Event Report - Tristate Skindivers Club 6th Annual Species Meet 8/6/2016

Date: 08/06/2016
Event: Tristate Skindivers Club 6th Annual Species Meet
Location: Weigh In at the Bon Vue Inn - Narragansett, Rhode Island

Last Sunday on August 6th the Tristate Skindivers Club hosted what has grown to become the premier spearfishing event in the North East each season. With over 65 competitors this season this event has become the ultimate competition for freedive spearfishermen in New England due to the level of competition, grand support form sponsors and the awesome spearfishing community we have up here in the North East. The format for the competition is called a "Species Meet" which is different from the usual total weight tournaments often hosted and requires divers to be able to harvest and weigh in 1 fish from each fish species available to hunt and weigh in as listed in the tournament rules.  The more different species you can harvest, the more points you accumulate, the better your points standing at weigh in time. Competitors have a full day to hunt Rhode Island waters from sunrise that morning and require them to be at weigh in at 5:00 pm . There is also a max limit on points that can be given for a particular single fish (like a striped bass), so you actually don't do any better to shoot a 50 lb bass as you do to shoot a 22 lb bass.  So your time would probably be better managed to take that 22 lb bass and get on with finding some other species. Ultimately this type of scoring format benefits those spearfisherman who are all around great hunters, which is the purpose of the tournament... a chance for the areas spearos and spearas to showcase their skills. Due to this unique scoring format, great prizes, fun venue and awesome spearfishing community... this event has grow into the success that it is.

First lets start with a heavy back pat for the Tristate Skindivers Club which except members to cover every state in New England + New York. The founding members of 3SSD had a vision to start a true non profit spearfishing club and find worthy causes to donate funds raised to that they raise each season, and give something back to the community. Each year they select a great benefit to donate the money raised from this event to. This season 2016 they selected to donate all the funds raised to Dana-Farber Cancer Research , what an incredibly worthy cause to help out. So in addition to donating the funds, they collected fish donated from competitors that day to cater another fund raiser for Dana-Farber which they were catering on August 20th.  That is a whole lot of work and an incredible amount of heart. Do not worry, if you could not attend this meet and still want to help out You Can Make a Donation Directly To Dana-Farber Here ! I am sure Tristate thanks you in advance for your donation.

Second, lets check out the t-shirt that is given to each competitor as part of their $35 entry fee. It has become a tradition each year for 3SSD to offer a cool and different t-shirt for this event and this season they were blessed with an incredible piece of artwork from the one and only Caleb Goins . His artwork of the striped bass was perfect for this years shirt !

Third, there is the sponsors who provide prizes for the competitors. New England Freedive Spearfishing Co and many others including HammerHead Spearguns and Crist Spears, Omer, Mako, Dip and Dive, SporTube make it possible for each competitor to win a prize in the free gear raffle after the weigh in. As a sponsor, NEF loves being involved with this event not only for the fun and feel good fund raising effort, but it also allows us to showcase some products we donate to get them in front of spearfisherman on the prize tables. I usually spend the afternoon answering questions about the gear I have donated which always seems to bring a big interest. If you should have an interest in becoming a sponsor for next year's 2017 Species Meet, please contact Tristate Skindivers Club via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TristateSkindiversSpearfishingClub/?fref=ts
or via EMAIL LINK HERE 

Fourth, the Bon Vue Inn in their generosity provide the perfect outdoor venue to host the weigh in. Competitors and their guests get to enjoy some fun drinks and great food during the gathering. Shout out to our favorite server - always smiling, sometimes cart wheeling "Tracey", who has worked every event 3SSD has hosted their and made sure it was a success.

