May 16, 2019 Spearfishing Report - Rhode Island - Dave Gleeson

Date: 5/16/19

Location: Southern RI

Viz: 15-25’
Temp: 51

Gear: Rob Allen Roller 80cm & 90cm

Report Contributor: Dave Gleeson

After a few days of light and variable winds, conditions were beautiful for a spring dive in RI. Visibility ranged from 15-25 feet, and life was abundant, with plenty of tog, stripers, pufferfish and even a scup to keep me entertained. 

I headed out with Aaron Hampton of Tristate to look for some fish taco meat (tog) and hopefully find the first scup and striper of the season. We were thrilled with the conditions upon getting in the water, and quickly loaded up to start hunting. We were both using Rob Allen Roller guns, perfect for clear viz hunting. Even with such clarity, our short guns had plenty of range with the roller’s extra power.

The chop started to pick up, but I quickly found my first target of the day, an aggressive male tog that charged me while I ascended to the surface. I halted my ascent, turned around and placed a shot just behind his eye from the midwater column. Aaron got another soon after in the same size class. 

About 20 minutes later, I dropped into a school of tog and found a single VERY fat scup hiding under an overhang. I froze, and waited as he slowly turned to allow me a shot- I string him through the eyes.

A school of small stripers about 100 strong were sighted a few times during our dive, a great treat in such clear water and undoubtedly a sign of things to come.

The water is clear, the fish are out in numbers and the bigger stripers should be here any day…. Get out there soon!!! I know I sound like a broken record, but if you’re looking for a laser-accurate gun, go grab a Rob Allen Roller from Mike at New England Freedive- I don’t know many guns that can hold their own in both 3ft murk and 25foot clarity.

Get out there and enjoy the spring.

Dive Safe

Dave

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