Please answer my question sir… How many limits of snapper have you caught and do you know ANY dive boats that have gotten a limit of snapper???
Per our good day:
I only shot one snapper, another guy killed one, and we caught one on rod and reel. In essence 100% of the fisherman caught a big one and only 2 of 3 (67%) of the divers got a big red snapper. Think about it!!! I should also mention that they only guy fishing was my 63-year old father who ventures offshore far less than the rest of us diving!!! In addition, he caught it AFTER we speared on that spot!!!
I think some people pick stuff up faster than others. Some are more talented than others also.
Shooting a gun underwater might be something some folks can’t ever do. But getting a good gag on rod and reel may be equally difficult even for folks who have fished all their life. I’ve seen both things seemingly.
All I’m saying is that catching these things is not cake like some of you like to continue implying. It’s the same as me acting like diving is easy.
It’s easy to some people. Hard to others. Scootin came on here talking about how sell’s scamp shows that fishing is easier. I simply am saying that’s bs. Mention the scamps bigger than the state record that have been shot if you want to make an objective comparison. And don’t dare put something I have a passion for down like that saying it’s commonplace and easy to do it.
Courtland,
The issue is not that diving is easier. That is false. The issue is that a PIECE OF STEEL kills fish more easily than a hook and line.
Also, in your meager 2 years of fishing, how many trips has that been? I thought I read where you had thousands of safe hours on the ocean?
Why downplay your accomplishments? You have caught bigger fish than me… Apparently I suck. Apparently all the time I put into what I like doing is a waste. it’s absolutely no big deal to get a limit of grouper or snapper with rod and reel. You’ve got to risk your life to a greater degree and dive for them to have really done something.
Luke 8:22-25
a piece of steel that is carried by hand down 100’ at great risk to the carrier.
I have probably done 20 serious bottom only trips
I do have thousnds of hours of operation. I have lived here for 6 years, 2 of which w/ an offshore capable boat. We don’t have many grouper and snapper in NJ
What accomplishments. If you measure your life by this website and what you hang out to dry, that’s sad. How about having owned and operated 3 successful small businesses. Never working for the man. Married to my highschool sweetheart for 12 years. Three beautiful and healthy children. Sitting down for dinner with my family every night for the last 7 years. Coaching kids sports. Charity work, helping those less fortunate. Catching a fish? Who f-ing cares off this site!
5)We all know you are a good fisherman, but in the big picture----it’s meaningless!
If diving is so much easier, then why do all the commercial boats around here have bandits instead of dive gear? Wouldn’t they use the devices that brings them the most profit since they are doing it for a living and not just for fun like the rest of us?
I think we got 3 or 4 person limits of snapper 3 times. Average weight of the fish was about 5 or 6 lbs. Biggest two snapper I’ve ever caught were 14 and 18 lbs. My point remains the same. Successful bottom fishing is not easy. And it isn’t cheap. I’m arguing against the lack of respect for it, and the false assumptions and inferences made here beginning with sellsfish’s scamp proving that fishing is easier than spearing. Again… What about the larger scamps that have been speared off our coast? How many were bigger than the state record scamp for rod and reel. The same goes for gags.
I’m answering everybody’s questions but nobody answers me. How many gags has scootin shot? How many gags and scamp larger than the rod and reel state records have been shot by divers? How many trips has courtland been on as he for some reason is arguing that he has little experience to credit for his bottom fishing successes.
You all don’t get it. And courtland’s gotten personal. Fishing is something I enjoy and love, but I can do without it. Apparently some folks who always get defensive on the other side of where I stand on this care about this. I’m not having a discussion with myself here…
People won’t be honest and won’t answer my questions here. This is pointless, as if it wasn’t regardless.
I really don’t want to get in another 3 day long debate, especially when we have been here 3-4 times already and it just get’s frustrating for everyone… I was just reponding to the “steel kills more fish than hook and line” argument… And now you are talking about state records which goes back to your “diving kills bigger fish” argument in the past. If I wanted to be in this debate, I would ask you to state your thesis right now and then suggest that we stick to that for the rest of the discussion since it seems like we are making a shift from “more to bigger” all of a sudden, but I don’t really want to get in the middle of this all again… Everything has already been said on both sides and not one person has crossed over to the other side. It’s almost like a “my religion is better than yours” debate. What’s the point?
