headed 0ut this am on follwing seas to do some bottom killing. it was rough untill around 12;00, then layed down. caught lots of bsb’s, bliners, triggers and pinks. some of the nicest ars were released. dropped on the live bottom and shot a nice hog. my dive buddy killed a whopper hog at 17lbs. the ars were everywere. moved north a few miles and hit some lobster #s. I missed three and john caught a nice one around 5lbs. shot 3 keeper grouper and we lost 2 shafts! loads of fish to clean and had a ball with john his son david and auggie dog.
“Miss Amanda”
-KeyWest
-Bluewater 2020CC
-Yammy F-150 www.joinrfa.orgGod is GOOD!! ALL the time!!
The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.
The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.
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" the ars were everywere" …That is because they are repopulating due to the SAFMC.
Nice Hogfish!!! Best groceries in the sea!
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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”
repopulating taking over
What am I thinking though. That’s just the snapper fisherman in me talking.
Don’t be fooled by these first hand reports from all of us seeing the fish swimming around underwater or seeing them on the sonar or Heaven forbid actually CATCHING them with reckless abandon.
Greg Waugh with SAFMC will tell you over and over again that it’s just “a few strong year classes” that make us all think there are more snapper now than in the last 30-40 yrs. We are all ignorant. Red snapper stocks are data rich. They’ve done a new assessment, and the flip flopped everything but what would make the assessment truthful in order to cover their own butts for how badly they screwed up the first one and how much damage and harm they’ve caused all our communities, our sport, and the related businesses. Oh yeah, and mismanagement isn’t a good thing for fisheries either you know. Nevermind that- some egg heads accomplished their lifelong dreams of looking like hero’s for a decades old problem that no longer exists thanks to their own regulations that we’ve always abided by. Why not pat themselves on the back for a job well done? Why SCREW us when given the chance?
I know why. Do you?
I’ve got an idea. It’s the 1990’s, and long lining kills lots of red snapper, grouper and pelagics. Let’s ban it in shallow water. Recreational guys will have more fish to catch then. Everyone will be happy. Great idea.
How do you explain the enormous increase in red snapper that we have been seeing here in the last 16 months?
More like the last few years... Red snapper spawning is very sensitive to environmental conditions. They go through years of poor spawns and incredible spawns. There have been several samplings out there and a recent one in 2009 shows that a pretty incredible spawn happened in 2005 (because more than 50% of the fish collected in 2009 were 4 years old). Red snapper start reaching sexual maturity at about 2-3 years old... So, if you do the math, the "pump was primed" in 2005 and these fish started reproducing around 2007-2008. As these fish get older and bigger, they will spawn more and more. We have been on the cusp of a recovery for several years now and spawning works similar to compounding interest.
Unfortunately, the closure will get a lot of undeserved credit even though we know that the recovery really started happening about 10 years ago (which is what eyewitnesses report). Keep in mind a few things…
Changes to a overfished fish stock don’t yield results overnight. It is reasonable to expect that you might have to wait 10-15 years for a result to show. The last real red snapper changes were made in 1992 (13 years later in 2005 we get a surge - maybe the time delay relied on the fact we had to wait for a good spawn to “prime the pump”).
The striped bass fishery in Maryland\Virginia went through a similar closure. Up there, they seine for a “juvenile index” so they actually know the status of the spawn in the same year. They didn’t mark an increase in juveniles until about 8-9 years AFTER the closure. So… Think about it this way… With a COMPLETE closure of the striped b
Whoa! Nice fish! I cant wait to get out spearfishing. I just moved to Charleston and my gills are getting dry. I cant wait to meet some people and get out there. How deep were you guys?
That looks like a 90-95’ hog. Lobsters start showing up rarley in 70-90’, very common in 90-180’. “Season” here is two spinys per person per day, and unlimited for slippy lobster… Welcome to SC, I hope you have a big bag!
Awesome! I can freedive to get most of those. Otherwise I guess its scuba to get them 180’ guys. Cant wait!
You can freedive 90’??? That’s pretty strong. Was your dad Aquaman:smiley: Just kidding Breathless. I’m truly impressed if you can free dive 70-90 feet.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
George Orwell
Hahaha. Nah man I have just been freediving for over six years now. Your body just adapts over time. I use to dive to 100ft if I knew there was fish there and with a buddy. I never do that stuff alone. The last time I was diving to 90ft we took a boat out to some jetties in front of a port. There was some concrete that was layed down to create steps. The last step was at 90ft. We used a variable weight system. Basically I over weighted my dive belt so I didnt have to kick down. Once on the bottom I released it. The extra buoyancy from my wetsuit helped me rocket to the surface. Just like this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59f7AZXgNG4 We found out that this form of diving saves a lot of energy. I have dove in a few months and I have been eating like a pig. But a few weeks of pool/aerobic training and going out and getting warmed up I bet I can hit 90 again to hang out and poke fish.
Heck man. Try to get your hands on a Hawaii Skin Diver magazine. Buddies of mine in Hawaii can dive to 180ft and shoot fish. Here is a DVD my friends put out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDYHqBCJluw
I apologize, Im not trying to derail this thread. Im envious of this hog though. Cant wait to try one. I heard they were the best tasting thing in the ocean next to cobia.