Finally the review of the competition ! Well the winds were blowing a little in the morning and turning up some mid size seas in most SW facing areas of Rhode Island with expectations of showers in the afternoon. Those that ventured out to Block Island in search of their big bass had an interesting day battling rolling seas, but the fish were there, and those that went out got their big bass and multiple species. For those that shore and or kayak dived, we had similar conditions. Where we were not battling bigger swells most areas had little visibility to hunt fish in due to the winds. The area in Point Judith where my dive buddy and I hunted seemed to have the bigger seas but also hunt-able visibility, which was a pleasant surprise. I managed to harvest 2 species a tautog and a scup to weigh in but i could not find a shoot-able size bass and black sea bass before i finally decided I had had enough of rolling in the big seas in the kayak and decided to head to the weigh in and get ready. It was 5:00 somewhere and I knew exactly where.

65 competitors weighed in in 2 categories Boat or Shore/Kayak. As usual some impressive fish hit the scales with the variety consisting of striped bass, tautog, black sea bass, scup, bluefish, trigger fish and fluke. Below is a list of the top three divers in each category. 

 Overall high scores/ winner

1. Ricardo Cruelles. 5 fish; 93 points.
2. Kelly Gillette. 5 fish; 91 points
3. Kenneth Julian Martín. 5 fish; 81 points.

Kayak / shore:
1. Bobby Morin, 2 fish 28 points
2. Garrick G., 2 fish 27 points
3. Ed Wormold, 2 fish, 26.5 points

Congratulations to the top diver in the shore/kayak category Bobby Morin who beat out the rest of us who only weighed in 2 species in this category, but his 2 were bigger... well done Bobby !

Congratulations to NEF Team Diver Ricardo Cruelles (@rcruelles) who won the boat category with an impressive stringer which included a striped bass, 11 lb tautog, blue fish, black sea bass and a trigger I was very excited for Ricardo because I know how much work he puts into competing in this event each year with multiple scouting efforts. He prides himself to represent my NEF Shop well in events he competes in and when someone puts that much heart into their work, it is twice as exciting to see him get the win. SHAKA.

After the weigh in and winners are decided it is time for Tristate to run their famous gear raffle. It is always great to see divers get a chance to win a piece of gear they may have needed. There always seems to be plenty of prizes to allow every competitor to win something.

When it is all said and done, for me it is the camaraderie of the gathering at these events that I look forward to the most. A chance to see spearos and spearas from outside the area I may only be lucky enough to see once a year at this event. Dive stories and laughs are traded over a cold beverage or two and plans are made to get together for future dives. New England is truly blessed with one of the best spearfishing communities anywhere.

Watch the Tristate Skindivers Club Facebook Page for next years event if you would like to compete.

 Credit to Stephanie Young for some of these great images.

Thank You to ALL who make this possible.
Give thanks to mother ocean for bringing us all together and watching over us for another day.

Dive Safe and be Good to Each Other,
Tog Cult

July 27, 2016 Block Island Spearfishing Report - Ricardo Cruelles

Date: 7/27/2016
Location: Block Island, RI
Report Contributor: Ricardo Cruelles

Well, at last, the Island is finally firing on all cylinders! With water temps getting close to 70 degrees, inshore the summer fishery is now in full swing. The drifts inshore are very productive, multiple specie catches are very possible, and making for excellent target practice with schools of scup, blue fish, fluke and plenty of bass up to 35lbs.

The offshore grounds are very lively as well, with plenty of sea bass of considerable size and striped bass in big schools. Visibility is spotty but good enough for us New England divers. Water offshore is a very comfortable 64 degrees at 50ft, water higher in the water column.

If you can get on a boat and get out there, I would recommend the middle of the week, if you can swing it, as the weekend boat traffic in the fishing grounds is heavy. If boat is not an option but you still want to get into the Island action, there are plenty of possibilities for some excellent shore or kayak dives, just beware of tide times and wind/swell conditions.

