Report - Tristate Skindivers 9th Annual Tog Blast Spearfishing Tournament - Dave Gleeson

Date: 10/13/18 TOG BLAST

Location: Newport, RI

Viz: 2-8’
Temp: 63

Report Contributor: Dave Gleeson

Conditions were tough for TriState’s annual Tog Blast tournament, but a handful of divers out of the 23-man field weighed in some respectable fish, including a beastly 12# Tog from Eric Faust!

Mike Meyer and myself headed out mid morning. Strong winds from the NW and the heavy rain from the day prior left me with low expectations in terms of visibility. Sure enough, our first stop out front was tough, with a strong ground swell churning up the bottom enough to reduce viz to less than 5 feet. Past a depth of 40 feet, it turned impossible to see anything. I ended up shooting my personal best black seabass, a 3.8lb specimen who holed up and took nearly 30 minutes of effort to extract from the rocks. Without Mike, I would have had to cut the line and call it a loss- just another reason a good buddy is important to have while diving.

Over an hour into our day, and we still hadn’t seen a tog big enough for a chance at the tournament podium, let alone had a shot at one. We pulled our anchor and shot up inside the bay, straight into the wind and chop in my small zodiac. We had better luck here, with about 8ft viz in some spots. I took one healthy male tog, weighing in at 7.8lbs, just enough to earn 3^rd place in the tog blast. Mike took a nice male as well.

The fish are certainly in, and in decent numbers. As long as the swell and wind continues, the  toughest part in the coming weeks is going to be finding clear enough water to hunt them.

Thanks again to Mike Meyer and Mike Landau for putting on another awesome tournament, and congratulations to Eric on an awesome fish to win it.

Results, top 3 fish.
Eric Faust - 12.0 lbs
Eric Cadorette - 9.7 lbs
Dave Gleeson - 7.8 lbs

 

Dive Safe

Dave

Event Report - Tristate Skindivers 8th Annual Species Meet

Date: August 4th, 2018

Location: Weigh in at the Bon Vue Inn

This past Saturday, August 4^th, 2018 NEF Spearfishing Co again had the honor of being a sponsor for the Tristate Skindivers 8^th Annual Species Meet. I could not be any prouder to be a part of this fantastic event as it has grown into the premier spearfishing event in the North East. With 98 registered divers/competitors coming together to raise some money for a fantastic charity and compete in the North East’s largest tournament. This event raised approx. $3,000 to be donated to Dana Farber in Boston MA and brought together our New England spearfishing community.

Special Thank You to the incredible field of sponsors for this event which donated many prizes and spearfishing gear for the raffle. It is such a fantastic way to put spearfishing gear in front of divers to check out and almost every diver gets a chance to win something from the sponsors. It adds such a special spirit to this event.

Spearos and Spearas came from as far away as New York to New Hampshire, and I’m sure a few  from other locations. The “Species Meet” format offers a higher level of competition while promoting sustainable fishing ethics. Divers can weigh in only 1 fish from each species as part of their tournament stringer and receive 10 points for each qualifying species they weigh in and 1 point per lb up to a maximum of 20 lbs per fish.   

With two categories for the competition being either Boat or Shore/Kayak, this competition offers a way for everyone to compete on an even playing field for their desired hunting method for the day. Every year we see many new faces get involved and compete and this year was exceptionally good.  I was stoked to see so many new NEF customers and friends who just started diving this year compete and weigh in fish, outstanding !

 

The weather decided to throw us firkin knuckleball with 5-6 ft seas and thunder storms. But, as a competition of this level often does, the best divers always rise to the top. With some familiar faces on the podium this meet also witnessed some new faces earn a winning standing that day. Congratulations to all the winners for both Categories. Below is a list of the top 3 divers in each category.

Category – Boat:

1^st Place – Fran Bonadies – 113.8 points

2^nd Place – Brian Jessurun – 96.3 points

3^rd Place – Kelly Gillette – 82.1 points

Category – Shore/Kayak:

1’st Place – Adriano Rodriques – 86.2 points

2^nd Place – Hans Roser – 84.6 points

3^rd Place – Aaron Hampton – 56.8 points

Some really impressive stringers given the weather and the sea's conditions for the day, congratulations to you all !

