July 26, 2017 Spearfishing Report - Westport, MA

Date: 7/26/2017
Location: Westport, MA
Conditions: Flat
Visibility: 6 + ft

Short report. Had a new diver that needed a dive buddy to get him acquainted with his new gear and show him some in water instruction. Finally had some time yesterday to get out with him and headed to Westport for a shore dive.

After I could tell he had it down and was on the hunt I decided to look around myself as i trailed him. The water was 65 degreesand i was in my 3.5 mm Mares Instinct Wetsuit. .Visibility was around 6 foot vertically with a moderate amount of particulates in the water to cloud it up, but huntable. As we got out to 20-25 ft depth it cleared up pretty well underneath. Lots of borderline e to just over legal tautog were about, some schoolie bass, small bluefish, small scup and couple of small black sea bass. Nothing i didn't have to question myself harvesting so i held off.

After crossing a wide sandy patch I noticed a few large rocks on the bottom and dropped down to have a look see.Rounding the side i noticed there was was a nice overhang facing the ocean side and underside washed out, Immediately a fish darted and left a cloudy mess in its wake. I held out waiting for the cloud to clear and got lucky as one of the fish that had spooked circled and came back around for a look at me.  I immediately noticed it was the biggest seen so far on this dive. The HammerHead Raptor 95 cm held true as always and strung him through the eyes. I called over my dive buddy who was curious as to handle them after you shoot one. Showed him how to string them, pith them, reload and repeat lol.

The wind started to kick up and visibility decrease so after a few we called it a day and headed in.
Westport always seems to hold some decent fish and a wide variety of species. I hope to catch it on another day this week to catch up with the bluefish i was actually looking to harvest.

Back home I had a new scale to test out so this tautog at 25 + inches was a good one to try it out. Well 8.8 lbs, a decent tautog for a shore dive in July.

Live Well, Get Wet, Dive Safe
Mike

June 4, 2016 Buzzards Bay / Cuttyhunk Island Spearfishing Report - Mike Chace

Date: June 4, 2016
Location: Buzzards Bay, Cuttyhunk Island
Report Contributor: Mike Chace

FOG & TOG

Thanks to the hospitality of good friends Ted and Heather, we were invited to get out on their boat and dive one of my favorite locations In New England, Cuttyhunk Island. Ricardo Cruelles accompanied me on the dive and this would be his first visit to the island. We departed Padanaram Harbor about 9:29 and found thick fog keeping visibility to about 200 yards to 1/8 mile at best on the ride out. the forecast was for this fog to burn off and clear up by 11:00... but that never happened.

Arriving at the island we first pulled into harbor where I could deliver a wetsuit to one of my customers who happened to be out staying on the island this week. Pretty good service huh?

With the thick fog not lifting it was obvious there was no safe way to drop divers in the water offshore in what I consider a great spot we had planned to dive, due to the fog and boat traffic. Not a good combo for divers drifting offshore even with dive floats and flags. They would vanish into the fog less than 100 yards away.

So we settled for one of the good spots. Visibility was about 6-8 feet at best and water temps were 56-58 degrees during the day. We proceeded to find decent tautog around the rocky shore tight to the Island and then picked up to change spots in hopes of the fog lifting and getting out deeper. No such luck, so we hit another good spot where everyone managed to limit out on some decent tautog with Ricardo taking both a 9 lb + and 10 lb + fish.

Notable was the lack of other species usually see this time of year tight to the island, especially big bass. I have dove Cuttyhunk this exact week before other years and was accustomed to swimming with big bass sightings every few minutes while we hunted other species.  Not so today.

We next proceeded swing around Nashawena Island to hit Quick's Hole and look for some fluke and introduce Ricardo to the Highland Cattle who every day head down to the ocean to wade out and cool themselves off. Kind of the local visitor photo must for those traveling the Elizabeth Islands. We drifted by them hoping to pick up a fluke or two but settled with an up close encounter with these cattle in the water.

Good to see the MASS EPO out there keeping anglers honest. There has been a tremendous poaching problem with black sea bass in Buzzards Bay again this season and they have been doing there best to stop it. A quick boarding to check our licenses, catch and boat safety equipment check, and we were on our way.  Thank you officer Cody.

Another excellent day in the water with good friends in a beautiful setting. Time for the Tog Cult to fillet some fish.

Mahalo,
Mike