Happy Hunting folks!
Ricardo Cruelles

7-23-2016 Narragansett Bay Report - Ricardo Cruelles

Date: 7-23-2016 
Location: Narragansett Bay
Report Contributor: Ricardo Cruelles


Well… If you like diving in chocolate milk, we have your ticket! We set out to find a couple of bass on Saturday in the bay, since the wind report out front did not look so appealing. We tried a few of the “old faithful” spots, the viz somewhere around 2ft and with the incoming tide it made the dives very challenging. The spots were loaded with big scup, which were rather hard to get a good shot on in the murky water, we did manage a few nice ones for dinner. I did see about a half a dozen bass to about 28”, nothing really big enough to shoot. Also many good size blackfish came by to check us out and laugh at us, since they are still closed for another week.

After a few hours and a few spots we decided that diving for a few clams would be more productive, we made a spot for about 30 minutes and got our limit of quahogs.

I would recommend trying some inshore spots outside of the bay to try to chase down some better viz as long as the wind stays down.

Good luck and good fishing!
Ricardo Cruelles

Baked Stuffed Lobster with Jonah Crab Meat and Lobster Stuffing - Cooking the Catch

Let's face it, lobster tastes twice as good when you have to dive your butt off to get them. This recipe  is easy as can be and an makes a great impression on your lady friends for all you single divers out there. To this day every time I prepare this for Mrs. NEF she brings up "remember the first time you made this for me when we started dating?" See..... Crab meat freezes excellent so this is a tasty way to use some of that Jonah Crab meat we took the time to remove form the shells a couple of weeks ago. Blue crab is also another great local substitute for the crab meat.

What you need: recipe for 2 stuffed lobsters

• 4 fresh lobsters - two to stuff the stuffing in and two to remove all the meat to add to the stuffing.
• 2 cups of crab meat (one cup per stuffed lobster) 
• Ritz crackers 
• butter
• garlic powder
• salt and pepper

1. Half the two live lobsters down the muddle from their mouth to tip of the tail. Clean out anything undesirable from the body cavity and tail.
2. Steam the other lobsters and remove all the meat you can from the tail, claws and body. Remove in the largest lumps you can, whole claws and tails cut in  4-5 pieces works nice.
3. In a large ziploc bag add a 3 sleeves of ritz crackers, close bag, and roll out with a rolling pin to crush them up good.
4. In large bowl mix the crushed ritz crackers, add lobster meat and crab meat, and one stick of melted butter. Add about a teaspoon of garlic powder and salt and pepper to your desired amount (not too much salt) .
5. Stuff the lobsters generously with the ritz cracker, lobster meat and crab meat stuffing you prepared.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When oven is ready at temperature place the stuffed lobsters on a cookie sheet and cook for about 25 minutes.

Stuffing in lobsters should be a golden color in about 25 minutes and usually a sign that the lobster has cooked perfectly. Serve with melted butter, I love a baked potato and asparagus as my sides.

Cheers,
Mike

June 19th & 20th Lobster Diving Report from Cape Cod Bay - Mike Chace

Day: Saturday June 19, 2016
Location: Cape Cod Bay side of Cape Cod
Report Contributor: Mike Chace
Conditions: a 9 out of 10.

Met up with a good friend for some freediving for lobsters in Cape Cod Bay. We arrived at 9:00 am to a flat sea, perfectly sunny morning with slight NE breeze on a flood tide. The tide was high as we entered mother ocean to find she had gifted us with some beautiful conditions. Vertical visibility was about 20 feet and calm waters. We were pleased to find there was many more keeper size male lobsters in the general area than just 2 weeks ago.  A few hours of some hunting in some gorgeous scenery resulted in 17 keepers between my dive buddy and myself. Noticeable was the lack of large Jonah Crabs that were here two weeks ago... gone. A few small ones scattered about. My dive bud got a swarmed in a school of 30 lb class bass he could only watch as they seemed to be looking for all the sand eels that seemed to be present this week. The flood tide kept it really high most of the afternoon making the conditions stick for the rest of the afternoon. A couple of cold ones to celebrate back at the homestead and I washing off my gear and changing my plans for Sunday to head back to the same general area and try another spot.