My point is this as always and for all the other debates. I really don’t think one is easier or harder than the other and I don’t think that people should undermine other’s accomplishments. There is a very distinct learning process and learning curve for either and I firmly believe (as said in the past and recently by Courtland) that if you put your time and effort into it, you can get pretty good at either.
I have answered your questions. I have not gotten personal, except stating facts about myself. You’re the one questioning my experience. I am fortunate to fish quite often, a majority of my trips are for fun, not meat. Sometimes I even leave the dock w/o bait(on purpose). The fact that fishing is esier can be proven on any day, rarely is a day’s haul caught proportionately by anglers on the same boat. How many times has one person had the “hot hand” when you’ve been out? Same bait, same spot, same boat, different catch rate.
Agreed skinnee. Less attention given to the difficulty of bottom fishing, on a fishing website, than attention given to the difficulty of spearing is my peeve.
If I had something against diving would I be taking divers to my best spots and telling them to shoot away if they want?
Courtland, I was referring to how you talked as if what people put on the internet was all I cared about or something. That’s all.
Agreed skinnee. Less attention given to the difficulty of bottom fishing, on a fishing website, than attention given to the difficulty of spearing is my peeve.
If I had something against diving would I be taking divers to my best spots and telling them to shoot away if they want?
Courtland, I was referring to how you talked as if what people put on the internet was all I cared about or something. That’s all.
Luke 8:22-25
But you are one of the ones who created that.
YOU are the reason we defend spearing. YOU have claimed it is easier.
All we are doing is pointing out how false you are.
Now you are doing what you always do and flip sides and play the martyr.
Trolling is not very hard. Doing it day long instead of fishing for scamps and b liners I see on the sonar is the hard part for me.
The few times I trolled last year I think we did pretty good. Not by banshee and brainstorm standards… But double sails and boxes full of dolphin and wahoo in 20 foot boats on split bottom/trolling trips ain’t too bad is it? Some day I will be able to burn gas and ignore the trash fish on the bottom like you other boys.
I have seen this go back and forth for 2 years now. I have also seen it go both ways. Sometimes the divers get skunked, and sometimes the fisherman have a bad day. It is like the chicken or the egg question…
I also fish with heavy gear and heavy line when targeting Gags. 6/0, 9/0 spooled with 150-200 lb braid, 150lb leaders and 12/0 circle hooks. Even then I have them break off from time to time. Jason has been laughing at me with the “ice fishing rod” that I have been using lately, but it works great in shallow water (under 150’)and I have finessed a lot of big fish with it, including the 32 lb Snapper.
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
The few times I trolled last year I think we did pretty good. Not by banshee and brainstorm standards…
Luke 8:22-25
For that matter when have you had a bottom fishing day to “banshee and brainstorm standards” lately? These guys are admittedly very new to bottom fishing and it is an off trolling season hobby for them, but they have been laying some slobs on the docks.
Got to go eat supper but I will be back to address your day long “questions” and attacks toward me.
Reputation is what people have come to think of you.
Character is the way you act when no one is around.
“This is absolutely untrue when it comes to gag grouper.
How many bottom charters and/or trips have you set up or mated for to arrive at that conclusion?
I have dozens of such trips to point to when I say what I do about the difficulty of catching big grouper, especially gags.”
2 . “Scootin,
You are a novice diver. Sorry to bruise your ego. Have you not heard of technical divers who stay under for 24 hrs at times? What about folks who go deeper than 300ft? I have a friend who has over 1000 dives in the last 10 years. He is an intermediate diver because to do more he would need training and equipment.”
3 “This goes down like a deflated bc as well. The two ars you shot in one dive this fall weighed more than the total weight of any 8 ars that any boat I’ve ever run or been on have weighed.
“Scootin came on here talking about how sell’s scamp shows that fishing is easier. I simply am saying that’s bs.”
“And don’t dare put something I have a passion for down like that saying it’s commonplace and easy to do it.”
“How many gags has scootin shot? How many gags and scamp larger than the rod and reel state records have been shot by divers? How many trips has courtland been on as he for some reason is arguing that he has little experience to credit for his bottom fishing successes. “
Luke 8:22-25
Lets start with #1
I have not mated any bottom charters. But are you telling me that all the ones you mated or organized that no customers (assuming many were very green) ever caught a gag? Looking at P1’s site either a lot of seasoned bottom fisherman booked him or a good number of green horns caught gags.
#2
I am a novice diver? Well based on your reasoning you are a novice boat captain because you have not saile