Another special Thank you goes out to South Shore Pangas who brought up the new 22.5 ft Corvina Panga from New York to compete in the competition and give divers a chance to check out one of the worlds favorite dive platforms. Pretty cool that South Shore Pangas is bringing these to the North East. Check out the pic of the 22 ft below then contact them to see one!

I am often telling people that New England is blessed with one of the best spearfishing communities in the country. With a varied field such as this one all coming together again this year to compete, share experiences and help others…. once again this is reinforced. It is good for the spirit of everyone to have access to such a dive community and the fact that we are part of one of the best is a compliment to you all. Thank you.

group photo credit: Kate the Great Tolmie

Fantastic job done by club organizers Mike Landau, Mike Meyer and Josh Brouwer ! Club foounding fathers should be very proud of what their vision has turned in to over the last 8 years. Well Done everyone.

Have an interest in joining the Tristate Skindivers Club or an interest in becoming a sponsor for future events? Contact the club here on FaceBook - https://www.facebook.com/TristateSkindiversSpearfishingClub/

Dive Safe,

Mike

NEF Spearfishing Co - www.nefreedive.com

July 18 & 19 Spearfishing Report, Newport RI - Dave Gleeson

Date: 7/18/18 &7/19/18

Location: Newport, RI

Viz: 4-12’
Temp: 70

Report Contributor: Dave Gleeson

With diminishing winds and clear skies on Wednesday afternoon, John Harrington, Casey Harrington and myself set out off Newport on their zodiac for a last minute bass mission. Visibility at our first two stops was very poor and barely huntable, so we kept moving.

Birds were working all over the place, and everywhere you looked seem to have breaking fish on the surface- it was extremely fishy out there.

I hopped in to our final dive spot and landed on a school of nice fish on my first drop. With the sun going down, I wasn’t picky and pulled the trigger on a good 20-25lb class fish at about 30 ft. The Rob Allen roller gun is a laser, and even at only 80cm packs a punch- I brained the fish with the shot and brought it to the surface. (After sliding the shaft through, the fish woke back up, check out the video clip of that surface fight!)

I hopped in the zodiac and swapped with John, who quickly shot a good bass, as did casey.

A successful day to say the least!

7/19/18

The following morning, I kayaked out front with Tristate VP Mike Meyer. I did some filming in the shallows, and he did some RnR fishing for giant scup and seabass. Conditions were calm and sunny, with little wind, but visibility remained poor. Eventually, we got into bass again, and I shot another fish in the 20-25lb class at about 35ft.

The bass are all over the place, and moving quite a bit it seems. While there are thousands of schoolies, the bigger schools are certainly out there if you have the patience to wait for them. This seems to be one of the better local bass runs in my memory, so if you have the time to get out, do it!

Good luck and dive safe,

Dave

June 7, 2018 Newport RI Spearfishing Report - Dave Gleeson

Date: 6/7/18

Location: Newport, RI

Viz: 15-25’
Temp: 59

Report Contributor: Dave Gleeson

I had a last minute chance to get out for a quick shore dive Thursday morning, and decided to go hunting for big scup and hopefully find some bass. Visibility was great, ranging from 15 to over 25 feet.

I haven’t dove in about a week, and as soon as I started my swim away from shore, I noticed that there was larger bait (and more of it) than the last time I had been in the water. Tog were everywhere of course, but with the season closed, it made it much easier to concentrate on longer, slower dives and a stealthier approach for bass. After seeing a few schoolie size fish, I was followed to the surface by a trio of keeper bass, who swam away safely, I don’t like shooting from the surface because it’s harder to aim while waves bump you around, and I was too out of breath for another dive.

Be sure to check out these super cool slo-mo shots of the Rob Allen Roller taking this bass at - 

https://www.facebook.com/nefreedive/videos/1999895850260050/ 

After searching for a bit longer, I got a great breath up in and dropped to 25 ft in between two massive, weed covered rock slabs. With Tautog buzzing around me, I laid down and waited. About 1:20 into the dive, a nice dinner size bass approached. He turned for a perfect broadside, and that was that! The Rob Allen 80cm roller is an absolute laser. Here are a few screen grabs from the dive. I’ll be posting a video as well!

Get out there and enjoy the clear water, there should be a push of bigger bass arriving any minute out front.

Dive Safe,

Dave