Saturday's catch 2 divers:

Day: Sunday June 20, 2016
Location: Cape Cod Bay side of Cape Cod

Conditions: a 10 out of 10.

We arrived by boat at a different location and suited up hoping the conditions had stuck around over night and the ocean would be just as nice as the previous day. Today we planned to scout out a few new locations with the boat and not stay too long at either one spot. We jumped in to find it was even better conditions than the previous day with gin clear 25 ft + vertical visibility with 50 ft + horizontal visibility over the sandy bottom as we kicked in to the shoreline to find some rocks over the sand the bugs like some much. The conditions were so superb, the lobsters plenty and the ocean life so beautiful we could not help be in awe of what a lucky day was to be there, take it it... and appreciate it. Had the opportunity to shoot a decent tautog for my Captain and harvested him who requested one. Again the striped bass were today were working the edge of the rockweed beds at high tide with schools of fish in he 20-30 lb class not spooked too much by your presence, quite a cool experience. About four hours and 58 drops later my legs were exhausted from two days of diving and decided to head home with another nice catch. Father's Day dinner was baked stuffed lobsters for the family,  I will share the recipe in my next Cooking the Catch post.

My catch Sunday:

I I have always been in love with freediving for lobsters so I looked forward to this time of year as much as I look forward to spearfishing each Spring. Now that I could dedicate two wonderful days in a row to my passion and get the "bugs" out of my system (so to speak) I can dedicate the next couple of trips back in the RI area looking for some decent bass. Thanks to some great dive buddies for a great weekend and mother ocean for gifting us with a pair of stellar days and diving experiences.

If you enjoy diving in the big bay... It is here. Set aside some time for a dive with favorite dive buddies and get in before the weather pattern switches and screws up the conditions that are there right now.

Cheers,
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

Bahamian Style Jonah Crabs and Rice, a New Englander's take - Mike Chace

Recipe: Bahamian Style Jonah Crabs and Rice
Contributor: Mike Chace 

I saw you all giving my crazy looks when i posted my pic from our lobster dive the other day when i harvested my limit of local Jonah Crabs. Many think they are a lot of work to get the delectable crab meat out, being their claws lack the size of their Northern Stone Crab cousins. I don't hold it against you, and you not wanting to harvest any leaves more for me. Actually I may only harvest them once or twice a year when the really big ones come inshore in Spring and they are in in good numbers. When they are sparse I let them be. They seamed to be everywhere this last weekend so I chose to harvest some with a couple of recipes in mind. We are always trying to find creative ways to utilize some local resources here in the north east and the Jonah Crab is definitely one of them.

If you have ever had Bahamian Crab Rice or even been lucky enough to have even been in the home of a local there while making it, you would understand my desire to want it back here at home. The fragrance alone should be bottled and sold, but the taste is so unique and recipes vary from house to house. The traditional Bahamian way is to make this dish with red or black land crab, but I figured the sweet Jonah would be a nice substitute.

Ingredients:
12 - large Jonah Crabs (save the crab fat and liquor in shell)
3 cups of long grain rice
1 yellow onion
3/4 cup of pigeon peas
salt and black pepper
1 scotch bonnet or hot pepper of your choosing
6-8 tablespoons vegetable oil
2-3 small bay leaves or 1 large
1 - sprig of fresh thyme
6 cups of water

Second, let it be noted there is some work involved. I find the best system is a two day process. First I boil or steam up the crabs. Then I let them sit overnight in my "shellfish fridge", yeah... I have one of those. The boiled - then chilled process makes their strong shells a little more brittle and easy to crack open claws and legs the next day. The following day I remove the meat from 6-8 crabs, being sure to save the crab fat and save that with the tasty liquor inside the main shell. I then take another 6 crabs and remove the back shell, crab fat & liquor, then remove the gills and clean the rest of  the body under running faucet, keeping with the legs and claws intact.

At that point take a large knife and split the body section in two - 4 legs and claw on each side. Now to actually cook it.

