Got out on the boat this weekend on both saturday and sunday. On saturday I fished with my father for blackfish in all of our go-to spots with only a few shorts and some giant throwback porgies. I decided to jump in and check out what was going on down there. Just as I believed all of the spots were loaded with nice tog, they just arent on the feed yet. I dove one wreck which was in about 36 feet of water, which came up to about 25-28. The water was dark and murky in this spot but it was loaded with nice tog. I shot a decent fish right away on my first decent. On my third dive down I hit a good fish, estimated 7-8 lbs. After I shot it it bolted into a cave and out another and then back into another, it was a huge mess. I spent about 30 seconds trying to get the fish out when I ran out of breathe and had to swim up 35 feet to surface. I swam back down with a rope and tied off the gun which was an older sea quest pneumatic. I went down about 7-8 times to try to free the spear and the fish but i couldent get to either of them. The tide began to rip and i was getting very uncomfortable and very tired, eventually the line broke off and I lost both the spear shaft and the fish. I was very dissapointed because it was the second quality fish i lost in two trips, and I dont think the shaft is replaceable. After that i called it a day.
On sunday we went out again for a few hours, this time with both my dad and my friend. We hit some spots further to the east. We headed all the way to shoreham, hitting a few spots while on the way out and picking a few nice fish. By the time we got to shoreham it was low tide and the vis was terrible. I saw a good amount of fish near the jetties but I could only see 3-4 feet. Whats the deal I thought it would be cleaner out there? Anyways we then headed out a a little bit and dove around what I think was the pipeline. I didnt see a pipe but there were numerous piles of rocks and debris heading out in a line. I was diving with my pole spear since my gun was out of service. I had a few smaller fish around 3lbs but I couldent keep anything bigger on the paralyzing tip. The vis was still pretty bad but we saw some nice fish, if I had a gun i would have had multiple 5-8 lb fish. My buddy got 2 6-7 lbers.
On the way in we stopped at one last honey hole and I decided to grab my friends riffe before I jumped in. That was the best decision of my spearfishing career because on my second dive down in 12' of water I came face to face with a giant prehistoric looking tog. Hit him right in the head and stoned him cold, ended up weighing out at 11lbs 10 ounces after it bled out. This is my biggest blackfish to date by a couple of pounds on either rod or spear. It was nice getting some redemption and finally landing a trophy. I know I'll have trouble topping that for a long time.
So now I'm in the market for a new gun. I've been looking at the biller 32" mahogany. It seems like a good all around gun for the north shore; small enough for blackfish and big enough to bag a bass. It is also half the price of the riffe. Anybody have any thoughts? thanks
