Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mako on the loose
MAKO ON THE LOOSE – SPAN 14
July 17-18 was the annual Tyndall AFB spear-fishing tournament. Jim M., Mike T., Al J. and I made up team “Good to Go”. We headed out the pass early on Fri into the face of showers and square seas of 3’x3sec and it was really pitching with the seas running in on an outgoing tide. I expected it would get better as the day progressed so proceeded on at tugboat speed with Mike and Al arranging the trolling lines. Of course the seas didn’t get better but the conversation was lively and expectations were big as we headed out to my favorite 15 mi. dive sites. We passed through a couple of showers on the way out and fortunately they were absent the usual attending lightning and wind gusts. The sun was even intermittent as Al and Jim rolled in for the first dive. Mike an I caught a couple of Snapper while they were down but the divers didn’t have much luck with only 1 medium Cuda that Al brought back. We did a few more dives offshore and the box was beginning to look pretty nice with AJs, Grouper, and another big Cuda which were the 3 species for the tournament. All in all we were having a great day from my perspective, but then I wasn’t the one chumming between dives.
Mike and I had one more tank to dive and I still needed a Cuda for the leader board so we stopped at Bridge Span 14 on the way back in. We set the anchor to put the boat over the bridge. When I rolled in I wasn’t disappointed at the Cuda population. With the clear surface water I could see several curiously eyeing me from a distance. I went in to my Cuda attracting tactics that Al taught me some years ago and it worked pretty well on the small dumb ones because they came closer to investigate. I think he is holding out on me on the special signal for the big ones. Of the ones that presented themselves I shot the biggest and it gave me a ride down to the bridge where I strung it up. I scanned the surface for a larger candidate and it wasn’t too long before I spotted one bigger than the rest, hanging out on his own outside the school. I made a slow approach from underneath and was satisfied that I was closing the distance pretty well. I have noticed that in the clear water we have had lately that I tend to misjudge the distance, thinking I’m in range when actually I should be closer. The target fish solved the range problem for me and gave me that direct, face to face approach and came right to me. That presents another problem because I have no idea how to shoot a Cuda in the face. He soon realized that he was not going to push me out of his territory, turned, and offered the broadside shot. I had plenty of air so I decided to shoot right through the gill plates. They run around a lot with this shot but they never get off. There was one thought that I left out of my mind while I was sizing this entire situation up. I took the shot and saw that the placement was perfect as he took off, and then my fingers were stinging because he popped that new Mako Predator Pro 100 spear gun right out of my hand. The last thought I should have had was hang on tight. I have heard this story from others many times but I didn’t think it would ever happen to me. I gave chase immediately but it didn’t work out, the Cuda on my stringer was trying to swim one way with me chasing a Cuda too fast to catch going the other way.
I thought there was a chance I could recover the gun before the sharks grabbed the Cuda and swam off with the whole rig. Many times when the fish is wounded it will hole up on the nearest structure, so I went back to the boat and borrowed Jim’s JBL 450 and headed back down to the bridge. Right now the bridge is packed out with little bait fish that severely restrict visibility. I swam inside the structure looking out as I proceeded with my search. It was only moments into my hunt that I saw my gun being dragged along in the opposite direction out over the sand. I launched myself for it and was closing the gap when somehow I noticed I had company, with a big Cobia swimming right beside me. Now I was conflicted on whether to shoot the cobia or go for my gun. I went for the gun. I was almost close enough to grab for it when I realized it wasn’t my gun at all, but a big stingray’s tail I was chasing. Damn! And now the cobia is gone. I followed the stingray for one complete lap around the bridge hoping to both find my gun and have the cobia return. Neither happened. It was interesting that the ray was packed out underneath with a school of what in a glance I would have assumed to be remoras but actually it was a dozen or so very small cobia.
Watch out if you dive Span 14, there is a Mako on the loose.