1. In a rather large pot bring 6-8 tablespoons of vegetable oil to heat, then add the onions and cook until they are almost translucent.
2. Add the crab fat and liquor.
3. Add about 4 teaspoons of salt and black pepper, bay leaves, fresh thyme and the hot pepper of your choosing, and 1 cup of pigeon peas. I could not get a scotch bonnet so settled for a cow horn, probably making it a little more New Englandized.  Let this simmer for about 5-6 minutes until onions look done.
4. Then add the halved crabs to simmer for a few to get them releasing their juices in the mix.
5. Add the tomato sauce and mix to simmer a few.
6. Add the lump crab meat we removed from the shell, the long grain rice and water. Gently fold everything together and let slow simmer to begin cooking the rice.

On medium heat cover the pot and be sure to keep stirring often and do not burn the rice. Easy to do. After maybe 10 minutes the rice should have absorbed all the liquid and be done cooking. Remove from heat, stir well, then let it sit for a few minutes to an hour if you have the time.

This is excellent served hot or room temp with some crusty bread. You can eat the tasty rice and break apart the crab legs and sections to remove the meat still in the shells that has now been infused with all the other flavors of this dish.

For those who like finding a tasty treat from an unlikely source, give this dish a try.

Be well,
Mike
 

Block Island Spearfishing Report May 29, 2016 - Ricardo Cruelles

Date: Friday 5/29/2016
Area: Block Island Report
Report Contributor: Ricardo Cruelles

First trip out on the Imagination to BI was slow, as expected. We met up with Captain Jay and we were off by 630am. Ride out was relatively flat with just a bit of a southerly breeze and seas of ½ foot, if that. We tried some of early season drifts closer to shore that looked promising on the machine but ended up being rather slow and lifeless, water temp closer to shore was a balmy 54 degrees and with the new Beuchat 5mm Rock Sea suit I was very comfortable indeed. We managed a couple of decent blackfish and saw many juvenile black sea bass, which is a very encouraging sign for the future.

We moved to a different side of the Island and tried a few more drifts, which yielded one Striped Bass and a few other Blackfish in relatively shallow waters.

With about 50 dives under our belts we decided to hit for a little bit deeper water in search of some Bass, water temperature dropped to 51 degrees which is still very cold for this time of the year. We were rather unsuccessful in our search and we only managed to find one small bunch of Bass which eluded one of our younger divers. We did see some very nice sized Sea Bass which we hope they will still be around once RI season opens up.

All and all a very nice day on the water with some great buddies and a nice shakedown for the Imagination. Thank you as usual to Capt. Jason Saiz for always taking us out.

In my humble opinion in the next two weeks things will start to light up out there and the fish will start to show up in numbers, until then, best bet to stay inshore and fish the Bay and the Sound.
Aloha and stay Safe out there boys and girls!

First Lobster Dive Report Cape Cod Bay - May 30, 2016

A good buddy Mark Welzel and I had scheduled ourselves for a freedive for lobster trip this morning in Plymouth County, then the rain from remnants of tropical depression Bonnie moved in.  At 6:00 a.m. this morning we looked at the radar and made the call to go anyway, even though it was raining when we left NEF. We arrived to getting suited up in a downpour and the walk to the shore felt a little silly as the rain dripping from our heads clouded our view as we chuckled about it. The tide was high, the sea was flat, there was no lightning forecasted so what did we have to loose... what were we going to get a wet?

The tide was high as we hopped into 50 degree water temps that felt so good in the new Beuchat Rock Sea Trigo Camo 5 mm wetsuit. Immediately we noticed the big Jonah Crabs were in in big numbers. I have a few great recipes for crab so maybe once or twice a year when they seem big and plentiful I like to grab a bunch for my kids to eat and then pick the rest of the meat and freeze for some future cooking. Yes it is a little work but some free time, and a 6 pack and some reggae playing I manage to clean them all. The large ones in spring are very sweet tasting and an excellent choice for any number of crab recipes.

