in anybodies book!

Beautiful fish :allhail:

Sick report Chris!!! You'll get him next time!!

Awesome diving & awesome fish!!!:yay:

Thanks guys,

The fish looks bigger in the photos than it actually is.

I learned a long time ago that if you hold them out at arm's length, they look bigger in the picture. :rolleyes:

Awesome report guys.

I would love to dive that wreck again - with better lighting.

Let's do it! Dago and I can make sure no big boys are hiding out inside the wreck... :D

Nice shooting boy's !

Let's do it! Dago and I can make sure no big boys are hiding out inside the wreck... :D



Sounds good to me.!

Dago.

Awesome post, awesome feeeeshes

awesome report. way to stay safe at depth.