We proceeded to work a short stretch of shoreline as the rain came down pulling many bugs for the next few hours. The 20 foot visibility in this location makes it fun to hunt bug dens from the surface and enjoy seeing all the life in the area. Small blackfish, cunner, small eel pout and a womper of fluke I wish i could have taken with my Crist polespear in hand. But i was occupied pulling a keeper bug from it's lair when i noticed it a few feet away.
 
We managed to cull through the very shorts, just barely shorts, too big, V notched females and egg bearers to end up with a few keeper lobsters a piece. Typical early season dive that i can look forward to getting better in the next few weeks. Along the way we also managed to both almost limit out on the large Jonahs that seemed to be everywhere, so we could be selective.



By trips end we had a nice dive bag of tasty morsels for our families and a great workout at 64 drops. A great day with a great friend and some more quality time with mother ocean. It seems as though some good lobster diving is here and hopefully you manage to find more keepers than i did today, but plenty of lobsters inshore to make it fun diving. Mahalo.

Mass Invitational Spearfishing Tournament Report - May 28 2016

Just a quick dive report from the Mass Invitational Spearfishing Tournament hosted by the Mass Freedivers Club at Sakonnet Point yesterday in Little Compton RI.

New England Freedive Spearfishing Co sponsored some gear for prizes for the competitors in yesterdays meet. The atmosphere of this tournament is not a competitive as some and designed to get more new spearfisherman involved in our dive community and gives them a chance to dive a fun tournament, meet other divers and spend the day with one of the coolest and most helpful spearfishing communities you can find anywhere. It is truly not about the competition and more about the camaraderie and that is what we want all newcomers to the sport to experience and enjoy.

The wind out of the South West provided a little chop and stirred bottom up making for tight visibility to hunt in. Nonetheless, divers had a great day in the water although it was very tough to find tournament size fish (2" over minimum state regs) . Water temps were still around 54 degrees making a 5mm the perfect suit for these dive conditions.

This important fact should be noted - Almost all divers could find legal but not tournament size (2" over state regs)  fish and chose NOT to harvest them. I think this is a testament to the great stewardship of our local spearfishing community to act towards what the rules of these tournaments was designed to do and provide a manner for us to self regulate ourselves for a fishery we so love here in New England. Well done my friends !


Congratulations to Olivier Lauzon finishing First Place with a great stringer of fish including a striped bass and a pair of tautog, Mark Welzel took Second Place and Largest Fish with a 27.5 lb striped bass and Third Place was earned by Jon Stevens who connected with a tautog.

NEF was again honored to be the sponsor for this fun tournament and was proud to raffle of some gear to competitors and congratulations to Shang Jen who won the Mares Viper Pro 90cm Speargun we donated.

Some rainy weather seems to be heading our way tonight into tomorrow so today is the day to get out there and chase fish before your Memorial Day plans gets washed out. Do not plan on Sakonnet Point for bigger Tautog, maybe head North into the Bay to find those spawning fish or some of the spots outside the Bays along river mouths that were holding good fish earlier in the week. Divers are taking bass from the Bay to Block, with the inner bays holding more consistent numbers of fish right now.

Gear Review : HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun

GEAR REVIEW: HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun 85cm

Contributor: New England Freedive Spearfishing Co

Date: 5/16/2016

One of the new speargun lines that I have been testing heavily so far in 2016 is the HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun. The most obvious feature on this speargun is their unique take on a elliptical or cuttlefish shaped barrel. This shape of barrel profile is nothing new in the industry but the way that HammerHead has incorporated this design with some of the other fantastic features offered on the Raptor make this speargun an animal all it’s own. First the poly urethane molded barrel is very hydrodynamic, making it easily maneuverable and adds some nice balance to the gun (we’ll get to that in a minute), while this exterior barrel covering offers a great sound deadening system both for when the gun is fired and if you should hit it on a rock or pier pylon. While chasing togs around a pier the other day I noticed first hand when I whacked the barrel against the cement base when aiming up to shoot a fish heading behind it there was no “twang” we are accustomed to hearing when we do that with an aluminum barrel gun. This speargun also features a full integrated shaft rail, so the noise of the shaft firing down the rail and bands retracting is highly minimized against this surface. Shooting is very quiet and smooth.

The most exciting fact about this Raptor barrel is that it absorbs some of the energy when firing, or what we spearos experience when firing as “kick”. This has allowed HammerHead to step up the rigging of this gun to utilize two 17.5 mm diameter bands which is different from the standard 16 mm bands we are accustomed to using on most reef hunting size guns with a 7 mm shaft. What I honestly expected was this gun to be overpowered. I expected it to kick and I had prepared myself to learn to adjust my technique at aiming and shooting to account for this. What I actually experienced is this is actually “the Perfect Setup” for this barrel! Laser accuracy, no recoil and a dependable greater shooting distance. 

I believe another key feature to enable this is the unique design of the pistol grip style molded hand grip that this speargun is outfitted with. “Hand Grip” believe it or not has a lot to do with how each person aims and fires a speargun. The molded formed grip design perfectly positions your hand and thumb when gripping it for great line of site when aiming and minimize any torquing of the wrist. Each gun comes with both a right and left handed grip to suit each diver’s need. I did miss the first fish I attempted to shoot with the 85cm. I then realized I was trying to brace my shooting arm for an expected kick to hold the gun steady on firing. So on the following drops I settled into a comfortable grip, relaxed and let the gun do the work. After that it was lights out on some tautog with some perfectly placed shots. The Raptor also comes rigged with two wraps of mono shooting line, foreseeing that you will soon realize your extended shooting range with the 17.5 mm bands. 

So how does this come into play for you here in New England? We are always dealing with our notorious ever changing water visibility here, and it usually not great.  So when diving the green haze I am now finding that I can use a shorter gun for better maneuverability and easier hunting and not have to sacrifice the shooting distance or power. I find myself diving with my Evolution2 Raptor 85 cm when the visibility is bad to good. We have all had that dive when we were using a shorter maybe 75 or 85 cm gun and had the opportunity to line up on a nice fish at extended distance and fire only to have the gun lack the power for good penetration or the shooting distance of shaft fall short due to one wrap of shooting line setup. The HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor is great weapon to solve that problem for you. With the extended shooting distance and increased power, you may consider the Raptor an alternative in situations where prefer the characteristics of a roller gun to accomplish a similar task... but with all the simplicity of 2 band railgun. I will be trying to dive outside the bay in the upcoming week and hopefully get to test the Raptor 95cm better in more open visibility conditions.

The other fantastic features of the Evolution 2 Raptor speargun are great design to the open muzzle allowing it to be easily setup for left or right hand users. This open muzzle also has deep defined posts and notches for the shooting line to sit in and not come loose, a problem I see with the design of some other guns.  

HammerHead has even designed the area (normally a line guide with not much thought put into a double line wrap use on some guns) for making the second line wrap around the line guide rounded with a lip (raised edge) to hold the line in place. Allowing you to easily make this second wrap and not worry about the line coming off its seat during reloading in the heat of battle. 

The Evolution2 Raptor is also designed with full integrated rail for the shaft on this unique barrel. Add to this list of great features their stainless steel trigger, stainless steel SIDE line release and adjustable trigger sensitivity and the Raptor boasts some really amazing features for a speargun in its modest price range. If you desire a reel with this gun the HammerHead Remora 70 meter Composite Reel simply slides on to the pre-designed reel mount on the gun and you are ready to rig it and dive. 

Another notable mention is that the Evolution2 Raptor also comes rigged with a high quality 17/64 hardened stainless steel flopper shaft with shark fins - and…. and… the flopper is already perfectly tuned !  That is another component often lacking in quality from other manufacturers and usually the first thing I change out on a new gun… with the exception of a few gun makers. Well done HammerHead !  

New England Freedive is presently stocking the HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Spearguns in 85cm & 95 cm sizes. HammerHead also offers the Evolution2 Raptor speargun in 105 cm & 115 cm lengths. We can gladly Special Order one for you in either size you desire. Special Order arrives quickly within 3 -4 business days. Just contact me at phone #774-644-3564 or email me at mike@nefreedive.com

May 14 2016 Narragansett Bay Spearfishing Report - Mike Chace

Date : Saturday 5/14/2016

Location: Narragansett Bay, RI

Report Contributor: Mike Chace

What a difference one week makes ! The Tog Cult here in the North East is back in the water and finding fish. Yesterday’s dive took place in upper Narragansett Bay. After 2 weeks of dismal reports from outside with few fish seen and water temps still holding at 47-49 degrees in some areas. Divers that have been finding blackfish have been finding few on deep rockpiles and ledges outside, with not much consistency. It was a great move to head up farther in the Bay and hit some areas that had a “some fish” 7-10 days ago. 

My Captain for the day and dive buddy had already hit a couple of spots farther south in the Bay before they picked me up at 9:15 and had seen again “more fish” at those spots than last week and picked up a couple of tautog each. We then proceeded to head to some rockpiles further north in the Bay in hopes of better numbers and maybe a chance to greet some of decent size bass that had taken up residence there in the last 2 weeks. 

The next area to check held plenty of tautog  18 -22 inches in length and my two dive buddies easily finished out their stringers with a third good fish. I managed to take one while being selective as I was really hoping to put some new gear through the trials and test new gear setups on this trip as well. I was just waiting for a bigger target to tempt me so I could light him up and test a new gun setup from a little further away but the visibility made longer shots difficult to determine fish length in the hazy green murk, so I held off. Water temp was 53 degrees and I was seeing as many as 8-12 fish on a drop in spots, a welcome site. Visibility was about 6 feet. 

The new Beuchat 5mm Rock Sea Trigo Camo Wetsuit is perfectly warm at the 53 degree water temp and made diving for a few hours very comfortable. This suit features Beuchat’s new Rock Sea Trigo Camo pattern which could be possibly the best camo pattern designed for hunting our New England rocky shorelines.

We proceeded to check one of my favorite early season bass spot a little further north in the Bay. Although the tide had not risen as much as I like to hunt this location, we dropped down to find many pods of tautog on every corner. Getting a limit of blackfish was not going to be a problem but I was keen to stretch the legs on the HammerHead Evolution2 Raptor Speargun and take a bass with it here before heading home. One of my dive buddies saw one undersized bass but none of us was able to find a keeper, before the wind switched to blowing out of the south west and our captain advised us we had to pick up and head in to avoid a sloppy ride back. The water temp was noticeably 54 degrees in the final location. Fisherman have been taking some bass in the 40 inch range in the upper bay so it is only a matter of a day or two I think before a dedicated spearo or speara takes one up here. There is plenty of bait from squid to sea herring and lots of smaller offerings to hold the bass up here. Topping off your stringer with some fresh shellfish this time of year provides for some additional fun.

Hopefully I will get a trip in, in the next couple of days to check outside the bay to see how things are progressing since last week. 

Mahalo for a great day on the water with a couple of great friends Kevin Sheets and Eric Cadorette, good weather and a bay full of fish again. I wish you safe diving in 2016 and an exciting season.

Feel free to post up your own spearfishing pictures or reports over on our New England Freedive Spearfishing Co Facebook Page, here -  https://www.facebook.com/nefreedive . We love to see what everyone is catching or seeing out there.

If you purchased a piece of gear from NEF we would love to have you submit a product review on our website. Simply go to the product page of the item you purchased (either online, phone or in shop... does not matter) and click the Submit A Review Link on bottom of page. Thank You.